Time for everyone to go South or North.

This gameboard has fulfilled its purpose. The reason it was created in the first place was to work on the small and bigger mysteries of the series. With the series reaching its conclusions and being officially over so does this place as an expected result.

Q. This is the ending. Does this mean there are no more topics?

> There are still some and many others that I never got around publishing. Sure, there are always topics that could be investigated but with the series being over they’d be redundant. It’s like saying one would have to write to about something that will be revealed next week. That only works when the result isn’t known. We already know the results or know there won’t be any.

Q. Umineko Finale-wise. How good was it?

> I presume no one had to be sedated. Now, Hig Kira might be another issue entirely.

Q. Whatever have we learned from the last battle?

> That TTGL & DBZ got nothing on Umineko. That when you can’t win arguments alone in the Meta world. Punch the voyager with your might. It’s like they went Ougon Kyouku on us. I kid. I’m sure we’ve all learned a lesson from all of this.

Q. What’s the most forgettable character in the series?

> Hideyoshi. Flat out. Did not even shine in the final scenes where I think even a can of mackerel did. I’m surprised I managed to remember the man’s name.

Q. What about Yasu?

> Rule #1. We do not about Yasu. Rule #2 We do not talk about Yasu.

Q. BTW, What’s your favorite Umineko Character?

> You’ll get to read that sometime next year in the other gameboard. I think after Twilight there have been many changes since the last time. Goat butlers might be plausible.

Q. So… Battler..

> Well, I did say there was something was wrong with his brain from the beginning. Turns out that.. you know the rest.

Q.  There should definitely be a Top Umineko BGMs/Singles post because they’re amazing.

> There might be at some point. Not here though.

Q. To be frank Google sent me here.

> Common scenario, Reader. Fanart sites have better image databases in my opinion. Now getting back to the topic at hand.

Q. Though I don’t comment, I really liked the reading the Keikakudoori Vs. Mystery Author. Will there be more?

> Comments, comments. The chances of it are having read the book, having read the post, having the ability to solve it, having the time to respond, having found this board in the first place. When all of these conditions are met that’d mean me not talking to myself. Mysteries, huh.

Q. Well, will there?

> I only write about cases that interest me and so there won’t be that many but I do foresee that there will be more because I still plan on keep reading in my free time. I’ll post some of them when the gameboard is reopened.

Q. What if there is an update before the gameboard is fully back? Wouldn’t that be against this being final post?

> In that case it is probably a small update for X reasons, however this post will remain as a top post until the gameboard is reopened. This is the final post until, and in the case, the gameboard is fully reopened.

Q. What’s this about going South and North?

> It’s about this being the last post for a very long time.

Q. I’d like to know the results of some polls

> Sure thing. -Have you read Umineko Twilight- Only when translated 77 votes. Read the spoilers 36. Fully read it 15 -Blog Umineko Doujinshi- Yes 14. Wat? 7. I suspect the siblings might be responsible for some votes. Yasu undoubtedly voted more than once.

Q. Umineko. It is something else.

> Umineko is something else. You know what’s something else too? Hime-cuts. Glorious Hime-cuts in Umineko.

Q. All of this has been enlightening and entertaining. Whatever will really happen to this gameboard? I’m curious.

> I write for myself, I think I’ve mentioned it many times over the years but I’m glad you found it interesting in your own way. Be it reader or observer. As for the future of this gameboard we’re left with two options.

A) I can with the snap of my fingers obliterate this gameboard. B) I can fold the gameboard, put it back and get it out later. I’ll pick the latter choice. I’ll be picking up all the pieces and closing the board for the time being as it has fulfilled its role and the series is over. I trust I will not be posting anything until some new material has been fully translated and said material is enough to interest me, meaning that this is likely the last post there will be for months or years.

Q. What a trip. Last question, wouldn’t Umineko Tsubasa qualify?

> Tsubasa is extra material. The ending is the ending. I’m sure it’s interesting but what I wait for is another series such as Higanbana or another No Naku Koro Ni Project to be released to be that interested in the series again.

Q. Thank you. I had fun

> No, thank You. I’m glad you all did. It’s been really fun. Thanks for reading.

With that this gameboard is officially over
– Until Something Cries Again –

2010-2011

Never a dull moment. The final chapters of the series making every sentence count.

