i got this url for a joke

Alliance of the Golden Witch

timeframe: october 1986

reading time: 14/05/26 - 15/06/26

intro

the relatives pile into taxis towards the pier after the airport. battler bumps into a bystander; the scene fades to grey and slows: the bystander is ange, time-displaced alongside freddy, who is revealed to shapeshift into a cat. ange cannot be seen by them, but can semi feel her relatives' touch, which is making her cry
scene swap: beato awakes inside her golden bedroom underneath(?) the island. she's overjoyed. ronove informs her battler is still completely unresponsive and heartbroken; she resolves to go greet him cheerily to fix him up for the next game
in purgatory, a stake sister has stolen battler's breakfast croissant and is bugging him. an he's fine. overly cheery beato enters with a bizarre mood, strange scene very funny (notably she tried to cheer him up with a lot of english)
the stake leaves. beato and battler discuss: he's up for another game but he resolutely tells her to never play that trick on him ever again. she's a bit frightened
ange arrives too🥰 she has a very dry sarcastic tone (i love her)... battler internally concludes he thinks she's ange even though that's impossible; she posits herself as an objective outside observer here to give impartial advice, the way vergilia pretended to do last episode
she tells him to call her gretel; he asks if he's hansel... this reunion is equal parts heartfelt and her rightfully calling him a dumbass who's fooling around with his witch gf
gretel tells him to always be on his guard, not even trusting her. she pushes that he needs to properly resolve to escape this loop because a certain kid is waiting for him back home
not even caring for her name lol, beato sweeps the scene back into gametime
the family enters rokkenjima for the conference; ange's narration describes it like theyre being swallowed whole by the island as they take the steps up, abandoning her
she's closest to maria and battler. in ep3 she called him nii-san but now she says onii-chan 🥺...

1998

sudden timeskip: ange's present time, ~12 years later
she attends st lucia's. she's extremely isolated and bullied; there is a class system among the girls based on their birth families. while ange could score high there, the fact she's here to be locked up rather than to receive a fancy education leaves her very isolated
the abuse at school is far more tolerable than the abuse she suffers while under aunt eva's care, so she deals with it
a questionairre was stolen from her to make her look bad; this occurrance is absurdly common for her. she refills it carelessly
eva set her up to attempt escaping at a young age, to then make bodyguards constantly surround her
eva is extremely resentful that her george has been replaced with ange as heir
ange extremely misses her family branch; she reminisces. on rare occasions, even battler attended her birthday parties regardless of his dispute with rudolf. she extremely treasures him
her sole refuge is during lunch break she reads maria's diary. she finds it to be written as if addressed to "another self" within maria, and transposes that feeling to be as if its addressed to herself
theres "gametime" and "overlay" for maria's diary of maria's day to day with rosa and ange's commentary as if maria is in dialogue with her.
overlay maria explains that she placed a fragment of herself in the diary which grants ange access to this power. if she were to truly awaken as a witch, ange could sense maria / other spirits/memories(?) the way one senses the wind and sun etc
the scene is maria's (9th?) birthday: rosa missed her fancy reservation to work so instead takes her to a family diner. maria is super eager because tonight she receives sakutarou, a lion plushy as a gift
this plush had been teased to her and she was so completely eager for it it's as if it's already her best friend. she shortens to "sakutaro"; it's named for cardcaptor sakura lol, but boy-approximate version of the name, then shortened by habit
maria is lonely and bullied in school like ange but is ok because she has sakutaro waiting for her back home. rosa doesn't permit maria to take him with her to all places even though she wants to
sakutaro's catchphrase is "uryu~". it's implied that "uryu" is connected to maria's original vocal tic "uu" and that all of his lines are just maria holding him and doing a voice (like a puppet)
rosa stays very late at work on her fashion line with an odd tagline ("i can't forgive the me of yesterday") so maria frequently buys & eats packaged dinners with sakutaro
in "conversation" with ange in overlay, maria says scapegoats are divinely chosen to suffer for the sake of the many so she's proud to be bullied (bleh... its hanyuu again)
myth about a witch's target of misfortune being halved repeatedly until it affects just the scapegoat (the recurring math = magic)
ange comments that while maria is kinda odd, she has a unique perspective full of warmth and kindness that ange loves the most (awawawawa)
maria encourages ange to try and "summon" her without looking at the diary. ange tries, but chickens out at the last moment due to hearing other students nearby (alluding to a fear of what other people will think)

october 1998

after jumping off the skyscraper at the end of ep3, ange landed upon several construction safety nets then large banners by miracle. she's unscathed but there's extreme concern
she's meeting with okonogi (!!!) (?? okayy???), a close business partner of eva's (ep1). ange has decided to go on a journey to find out the truth about rokkenjima before properly accepting the inheritance
okonogi has a vested interested in getting her to pay off / buy the parts of ushiromiya business he manages, he presents it as an option for ange to try and shed her extreme fame
(i think it's an au version of okonogi rather than the same guy. it's mysterious. he isn't namedropped until ange is about to leave him. im amused thinking of people not knowing he's the lapdog who can be paid off to do literally anything)
ange plans to discuss with top investigators and specialists to re-examine the massacre. okonogi argues the perspective shift of if it's a massacre or an accident hinges on feeling love, and where that love is placed etc. it's kinda absurd to see okonogi be the emotionally mature uncle mentor guy (there's no clear scheming on his side atm)
the two angles presented are: okonogi was fond of eva and hideyoshi as close business partners turned friends, so he's more open to the idea of eva being innocent. ange has been abused by eva her whole life, so she's more open to the idea of eva being the culprit. "without love it cannot be seen" is dropped again
all the both of them know is eva was found inside the kuwadorian mansion while the rest of the family was brutally killed in the main house. okonogi believes eva's wailing at hideyoshi's funeral and the fact she wore the signet ring to be proof of her innocence/the legitimacy of her claiming the headship, but ange is very cynical and distrustful
suddenly, okonogi's secretary informs him kyrie's family the sumaderas are en route to collect ange. one of the branch leaders, kyrie's younger sister kasumi, arrives soon
okonogi has prepared a car for ange to leave in the basement parking garage. she leaves, but runs out the elevator early on the third floor rather than trust him
on her way to an emergency exit, guards surround her. she jumps down to the street (suicide girl!?!?!)
she's fine. hightailing towards her is the getaway driver okonogi hired: amakusa juuza (he looks like a sumadera lowkey?)
juuza is ex military / paramilitary with insane clintele similar to higurashi!okonogi; he was dishonorably discharged from a french military and is on the run. he was one of ange's personal bodyguards who was fired for flirting with her and generally actually getting close to her when not allowed. their familiarity is amusing
(kinda similar to battler, his flirting is more slapstick than serious. but still.)
kasumi arrives at the building ground floor. okonogi greets her; the sumaderas are from kyoto and very strictly adhering to tradition. she's cold; extremely comparable to higurashi's oryou but putting on a lot more airs
she alludes to torturing people in her tea room... the sumadera family is experiencing financial problems and a power struggle among its branch families
okonogi two-timed: he doesn't want to sever his (business?) ties with the sumaderas but also wants to ensure ange's safety. as her getaway is a professional disappear-er that can't easily be linked to him, okonogi's staying "impartial"-looking
in the car ange says she wants juuza as her bodyguard to help her with this investigation journey. she's able to pay him tons to do so
more sumadera family info: the only part of kyrie's family ange got along with was her grampa (kyrie and kasumi's dad?) who deserted the family register by moving in with his wife. had a strained rship with his wife (unclear?)
eva ripped ange away from grampa, but now that she's dead the sumaderas are overlooking grampa's cut ties in pursuit of ange's wealth
(so battler lived with asumu's parents before the massacre, while ange briefly lived with kyrie's parents after it?)
overlay: fredrika explains to ange that the investigations of the massacre have not had any definitive answers due to beatrice having raised an endless schrodinger's cat box barrier situation: all potential answers are fully true until disproven, and nobody has been able to "open the box" to disprove anything
she says truth is transient until it is fully observed and set in stone (tying into without love it cant be seen perspective shifts etc)
the "endlessness" is just a reflection of how there's endless theories about what happened; they are all true until disproven
(i really like this as commentary on higurashi's fan solution/theories and a few of those allegedly got worked into those answer arcs)
ange says her next stop is meeting with the man who claims to have discovered maria's letter in a bottle (ep1 ending) that sparked a lot of the rokkenjima suspicion
freddy emphasizes that the truth may be overwritten by facts uncovered in the future (such as a star dying, but its death not being observable from earth for full years due to the distance); that's what's going on with ange

