When Beatrice is away, the other witches will play.
Creative Staff
Story: Ryukishi07
Art: Akitaka
Translation/Adaptation: Stephen Paul
What They Say
Beatrice is dead, her soul shattered by Battler at her own request. Though her body sits across the chessboard, she is no more than a husk of the laughing, impulsive witch she once was. Lambdadelta is more than happy to preside over the fifth game, and Bernkastel willingly steps in for Battler as he takes his leave to collect his thoughts. But two witches can cause all manner of mischief when left to their own devices, especially when they care as little for rules as Lambdadelta…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
We enter a new arc and a second go around of the four scenarios of the incident on Rokkenjima. This is the true halfway point of the series and yet Battler is still stuck in the purgatory of the witches.
Beatrice submitted to Battler at the end of the last game, yet that wasn’t a victory or an end to the story. Instead, it created another problem, a comatose Beatrice that can’t continue the game. The two witches Lambdadelta and Bernkastel sneer and snarl, plot and scheme to continue the game without Beatrice. Bern has always claimed to be on Battler’s side, but she isn’t working toward his best interest. Battler knows all this and tries to walk away because this fight is his and Beatrice’s, not theirs. Yet the game continues without him, circling back around to the first game once again.
At this point it’s become clear Battler has a bit of Stockholm syndrome going on. He seems distraught Beatrice is in her current state. By the time Battler gets over himself and rejoins the game Bern has inserted herself into the story, plopping a character called Erika into the island scenario. In true self-inserted fashion, her delightful and perfect shipwrecked girl is instantly loved by the family. Battler is disgusted by this rampant act of fanfiction in the middle of his family’s life or death struggle. Yet none of that is what’s truly of interest here…
The new bit of information we receive during this scenario is that Natsuhi might have a son? We don’t have all the details, yet, but that will be an interesting thing to consider. We’re given some nice glimpses into both her and Krauss’ marriage which lightens my opinion on Krauss after all of the previous books. The witches toy with Natsuhi, driving her into a corner as she and her husband try to hide the truth of the death of the head of the Ushiromiya family. The rest of the siblings circle their wagons at the smell of money, yet the greatest change to the game comes not from backstabbing, but Battler solving the riddle.
Except it’s not Battler, it’s his double being played by Bern as the real Battler watches and is consumed with his own mystery. He wants to know the truth to Beatrice’s words at the end of the last game. The events she tied to him that he doesn’t seem to be aware of yet might be the key to escaping from this very personal hell. No matter what the two playful, sadistic witches of Miracles and Certainty seem to be up to he ignores them, driven to awaken Beatrice.
Watching Battler throughout this story has been an exercise in frustration. For every step forward he takes he also takes two back. The fact that he now seems obsessed with Beatrice is one of those moments, because while the growing obsession is maddening I think he’s on the right track trying to get to the bottom of what is driving Beatrice and of whom or what she really is and why she appears to be targeting him. We are told one key bit of the mystery, Battler is not the murderer in any of the games, his name cleared by the rules of good detective fiction. That would have been anti-climatic after everything anyway.
Akitaka takes over as the artist for the End of the Golden Witch arc. Akitaka’s art has a sketchy look that’s slightly more generic than some of the other artists from this series. The adult characters with actual geometry in their faces aren’t drawn particularly well or convincingly, a problem that I often see in manga. However the panel flow is good and the crazy faces are on point, which is always important in this series. Even if it’s not my favorite style for this series, the art is still miles beyond the original art from the game.
In Summary
The mystery of the epitaph and the secrets hiding in Natsuhi’s past drive the focal point of this story arc of Umineko. The art has been switched up once again, but the spirit remains the same. The gore and violence which have taken center stage in this tragic mystery are currently on hold as Bern’s pawn Erika is the second to solve the riddle of the hidden gold. While the two competing witches play their twisted game Beatrice remains a shell, devoid of the machinations which empowered her to take up this game against Battler. Yet Battler has moved beyond the shock and horror played against him and is trying to pull apart the greater mystery of Beatrice’s motivations. Magic or logic, none of that seems to matter to him anymore. Whatever smarts Battler may lack as a detective he might make up for in emotional contemplativeness. Or it could be his downfall once again, we shall see.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B +
Text/Translation Grade: A –
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: May 19th, 2015
MSRP: $20.00