Ecstasy
Commander Erika
Armada of goats
ECSTASY
goats powered by the net
Lamdadelta’s time to shine
Mariage sorciere teachings
Protecting fantasy people
Comrade calling
Hachijo Tohya everywhere
Monopolization of Cultural Artifacts is a heinous crime
Classic theatergoing
Classic 07th Expansion.

Huh, this board still updates? Apparently, it does. It does.

Maybe there was a part one but you missed it. No, not really, it’s the post before this one saying that it’d take a while to get used to the Umineko Chiru voices. This one is different. This is actually more than decent. So after a few weeks of being exposed to the 1st group voices from the Chiru release I’ve grown used to them little by little. The 2nd PV is a better surprise than the 1st trailer. To say the least they nailed it fairly well here.  Three more characters to the madness.

Willard H. Wright

Le Kokoro strikes. Frankly,  I have no big criticism for Will’s voice. No, not that I’m fully content with it, but I’m definitely not against it. It doesn’t sound bad at all, then again Will’s character doesn’t seem difficult to get to me – an adult man yet not too old with a deep and clear voice. I could see that they could’ve gone with any similar combination and get it relatively right. It’s not a difficult task for a character that is more straightforward than the ambiguous type, really. It does sound like what I think most people would imagine Willard would sound like so I have no big objections. If I had to say anything at all is that Will’s voice sounds a tad generic so it doesn’t sound very unique to me. I could swear I’ve heard that similar voice (maybe with different pitches) in other shows with characters with similar personalities. Example? See shoujo or the like. Well, did Will sound exactly like I pictured him? No, not really. Actually his voice did sound different in my mind and was voiced in English too. Maybe his voice would be little older and be less deep and for some totally odd reason he’d sound British. I know. Crazy.

PS: PS3 ver. is pushing the bishonen angle with a strength of a gorilla. Very subtle there, Alchemist, don’t y’ know.

Lion Ushiromiya

My initial concern would have had to be Lion. Yeah, the trap-ish character in EP7 that is not Zepar. See, they had already messed up Zepar’s voice making him to anybody without a serious hearing problem obvious he’s, without a doubt, a he. Lion’s shares the same ambiguous edge that Zepar’s character has making the reader wonder what her/his gender is. Though it is more reasonable to assume that Lion is a she, which in case of Zepar it was more of making an educated guess, it should’ve been taken in consideration.

Once again I’ll say that I said before about this list. They aren’t really difficult character to voice and by that I mean that these characters are very straightforward and often stick to certain type of character. It’s not hard to voice her character since for most part Lion is either acting polite or getting trolled by Bernkastel through EP7. The only other concern would be if she can perfectly pull off the Lion and Will’s final scene at the end of EP7. For what I’ve heard it sounds like she’ll do a great job.

> So Lion sounds ok-ish. I guess I’ve never been fond of Lion’s character to really get into her. Seeing that Lion was more of passive rather than active character in EP7 I considered her own character (not Yasu/Beatrice) to lack depth no matter how well the story explained it. If anything the voice acting might help get that feeling that, at least, I didn’t get from the character.

Not too girlish. Not too masculine. Thank the local deity they didn’t get Kobayashi Yuu to voice Lion. Deep down I was entrusting myself to Oyashiro-sama they wouldn’t do it again.

Hachijo Tohya

She sounds great. Calm and a collected voice with a slight air of attitude. Featherine’s character is another one that it isn’t so difficult to get what she’s all about for she practically tells you. Actually characters who rarely change moods are easier to get used to. What the VP didn’t cover was Aurora though.

Huh? Nothing else? Well, yes and no. Mostly no, not really. That about does it for Tohya’s character. It’ll be mindscrewing if Hanyuu’s VA would voice her. Though weird, now THAT would be something else.

Conclusions:

All three new voices for the PS3 version are a decent upgrade from the previous trailer. Erika’s voice needs some work but could work, Dlanor is dismally unfitting and further proof is needed, Z/F are fine. Everyone is the new trailer is decent. There is nothing terribly wrong with their voices and they’re very much fitting.  Will out of the three new characters would be the one with most expectations, the VA was decent enough though as mentioned before it sounded a bit generic. Lion’s voice is pleasantly ambiguous enough for everyone to be happy with it, and Hachiyo Tohya is a decent choice no matter how we look at it. I don’t see that these characters would be specifically hard to get and so most of the  voices did manage to be around the ballpark.