DAY 1: 14.20
october 4th 1986

gametime: after lunch, the cousins go to the beach to play. the siblings begin inheritance discussion
kyrie takes the floor, leading into the accusation that kinzo has been dead for at least a full year, hence why krauss won't let the rest of the family meet with him
the tactic: pausing inheritance proceedings to instead embezzle for the 7 years needed to declare him legally dead by disappearance
overlay: battler's new theory is that of the 18 people on the island, only 17 of them are ushiromiyas / servants: kinzo has never been a proper part of the 18 people group as he is dead. the 18th person is unknown and unaccounted for
beato doesn't counter; ange explains that [thanks to evabeatrice's returnal moves last board], she's being stingy with red text to trip him up later down the line
his tactic so far has been coming up with one concept to theorize around and sticking to that, building it up progressively; all it takes is for beato to cut the original basis of the theory whenever she pleases, typically when it's been built up too much to be easily let go (hence battler's despairs)
battler unlocks a new power: using blue text when presenting a theory/accusation. his new goal is to come up with a lot of theories that may contradict eachother, but work as a shield against red text's sword
demonstration of blue text: the configuration is 17+X with an unknown 18th person, who throws everything in for a loop
gametime: krauss and natsuhi leave, protesting but ashamed. the sibling faction explains the couple can very easily prove their innocence by just convincing the supposedly still alive kinzo to meet with them
they visit kinzo in his study, pleading for him to join the family for dinner
kinzo's sprite contorts; it's like a witch version of him or illusion.... it's really creepy
he beats krauss and shouts at him for relying on his wife when she tries to defend him. he announces he'll appear at dinner
TIPS update: kinzo is on the witches page as "goldsmith", his "warlock" name

DAY 1: 18.07

rosa rushes the rained-on maria into the main house.
she gets along with maria abnormally well; in overlay, ange is suddenly upset and calls bullshit. she leaves
alone, she "sees" maria via the diary and discusses with her; maria explains that her happiness with rosa is "real" even if it isn't real. and that ange shouldn't take this from her by investigating further with her alternate perspective
ange presses; in a separate maria gametime, rosa calls late at night and tells maria that she won't come home and can't make it to their movie date. maria puts on a brave face and affirms she won't let slip ever that mama is never home, won't cry to concern the neighbors etc
sakutaro hypes her up to think that rosa loves her very much deep down; they decide to party a bit to raise maria's spirits, making a mess in her room eating snacks etc
she gives sakutaro a red knit scarf that rosa had made for her when she was very young. she writes a letter to rosa about how her day has gone, cheering her on with her work
overlay: ange calls bullshit; maria presents the story as happy, but ange can read between the lines and understand this describes a neglected kid's temper tantrum outburst rather than a fun party night
she calls out that maria was starved for love and can't even admit to it; maria calls her sad and pitiful (LOL) maria says her diary as a story describes a happy party night, and that's her truth. ange shouldn't repaint it with a different truth from another angle
when rosa does come home the next night, she brings a present (parade band ceramic animals). maria acts uncharacteristically collected, specifically to make sure she doesn't upset rosa
rosa is pleasantly taken aback. while maria tries to dote on her, she finds a train ticket in mama's coat; rosa went on a big vacation without her (maybe as part of dates)
the atmosphere is shattered; rosa slaps her and snatches the ticket. asks her to leave; alone in her room, rosa cries reading maria's letter, whereas maria blames herself for having done something wrong
overlay: ange is distressed; maria tries to explain all the reasons this doesn't necessarily mean that rosa took a vacation without her...
maria says ange is surrounded with fragments she could derive happiness from but is rejecting them. she's too preoccupied with not getting hurt to enjoy the moment. she accuses her search to return battler as an impossible fool's errand
suddenly, the scene changes to 1986(?) gametime: maria meets with beato and vergilia in the kuwadorian mansion. there she is accepted as a member of "mariage sorcière", their alliance (coven? "witch wedding"...?)
beato praises maria's skill at breathing life into sakutaro. under contract, she deigns him to become full-formed (furniture-like); a little kid dressed like sakutaro is born
beato explains maria is exceptionally talented, creating life-will from absolute 0; she thinks maria could easily surpass her
maria is crowned the apprentice "witch of origins" and given a new outfit, but needs to keep her outfit secret for now. she wields the same eagle staff that evabeatrice had
vergilia gives sakutaro strawberry milk candy (higurashi)
overlay: maria in her witch outfit explains to ange that her magic is that of finding happiness in misfortune, which isn't the same as accepting the misfortune
ange registered to enter mariage sorciere, but never completed the training

october 1998

ange meets with professor ootsuki, japan's top expert on the rokkenjima suspicion
he's a western folklore professor at a prolific college who's hobby is the "witch hunt", a collective across the globe who are trying to figure out the rokkenjima murders from the perspective of embracing occult-based explanations (pinning down the witch as if she's real)
he very excitedly discusses over fancy dinner while ange is very bored
it seems like the victims' bodies were not found/recovered?
thus eva struggled financially after escaping the island, unable to liquidate the gold nor collect any life insurance. in a tight spot, she decided to auction off what remained of kinzo's occult book collections, especially the stuff held in kuwadorian
professor explains that a lot of extremely valuable highly sought out tomes were in that collection: it's as if the occult community's equivalent to the dead sea scrolls were out of nowhere discovered to truly exist outside of myth
ange presses about maria's supposed message in a bottle; there were two bottles with conflicting information discovered independently, with handwriting that does not seem to be maria's
one was found about a year after the crime (april 1987) which washed ashore a nearby fishing island; the other was found on the scene on october 6th 1986 and kept as evidence by the police but hadn't been examined until now
the discovery of the 1987 message in a bottle attributed to maria is what lead to the rokkenjima case garnering an international very intense fanbase, especially the witch hunt group
ange theorizes that the bottles were premeditated and manufactured to create and bolster the image of the witch; the international fame of the occult angle to the case has effectively deified her regardless of if she was originally involved (higurashi...)
the bottles are very long serial diaries describing the days before and during the murders, with conflicting events but the same ending: everyone died and the witch was revived, ushering the family into the golden land
calls into question if someone actively experiencing their family being murdered could've feasibly written this much
ange's less sure that eva is the culprit as in both stories eva dies. she thinks that eva's survival was an accident brought on by miscalculation of the real culprit's part
ange goes to leave; as a last question, she asks if he would believe her if she said she was a real witch. he deflects; she suddenly brings out maria's diary, turned to a late page that reads "to my apprentice -- beatrice"
the professor is gobsmacked; he desperately wants to investigate this book. ange asks if beatrice's supposed handwriting as seen in the diary matches that of the message bottles (maria's supposed handwriting); he refuses to answer straight, out of wanting to get his hands on the book, which she understands to mean "yes"
she leaves, explaining that enthusiasts like him are caught up in observing the cat box from outside for fun whereas she wants to actually open it and get the truth
suddenly, it's revealed that ange had introduced herself as a sumadera to him; the sumaderas had plotted to ambush her if she ever met with the professor among other people, so she outmaneuvered by saying she had her own ambush squadron (just juuza keeping watch for her)
elsewhere, kasumi is frustrated she was outsmarted. she might have the professor killed/tortured...
(so the games/fragments exist in universe?!?!??!?)
later that night in a fancy hotel, ange struggles to sleep. juuza sleeps on the couch
she realizes she wants to perform magic again. suddenly, she sees mariabeatrice in the room, speaking to her
ange's magical power is severely diminished since her last attempt at school; it's compared to childhood violin lessons, explaining also how kinzo had to work extremely hard for magic that he began later in life, rather than nasciently like maria
she seeks a worthy vessel; she tries her hairclips then settles on a stake, the last surviving sister; she had swiped it from the collection of items returned to the family after the investigation due to its resemblance to maria's notes
she takes out maria's grimoire notebook (from prev episodes); in it, there's extensive descriptions of the stake sisters (the tips....)
maria explains that the sisters really hate when people get their names mixed up so ange needs to concentrate
as a member of the same alliance as beato, ange is permitted to employ beato's furniture
TIPS: "witch of origins" is called a motherly power to give birth [to magic] from nothing.... pronounced umi/uma...
maria tells her to wear a scorpion charm (given to ange prior to the massacre?) to ensure that the stake's grudge won't kill her. during the summoning, the stake does try to attack but is stopped by the charm
greed (mammon) via the stake vessel is brought back in humanoid form. she begs ange to revive the whole set as per a previous promise. ange tries her best to do more without further vessels, but can only muster about 4 of them
they were all dismissed from their former master beatrice's employment, but eagerly await being given new tasks (and their specialty is killing...); furniture feels most like itself when it's being used etc
the sisters tearfully reunite then quickly get into their typical bickering and arguments which livens up ange
ange collapses. in drifting off to sleep, maria discusses with her: a flashback to her last attempt to perform magic
in her time at saint lucia, maria taught her the basics of furniture summoning to try and quell her loneliness. holed up in a less-frequented bathroom stall, ange's mind palace...? is explored
maria asks her to envision a wide empty space; a witch's inner world needs to be kept secret and sacred in order to work. sakutaro (furniture form) gives encouragement
(calls to mind a bit the rokkenjima reborn out of beato's chest when battler was sweet to her at the end of ep3)
ange is offput by the fact she's in an alliance with beatrice, the killer of her family, but sets that aside for now thinking of her as simply maria's friend/teacher
maria summons all 7 sisters with her own power then transfers the "mental load" to ange; she can't handle it. she reduces the crowd to just mammon (decided on rock paper scissors)
alone together, ange speaks to mammon during her nightly routine at the dormitories. she feels immense relief having someone to talk to
mammon makes her promise to revive the full set of sisters later
ange reminisces about her hairclips; when she was very young, kyrie snuck the rudolflings to an amusement park day out together without rudolf knowing. there, ange got fixated on winning a cheap arcade prize; battler got it for her effortlessly: it's her bobble hairclips
her hairclips are thus imbued with incalculable magical power as they represent her love for her brother via basically the only memento of him she has (AUUAWAWA)
ange discusses that her goal as a witch is to revive her family branch. mammon says this is incredibly hard, but wants to support her on her journey

