2/18/2023 0 Comments Yasu umineko![]() Virgilia calling Beatrice (Yasu) “princess” here is sweet, but sad. In a way, Ryukishi’s decision to suddenly include her actually muddled a few clues-with Virgilia as a “predecessor Beatrice.” This is an allusion to Kumasawa teaching Yasu the basics of her magic and forming the basis of her worldview, but still, as far as the line of successive Beatrices go, it probably would have been clearer if Gaap had been Beatrice’s only fantasy friend. Hi, Virgilia! I really enjoy Virgilia as a character, so I’m glad she was included, but I still wonder what the originally planned Virgilius would have been like, too. Achieving the “magic” to undo this, as Beatrice, is limited to the realm of fiction and entirely internal mental coping devices. Yasu realizes she can’t take back what she’s done in breaking the vase no matter what she does it’s irreversible. This scene really encapsulates a lot of what Umineko is about, and how it differs fundamentally from Higurashi. Yasu’s poor self-esteem comes through even here: “Because of that, if someone like me touched it with their finger, it would quickly.” It was a beauty that could only dwell in something that could break so easily.” We’re sure delving straightforwardly into the themes here, though. “Because something this beautiful shouldn’t be touched. And the way she frames her world and her observations so that everything takes on meaning. Yasu’s voice is so very strikingly her - reflective, hesitant, contemplative, observant, and quietly yearning. The way she pieces together a history that is hers in spirit but fantasy in its mechanics, as Beatrice, and where all of those elements come from, are really interesting. But then there’s a layer of the person she addresses here as “Grandfather,” with a frightening temper - obviously Kinzo - but Yasu didn’t know that in her childhood, only in hindsight. I don’t really doubt that this scene is based off of something that probably happened between Kumasawa and Yasu in the real world - Yasu breaking something as a clumsy servant, and Kumasawa covering for her to keep her out of trouble. The danger in this scene is that the way it mixes fantasy and reality in a manner that has meaning, but obfuscates which is which. Yasu will break through in snatches and glimmers, such as Shannon breaking the mirror in EP2, and certain lines with Beatrice in EP4, but here… This fantasy flashback in Kuwadorian is key in several ways: first, it explains to you much of the nature of magic, second, it’s an extremely strong hint to the nature of the Beatrices (ie, there’s more than one, since the young Beatrice here cannot be the Kuwadorian Beatrice that Rosa recalls meeting later), and finally… this is probably our single closest depiction of an unfiltered “Yasu,” in terms of her personality and voice, until we hit EP7 itself. Beatrice retcons some of her own history as Yasu, while recalling the sort of power she truly wanted as a witch.
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