Will: Hiroki Takahashi
Lion: Ayako Kawasumi
Featherine: Michiko Neya

Huh, just realized Gertrude and Cornelia weren’t included in the PV. Looks like the furniture got the short end of the Winchester. Take the case to the Witch Senate.

  Related articles

• Umineko Chiru Voices Are Going to Take Some Getting Use to

It didn’t take too long for Chiru game to be released. Everything is smooth and nice. My only criticism would be the voices they chose for the new Chiru characters – namely those in the trailer. Namely whatever they were thinking when they chose some of them and namely a first impression.

The voice they gave Erika is far from what I imaged what she would sound like. Call me weird but often when I read VN with no voice acting I tend to create them after a few hours and getting to know the characters based on their persona and appearance. It’s a type of voice which would fit them better, one that would be around the ballpark of what a character would sound like. Erika’s case isn’t like this one.

Erika’s VA is far from what she would sound like. It’s not high pitch enough. Erika’s voice in the trailer is too soft even in the parts where she isn’t supposed to act this way. The soft spoken I get to a degree because it tries to make Erika sound composed and distant. Her voice also has the same volume which gets repetitive and more than anything it lacks the proper emotion from the character.

Redeeming point: In the chopsticks part (first image) Erika’s voice lacks impact, but it is far better than the usual monotonous tone used in her introduction. These types of scenes are where Erika’s voice is supposed to sound much energetic and overjoyed much like she would sound when talking about mysteries without the sneering tone. Erika’s VA gets half way there with the most emphasis on the “Chopsticks are the best!” So there’s some level of cuteness there which some of it ought to be put in her regular voice to not make her voice sound so violently dull.

It wouldn’t be Erika without some sneering voice because Erika’s voice is a combination of a cute voice, hyper, and creepy when she gets serious which a character with a hidden agenda would sound like. There’s also a bit of sadistic demeanor still perceptible buried in her tone also which in the last segment of her introduction which is one of the best parts of the video. The last part sounds especially what Erika would sound like in the regular basis instead of that dull tone. The obvious benefit of the doubt is Erika not having many good scenes to judge how well her character is being handled.

My criticism is that Dlanor sounds too much like Furudo Erika that they could very much share the same VA. Dlanor and Erika’s voice are completely different in my mind. They are different characters with different personalities that their voice shouldn’t resemble one another.

If Erika is soft-spoken Dlanor is barely audible. Dlanor’s voice should be deeper no matter how we look at it. They got the monotonous part right for Dlanor which in here it makes plenty of sense instead of having it on Erika. Dlanor’s voice should sound “dull” as in a single deep droning voice almost like there is an echo. So even though Dlanor herself says she’s a kid thus possibly not having an “adult voice” a commanding vooice makes more sense to fit her personality. Dlanor is the chief of heresy, a commander of her troop so she should have a more commanding voice which would be heard throughout a whole room. They could’ve also gone for a voice which would sound like a female “knight” which sound righteous and stoic (extra for Dlanor).

Dlanor should have a deeper, audible voice with low intonation yet can be heard CLEARLY unlike the Dlanor’s VA which to hear her voice one would have to turn up the volume.  Much like a machine Dlanor’s voice should sound like

She – Speaks – Like. THIS.

Taking her time yet impossible to not hear and understand her voice. One long droning monotonous  tone. If you’ve ever heard Maaya Sakamoto monotonous voice you’d had a better idea of what a proper monotonous and serious female voice sounds like. However, Maaya’s voice sounds too grown up for Dlanor that Minori Chihara‘s similar monotonous voice yet one sounding quiet young would fit Dlanor better.

Redeeming point: Any? The trailer doesn’t have enough scenes where Dlanor is fighting (though that encounter with Beatrice SHOULD BE one of them.) that it is hard to tell if this will be the voice she would be always using. That’s a matter of concern especially when she is supposed to raise her VOICE when she talks in CAPS like in the game. Unfortunately that way of speaking seems to be lost, if not barely noticeable, in all the scenes in the trailer. Compared to Erika’s voice Dlanor needs plenty of work particularly in regular scenes.

Not much here other than learning that’s how they pronounce their names. I’m fine with their voices. Should there be anything to be said is that I expected them to sound more dramatic, which they do sound to some degree. If I could remotely make some changes I’d make their voices sound a bit more like they were singing to fit their music theme.  Though expecting them to sound like the actors of the Phantom of the Opera would be too much asking.