1986 purgatorio

ange wakes up out of recollecting, looking at maria's diary. she realizes she needs to return to the game
mammon was sent to collect her. the two have a moment about now being on separate sides. it's revealed ange cannot mention her own name or circumstances without experiencing severe psychic/chest pain; the same applies to mammon
suddenly, the scene is frozen in half: lambdadelta appears! ange narrates that she seems above it all, like she's a being higher than beato, higher than freddy even
ange tries to resist listening to her but has no choice. delta intimidates her with the following:

freddy lied: there is no guarantee that battler can be saved (thats my girl.)

if anyone is saved by the game's dissolution, they would return to the original ange of this timeline, rather than the time-displaced ange of ep3's fragment that's now present in purgatorio. she can never get the lost time back

delta wants the game to be an eternal tie. this tie could serve ange too: so long as the game keeps going, "this" ange can stay with her battler forever in purgatorio

she calls her freddy's piece, neither ushiromiya ange nor ANGE-beatrice; ange internally affirms her name as angebeatrice

delta thus proposes a deal: to not despair, and to revel in being used (furniture/piece's purpose), ange can assist in the game to hang out with her battler for eternity, but she must reign it back when he's winning too much and help with offense when he's losing too much. she says she will also personally step in if he's losing too much
delta promises absolute certainty: if the game were to end, ange as a game piece would disappear. she asks ange to switch sides to being her piece, with the reward that her name/deal can now be spoken

1998

unclear timeframe, ange's memories: at some point, she went on a family trip on a particular street she can't remember. she fondly recalls this location and transposes her current hangouts with her furniture onto it
while ange is supposed to be studying she instead magically enjoys the company of her furniture. they wind up playing shiritori with a punishment game: maria wins and sakutarou loses
maria describes her struggles with school and her mom (autism + neglect combo). it's similar to how keiichi could only study if he was interested / it was presented interestingly/logically
the next day, ange bombs her test; she brings her entire class's average down. her classmates get special permission to loan space to "tutor" her; its an extended bullying session where she's thoroughly abused
ange is made to write a humiliating apology letter. towards the end of the night, having been allowed no bathroom breaks nor dinner, she snaps; she calls out to her funiture, who "exist" in the back of the room giving her sympathy and strength, to kill everyone in the room
they cannot comply, claiming anges magical power is too low / the anti-magic toxic levels of this room are too great
ange one by one shatters all her furniture. mammon in particular stands up against her: furniture is only able to carry out a will their master has fully committed to participating in, rather than in their place; as ange could not kill anyone much less right here right now, her funiture also cannot
ange proclaims everyone is just a delusion / hallucination / illusion she's using to cope with her loneliness. mariabeatrice argues a lot but understands where she's coming from
when ange starts to deny sakutaro to shatter him, maria lashes out: being denied is the greatest form of scorn for a witch
the scene cuts to a flashback of a younger ange teasing maria, calling her sakutaro not real and witches fake
maria sobs. she suddenly with clarity proclaims that ange is now expelled from mariage sorciere and that she hates ange
back in the school scene, ange resigns to her fate. she starts to read the letter, then falls into ad-libbed total self-deprecation; she wishes she too had died in the massacre. she wishes any of the girls would kill her right now
the scene collapses; ange begins to dissociate. her bullies don't know how to react. a teacher cuts through the room to reach ange...
overlay: maria and sakutaro discuss how this is ange's truth for ange's world, which differs from maria's, but the two are not in conflict. it's just different perspectives. maria does not hate ange...
she muses that what ange's going through is simply the process of shedding your childhood self towards adulthood in her teen years
scene swap: at home alone, seemingly after whenever that visit with baby ange broke her heart was? maria cries over sakutaro being denied still
sakutaro suggests she start carrying some of her ceramic animals, which she has conjured into furniture too. she puts 4 little bunny toys in her pockets
she heads out to get food alone again; she presents all her toys to a convenience store owner who is very concerned for her. he gives her nice oden for free
on her way back home, maria realizes she's lost her house key. retracing her steps repeatedly and asking for help from the clerk, she absolutely cannot find it. she has a meltdown
the clerk guides her to ask a cop for help. maria has received extensive instructions from rosa to not discuss anything with cops, so she struggles a lot
the cop brings her into the nearby police box to heat up her food and try calling her mom. on the phone, rosa's secretary confirms she's on a trip to sapporo (ooishi mention)
maria is put under the care of the child welfare office for the couple days until rosa returns. back home, rosa gets into a huge argument with the social worker; maria sneaks over to watch
sakutaro tries to reassure her rosa definitely loves her and wasnt on vacation without her etc
rosa gets violent, shattering a tea cup. her ruse and web of making maria hide signs of neglect is running out of time
she then spots maria in the corner/hall. she runs up to her and interrogates her; she deduces that maria was found out as neglected around the neighborhood / shopping district via her signature toys she carries around with her always
she asks for a bunny toy and breaks it in front of maria. screaming, sobbing, maria leans on sakutaro (speaking for him like a puppet); disgusted, rosa tears sakutaro apart
maria's heart is broken. the social worker tries to intervene a bit but is useless. overlay!sakutaro cries out and vanishes. rosa herself proclaims sakutaro "dead" rather than destroyed...
overlay: maria begs and begs beatrice to restore sakutaro. she cannot as he's maria's furniture rather than her own, plus a creation being denied by its own mother (as rosa made him) makes it triple difficult for it to continue existing
maria is dangerously close to succumbing to despair, imagined as large arms threatening to tear her apart (similar to rosa's hands destroying sakutaro)
maria then begs for the power to kill rosa as horribly as rosa killed sakutaro (still caught up in "an evil witch is possessing mama" a bit)
out of overlay, same scene: maria proclaims her total hatred for rosa, crying out for beatrice
scene swap: ange and juuza on a private boat ride to niijima
ange can't sleep so she chats with him. she feels stuck on her journey; he philosophizes that the point to life is figuring out your own self satisfaction and happiness, rather than seeking approval and praise from others. others' praise can only be valued if you're open to accepting it aka already having self satisfaction
a few days into her trip after dreaming about meeting freddy, she's losing motivation. her suicidality leading to the rooftop jump is phrased as her body being a cage (like the kuwadorian beato)
juuza leaves her alone. mammon appears before ange: they discuss how humans seek self fulfillment in their short lives which are limited compared to demons / the spirit world, where entities are typically born pre-satisfied, aiming to spread their will rather than find or "solve" it
juuza is on bad terms with his family due to his insane career choice. ange supplements with "of course anyone who cares for him would want him out of his insane profession"
ange muses that maria had already figured out this sense of inner acceptance at a very young age and thus her struggles weren't centered around external acceptance, merely trying to exist the way she personally wanted to (her world, where rosa loved her)
ange admits that the school night where she shattered all her furniture by denying them was a horrible thing to do. she summons them all, including sakutaro to apologize
they accept and tearfully reunite. there's a contradiction between ange having such intense magical power and potential as a witch VS accepting them all as a possibility for others' worlds, while still being generally anti-magic for her own world (devil's proof)
she wants to apologize to maria too, who was just trying to share her world and perspective with her; she realizes the entire journey has subconsciously been about this
the purpose of the alliance is for all members to fully acknowledge one another as witches
ange explains there's a turning point in maria's diary: after sakutaro's death, maria suddenly became far more interested in dark magic to be reborn as mariabeatrice
she wants to revive sakutaro in maria's world too, as maria had rejected the possibility of summoning him without a vessel
as the boat reaches niijima, it begins to rain... juuza is heavily armed
elsewhere: kasumi lands from a plane: she is en route to rokkenjima too
(i forget exactly when it's stated in this scene, but visiting rokkenjima is extremely off limits even in the years following. ange is paying local fishermen to get her there off the books without properly docking in any harbors)

