Board 8 > Arria played Umineko again (blind) (play/readthrough) SPOILERS WELCOME

(+) Yeah! (+)

The translators used the wrong form of the word ‘faze’ (used ‘phase’ instead) which triggered my inner grammar nazi, but no one gets it right, so I didn’t complain.

Game: Shannon and Jessica were the same age, sex, and friends
K: (laughing internally because I know better than to call Shannon and Jessica the same sex)
A: I remember those days. We used to talk about eternal love. Now we have husbands and we only care about kinks. And cats. Cats are… cats. (she says this while petting a stuffed zergling)

Game: (something about Jessica developing an interest in the few people on Rokkenjima)
A: “It was either him or Genji. And I would have gone with Genji. I like older men… I’m a horrible, horrible human being.”

We just had a conversation that went from Umineko to T-cells to Blue’s Clues to flamingoes in about five sentences. There is something fundamentally wrong with us and I love it.

Jessica has a sprite/face that looks guilty as fuck. A: “This is the face of someone who just killed someone. Like she’s thinking ‘mommy, before I explain, I love you. Please don’t be mad.’”

The idea of Yasu switching between cheerful, excited Shannon to sullen Kanon just kills me. Either this scene never happened or he’s the world’s greatest actor.

A: “Kanon, dear idiot. You are so oblivious…”
Game: Kanon wasn’t an idiot…
A: “Could’ve fooled me!”
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Eerieka posted...

Raka_Putra posted...

Man, it must be interesting to think what was going on in Yasu's mind with the whole Jessica and Kanon thing. Is she really into her, or is that just because it's fun and easy and Jessica is a warm person then it got intense, or because it's her way to cope with George and Battler, or what.

It is a strange situation. I think Yasu genuinely likes all the cousins and would be content to 'be with' any of them. It's like they say in ep 6 - Shannon will fight to win George and Kanon will fight to win Jessica. They'll both do their best to win, but whoever win, the other will accept it.

Ep8 actually specifically brings up a theory via a goat that Shannon and Kanin don't love George and Jessica really and are just using them. All 4 characters take great offense to that.

I think it's pretty safe to say the relationships are real all around and it's just very confusing for Sayo.

yeah being attracted to more than one person is not inconceivable.
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It's a weird fetish for sure.
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Oh goodness. She said that puzzle pieces were coming to her. Something about flower petal coming into the form of a flower. She’s really thinking hard on this one. Holy shit, she might say something really deep an insightful!

She said a lot of stuff and I couldn’t keep track of it all so I made her type it up while I went to do a load of laundry (I live in an apartment with shitty coin-operated washer-dryers whereas Arria lives in a house with her own washer-dryer, so I bring my laundry to her house when I visit). I put a lot of spaces between this and the rest of the document so she wouldn’t read some of the stuff above. She asked if I had typed any spoilers recently, and I said that a while ago, the game blatantly lied to our face and I called it out on its bullshit (the line about Shannon and Jessica being the same sex). Now I got her wondering what the lie was lol. Anyway, these are her thoughts in her own words:

Arria’s typing (with Kira editing for grammar because Arria doesn’t know how to use commas): “If this is all symbolic, it is of the fact that Shannon had the “Oh well shit I really do love this guy” epiphany about George. It is showing her slowly becoming more confident as she tries to be more what she feels would be a normal human as opposed to furniture. I think that maybe lack of sleep, stress, and no food combined to give her a hallucination that presented a solution to the “impossible” – her being with George, and this deluded her into believing magic is real and was the way to get her happiness. It is the argument Battler used in the Metaverse: If magic is real then it can do anything and explain anything. Any number of coincidences or luck could be pawned off as a magical piece of jewelry affecting the world around her to aid her. Once she and George got together, she started trying to subtly (for her) get Kanon to be with Jessica because she loves Kanon and she is fond of Jessica and she wants them to be as happy as she is. Kanon’s constant refusal to deal with Beatrice is just the symbolism of him refusing to accept that he (or she) is worthy of love from one of their “betters.” I am trying very hard to come up with a Beatrice-less theory but the game and my own innate love of stories about wizards witches and magic is making it very hard. One of the things I kept thinking was a justification of the witch story was this: take the bar of gold scene between Krauss and Natsuhi, but what if the gold was smelted after Kinzo made his fortune? What if it is really a lead bar coated in gold? Krauss would never know the difference. For that matter what if that whole scene is just supposed to show how close they are as a couple to show that they are working together and that maybe they have knowledge separate from the rest of the family.”