Another thing is that the mystery of who is the male/female of the pair is completely gone now that they both have voices added to the fact they both have distinctly clear voices to tell them apart. I wouldn’t be opposed to have given both of them a more girlish voice since the game itself (descriptions) make a big deal out of “one is a different gender than the other”. It makes better sense to keep this matter a secret by making it more difficult for the reader to distinguish their genders by their voices. Though in Ougon Musou Kyoku they already gave them voice I believe so not much that can be done anyway.

Conclusion
Furudo Erika VA’s was fairly off the mark, however there were moments where her voice started to sound like Erika, mainly when she acted the cynical part. The element that lack was not combining more often a higher pitch voice to create a cuter and hyper voice to better properly nail her persona. The other one was more emotion to fit the scenes in which the character gets excited.

Dlanor’s voice is the one that needs more work out of all of them. It doesn’t sound like Dlanor, rather it sounds like a regular timid person. Dlanor’s PS3 voice doesn’t give the impression she is the commander of anything even of her own voice. Dlanor’s character is built on her status as Inquisitor of Heresy and she is well-respected commander which inspires fear and respect. The PS3 seriously lack this effect, Dlanor should be a character possessing an audible LOUD and monotonous voice much like a machine who when she gets serious has a surprising powerful voice.

Furfur & Zepar sound fine for most part even if they could use some changes their voices are around the ballpark. Everything that could’ve been said about them have already been discussed. If you’ve listened to their theme vocal that’s a better idea of how they would sound like.

Next – Willard, Lion, and Featherine? So much left to be desired.

I needed a good puzzle to whet my appetite. What better way than to try out one best and hardest mysteries so they say ever created and to indulge in some puzzle action fun? It’ll be no field day, but it would be no fun if it were.

Right from the start there is plenty of information to use to solve this puzzle. I rather like stories that throw enough information for the reader to work with instead of dragging it too much.  The first chapters provide the reader with enough information to work something out. The victim is murdered in his own study then the culprit vanished from the scene.The witnesses outside the room make it locked room thus making the police be unable to make out a theory how the culprit could’ve done it.  Minutes later a second man is shot in another street a couple of minutes after the first murder had occurred by the same weapon that killed the first. According to witnesses there was no other person near the victim. Also according the report it is mentioned the shot was at close range. An impossible double murder and a locked-room.

===============
Deconstruction
===============

Starting with the first 1st event in the story, a random illusionist imposes on the future victim and his friends and basically threatens him that he or that his brother (a more dangerous fellow) would call on him and meet him for there is some secret no one is aware of. The puzzle starts with a clear difference on how this character refers to the victim, that is, he doesn’t specifically refer to him as his brother (which is implied) either because he wasn’t his real brother or because he wanted to hide this fact from the rest and only wanted the victim to know what he was referring to this story. The reason is clear he wanted to meet with the victim and he knew something no one else did.

the victim’s locked room

When all is said and done for the 1st coffin, the first crime, it turns into an impossible murder with indications the reason behind the victim’s death was connected to his past. The first point of interest to me is the recently bought painting in the victim’s study in which we’d throw some theories and counter them whenever it applies. Claim: The victim buys a painting to protect himself. Counter: Makes no sense whatsoever except for the following: 1) the victim believed it’d protect him in some way. A weapon? Impossible. It’s a painting. 2) The victim believed that its value would protect him. Possible since as a weapon it is useless, that can only mean that it represented something important either to the victim or to the attacker. Thus the victim was going to stop the culprit .. threaten him with it.. No. Counter: the victim had to lose the most here. If he wanted to get rid of the evidence the victim would destroy the painting and silence whoever knew of it (curious thing how this ultimately worked out). Next.

Claim: The painting was to make it look like the victim was expecting someone. That would mean he wanted to use the painting as collateral – because both the culprit and he, the victim, were involved. That’s the idea one would normally think.  The victim believed buying it from would get him out of the fix. Again, no. Counter:  The painting was a piece of evidence against him. It makes no sense to not destroy it unless the culprit had a use for it. Claim: The painter knew of the victim’s dark secret and buying the painting from him would represent his life would be spared. Counter: Wrong. If that would be the case the victim would be the painter not the 1st actual victim because the victim would have plenty intentions of getting him out-of-the-way. Making him marry his daughter doesn’t completely make him safe. Similarly, it makes little sense for the painter (who would marry the daughter) to kill his future father in law unless there was a strong motive. Also a factor against this was that he, the painter, and the victim’s daughter, were also unable to leave the room they were locked in by the mysterious man who arrived at the victim’s home. The second point against it it’d be difficult for him to the culprit  because he was with the victim’s daughter all the time, if so then it would mean as a result that the victim’s daughter was accomplice. By that train of thought, the killings would be a work of the victim’s daughter and his future son-in-law. Added to the fact this character breaks through the window to go outside as the police arrive to get out of the locked room he was supposedly trapped in? Convincing?