DAY 1: 21.45

the cousins with an asleep maria run to the guesthouse with shannon as the family conference is starting
they go on about how the inheritance should be cut and dry instead of schemes and competitions
battler proclaims that if he got a cut of the inheritance he'd split it with shannon (eyebrowwww emoji)
georgeshannon and jessiekanon are teased etc
overlay: beato boasts about how she's letting her trump card kinzo finally participate to counter battler's latest argument
gametime: the siblings anxiously await kinzo's appearance. rudolf announces they will wait until just 10.30 for him
rosa explains that maria told her kinzo gave her an umbrella in the rain, though rosa did not see him. they conclude it's pointless to try and figure this out when he can be dis/proven to be alive shortly
very soon after the clock strikes 10PM, kanon and genji bring kinzo in: his entrance is grand (he says the line "welcome to rokkenjima" hehehe)
the siblings' earlier scheme dicussion about kinzo's death had been leaked to kinzo so he comments on it, humiliating eva in particular
kinzo proclaims the family is out of time to achieve the headship via solving the epitaph. he finds none of his children worthy of being his successor, so he goes to call it off altogether, referring to it as letting the ushiromiya name die with his generation
nanjo interjects, claiming at least the grandchildren should be considered as inheritors of the future etc. (re: nanjo and genji are the only people kinzo listens to)
one by one the siblings make a case for their children; kinzo asks which of them is "worth 10 billion yen"
krauss hesitates as he doesn't parse the question's scheme; natsuhi interjects that her daughter is worth more than any sum money to her
eva goes on about george's perfect stature definitely worthy of 10 billion yen
rudolf says battler is an idiot whom he wouldn't pay such a ransom to save him LMFAO but he has a heart of gold and is worth more than 10 billion average people (ehh)
rosa meekly says that maria's value cannot be measured with money
kinzo announces he will test his grandkids and measure if they're worthy of his inheritance, however will also ensure the parents are not able to use any of it through them
he suddenly reveals the true reason for the conference: it's a sacrificial ceremony. he summons pendragon's chiester sisters gunbunnygirls 45 and 410 plus their secret third sister 00 and kills 6 people
he challenges the siblings to kill him and end this lest 13 people will be murdered
kill tally: natsuhi, rudolf, hideyoshi, eva, rosa, genji via a shot to the head that annihilates half their faces, similar to ep1
hideyoshi tried to pull eva away so they could escape, but then she got stuck mourning hideyoshi. kyrie tried to hit 45 with a chair but failed. rosa very suddenly tried to hit kinzo with a chair but is killed for it. 00 immobolizes krauss
shkanon and genji (and then also 45) guard the exit. shkanon are frazzled by genji's death but remain resolute
TIPS says 00 is absurdly powerful but also extremely frail compared to her sisters, so she only physically manifests on very special occasions (seems like she's always helping like reconnaissance)
at the end, gohda and kumasawa make a break for it. kinzo announces the first twilight is over, but won't allow the group to leave: he summons ronove and vergilia to handle the scene
he also summons gaap, one of the 72 demons: she blackhole-portals the survivors into an unknown otherspace
she's flirty. all furniture act like they're buddies of kinzo's, calling him "goldsmith". it seems gaap requires more payment than other pieces. her outfit is crazy?
ronove somewhat mourns genji. 410 reassures him that their attacks are so fatal, victims do not even have time to feel pain
kinzo calls vergilia the "witch of the finite"
overlay: beato apologizes for the wait. kinzo is this game's conductor
gaap appears in overlay. rokkenjima's corrosion has advanced considerably which means it's "dipping" into the spirit world side; more and more demons can appear without challenging the character tally, but not humans who have to remain 18
gaap calls beato "riichye" nickname cute... they promise to go shopping for lolita clothes together at a demon mall
ange and battler discuss that the increase in characters even if its demons/furniture goes against typical mystery novel writing etiquette, the "closed circle" rule; beato's goal is to desecrate the genre itself
gaap creeps on the siblings a bit
ange points out that the killing method this time around is very economical; this way the bodies may be identified with certainty while still appearing totally dead (ep1's musing about body doubles)
cutting down on the methods of inserting doubt in these murders saves on beato's red text usage (reminder that she'll be using it less this round) beato says it was gaap's idea
scene cut, not in overlay but in purgatorio: rosa awakens, disoriented in pain
furniture form sakutaro rushes over to her to guide her "to safety" as maria is coming: every time he says "uryu" it causes rosa immense psychic pain
she's concerned for him thinking he's a lost kid; he starts to call rosa "mama". she eventually gets enraged, asking where maria is
she commands sakutaro to disappear; he is re-torn and darkness pours out of him. he's then reduced to fluff on the ground
rosa suddenly recalls the night she killed sakutaro: she immediately fell to her knees apologizing to maria, who for the first time pushed her away
rosa then got upset, thinking it's not her fault she was overcome with her emotions and hurt her baby etc
internally(?) ranting about how difficult her own childhood was and how she never got to have meltdowns the way maria does, she begins to beat maria. suddenly, her two hands snap off her wrists, painlessly and she "reawakens" in purgatorio out of the memory
freaking out, she finds maria emerging from the shadows
maria's eyes flash blue. one by one rosa's excuses are torn down. for starters, maria rips rosa apart the way she killed sakutaro. rather than blood, black ichor oozes out
a memory of rosa's latest vacation with her boyfriend plays out (the alt perspective of maria's phone call earlier): the man she's dating is cheating on his own wife with rosa
the guy comments that rosa should probably prioritize maria. she goes into a rage ranting that every man she's ever been with eventually thinks she's too much work and leaves her (this guy hasn't suggested such so far)
in purgatorio; mother and daughter scream at one another: rosa admits she's always hated maria, even before she was born, as she's a symbol of her ex husband who married her then suddenly dipped out when she got pregnant. she was able to divorce, but trying to find any semblance of love again as a divorcee single mother has been impossible; its as if she only briefly got to experience normal adulthood away from rokkenjima
she commands maria to disappear and leave her alone. everything she does is to keep maria happy for the sake of appearances, she has zero love for maria whatsoever. after escaping rokkenjima, she got stuck again...
she once tried to drink herself to death, but this coincided with parent's day at maria's school. at the event she then witnessed firsthand how maria is bullied for her autism and despaired even further
maria howls and kills rosa endlessly with beato by her side to resurrect her. each time, beato asks if rosa has atoned for her sin, if she's guilty or innocent (always guilty)
beato proclaims her sin is being consumed by lust etc. the more rosa is resurrected, the less anguish she expresses, and the more hateful her responses to maria get
maria's inner world of magic where she maintains the illusion of her mama's love is shattered; she struggles. in the end, rosa is obliterated, but her face retains a hateful laugh...
in a moment of repose, maria wonders if rosa's rejection of her "child" sakutaro, and subsequently her rejection of maria, means that neither of them can ever be fixed. she then goes kihihihi even more than usual; beato looks troubled
she feels as if she can begin to forgive rosa. beato explains that this is a state of enlightenment and fulfillment, the realization as a witch that you can do this endless killing to anyone at any time
scene swap: overlay: the cousins messing around suddenly awakens maria
battler teases her for her sleepiness; she has a meltdown. when she calms, she eerily slowly kihihi-s, as if with every syllable she's imagining battler's death
suddenly, gohda and kumasawa tumble in to the room, trembling failing to explain. the scene cuts out