A: “That has been Arria’s tinfoil hat hour. Thank you for joining us.”
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I mean, it didn't technically lie, because Shannon and Kanon are fantasy characters that really are female and male, just like Beatrice really is female herself.

But yeah. Its basically a lie XD


Also that is a really good sign she is thinking of stuff like that already!

Yeah it's hard to talk about sex and gender in regards to Yasu and all his personalities. D: In any case, the issue with Shannon/Kanon is one that I am especially careful with. This is something I want Arria to discover on her own with no hinting from me. Same thing with Kinzo already being dead. I hope she realizes that on her own before it's revealed outright. I plan to have her stop and come up with a solution for the ep 3 red web.

I'm proud of her for thinking about the story already, though part of why she's doing it is that I'm encouraging her. When I first read, I didn't do much thinking at all. I kinda wish I'd had someone to prod me along during my first readthrough.
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The theory crafting and energy in the fanbase is why I'm super glad I followed Umineko while it was coming out.

I can't wait for the next WTC (coming out this year!) specifically so I can possibly relive that again. Hopefully Mangagamer can translate it as they come out like how Witch Hunt did with Umineko (well, Witch Hunt might be working with them too, I don't actually know...).

Yeah, I've read my fair share of Umineko readthrough topics. They're always a blast, and it's fun seeing other people react and craft ideas.

I told Arria that Ryukishi was working on a new WTC and she wants to read it right away so she can be part of that community. I'm not sure how the timing will work out since I don't really want her going on forums and such where there might be Umineko spoilers and I'm doubtful she'll be finished any time soon. I also wonder if Ryukishi might put in some kind of 'fan service' that would be a spoiler for Umineko. In any case, I'll probably read it first to check for spoilers and then give Arria the okay when I decide it's good.

Whatever the case, assuming the next WTC is a long episode-based series, Arria should be done with Umineko before WTC5 gets too far underway.

When we read it, we'll probably do another readthrough.
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OMG, another WTC? Yesss, it's been too long.

And I second tcaz, it's great that she's thinking that far and she's in mostly the right direction anyway.
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Yeah Ryuukishi announced it back in like January or so. The only thing we really know about it is a teaser image which showed a feather and the skyline of Dubai. And Ryuukishi saying it will be a "global story this time", whatever that means. Also he is only doing one per year this time, because it's become harder for him to write at the 2 per year pace.

That pace makes a lot more sense, honestly. I like to write stories, so I know about how many words I can write within certain time periods. I always thought it was crazy how he cranked out so many words every six months. Though to be fair, I've always had other things on my plate, whether it was school or a job, so my 'word count per year' would be lower than someone with the power to stay at home and write all day. I don't know what Ryukishi's personal life is like. Hell, I don't know anything about the man, other than that his friend passed away while he was writing one of the later episodes and that was why some of those episodes had a different tone.
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Girls: kyaaa~ Kanon-kun kawaii~ he calls her milady and sama!
A: That escalated quickly. Also, why does it look like Kanon just escaped from somewhere?”

She questions why some of these lines come with multiple quotation marks.
K: I think it’s to represent how many people are speaking. So three quotation marks means three people.”
A: “I like how there’s progressively more women screaming!” (as it grows to four and five quotation marks)
Jessica: “Close your eyes, Kanon-kun”
A: While I beat the shit out of these girls!”
Girls: Kiss! Kiss!
Jessica: *beats the shit out of them*
A: I wasn’t wrong! Also, some of that sounded like fucking thunder. Jessica confirmed for Zeus. Or Thor.

K: This whole scene is like Ryukishi just gave up, wrote something for fun, then decided ‘eh fuck it, I’ll put this in my novel anyway!’”

The game mentions Jessica having brass knuckles. A: What the fuck? You’re right, Ryukishi just gave up. Do you causally carry around brass knuckles?”

Game: Jessica was in such high moods that alcohol might have been involved
A: *snort* that’s what I think about you, Narrator.

