When the Seagulls Cry #09 — Hands! Glorious Hands!

August 26th, 2009

 

Someone at Deen likes hands.

Impressions:

Aside from the delicious delicious handservice (that sounds even worse written than it does in my mind), a very talky episode that doesn’t actually cover a whole ton of ground but starts to cover a rather lot of the mysteries that are going to plague confound the audience and Battler for some time to come. Personally, I’m just happy that they removed Jessica’s screaming ghost from the "Is Kanon the murderer" scene. Rosa’s convinced that one of the servants did it, Battler’s convinced that Beatrice did it, Meta-Battler’s getting more confused, and it’s all wrapped up in a pretty flimsy metaphor about wolves and sheep. I mean, seriously, that’s like the easiest logic puzzle ever. There’s only one possible move that doesn’t fail the criteria right away, and as it turns out, it’s the right one. Who would have thought? Although usually the puzzle is done with cannibals and missionaries… because honestly… what are wolves and sheep doing with a boat?

Aaaaanyway, my complaining Professor Layton On Rokken Island aside, it was mostly still on the right track. Meta-Battler certainly didn’t exhaust the possibilities for that closed room, so I’m disappointed in him there, and my respect for the FLYING RED TEXT is dwindling. I’m pretty sure they were trying to show Battler being trapped or cornered in it by having it circle him, but it was also circling Beatrice, so instead it just felt like the CG team at Deen was feeling unloved and bored. Magical Evil Stake ‘Kanon’ was also a bit awkwardly handled. He fell out in a pool of blood, and then for the next two minutes or so, including all through his declarations of Rosa’s evil, all we got to see was his arm waving around. Maybe it’s this strange new hand fetish cropping up again.

FYI, I almost certainly won’t get to Juuden until tomorrow. Aside from the lack of sleep I’ve gotten the past few days, there are other things I want to invest my time in right now.

Brief Summary:

Jessica’s door is covered in blood, so, like all well intentioned citizens, they investigate and find her murdered. They immediately begin trying to figure out who, and Rosa’s convinced that Gohda or Kumasawa are behind it. After some arguing, they agree to consider the missing Kanon as the main suspect for now, but Battler’s not happy about that either. They find both Jess and Kanon’s keys in the (locked) room, so Battler proves Kanon’s innocence, but at the same time, casts suspect back on all of the servants. Still, everybody’s calmed down about it after talking things out. In the meta world, Battler knows more than his other self and Beatrice corners him with a sealed room that he can’t explain.

Maria shows Battler a puzzle book about wolves and sheep trying to cross a stream, but if the wolves outnumber the sheep, they’ll be eaten. Rosa excuses the servants and then talks with Battler and George. She still suspects the servants and sent them all off together as bait, to see which ‘sheep’ the ‘wolves’ will eat. George is really really not happy about this. Rosa, to be thorough, even points out that Battler could be complicit, but doesn’t actually believe that herself.

In the kitchen, the servants all happily make food when they hear a noise. A bloodied Kanon comes tumbling in and tells them that Rosa’s the one who stabbed him. They take him to a study where he keeps repeating that Rosa is the murderer. Shannon suspects something and runs off. Kanon starts babbling crazily and sits up. He tears the bandages off and starts digging into his wound. Shannon returns with a handkerchief and accuses Kanon of being fake. ‘Kanon’ attacks her, but she leaps away. He kills Kumisawa and Nanjo in the attack, but is tackled against the wall by Gohda and then stabbed in the arm by Genji. Genji then forces the handkerchief against ‘Kanon’ and he disintegrates into a stake.  

Posted in Umineko | 11 Comments »

11 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • Longhaul says:

    just to note, its spiderwebs in the hankey that shannon has

  • Sterling01 says:

    Why are they yelling “Barrel” to a barrel?

  • Aroduc says:

    Because barrel!

  • blkmage says:

    Hands? But Ryukishi07 hates hands!

  • alexen says:

    I wonder how it’d b like if they don’t censor wounds and stuff like that…(-,-)

  • Tylon says:

    What is the relationship between the spider web and the fake?
    Predator and prey? Spider and butterfly(?)
    WHAT IS GOING ON???

    • Digdri says:

      Your guess is as good as everyones. The games didn’t give a definitive answer to this til now, either.
      Guess its about really a metaphor about spiders and butterflies. That motif was used in later scenes too but without any connection to this stuff here.

    • karasu says:

      it’s just some stupid superstition shit about cobwebs being a bane for demons.

  • Bill says:

    >>I’m just happy that they removed Jessica’s screaming ghost from the “Is Kanon the murderer” scene.

    NOOOO!!! I loved that part

  • Serpit says:

    >>Magical Evil Stake ‘Kanon’ was also a bit awkwardly handled. He fell out in a pool of blood, and then for the next two minutes or so, including all through his declarations of Rosa’s evil, all we got to see was his arm waving around.

    Well, obviously they wanted to hide the LUNAT-… EVIL RED EYES until the last moment.

  • Rawr says:

    The fact that it was circling Beatrice was because Battler forced those lines on her, wasn’t it? She cannot lie, so it’s pretty accurate of them to show it constricting her when she has to say it because it’s true.