DAY 1: 22.40

krauss, kyrie, nanjo and shkanon wake up in an underground dungeon. shkanon claim they don't know anything about it
it's only been about 10 minutes since they were captured; there hasn't been enough time to drug and transport them
they conclude there must be some trapdoor in the dining hall that leads to a basement, however the layout of this dungeon does not align with the dining hall at all
shannon discovers a phone is still working (in conspiracy with kanon, who chides her as if she was supposed to know this)
kyrie tries; it can't connect externally. krauss tries: it can connect internally. he dials the cousins' bedroom number
jessica picks up. she has natsuhi's death reconfirmed and her heart breaks
(gohda and kumasawa had told the kids the full details sans the fantastical element, similar to ep2)
krauss instructs the kids to build a barricade. one by one parties from both sides communicate with their loved ones / make plans etc (george talks to shannon, battler to kyrie etc)
cousins side: the guys leave to close all the windows and door. the ground floor's giant window (opposing the parlor; it paints a better picture of some ep3 locations, like the bar area) is an easy entry point. george collects rations while battler collects potential weapons
maria is bored. the tv is turned off so they can listen for intruders
cell side: kyrie begins to lose composure somewhat. she's very offput by the earlier display of magic + inability to figure out kinzo's true motives
they think of themselves as currently captured chess pieces, then turning it around into how in shogi captured pieces can be returned to the board contrast chess' permanent capturings
krauss' strategies are revealed to be phrased as investment plans.... its a lot
kanon and krauss tried to figure out an exit to no avail, so kanon is put on guard. shannon approaches and they secretly converse: kanon senses the goat heads nearby to watch them
it's revealed the twins carry some memories of past chessboards...? likely as furniture. they're surprised by the completely different setup of this game board
shannon describes her brief entry into the golden land: it's a blissful dream state where rather than your desires coming true, it's as if you have no desires at all (eerily similar to accounts of regular irl death)
shannon wishes to take george with her to the golden land if she can survive this round; kanon is too prideful to admit he wants to do the same with jessica (but he eventually does)
shannon describes the golden land as "0" rather than the human world's "negatives". kanon is disappointed as he though it would be a place where he could be given medicine to become "properly human"..........
ends on a sour note; kanon is upset and cuts off saying they shouldnt get their hopes up at all.
kinzo enters with gaap, vergilia and ronove. kyrie instructs shannon to conceal the phone somewhat
kyrie comments that "goldsmith" is a transliteration of "kinzo", but jabs that it should be "gold warehouse" instead (she's unusually brazen as part of losing composure)
nanjo states this must be the basement of kuwadorian
(the framing of characters inside/outside the jail cell is reaaalllyyy cool)
kyrie snides that this is a bdsm dungeon used by kinzo and beatrice
gaap flirts with vergilia over this LOL she nicknames her "lia", which upsets her. lia then tries to shorten to "gap" to get back at her but backfires. its really cute....
kinzo rants about how his love for beatrice was so intense, he threw his entire life away just to bind her in chains

1998

ange meets with nanjo's surviving son who continued his clinic. he's extremely cagey after being burnt by the media; ange's promises to not spill and explanation of how horrible her own life is convinces him to disclose
kinzo's medical records are lost
about a week after the incident he received in the mail a beatrice letter marked for rebun island in hokkaido, the northernmost point in japan. listed as nanjo sr recipient and nanjo jr as sender; he absolutely did not send this nor did he ever receive any kind of news that nanjo sr was at that location
he takes out the envelope and shows it to ange. contains a small letter with a pin code "07151129", small key labelled "a112" and a key card
in the past he had investigated and found it to be related to the exclusive wing of his bank (kinda unclear which bank): inside a large vault for top clients, he input the pin code to access a large room containing many small safes. he could only access the one labelled a112, which contained about 100 million in cash
he was too creeped out to take the money, but never got rid of the set of keys.
inspecting it, ange is certain the pin memo's handwriting is beato's
she meets up with kumasawa's son too: he had the same experience with a letter sent to okinawa prefecture, the western-most point of japan. his key is listed a113
he similarly investigated; he felt like this was his mother's dying gift to him but couldn't bring himself to take the money
overlay: sakutaro and mammon comfort ange as she feels a sudden intense headache
she realizes she had the same thing happen to her shortly after the murders: she lost the envelope in the chaos, never having the chance to investigate
she posits that the envelope's staggered arrival to the survivors means it was a setup to support the myth of the witch
the furniture concurs that this is exactly beato's style of prank
ange recounts that one day maria and ange played a prank wherein they wound a toy car and placed it under/behind a milk jug. however, nobody picked up the milk jug, so no one got surprised
maria was very disappointed, but beato was still enthralled: she loves the thrill of a potential trap. even nobody at all getting trapped is an exciting outcome
gametime: theres a mysterious photo taken seemingly by kumasawa of the rokkenjima chapel among the son's family photos. ange is surprised by the engraving of probabilities (ep2)
ange's next stop is at a futon shop; above in the apartment section lives the captain of the ship that sailed the family to rokkenjima that day
he's chronically ill and thus retired, but remembers ange very well
locally people have gone back to calling the island its old name akujikishima. on top of the police's prohibition, nobody is willing to sail there
the sailor promises to take ange there as a last trip, leaving her to grieve for a few hours.
he had made the call to not dock on 05/10/1986 due to the typhoon; it was indeed far too dangerous for him to have sailed but he still carries some guilt
he walks her out. he's heard of the rumors of people out to get her. he tells her to not die on him
overlay: ange realizes that she had been subconsciously planning to kill herself on the island, and vows to instead use the time to investigate and find peace
gametime: she feels as if she's in the precipice between that day, caught between 1985 and 1998. she realizes meeting him had been fate and vows to find the truth
suddenly, something in the darkness calls to her. neither the sailor nor juuza (nearby on watch) can see it
overlay: her furniture panic as they can't perceive what's going on either. ange is sucked in...

DAY 2: 11.00

kinzo directs krauss for the grandkids' competition over the phone: for starters, gohda and kumasawa are to be locked in the garden storehouse with rations and blankets
gaap comments that shkanon could easily break out of the jail cell if they felt like it... shannon comments that one day they'll surely be used and thus loved, so they just need to endure
vergilia raises goat men to keep watch with her while the rest of kinzo's crowd leaves. the goats accidentally leave and need to be called back
cousins group: they feel terrible about locking the servants up, but they've been warned they're under strict watch. battler gives gohda the storehouse key through the tiny back window
maria is nonchalant. jessica yells out that she'll beat kinzo's ass
very nearby (in the bushes), the chiester sisters take absolute aim
it seems one of the chiester sisters "556" died in combat and 00 frequently forgets this
back in the room, kyrie instructs battler: she implies the grandkids' test is the family's only hope. battler makes his typical grand declarations against kinzo
kyrie suddenly calls him her son, and he calls her mom. a bit teasingly, but affectionately (i wonder, considering ep3 kyrie's hatred of battler...)
the instructions: the cousins are to split up. jessica is to go into her room alone; george suddenly declares he isn't afraid of kinzo or of losing, but of the other cousins getting to beat kinzo up before him (eyeroll)