Game: Kanon had some magic words to chase off the girls
A: Are the magic words ‘I’m gay’? Or ‘I have syphilis’? Oh, what about ‘I’m a chair.’ No, ‘I’m a knife-block.’ If I said I was a chair, they might say ‘oh I’ll sit on you, baby.’ No, a fireplace. ‘Sit on me, and I’ll burn your ass.’”
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"I'm a chair" part was hilarious lol.

Thunder lol. Now that she mentioned it, I don't know how realistic carrying a brass knuckle at school would be. But if that's the part of Umineko I complain about, it would be just too sad.
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Kanon isn't a chair he's a coat rack

That's why his arm is up all the time

Raka_Putra posted...

"I'm a chair" part was hilarious lol.

Thunder lol. Now that she mentioned it, I don't know how realistic carrying a brass knuckle at school would be. But if that's the part of Umineko I complain about, it would be just too sad.

Depends on the school, I'd say. I mean, brass knuckles are small enough and easy to conceal, so that's not an issue. As for whether kids do/should bring weapons at all, I can only speak from my American perspective. In the city I live in, there are wealthy/safer areas and poor/dangerous areas. I went to one of the safer high schools, but I did some volunteer work at one of the poorest as well. During an anonymous survey of the student body, many admitted to bringing weapons to school because they have to walk to school and they didn't feel safe walking alone through that neighborhood.

Course, none of that really applies to Jessica, unless she's fighting sea monsters on the boat ride.
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Oh lawdy, the tsurupettan scene. I don’t think Arria understands any of this. She knows what Touhou is, so I just tell her it’s a Touhou thing, and that this song referenced Higurashi so Ryukishi returned the favor in referencing the song here.

Arria keeps mentioning that she wants to hit her head in a wall whenever Kanon says something cringeworthy and she said here “that wall is looking real tempting.”

Natsuhi acted happy for Jessica and said she did a good job
A: What the fuck? She saw that? And approved of it?
Then Natsuhi talks about Jessica speaking at a student conference
A: “That actually made me sad. Jessica was so happy she got attention from her mom, but then… Natsuhi crushed it.”

A: “Kanon has the emotional range of a tea spoon.”

Jessica asks something about the difference between them
A: Here’s a hint, dumbass. If you stick your hand in your pants and the other hand in Jessica’s skirt, you’ll figure it out

Every time Arria talks about Shannon’s or Kanon’s private parts I want to chuckle a little bit. I hope if she’s noticing my facial reactions, she think I’m just laughing at her silly jokes and not at the fact that Kanon doesn’t have a penis. I mean, Shannon did say earlier that he had no ****.
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Eerieka posted...

A: What the fuck? She saw that? And approved of it?

lol
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Eerieka posted...

A: “That actually made me sad. Jessica was so happy she got attention from her mom, but then… Natsuhi crushed it.”

As sad as stuff like this is, it really helps drive the message of Umineko home and is what makes a lot of these characters really great (especially the adult women, who IMO get the best character development in the series that isn't Sayo). It's definitely very deliberate that Ryuukishi made Natsuhi so easy to sympathize with in Ep1, and then you see her as Jessica sees her in Ep2.

Also I'm sad you didn't explain to her that the song was about flat chests.

Natsuhi is great from all perspectives, despite how flawed she is. If anything, her flaws make her that much more compelling. Arria told me a while ago that reading about Natsuhi helped her defend a customer at her work that she normally wouldn't have sympathized with. I don't want to go into too much detail because Arria has asked that I keep notes about her personal life to a minimum (and because I don't want either of us to sound like a bigot here), but essentially what I can say is this: a woman who belongs to a specific "group" came into her workplace. This group of people aren't well known for treating women well. This woman was rude and very specific about how her she wanted her product made. Once the woman left, Arria's coworker complained about how rude that woman had been. To which Arria, having realized the woman was basically a real life Natsuhi, replied: "She's a borrowed womb. Her husband probably controls every aspect of her life. (The product) might be the only thing in her life she has control over."

Anyway, with regards to Tsurupettan, you're right. I forgot to mention it's about flat chests. I probably would have told her if I thought it would shock her. I'll let her know next time we meet, just so she's aware.
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Jessica: Another me!
A: Oh good, you have MPD! Fun!

A: what kind of furniture are you? I’m going to the living room on a journey of self discovery! I must learn the ways of my people.