That’s a theory that falls apart after the Second Coffin in which the 2nd victim is shot at close range according to evidence only a couple of minutes after the first murder. First, where was everybody at the time it happened? The future son-in-law was talking to the police, daughter was in an ambulance heading to the hospital along with the 1st victim, everyone else seemed to have an alibi. If the theory that both the son-in-law and victim’s daughter were culprits then the daughter would have to be the only to murder the 2nd victim because it was impossible for the accomplice. The only possible way would be for her to get off the ambulance, do the deed and get back in or shoot the target while the vehicle was moving in order to reach the hospital in time. No matter what one could look at it both claims are preposterous. The first implies there were witnesses to her crime who were not connected to the crime and the second would imply the culprit could shoot a moving target in a moving vehicle. What makes it more preposterous is the fact that the 2nd victim was shot at close range making any type of theory like this fall apart when one assumes the culprit of the 2nd crime belongs to the same group of the 1st crime. Ultimately, both of them lack the time and were unable to get remotely close to the 2nd victim to be the culprits.

Back to the painting which was the leading clue along with the closed room in the 1st coffin to crack this puzzle.

The victim is murdered and the painting is slashed twice. The painting is never destroyed. Why? Why exactly it isn’t destroyed? Everything makes more sense if the painting (supposedly), the root of all, is destroyed but it is never destroyed and only damaged. That is one of oddest things in this mystery. The painting should have been destroyed YET it isn’t. That can only mean the culprit or whoever damaged the painting did not care about the painting being damaged but he did not want it to be completely destroyed. He wanted the police to fixate their theories on the painting and delve into the victim’s darker past. This alone would indicate the culprit was not related to those events otherwise he would also draw immense and unwanted suspicion upon him. We get closer to fully disproving the possibility the one who entered the victim’s house could’ve been one of the victim’s “brothers” at all.

The first question is who damaged the painting? A) Indisputably it should be the only one in the room – the victim. That makes the main theory. Why? Because he had the most time to do it, however he is unable to fully go through with it. B) whoever ‘entered’ after him – that’ll mean exactly that, whoever entered the locked room after the victim did. C) Less likely anyone else who was in the house. Question is, how this C character managed to enter the locked room after the police came in? Assuming the locked room was never destroyed once the police entered the building? That’d mean they could’ve done it before the police came in or that the painting was already damaged way before anyone knew. That said, all of this reasoning is based on the idea the painting wasn’t damaged before the culprit came in. That must had to be one of the crucial pieces of the mystery. Why was there ever a need for the incriminating painting? And why was the incriminating piece never destroyed? There was enough time for the culprit to destroy it while he was still inside the locked-room. The answer had to be because it had an use, someone was going to be framed. Regardless of the actual truth behind it that much had to be true.

I put the following second question to the mystery. Why should the 1st crime be a locked room in the first place anyhow? According to it it is a locked room because it remained locked. It is a locked room because until the police opened the room no other person entered or left the room through the door once the police arrived. More importantly it is a locked room because according to witnesses who were on the 2nd floor one directly across the locked room and the other one downstairs both were looking at the door and no one ever left through that door. The mystery extremely emphasizes the witnesses’ statements were not false which would be a disturbing revelation if it was impossible for the culprit to leave through the window. Thus, there were two ways to go about it. Either the story was lying about the witnesses statements and it was a play on words where one of the two witnesses looked away, momentarily left (surely it wouldn’t be the first time) the locked-room thus the culprit had the chance to escape. Since it was unlikely the two will leave the scene it’d mean one of them was in cahoots with the culprit (another curious detail how this also worked out) who then returned to the room where he was in to give himself an alibi.