DAY 2: 23.10

jessica in her room and george in the garden gazebo receive their tests separately via envelope, guided by ronove / vergilia
they have 3 options to choose from, from which they must choose 2: 1 to save and 1 to sacrifice. the options are yourself / your beloved / everyone else. choosing no selection kills everyone involved
the testee must include reasoning
gaap confirms that each choice will truly be carried out immediately rather than it being hypothetical
both are completely torn. kinzo watches on from his crystal ball
kinzo's side: he quizzes the chiester sisters on what they would choose. 45 makes no choice; kinzo scolds her for having no backbone or will. 00 chooses herself; kinzo scolds her for merely doing what she was taught as a living weapon, rather than having her own will
410 chooses to kill her beloved, citing that all love eventually dies anyways, you can always love anew/again. kinzo unleashes upon her, changing her option to instead be "the memories of her beloved". she quivers and cries, unable to make the choice anymore; 45 with an unusually bold tone comes to take care of her (clamp mention loooool)
he sends the bunnygirls away. alone, he rants "as if in a play": the true point of the test is to see which of the successor candidates would answer without hestitation as a display of their strong will
he turns to the audience and says "yes, i received the same question once, asked by a demon. do i really need to say out loud which one i chose?" its sooooo good
triptych of scenes with three location swaps between three battles; jessica vs ronove / george vs gaap / dungeon crew vs virgilia
recognizing the surname, jessica asks about the rship between ronove and genji; ronove says he's like a little brother to him, but may also be his human "vessel"
jessica chooses to sacrifice herself; ronove thinks her reasoning is just process of elimination so gives her the low mark 60%. she explains her thought process is she imagined her future after having killed kanon / her family and couldn't bear it (phrased as there's three potential jessicas, and she's killing the ones she cant stomach)
the dungeon crew watches in on the scene via a three-way mirror (???) provided by vergilia
jessica's final words are encouraging kanon to live his life to the fullest and accept his true name whenever he's able to
kanon asks to swap places but viriglia does not allow him. suddenly the bunnygirls ambush virgilia, crying after their encounter with kinzo, so she sweeps them all together somewhere else to comfort them, leaving only the goat guys in watch
realizing jessica's about to die, krauss goes on a rampage but can't escape the cell
george's choice is to kill everyone else, like kinzo. his expression gets newly menacing. his reasoning is he had already been planning for the eventuality of his entire family opposing his engagement to shannon, so he had already resolved to marry her no matter what it would entail
he announces that his determination is so strong, he may as well be the head of the family right now already. he makes grand proclamations aimed at shannon, who's blushing etc
gaap challenges him to commit the murders himself starting with his cousins; he accepts, suddenly saying he'll start with her instead
gaap wipes the floor with him a bit, infinite portalling him etc
as ronove approaches to kill jessica, she last second decks him in the nose with her brass knuckles. having done genuine damage it unfurls into a battle
ronove multiplies jessica's score for this. gaap supposes george would've gotten full marks for his answer
george eventually gets up and attacks gaap very intensely with a fusion of different martial art moves which he learned under eva's strict training schedule for him. his initial battering was a means of analyzing the enemy
(it feels like matsuribayashi's shounen fight sludge)
gaap fights primarily with kicks (stiletto heels) whereas ronove is almost entirely defense-focused
george emphacizes loving shannon taught him the beauty of the world, gave him the courage to continue standing tall etc. yells out that she isn't furniture (but she's still "his")
panicking, gaap steals vergilia's goat men to help fight against george
there's rpg / metroidvania mechanics where a human's willpower / determination 1. stands a chance against magic 2. accrues cumulative damage multipliers when dodging/parrying a furniture's forcefield/attack
determination with certainty = human magic
jessica cheers kanon on, saying she hopes to melt his ice cold heart one day and help him live a happier life, that she will never give up no matter how against her the odds are etc
hearing this kanon decides to break the dungeon cell with his furniture powers. taken aback, kyrie asks what they even are; shannon declares theyre human
elsewhere (purgatorio?) virgilia is making tea for the sad bunnygirls. she realizes what's going on, but trips up on being mad at gaap; she orders the bunnies into firing position
the dungeon crew runs through the dungeon, directed by nanjo. they hit virgilia's locks, which are difficult for kanon to break; shkanon "link" together like how the chiester sisters do: shannon perceives the bunnygirls' arrow-bullets and transmits the data to kanon, who can instantly destroy them with her sight (like shion and kasais sniping session)
theres a lot of magical ability names thrown
virgilia comments that shkanon were originally a furniture pair, and thus are strongest when working together like this (they commented that it's been a long time since they fought together, im not sure if that's meant to be about how they didnt coopoerate the last couple episodes)
the bunnygirls switch rounds, calling shkanon a "gatekeeper" class. shkanon suddenly broadcast an intercepting anti-magic jamming signal: 45 doesn't block her ears in time and is incapacitated, reduced to making bunny sounds
because all three sisters are linked, they one by one collapse. they have to reboot like computers, and face a timeout and troubleshooting problems (really really funny scene)
virgilia summons 5 more goat men, but they infight. eventually they get to the dungeon crowd where kyrie and krauss are able to deal damage through the lock / bars hole (jumping through successive gaps in the bars kanon's making)
there's a lot of goofs
ronove gets serious: he raises a wall-size barricade shield pressing against jessica to eventually crush her against a wall. jessica continues to barrage against it, but it has a reflective enchantment etc
vergilia raises an anti-magic barrier in the dungeon room. she tries to get down there and deal with them herself, but the goats block her thinking she'll take their reward for herself
they reach near the exit, but vergilia stands there with a lone trusty goatman who has a high power level. krauss faces off against him; through a series of high stake bets he's able to miraculously reach an excess multiplier (x1920) to finish off the goat in one hit
part of that was vergilia's "loser points" accumulating in her disparaging the goat's abilities as a timer in the corner (meant to make you scared that it's related to the chiester sisters)
the goat has a stupid dramatic flashback of his hopes and dreams (apparently its the same goat that creeped on maria at the end of ep2)
the goat topples onto virgilia and the dungeon survivors group escapes. they come out of a well; there is an underground passageway behind the mansion that leads to kuwadorian (higurashi)
george's tactic had been just barely missing his attacks, which multiplied their power (gambit and show of strength)
jessica is about to break ronove's shield right as george is about to actually land a hit: gaap teleports the two of them to instead hit one another
this sudden attack has her get creepy cat eyes like higurashi's scare eyes
the cousins are gored. gaap and ronove clean up the corpses and locate them to their respective test locations
notably, no murders have been added to TIPS whatsoever so far
jessica is given 3 minutes of resurrection time to call battler and warn him. she emphasizes that magic is real, the witch truly exists etc as she says her goodbyes then re-explodes
exiting the well, the dungeon group is shot down one by one. only kyrie remains, frantically running into a random room in the mansion, trying to call battler
the bunnygirls mysteriously really struggle to aim at her, there's like 6+ shots that miss as she's on the phone
on the phone, she similarly emphasizes that magic is real. she deduces that she is about to be the 13th sacrifice, so there will be no more bloodshed. she instructs him to not doubt any further examples of magic, as it could lead to further brutality to prove the point
just repeating that he needs to stop doubting etc
they have a tender moment of recognizing eachother as mother and son aww. she apologizes for having hated him for being asumu's son
last 2 cousins' side; maria is nonchalant as ever. battler is freaking out; he dashes out to find kyrie's corpse
suddenly, the phone rings: maria picks up. battler dashes back up and wants to know who's calling: it's beatrice, and she asks to speak to him
maria runs out for her test location while battler is beholden to the phone; he gets caught between them, hesitating: he picks up the receiver afraid
beato goads him. she speaks in english a ton, asking him to respond back similarly as that's his "trademark" but he does not at all
there's a really cute song that seems to be a duet between beato and maria
beato's pov: she's in kinzo's study playing chess with him, drinking and eating tons
beato is both kinzo's partner, and his captor; she tells battler she can't love on him when kinzo's around as kinzo gets very jealous
again notes that battler resembles kinzo in his youth
( ihad been trying to figure out the family genetics and where battler gets his red hair from, until now i thought it was from unseen grandma but i realize now its from grandpa)
beato declares that she's just decided last minute she will do battler's test herself, so kinzo shall do maria's
if battler is made successor, he will own beato (playing with the way miyo teased jirou in minagoroshi)
on his way to the mansion, battler checks on kumasawa and gohda in the garden storehouse: they've hung themselves
he also sees georges corpse, which has been marked by gaap to have a hole in the forehead. TIPS updates with only this death...
as the clock strikes midnight, beato and battler meet. she's wearing her horseback racing outfit
she's up on the second floor balcony with an umbrella. he's locked out
battler is the last remaining white spot on the chessboard as she's spilled black ink all across it. he's surrounded
in front of the door is a box containing his test letter
beato calls herself nothing more than the family's furniture... says kinzo forced her to submit (in ways it sounds like she never wants to happen again), and now the chance is opening for battler to do the same. he just keeps calling her a drunk, uninterested in owning her
of note is she wants him to emulate a younger kinzo for her so she can relive the joy of being reduced to furniture for the first time (...after also just saying it was miserable and she never wants that again)
battler's test has his beloved option blank as beato doesn't know who he likes, so she asks him. he declares he loves her, so he'll jot her name down to kill her; she asks again
battler says his type is (fred)rika in a creepy way, but she rebuffs that obviously she is his perfect type
suddenly serious, she throws away her umbrella and asks him to recall his sin and repent. he has a soliloquy about his immediate family troubles:

in his eyes, rudolf was with asumu first, who devoted herself to ushiromiya matters. rudolf cheated on asumu with kyrie, leading to ange's conception and him remarrying. the framing of asumu's death is left out