Jessica: I’m not talking about escaping from reality
A; No, you are! You’re encouraging Kanon to look at reality, saying (pointing) ‘nope, not today’ and running in the other direction.”

Game: line about Shannon giving birth to a self that isn’t furniture
Arria: *laughs*
Like, a lot of laughing. She even recommended that I just type that line, and then her laughing. She’s STILL laughing even after I’ve finished typing this.

Oh god she won’t stop. It’s the joke that keeps on giving.

Jessica asks for Kanon’s real name. It’s not forthcoming. A: “Oh my god you cocktease.”

She then threatened to wiki his real name and I flipped out and told her not to and now I’m kinda worried that she thinks it’s some big awesome secret because I overreacted.

A: I want to do physical damage to Kanon right now, and I’m not sure why.”
Kanon: something about a duck
A; I expect Jessica’s next line to be about liking ducks
Kanon: ducks can’t fly
A; what the fuck are you talking about? I’ve seen lots of lazy ass ducks fly! I hope Disney now makes Donald Duck fly just to say fuck you.
Jessica: FURNITURE AND DUCKS
Arria tried to take a screen cap of that, but it didn’t work out. “I want to show someone that screen cap any time they ask what Umineko is about.”
A: Also, this is the weirdest lovers quarrel I’ve ever seen. Any time you have to convince your lover that they aren’t a duck, something is wrong.
A: YOU WEREN’T CARVED OUT OF WOOD. OR HATCHED FROM AN EGG. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? This is some hardcore brainwashing.

Kanon: humans can’t love furniture
A: I’m sure the internet would prove that wrong
We then spend an unhealthy amount of time looking up pictures that prove Kanon’s statement wrong and now I feel the need to clean my google image search history with soap

Jessica is sad
A: Now she’s gonna run home crying and lock herself in her room with tapioca pudding.

Beatrice appears and shares Arria’s thoughts. A: Thank you, Beatrice. Burn Kanon for me, please.”

A: I wonder if Beatrice is different because we see her from different people’s point of view.”

A: I agree with the voice in my head. You’re the reason people invented broadswords.”
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That was all I had, but with any luck I'll see Arria pretty soon. We're in finals week, but her last test is on Wednesday. I'll keep this topic bumped a bit unless it turns out I won't see her for quite a while.
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Wednesday as in this Wednesday? That's not too long from now.

Eerieka posted...

She then threatened to wiki his real name and I flipped out and told her not to and now I’m kinda worried that she thinks it’s some big awesome secret because I overreacted.

Oh geez, I hope she wouldn't do it. Googling anything Umineko while you're playing it the first time is just a terrible idea.
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I think she was just being silly with that. She's pretty good about not googling things that she's interested in. She told me that she was on TV Tropes looking up something else unrelated to Umineko, but then she went to a page with a picture from the Umineko anime. She immediately clicked away, worried about spoilers.

Yeah, her last test is Wednesday as in tomorrow, but I haven't talked to her about when we'll next hang out.
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Looks like our next hang out date is on the 21st. A week from today. Ehhh... I guess I'll keep it bumped. I'd rather not make a new topic if I don't have to. Any longer of a wait, and I'd say let it purge.
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Bump. Arria got a dog since the last time we met, so I also get to meet him on Wednesday. :)
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Aww is it a boy or a girl?
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Boy doggo. Rottweiler.
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Also in personal news, I graduated from college! I have a BS in Biology now... which as far as I'm concerned means I can bullshit about biology. :D
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are you planning to do something with that degree or are you continuing you education?
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Undecided at the moment. I'd like to work and get some real world experience. Ideally, I'd like to work in a lab doing pathology type work, but I really, really don't want to go to med school so I need to find something that I can do with just the degree I have. I would also like to get a Master's degree someday, but that's a few years down the road and also depends on where I am in life in five-ten years. A PhD might be pushing it. I don't want to just do research the rest of my life.
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bump. The days go by so slowly during summer break. D: It seems like it'll be forever before Wednesday gets here.
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Bump again. Congrats for your graduation! Did you have a specific area of research?
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Thanks, Raka. I didn't have anything specific officially, but I tended to take classes that were focused on human physiology, virology, microbiology, and genetics. The sort of classes that would lend one to working in a lab. I really enjoy genetics and my ideal job would be something in that nature, but most stuff requires going to med school which I don't want to do.