The culprit, of course, was already in the house before it stopped snowing and only rang the bell to make it look like he came from the outside. There isn’t much reason to believe the culprit wasn’t already in the house to everyone else in the mansion.  Lastly, if we assume what the story tells us can only be the true about the locked room and it remained a locked room until the police arrived then the culprit had to exited through the windows. Assuming that’s a no-no like it was (we can confirm this by the lack of footprints) then he had to leave before the police came in. Otherwise the puzzle becomes impossible because as the story suggests the culprit would have simply vanished in thin air.

=======================
Breakdown of the puzzle
=======================

The main goal was to call out attention to the eerie painting for the police to connect it to the victim’s dark past. The first flag is triggered the moment illusionist visits the victim and threatens him. The second event is the victim himself buying the incriminating painting. The effect of drawing attention to the painting was created. Two conclusions are reached: The first is that the victim believed the issue (thus the painting) was a matter that could only be about his dark history. And the second is the he was made to believe this to be the case by the culprit(s). Either way the moment that painting was bought and brought to the house the mission was accomplished. It had to have some use and meaning.

Therefore this should mean the culprit was blatantly using this as a cover up for the crime. The wide space, the double slashes to the painting was a powerful way to call out attention to the painting meaning to the victim’s past meaning connecting it to a long dead brother. Of course, there wasn’t much need for the story to corroborate at any point that his other brother was dead a long time ago for that would mean that the victim’s brother (possibly, I take it close in age) MUST be someone in this story. The victim didn’t have any brothers according to his ‘new life’ and according to the tale of how he escaped and how he betrayed his other brothers by letting them die would imply that none of them would get along well. Meaning either these brothers never approached the victim again or that the victim never recognized his own brother(s). The second one is impossible therefore it should be someone not closed to him meaning someone who isn’t a close friend but somebody new – someone the victim just met. The most decisive piece of evidence is that by tests or the appropriate background checking the police would find his identity – leading to the victim’s brother identity being revealed, thus the culprit would be caught. A careless mistake by the culprit to purposely attract attention to the very fact that could incriminate him were he to not destroy the painting. This does not make any sense unless the culprit is planning on a crime where (s)he will be ultimately caught. That way the identity of the man who entered the victim’s home at night disguised could not have been the victim’s dead brother.  The logical deduction is that the culprit was not the victim’s brother. Could the culprit be so careless to carry out such intricate plan and miss something that obvious? I doubt it. It had to be somebody who wanted to draw attention to the victim’s past more than anything. We come to the conclusion the culprit blatantly used this story to cover up the crime so the police would go on circle looking for someone who was already dead.

But there’s that piece of evidence after the victim’s death. After the victim is taken to a clinic before he dies the victim’s dying word were to spare a close somebody else (assumed at this point), in this case a closed friend out of the police’s suspicion. There’s some pieces of evidence to be looked at. Not by what the victim did, but what he didn’t. The first is that the victim outright he didn’t say who did kill him but instead he cleared someone up.  Awfully strange. By the following the following is deduced: Either the victim in fact knew his attacker’s identity was not the person he was clearing up but somebody else. The second is that the victim was forced to clear his killer who, in fact, WAS whoever he supposedly spared, because of a premeditated agreement (unknown motive. Possibly scandal). The other one would that the victim never had much of an intention of revealing the culprit’s identity because he was protecting someone extremely closed to him – a relative, a lover, a daughter. The last would be that in reality the victim did try to tell the police the culprit’s identity, however he dies before doing so. This theory loses credibility because that’d mean the victim was going to frame somebody who wasn’t the culprit (unlikely) or because supposed exonerated character, in fact wasn’t the culprit. The answer is then reduced to two. The first is the victim was unable to tell the police who his killer was. The second is that the victim was covering up for the culprit. The part of the puzzle that destroys the second theory is that if the victim was really covering up for someone he would not have said a word. The first theory takes the lead.