battler decided to take a defensive stance to avenge his mom in rudolf's quick remarrying, to "smack him now that mom isn't able to"

though asumu was never violent; she was the mediator between father and son

as a family of four now, kyrie was kind to him and ange knew nothing about the circumstances. battler decided to break off and remove himself from the family register; rudolf continuously tried to reach out and helped pay for his living expenses, but battler refused any meetings with him

rudolf said he's always welcome home; during asumu's dad's funeral, rudolf openly deeply apologized, so battler re-entered the family registry

ends on how battler considers this all fully resolved, so it wouldn't count as a sin. beato does not react at all; instead, she says his family branch drama is the wrong topic entirely
battler's sin is that he has forgotten something on rokkenjima, and that is his actual test
overlay: confused, battler truly doesn't remember. in red, his narration says six years ago, his beato did not exist
(he's forgotten that he's made some sort of promise to save shkanon per ep2)
miscellaneous in red: the memory is not between battler and beato, battler has committed a sin, it happened 6 years ago, and because of it people are killed
the massacre is the end domino/snowball, but battler refuses the idea of having had a part in it
gametime: battler repeats that he can't remember. suddenly, horseback beato has a conversation with her double wearing the dress: dress beato takes over, while current beato goes into deep sleep. she doesn't want to play the game anymore
dress beato coldly stares at battler then returns to the study where the furniture plus kinzo are partying. kinzo proclaims that maria had a perfect score and tells beato to join in; she immediately incinerates him
the furniture try to ask her what's wrong; she refuses. gaap mentions battler and is shattered similar to how ange broke the stake sisters earlier
overlay: battler asks what's wrong; beato announces she's done. the game will not end nor be called a tie/stalemate; it will be left unfinished to collect dust without one of its players
she's suddenly gotten bored. battler is relieved initially but then realizes he'll never go home and is outraged. rather than an ending, beato is endlessly extending her turn
lamdadelta appear in the tea room. battler faintly recalls them
lambdadelta and ange are opposed to this resolution but beato won't budge. battler almost presses on to ask ange if she's his sister, but she suddenly intensely cowers
to force an ending, beato teaches battler to speak red truth (he already automatically did this just a moment ago but is surprised as if its the first time. im so sick of him)
she has him repeat a combo of arguments that shatters his self-image and therefore entire existence: his name is ushiromiya battler. ushiromiya battler's mother is ushiromiya asumu.
he cannot repeat "i was born from ushiromiya asumu"; his throat closes in on him as he tries, repeatedly. rather than try any reasoning at all he completely folds and is destroyed in darkness
the premise is that beato's opponent must be ushiromiya battler. she poses he isn't part of this ushiromiya family, he's instead some other person with the same names due to not being asumu's biological son
(the reversal: similar to how battler denies the witch's existence to destroy her, suddenly he is being destroyed)
freddy is perplexed that delta suddenly doesn't want to lose. freddy declares her loss
beato explains that from the start, she needed to test ushiromiya battler, kinzo's grandchild. the battler in front of her doesn't remember something, so it clearly isn't her battler. she bet on insane odds to meet him, and has apparently missed
battler is removed from TIPS hehehehehe
beato asks lamdabern to leave. in going to leave, freddy turns to delta and says it's extremely unlikely they'll ever meet again, but she did have fun; delta chases after her panicking
beato meets with maria in a darkness. she regrets ever trying to add anyone else to mariage sorciere: it should've stayed as just the two of them forever, they should never have attempted to share their joy
they decide they don't need anyone but eachother and enter the golden land as a pair
beato decides to cast the feelings that lead to her wanting to play a game against battler into oblivion. the two cry together

1998

the scene opens with punchy music to change the tone, but it's just juuza's radio (real composer namedrop). ange asks him to turn it off (really good bit)
they're on the boat to rokkenjima. ange is disappointed no memories are flooding back
the captain reveals rokkenjima had a secret second harbor in the back called the "hidden side", intended for un/loading kuwadorian exclusively. one day in 1968, the few sailors that make trips to rokkenjima were asked to no longer use the secret harbor and never speak of it again
they theorize about an underground passageway between the two mansions, but have no evidence
docking, ange goes alone to deliver flowers where the mansion was. the path is overgrown and there's a clifflike cutoff point where the hill has collapsed, so she cant reach the mansion itself. juuza stays on the shore
ange realizes that without love it could not be seen: mammon and sakutaro materialize fuller than ever besides her. she realizes that maria's magic was a holy white magic unlike the black magic of hatred and calls out for her forgiveness
suddenly, kasumi and her guards approach from behind. the magic is shattered
kasumi beats and humiliates ange, who keeps retorting back sarcastically
kyrie was that sumadera family branch's heiress, thus kasumi lived carefree as a princess without major obligations. kyrie eventually ran off via a scheme and shoved the family burdens upon her
the sumaderas consider the ushiromiyas to be a weak family, but thanks to a business tie made by kyrie she was able to get out of the heiress role without breaking family ties. however, kasumi had to bear the burden of the rest of the family's disapproval of kyrie running off. kasumi considers this to be kyrie's trick to get back at her
kyrie had an arranged fiance who she ran from. kasumi had her own boyfriend. on kyrie's elopement, kasumi was suddenly forced to take kyrie's fiance...
ange realizes the true shade of kasumi's hatred: she's pushing all the wounds of her heart externally, seeking a scapegoat in kyrie's daughter to make up for what kyrie did to her
theres a bit about how sumadera women are expected to present subservient to men but in actuality wield the reigns extremely tightly
in overlay, ange's furniture try to help her hold on as she's beaten. ange concludes the true nature of the "black witch" is when one gives in to the instinct to continue the cycle of abuse rather than purify it by seeking connection and communion with others, especially family
gametime: she remembers eva's abuse. she theorizes that eva's breaking point was coming home from a massacre she likely only narrowly escaped herself rather than perpetrate, and her sole remaining relative rejecting her
ange considers that if she, at age 6, having just been orphaned, having lost absolutely everything especially her beloved only sibling, had been there to support her middle aged aunt emotionally, then maybe eva may have not wound up so abusive, cold hearted, hateful til the end etc
there's a shift in maria's grimoire from before and after sakutaro was killed. beato taught her the dark magic of hatred, which replaced maria's heart instead of the white magic of love (TIPS has been calling sakutaro maria's "white heart")
evabeatrice is a dark witch in the same way. she materializes beside kasumi and goads her into doing crueler and crueler things to ange: she eventually lands on the grimoire, deriding it, tearing it apart
ange holds off on crying until maria's heart/magic/existence via the grimoire is rejected
maria's spells are explained. her most treasured incantation is saying "uuu": it's meant to make rosa be friendly with her
she went on a picnic with rosa and together they sang a song; not knowing most of the words, maria began to sing uu-uuu syllables instead. remembering rosa's immense joy in the moment, she associates rosa loving her with her vocalization. she treasures the memory too much to ever give it up
kasumi motions to have ange shot. then ange performs a true miracle: she materializes her up until now powerless furniture to kill the entire crowd
kasumi's crowd is completely bewildered until the end, as they can't see the furniture materialize (in either form)
eva materializes out of evabeatrice as a final challenge for ange: mammon destroys her gun which explodes, rather than kill her directly
it's set up as loving magic rather than hateful as ange is accepting everything that happened, seeking to release others' hatred through her (as a vessel?) rather than enacting her own revenge
unclear how/when: ange is at the skyscraper again (maybe this was all a dream..??)
freddy greets her and acknowledges her as a true and very powerful witch who learned everything she possibly could on the journey freddy sent her on
due to having become a complete and true witch, ange now has a full arsenal of abilities to resist and fight against them
magic is made of love, sadness and anger. freddy insists that beato must be killed for ange to have her happiness. this is not posed as a contradiction towards ange's attitude of only seeking loving magic
freddy admits to deceiving her with the (unfulfullable to "this" ange) gambit of bringing battler back. ange suddenly accepts that she's nothing but a piece on the chessboard, she doesn't need her emotions
ange reaches out: she finds maria and beatrice in their golden land, a small closed off world where the two live in bliss eternally
ange tears apart their union and world by reviving sakutaro for maria. it's heavily implied this is due to the difference in perspective between beato and ange: beato believes him to be handmade and one of a kind, thus she could never replace him, but ange has found out otherwise...
maria is overjoyed, but the illusion collapses due to the union of 2 being necessary for this world
ange accuses beato of being a false witch: the necessity of an alliance that affirms both parties are witches, rather than them both standing alone as witches, is proof that beato is a fake. a true witch can make a universe completely on her own
ange brings beato back into the current-time purgatorio smoking/tea room. she forces her to sit as a player. beato despairs; she knows her game is meant to be endless and unwinnable, and she's sick of it
delta shackles her to her chair by her foot. she threatens her with having finally found the cruelest possible fragment to trap her in
freddy brings battler back: his entire existence was shattered and it took her a very long time to painstakingly collect him
he's seated opposite beato, but is zombie-like. his soul could not be retrieved
freddy vaguely tries to encourage him, but it doesn't work. ange makes arguments in his place:

in red, battler is not asumu's son.

