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Blunder is the fourth episode of the Umineko When They Cry anime adaptation and the fourth episode of Legend of the Golden Witch.

Synopsis[]

In the wake of Eva and Hideyoshi's deaths, the remaining survivors seek refuge in Kinzo's study. Another letter from Beatrice is found, and the servants and Maria are forced to go to the parlor on account of suspicion. All seems well until those in the study receive a strange phone call.

Plot Summary[]

First Half[]

Anime ep1 george motorboat

George cries over his mother's death

George falls into despair at the sight of Eva and Hideyoshi's corpses, having lost his fiancee and now his parents. Natsuhi finds another letter from Beatrice, placed underneath the door.

As they lock Eva's door to preserve the crime scene for when the police arrive, the group notices an odd smell filling the mansion. Kanon goes to investigate the boiler room along with Kumasawa.

Anime ep1 battler punches maria

Battler punches Maria

The cousins theorize about Eva and Hideyoshi's deaths when Maria chimes in, mocking Battler's insistence that the culprit can't be any of the family members or servants. After a knock on the head from Battler, Maria explains that the symbol drawn on Eva's door is another magic circle, one that can unlock any lock. Jessica and George talk about Maria's strange behavior and how she's so upbeat despite her mother being killed. They believe that Maria knows who Beatrice really is and is hiding the fact.

Anime ep1 kanon boiler room

Kanon challenges Beatrice in the boiler room

Kanon and Kumasawa arrive at the boiler room, discovering that the weird smell is indeed coming from there. Kanon goes in by himself, sure that Beatrice is inside. He grabs a cleaver from the wall and announces his defiance of Beatrice as golden butterflies swarm the room. Nobody responds, and Kanon gets stabbed with a stake as clanging noises are heard. Natsuhi and the rest of the group enter the boiler room, where Kanon has pulled the stake out and is bleeding to death. Battler sees an open door leading outside and runs through, hoping to catch the culprit. He shines his flashlight through the darkness only to find nothing.

Anime ep1 kinzo hand

Kinzo's burnt corpse is discovered

Genji shows off the bloodied stake to the family as Nanjo works on saving Kanon; this was the same kind of stake used to kill Eva and Hideyoshi. They've also determined that the smell was coming from Kinzo, whose charred corpse was inside the incinerator. Battler is skeptical at the corpse being Kinzo's until Natsuhi points out his extra toes, a result of Kinzo's polydactyly. Genji also notices that Kinzo is missing the Head's Ring on his finger.

As Nanjo and Jessica work on Kanon, the rest of the group sits in the parlor. George believes there really is a 19th person as Battler suggests that maybe one of the first six victims faked their death; the corpses' faces were destroyed, so any of them could've been fakes. Nanjo and Jessica return to the parlor, where she breaks down crying as the old doctor reports that Kanon is dead. George wonders how the culprit could move around the mansion freely, with Genji suggesting that maybe they stole Gohda or Shannon's master keys.

The group decides to retreat to Kinzo's study, which should be the safest room in the house. Maria notes that even Beatrice can't get into the study, pointing at the scorpion magic circles on the doorknobs, the same ones as on her charms. The clock strikes 21:59.

Second Half[]

Anime ep1 praise my name

"Praise my name."

At 22:00, the survivors enter Kinzo's study and Genji closes the door, which automatically locks. He explains that there are only two master keys that can open the study, and Kinzo and Genji have them; Kinzo's key was on his corpse, which the servant retrieved. Jessica expresses fear that the culprit somehow dragged Kinzo out of his room despite the autolock, and Battler reminds her of the protective charm on the doorknobs. Natsuhi pulls out the scorpion charm that she hung on her own door, and Maria explains that Beatrice couldn't touch her because of it; Natsuhi realizes that that was why the strange marks appeared. She then reads out the letter they found in Eva's room, but it only has one sentence: "praise my name". They take it as a message from Beatrice, with the group finally asking Genji who she really was.

Genji explains that Beatrice has been dead for a long time. Kinzo was unhappy after having a forced marriage, and then fell in love with Beatrice. After her death, Kinzo turned to black magic to find a way to revive her. George sympathizes with him, saying he would do the same to revive Shannon. Battler asks Genji if Kinzo ever had any kids with Beatrice, to which he denies the thought. Jessica starts talking about a rumor that Kinzo donated to an orphanage and took kids from there to use as sacrifices for black magic experiments, when Natsuhi asks her to stop.

Anime ep1 portrait group

The group is creeped out by Maria

Battler then realizes that the murders were following the epitaph; the six people in the tool shed were "the six chosen by the key", Eva and Hideyoshi were "the two who were close", and Kinzo and Kanon had their heads and chests gouged, respectively. Jessica notes the next few lines requiring three more people to die, while George mentions the last line, where "none shall be left alive". Maria laughs at this development, saying that the witch will revive everyone at the end.