It should go without saying under no circumstances I considered the possibility of a real person flying or climbing any building at all. Should there be any type of contractions or devices connecting buildings it should have been restricted to tools and weapons. No man with feline reflexes and no acrobats no matter how skillful should be involved in the murder of the victim because the lack of footprints made it impossible in the first place. The more proof there was it couldn’t have been committed by people, the more it proved the crime had to be committed by people.  Said people had to be restricted to people inside the house who would be the culprits. The other one would be that it’d mean the culprit had to reach the house before the snow stopped snowing without a doubt. Those are the theories reached.

only with snow

The 2nd death was as much mysterious as the first. The bizarre illusionist, how did he fit in the story? From the pieces gathered there were two solutions. The first would be he was in fact the victim’s brother and not simply someone who knew his secret. The second would be that he was paid a large amount of money to play the part. The way how one could explain his death in either situation was that ultimately he was betrayed and killed. The circumstances would be the following: The 2nd victim was going to call “brother Henry”, whoever that person represented, to get his share that night, so he thought he no longer needed to work thus why he quit his job. The other possibility was that there was something really wrong with him.  Maybe being imprisoned and working at the mines affected his mind and suffered from episodes of dementia or the like making him believe he was someone’s brother. Negative. We’re getting off track with this type of reasoning and trying too hard to give meaning to this character’s odd behavior. I wasn’t thrilled by this theory but it made more sense with the appropriate tweaking. In the end, even though the victim showed some lack interest in money and it conflicted with the theory which suggested he was in for the money. It fits why he quit his job and went home early that night, thus the assumption was likely right. He was in for the money and was betrayed and killed by the culprit was the right one.

Suicide was not possible then it had to be murder. The “burned” mark on the coat was made to make it look like the culprit shot him at a close distance. Just for a moment I remembered the “missing coat” business at the victim’s home. My theory would be that culprit hid the weapon on the coat for any of the murders and the second was that he had the coat burned before the incident to make it look like it was from a close distance when it wasn’t.  Any other uses for the coat were possible though not many of them made much sense unless the coat had some use and it had to do with taking it out outside the house.  Anything else was rather vague. I easily created a counter theory where the culprit gave the 2nd victim the coat, but it started to be torn to pieces the moment it is revealed there was not anyone near the 2nd victim at the time the shot was fired, meaning that if the 2nd victim wasn’t shot from a distance then the burned mark on the victim’s clothes were actually from a close distance.

All statements are easily put in doubt when there is confirmation that the light was dim and it was at night, thus hard to see. The greatest point in favor of the culprit is the lack of footprints other than the victim’s making it look like it was done by a ghost.  A possible theory would be that the culprit borrowed without knowing or was given the coat by the culprit. What do we do about the gun laying 10 feet from the victim if wasn’t suicide? The way to bypass this could have been the victim being killed before everyone thought he was killed. The reason why the victim was seen still walking was because he was injured. The weapon he was carrying was his own because he feared he might be betrayed. That would be tje solution assuming there really was nobody in the same street near the victim and the idea the victim was not shot from a long distance. The first crime’s solution is connected to the two witness who made the locked room. The 2nd crime’s solution is the victim being injured before he was actually died.

The 1st coffin and now the 2nd coffin are done. The rest is to piece all the pieces together. There’s the culprit.

Heretic rant (spoiler)

A couple of things I have to say no matter what.
– Info only Dr. Fell knew about, therefore had to be explained to the reader such as the salt mines. It was impossible for the reader to knew any of that.
– There was no blood found at the scenes from the the wound the 1st victim suffered , thus making the theory that the 2nd victim was killed by the 1st victim hard to think of. They should’ve hinted at this.
– The illusion lecture was great. Huge mirror killed it a bit.
– The culprit lived for far too long. Though I can see where Dr. Fell’s lecture was getting at.
– Relied heavily on Luck. I simply rather not have stories rely too heavily on it. For example, the clock on that street was fast. Now. How was anyone going to think of that? It’d make more sense if the culprit own the place or was the one who messed with the clock.
– Many other and I don’t seem to the alone in this one but these are main ones. Everything else was great and most of it could be worked out by making theories which was the most important factor.

Puzzle Success Rate: 65%

Solid read, morbidly intriguing mystery. Impossible crime was intricate as it could get. Not a bad score for attempting to solve one of the best ‘locked-room’ plot ever written according to the world, but giving myself more than this will not do because the mystery went into far more detail. Managed to crack most of the tricks and was in the right track in most part. Yet ultimately Dr. Fell boomed through the room and had the last say on this one. Best out of the three Locked Rooms: The Three Coffins; To Wake the Dead; The Skeleton in the Clock (Mystery Guild Lost Classics Omnibus). It will difficult to top this off.

Higurashi Kira was bad and you should feel bad for liking it.

We are here to ask some questions. The topic is Higurashi KIRA.

A. Surely.

  Rank the Soul Brothers.

