When the Seagulls Cry #13 — Magical Girl Lucifer

September 23rd, 2009

 

Pants really must be getting expensive in Japan.

Impressions:

Let’s get the bad out of the way first because this was mostly a rather good episode. The narrative was… not the best around. We started with Rosa telling the story of Beatrice’s death in the past, and then once that finished, we completely lost track of that entire side of the conversation as the narrative leapt over to elsewhere on the island in the present day. At least show a reaction shot or people gasping or something to actually close that off. You’re going to have to come back to it eventually, and it’s bad form to introduce something as noteworthy as Eva’s craziness and then completely drop it for a week when it is in fact, rather important. Beatrice’s death was also a bit silly, but that’s a shared issue between both the VN and the show, so I’m willing to let it slide. Plus, Beatrice is probably lying about it anyway.

On the upside, the rest of the episode, mostly focusing on a happier… or at least more existential Beatrice and then going into the deaths of the first Twilight was all rather fun. It’s easy to understand Battler’s disbelief that the nice Beatrice isn’t some kind of fake, and Ronove provides a way to give some (red) information about Beatrice that there would otherwise probably not be any decent way to go about getting. Granted, all we really picked up from it was that Beatrice was a real person and in this version of the world, she’s dead, but hey… confirmation that Beatrice exists is a big step forward. The slaughter of the household was all decent enough, but the real goal there was pretty much just to show off some stake thighs. I never really expect much from Deen’s action sequences, and the low expectations keep me from being disappointed.

Plus, we’ve got the showdown with Virgilia to look forward to next week… and we haven’t even gotten into… well… anything about crazy crazy Eva yet. And for the record, this isn’t some weird in-between still. Deen is somehow just getting less adept at drawing faces as we go.

Brief Summary:

Rosa tells the others about how she met the witch Beatrice, who was being held ‘captive’ in a hidden mansion on the island. Battler’s skeptical of this version of Beatrice, but she’s not providing any answers. Ronove uses the red text to tell Battler that in 1967, a woman named Beatrice did live here. Rosa talked with Beatrice, and convinced her that it was safe to leave, but while they were walking by the cliffside, Beatrice slipped and fell to her death. Meta-Beatrice confirms her own death and cackles with glee.

Back in the present, Shannon and Kanon are brought to Kinzo, where they find him playing chess with Beatrice. She beats him, and he catches flame and dies. Kanon’s not pleased with the status quo, so Beatrice brings out the stake, Lucifer and the two fight. Kanon overcomes her, but she transforms into her stake form. Kanon takes her in the hand, thus beating her, but Beatrice brings out the rest of the stakes. Shannon uses her barrier to protect them, but they have no chance of winning. Genji finally ends it by using his powers on them and they fall. Ronove kills Genji afterward while Beatrice is annoyed with how boring it ended up. In the kitchen, the stakes ambush and kill Gohda.

The stakes try to ambush Kumasawa, the final servant, but are blasted away. Beatrice appears and tells them that Kumasaw is out of their league, she’s the previous Beatrice. Kumasawa transforms into Virgilia.

 

Posted in Umineko | 7 Comments »

7 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • Anonymous says:

    Lucifer’s chest seems to have enlarged.

  • Kit says:

    Woot, moe moe stakes of purgatory 8D

  • Ian says:

    Indeed, the abrupt change in story pacing does little to deter this increasingly improving adaptation.

    I’m sure fans know what next week is…

  • sage says:

    If they don’t use the original version of “red shoes (fake)“, I’m going to rage so hard.

  • Aexellion says:

    Galaxy Angel Translation! ;__;
    Was it halted?