Today is Father's Day, at least in America. It was actually started in the city that Arria and I live in. About 100 years ago, a resident of our city wanted to celebrate her father, a veteran of the civil war, who raised her and her daughters alone after the death of their mother. The woman attended a church and asked the pastors to have a sermon celebrating fathers, which ended up turning into Father's Day nationwide. That church was called something else back then, but today it's the Knox Presbyterian Church, located on Knox Street. Just south of that street is Shannon Street. Then three roads south is Augusta Street. There's also a Cannon street that goes north-south, and even intersects at Shannon. Every time I drive down a north-south street that intersects them, I always think of the Umineko characters with those names. XD (For the record, the Knox church was named after a different Knox, a protestant. Doesn't stop me from thinking of good ol' Dlanor instead though lol)
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That's really cool! I loved Biology at HS, went to competitions and all, but didn't pursue it further. Still has a place in my heart lol.

Ooh, those are really cool trivia. XD I'd probably think the same if I were there.
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Oddly I was the opposite. I used to not care for science that much. In high school, I did a lot of language and history classes. I took only the minimum required amount of science classes to graduate. But when I went to college, I had no idea what I wanted to major in and I felt like language/history degrees wouldn't get me anywhere. I took the introductory biology and chemistry courses in my third year as I was starting to get desperate to declare a major. Something clicked in me in biology and I began to really enjoy it, so that's what I pursued. Because it took me so damn long to figure it out, I ended up having to attend five years of college, but that's fine.

Anyway, just a few more days until more seacats.
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I hope there's a woman named Beatrice living at the intersection of Cannon and Shannon
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It is a residential area, so you never know!

Now I'm kinda tempted to dress up as Beatrice and take a picture under the street sign. XD
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Bump. Tomorrow's the day!
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I sent her a message to remind her that we're hanging out tomorrow (and to tell her that I bought a bigger pot so we can make mac and cheese). We had this little exchange:

A: I cant wait. I need my Umineko fix.
K: goooood
A: Also tomorrow I expect you to take the head off of Maria and drink her innards
K: fuhuhu, we may not reach that part by tomorrow. Maybe a few more play sessions
A: I will be doing the same to Jessica

I don’t think Arria knows about the scene where Maria’s head gets fed to Rosa. She thinks my comment is just me being silly and referring to a future upcoming death. She doesn’t realize how spot on that was, that eating a beheaded Maria’s innards is a real thing that will happen. This is great.
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Hahahaha! I hope you'll bring it up again when the scene comes. Also I wonder what she has to say about the other delicacies.
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Eerieka posted...

I don’t think Arria knows about the scene where Maria’s head gets fed to Rosa. She thinks my comment is just me being silly and referring to a future upcoming death. She doesn’t realize how spot on that was, that eating a beheaded Maria’s innards is a real thing that will happen. This is great.

TBF in the VN its just the goats leading Maria to an oven while whole

The anime invented the Maria head thing

Man, well chalk that up to one thing the anime did that I liked! I enjoyed that scene of headless Maria

Arria is playing right now, but we keep getting distracted by random things so we may not make any actual progress. It's been funny though, so there's at least that to look forward to!
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Eerieka posted...

Man, well chalk that up to one thing the anime did that I liked! I enjoyed that scene of headless Maria

I thought it was incredibly NARMy and ruined the scene pretty badly by making it too absurd to take seriously

Granted it wasn't the worst example of such though

Lol. I totally get your point, tcaz, but I don't mind a little bit of narm. And I'm still a bit of an edgelord so some extra narm is fine with me.

In that case, I might show Arria that scene from the anime when we get there. She may enjoy it.
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Day 6 6/21/2017

And here we start with child abuse. Rosa for Mother of the Year All Years. I actually really love Rosa. She’s such a great character, flaws and all.

Maria is crying about wanting to dress like a witch and Arria says that she already is kinda dressed up, what with the crown and such.