A. Kuraoudo, Toomi, and Irie.

Random thought.

A. Did Higurashi Kira just used a previously unofficial pic  for its opening this time around or is it just me?

Non-No Naku Koro Ni references in KIRA.

A. Apparently Higurashi has a Mad Scientist of their own.

  Iirie-sensei. Angel Mort and other travesties.

A. Iriie is plain cookie-cutter. Everything is Angel Mort with him – be that girls or guys.
That said, one can go immune thanks to the Seven Stakes so part of using the same trick backfired.

Q. Mention a Meta-world like experience.

A. I had vivid no Naku Koro ni dream twice. In one it was an impossible locked-room where the chain was on the OUTSIDE and it was impossible to get to the top floor therefore setting the chain or unlocking was impossible. The second was a good one. I was royally pissed to be woken up prematurely from the good one.

Q. Impossible locked room example to seal DEEN in. Give an EXAMPLE.

A. See above.

Satoshi in Higurashi Kira. How do we feel about THIS?

A. I thought Satoshi was in a coma. As far as Kira is concerned I wanted Satoshi to stay in a coma.

Q. It’s a battle between Takano and Rena who will you help if given the CHANCE?

A. Neither of them require assistance.

Q. Mion and Shion. How do you know they haven’t changed places because of some bet they previously had prior to any of the Kira events?

A. You do have a point.

Q. Higurashi Kira and fanservice drivel. 

A. One Day DEEN will realize Higurashi isn’t meant for fanservice and Umineko is a superior better pick. I’d have Deen have me as Game master of that production. I have some ideas but it is national security to not reveal the secrets behind it. Not that I’m implying either work should be made into one.

What do you propose to do about this ISSUE.

A. “A wise man said once I’m skipping to the Takano scenes” This child of man was onto something.

 Takano fanservice. Let’s be open on this MATTER.

A. Miki Itou. I thought that’s why Ushiromiya Eva had fans in the first place.

Q. The best type of fanservice to be CREATED.

A. “Reasoning Fanservice” as I call it. An endless intellectual orgy where theories, speculations, and unrestricted trains of thoughts meet.

Q. It’s summer,  heat waves, and the sound of crickets. How do you deal with IT?

A. Crickets are a poor’s man cicada. Everyone outside the game board knows that. Never mind, they aren’t but assuming that makes it better.

Q. How many blows can Takano provide with that FLUTE?

A. Accurately.. roughly.. 34 I hazard a guess.

 Clothes made of paper.

A. Paper huh. I sure could’ve used that hint a week ago.

Q. Soul Brothers. Do you see this happening in the Umineko world?

A. The way I see it there’d be two groups. Soul Furniture composed by Genji, Gohda, and Kanon. The Soul Siblings composed by Krauss, Rudolf, and Hideyoshi. Battler can be their wingman. Hold it, that’s too wrong.

Soul Siblings?

A. This expression upon my realizing my own response.

REI?

A. Rei was bearable.

Q. In what way is Higurashi Kira superior to Umineko REQUIEM?

A. Higurashi has no subtle or hard forced incest subtext. *ShionxMion* – I spoke too soon.

Q. In what way is the Umineko series superior to Higurashi in any fanservice-ish way?

A. Umineko has beaches and Higurashi has pools. A pool is limited, the sea is not. Umineko doesn’t have a crappy OP theme either.

Q. Meta-World is a lot like Keiichi mind in Kira. Draw a comparison and between the TWO.

A. They’re both self-indulging worlds. One more gratifying than the other. Cicadas in one and seagulls in the other. Goats in this one, not in the other.

…..

A. Rika and Satoko. I can’t see Rika and Satoko without thinking of Bern and Lambda anymore.

 Solution to the first Kira EPISODE.

A. Undoubtedly, a Last Part Queen problem.

We are DONE.

While random traveling in the sea of the internet I stumbled upon this (possibly old) news.
Yep, I’m looking at Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni visual novel. Probably the news I’ve heard of this project after I picked it up a couple of months ago. Why is it a good thing? Because I rather read the VN than read the manga because based on the first translated chapters I could hardly say many good things about the manga. It really needed a lot of more work done, then again if R07’s idea was to make a VN instead of a short manga in the first place it’ll make more sense the story would develop so slowly. But, truthfully even as a fan the manga had plenty to improve upon.

(Pre-Order Starting From July 11th)

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