not in red: battler is not kinzo's grandkid

in blue: battler is still rudolf's son and subsequently kinzo's grandkid even if asumu is not his mother

lambdabern as referees allow the motion. battler half returns
ange goes all out: she asks him to say in red that ange is his sister. he does, then realizes
ange keeps him in the chair, holding his head from behind so he can't turn around. she screams about her sorrow in a world without him and the importance of family bonds; he needs to get his act together and solve the game to return home to her
battler comes back alive little by little realizing he wants to come back home in one piece. he's terrified of non-red words; ange suddenly calls out in red that she's his ange, he needs to come home to her
battler returns; beato snaps back into her cruel persona (extremely like ch6 rena's cutesyness) and goads him. ange explodes into chunks of meat: not identifying herself was her one condition for entering purgatorio. she asks him to not turn back to witness her evisceration
her gambit as angebeatrice is a tactical sacrifice in chess: to give battler a reason to win the battle, which can save his timeline's ange, but not this one
battler immediately, immediately turns back to face her🥺: he can't comprehend the extreme way she's been gored. lambdabern simply stare on, and beato explains she saw ange be ripped apart (...as if it can be argued she didnt truly die...?)
battler realizes the deal with her hairclips. it's meant to be a classic shounen tearjerker scene but im very disappointed LOL
beato takes a breath, then snaps into deriding battler as usual. from ange holding him, battler feels all of her sorrowful memories in perfect clarity, and retorts he'll continue the game
the conditions are perfect for a "certain miracle"; there is virtually no chance for beato to win at all. a second chain binds her free leg. ends on her laughing about how she'll bring him into the golden land
(i went back and saw that in ep1, kanon emphatically lingers on battler as part of his introduction. that's our beato)

Tea Party: Day 2

after beato's test, battler was left completely alone. she told him to go to the chapel, where he finds keys for the mansion near the door
inside he enters the dining room: he finds the initial 6 corpses plus maria (TIPS finally updates; it now required him being the witness...?)
he goes on a rampage for hours asking beato to show herself. by dawn he stirs and spends the whole day investigating all of the corpses per kyrie's account over the phone; he can't find kanon's corpse
kumasawa and gohda were not killed via strangulation, they were only made to appear so after the fact. he enters the garden storehouse via tools from the boiler room, then uses garden tools (unclear) to try and open the well to find kanon, but cannot make a dent on the grates
he suspects all but maria have been gunshot wounds. in overlay beato (alone) proclaims that kanon is definitely dead as he was shot then toppled down the well, but neither battler can hear her (disctinction between piece battler and purgatorio battler again)
eventually battler enters the main kitchen and starts drinking from the bottle. as the clock strikes midnight, piece battler thinks the witch is returning to him: in overlay, he greets her
they move to a vast rose garden, similar to the golden land that maria had made with beato earlier. instead of gold roses, there's red roses; a note is made that red roses symbolize passion like the red truth, whereas the blue truth's symbol would be forget-me-nots
beato goads him. they finally face off as equals examining all 4 game boards' mysteries: the loss of ange has transformed him into a worthy opponent; he corners her mercilessly as he'll never show sympathy for her tears again
battler's blue theories bounce between being very grounded/plausible like ange's then completely outlandish in ways worse than his typical
she goads him mentioning ange's evisceration a lot. they go back and forth over and over, the stakes are reiterated over and over, this is by far the most repetitive scene
each time battler's theories ring plausible enough, beato is wounded with blue stakes (contrast the red slashes). she keeps saying the pain is nothing but is clearly extremely wounded every time. a full explanation of a human culprit could erase her very existence. it's a reversal of roles: she has to use red truth to deny his accusations, but her options are far more limited than his
theories of note: kinzo was dead for all 4 scenarios. kinzo's presence in ep4 can be explained as the title "kinzo" is given out to the next successor, similar to the premise with beatrice's name. the same may apply to kanon, which explains how in ep2 he re-appeared after his death was confirmed
beato recalibrates to say only 17 humans have been guaranteed to be on the island during the entire conference. no body doubles have been used, and disguises are not used
kinzo's ghost briefly appears so battler can hone in the point that multiple characters go by multiple names. he transforms into a massive dragon and attacks, but battler dispels him through theorycrafting
beato motions to give up, but battler refuses to kill her just cause she's given up: he's so certain now, he wants to defeat her properly in battle
every twilight from all boards is examined one by one; battler wins each with the human culprit theory. beato cackles that she's technically won against his initial resolve to keep his family innocent in his mind, but he's unphased due to how much he wants to save ange
his most absurd preposition is that the ep2 chapel murder was done via ingestion of "small bombs" that later detonated (he theorized poison for a different twilight a bit before this...)
in her final back-and-forth of faltering, battler calls her "my golden witch"; she briefly melts, then snaps back into calling him a worthless idiot (awawa)
beato is skewered so much, she winds upon death's door. she begins to bloodily sob for him to end her pain: he promises he will; not for himself, but for her
while elevated by the skewer-stakes, she releases her heart via a complicated gesture; light shines out her chest again (ep3)
her heart comes up to battler as a ghost and presents the final mystery: in red: battler is the last alive, yet she is about to try and kill him. "who am i?"
they embrace tenderly. battler leaves the game board; cast credits roll

Witch's Tea Party

in an unknowable fragment, lambdabern lay together on a lavish bed eating endless sweets drinking endless drinks
they roll around and discuss the ending. freddy had started to get worried that battler's sentimentality towards beato would push the story in a new "weird" direction, thus she used ange as a trump card piece to prevent that outcome. battler is now finally on beato's level
ange was really valuable as a piece due to being so difficult to procure and train, so she's very upset to have lost her (as upset as she can look, which, is not at all)
(of note, freddy's TIPS have said that delta's game destroyed a part of her heart. and that her miracle was as impossible as requiring folding a piece of paper 100 times, and yet she folded it)
delta proclaims that none of battler's arguments just now are valid at all. one by one she cuts them down; in particular no one else goes by the name kanon. freddy is surprised for all except the small bombs theory
notably: delta says beato isn't actually gently giving up at the end there, she was performing some sort of summoning ruse with her complicated gesture (the particulars of how she lifted her hands is considered half-hearted)
together they laugh. they proclaim that they support battler getting stuck in a tie and beato's loss; nobody is advocating for beato's victory...
with absolute certainty, there is no room for a miracle than can save beato.
the music box unlocks, its really fun

Alliance of the Golden Witch

timeframe: october 1986

reading time: 14/05/26 - 15/06/26

Navigation

Homepage
Indexpage
Changelog

🕊️ Seagull nav 🕊️

Navigation
Cicada🦗
Question arcs🌟

Legend
Turn
Banquet
Alliance🌟

Answer arcs

End
Dawn
Requiem
Twilight

Bonus arcs

Tsubasa
Hane
Saku

TOC

ch1 • ch2
ch3 • ch4
ch5 • ch6
ch7 • ch8
ch9 • ch10
ch11 • ch12
review

Alliance of the Golden Witch

timeframe: october 1986

reading time: 14/05/26 - 15/06/26

Navigation

Homepage Indexpage Changelog

🕊️ Seagull nav 🕊️

Navigation Cicada🦗 Question arcs🌟 Legend Turn Banquet Alliance🌟 Answer arcs End Dawn Requiem Twilight Bonus arcs Tsubasa Hane Saku

TOC

ch1 • ch2 ch3 • ch4 ch5 • ch6 ch7 • ch8 ch9 • ch10 ch11 • ch12 review

Homepage
Indexpage
Changelog

Navigation
Cicada🦗
Question arcs🌟

Legend
Turn
Banquet
Alliance🌟

Answer arcs

End
Dawn
Requiem
Twilight

Bonus arcs

Tsubasa
Hane
Saku

ch1 • ch2
ch3 • ch4
ch5 • ch6
ch7 • ch8
ch9 • ch10
ch11 • ch12
review