A: “Anyone get the idea that the real world is gonna sucker punch her?”
We talk a little bit about people in real life who have mental disabilities. I worry about my nephew who has… something. His mother/my sister says it’s autism, but I think it’s either something else or something more to it. Yesterday was his 7th birthday but mentally he’s still perhaps 3. I worry because I don’t know what my sister will do with him when he’s grown. Will he always need to live at home? Will his sister (my very smart and dependable niece) have to take care of him for her whole life? I know another girl in a similar situation. She’s an adult but because of her mental situation she can’t really handle being in the real world or having a real job. Arria told me about some jobs available to people with her condition, so I’ll pass it along next time I see her. In any case, I know people can be institutionalized when there’s no one else to take care of them, but as I know nothing about such facilities (and perhaps my imagination is running wild), I feel like that should be the last option. Anyway, enough tangents for now…

A: “I like how Rosa gets fluffy when she’s mad.”

When the old woman gives Maria the candy she asks if they just hired an old woman to do a few lines, or if it was Kumasawa’s VA or something. I have no idea.

Arria rolled her eyes as Maria cried about Rosa taking the candy away.

I asked Arria how she would react if she were in Rosa’s shoes when Maria took candy from a stranger.
A: I would engineer it so that if it happened once, I’ll make it happen twice with someone as an accomplice, except the candy would be something like a cross between that shit you put on your fingernails to make kids stop biting them, those jelly beans that taste like various god-awful things, an atomic fireball, and a warhead. That kid’s gonna stick that candy in her mouth and eat it all. That’ll teach her not to take candy from strangers!
K: Might also be child abuse, but that’s neither here nor there.
A: Let’s be honest. If Maria were my kid, this would never become an issue.

A: This is going to reach a breaking point. The more she screams, the more you hit her. The more you hit her, the more she screams. And this is in public! This is gonna end in a hospital visit or with her dead. I wonder if she’s ever knocked Maria unconscious.

Rosa: This is why Papa’s business trip never ends.
Arria: Hoo boy! Rosa is fucking done.

Then the station attendant gets involved
A: You must be new here! As someone who has worked customer service, you never get involved in a mother and child situation. Just call your manager. Use whatever code gets them here RIGHT away and let them deal with it, or call the cops if necessary. If you get the mother’s attention you just drew agro and you better be a tank.
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I kinda forgot, but did Arria like Rosa in the first episode?
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Eerieka posted...

Rosa: This is why Papa’s business trip never ends.

haha yeesh
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Raka_Putra posted...

I kinda forgot, but did Arria like Rosa in the first episode?

Yep, Rosa was in the top 3 with only Natsuhi and Kyrie above her.

And good news, everyone. I'll be seeing Arria again on Monday 6/26, so I figure I'll have a lot of material for a while lol

Last night, we read a lot but she kinda got tired of Maria shenanigans, so we took a break from Umineko. She's been wanting to play 999 as well, so I wrote down her thoughts on that. I might make a playthrough topic for that, too, once she gets a little further in.
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Oh yeah, so her comment about beheading Maria and Jessica and drinking their innards actually had a deeper meaning. Behold our drinks for the day:

Rosa: …. I did it… again
A: Dear sweet Rosa. Poor Rosa. I’d love to introduce you Mommy’s little helper. It’s name is Benadryl.
Rosa: … surrendered her soul to evil again
A: And now you because the mother from Carrie.

I don’t know if Benadryl has the same reputation in other parts of the world, but here it’s known to be used (not the intended purpose) to make people fall drowsy, so some parents give it to their kids to make them fall asleep. Arria is only recommending this for comedic purposes, and we are not actually recommending that anyone drugs their child.

Maria: Mama, come back!
A: You are the poor child that gets left somewhere.

Rosa: I’m so sorry.
A: Don’t apologize. You’re showing weakness to the little brat. You have to be stern.

Game: stuff about Rosa being possessed by the black witch
A: Is she really a witch?
K: (how to explain this without spoilers?) It’s just Maria’s perspective.

I know that Rosa never gets an official witch-version like Eva, Maria, or Ange. Though there is fan art of her as a witch that I really like. Still, I’m trying not to give away that there are witch versions of anyone.

Scene with Krauss and Natsuhi.
A: They really do love each other, don’t they?
K: Yes. I think all the married characters genuinely love each other. They just show it in different ways
A: These two are kinda like a British nobility stereotype. And Eva and Hideyoshi seem like the kind of people who married young when divorce wasn’t really a thing so they just dealt with it. And Kyrie is Rudolf’s midlife crisis made good.
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