Natsuhi suggests that someone else is following the epitaph since Kinzo is dead, when Maria points to a letter; another one has suddenly appeared on the table behind them. Natsuhi aims her gun at Genji, Nanjo and Kumasawa, ordering them to stand against the wall as Battler reads the letter: it's another message from Beatrice, mocking them and telling them to abandon all hopes of leaving the island alive. Since Genji, Nanjo, Kumasawa, or Maria are the only possible suspects for planting the letter, Natsuhi forces them to leave the study; they comply, and Genji leaves his keys with her.

Anime ep1 discord circle

The survivors realize they played into the culprit's hands

As Maria begins to leave, Battler hands her his scorpion charm, which he lied about losing earlier so he could contradict her. Jessica wonders if they made the right choice in forcing them out; if none of them were culprits, then they could very well be in danger. Battler looks through the letter again and sees it came with yet another strange symbol drawn on a piece of paper. After doing some research in Kinzo's books, they determine that it's a magic circle meant to cause discord and divide people; the group realizes that they played right into Beatrice's hands.

Anime ep1 maria sings

Maria faces the wall and sings

Suddenly, the phone rings with Maria singing on the other end. Natsuhi's group rushes downstairs to find Genji, Nanjo, and Kumasawa murdered, their faces destroyed and stakes in their corpses, and Maria standing in the corner still singing.

Teaser[]

George narrates the preview, saying how everyone is talking about him. They call him Tomitake 2 and that he's "one damn good looking man." George blows off these compliments and tells them to remember that they will never again call him an idiot who can't protect his loved ones; he swears to get revenge for Shannon. He tells Beatrice to check out his karate moves and makes a bunch of noises. George says the next episode title and then cries out in pain after hitting his pinky on a drawer edge.

Soundtrack[]

Start End Title OST Description
0:00 1:29 Katayoku no Tori Katayoku no Tori Opening
1:30 2:18 N/A N/A George cries over his dead parents
3:15 3:57 N/A N/A Battler theorizes over how Eva and Hideyoshi could've died
5:25 6:43 Creeping Anxiety Umineko no Naku Koro ni ~Rose Crimson~ Kanon encounters Beatrice in the boiler room
7:10 7:40 Closed my Heart N/A Battler runs out of the boiler room to chase the culprit
8:58 10:35 N/A N/A Battler thinks someone in the storehouse faked their death
11:26 11:49 N/A N/A Maria tells Natsuhi that her charm protected her from Beatrice
11:54 13:15 N/A N/A Genji talks about Beatrice
13:57 15:29 Play N/A Battler realizes the murders are following the epitaph
15:31 17:44 System 0 N/A A letter from Beatrice mysteriously appears
19:43 19:51 N/A N/A Battler notices the magic circle from the second sheet of paper
20:53 21:44 Golden Slaughterer N/A The group enters the parlor after hearing Maria singing over the phone
21:45 23:14 la divina tragedia la divina tragedia~Makyoku~ Ending
23:15 24:05 Dancing Girl Doll Umineko no Naku Koro ni ~Rose Crimson~ Teaser

Comparisons to Source Material[]

This episode adapts the visual novel episodes "The Two Who Are Close", "Boiler Room", "Besieged", and "The Golden Witch".

  • The anime omits Nanjo diagnosing Eva and Hideoyshi as having died an hour prior and mention of the window being locked from the inside.
  • The anime omits Battler expressing his fury at the culprit for the cruelty of the murders and vows to grab them by the collar before the night is over.
  • The anime omits Kanon pulling the weapon out of his chest.
  • In the VN, Kumasawa arrives at the scene where she saw Kanon with a wound on his chest and the others follow her. In the anime, Kumasawa wasn't seen with them.
  • The anime omits Battler observing the weapon that stabbed Kanon appearing to be a stake of 25 cm in length engraved with an occult design.
  • In the VN, after Genji states the boiler room is locked, Battler wonders if his chessboard thinking can still deny a 19th person given the circumstances of the previous deaths and considers the possibility of one of the storehouse corpses being a substitute. In the anime, Battler and the others excluding Jessica and Nanjo discuss about it in the parlor.
  • The anime omits Jessica blaming Kumasawa for not backing Kanon up and grabbing Maria to demand information about the culprit from her before Natsuhi slaps her.
    • It also omits Jessica accusing Maria of being the culprit's accomplice and Natsuhi scolding Maria in a firm but calm tone, being more effective than Rosa's scolding.
  • In the VN, Genji tells everyone that only two keys can unlock Kinzo's study, one held by Genji and the other retrieved from Kinzo's corpse before they entered Kinzo's study. In the anime, he says it after they entered Kinzo's study. Same applied when Natsuhi realizes the scorpion charm she got from Jessica protected her from Beatrice.
  • The anime omits Battler recalling a conversation with Kyrie, who explained that chessboard thinking is weak against noise, such as mistakes, fickleness or imperfect knowledge.
  • The anime omits Battler remarking at the stench from the study.
  • The anime omits everyone checking for hidden entrances to Kinzo's study.
  • In the VN, after Maria, Nanjo, Genji and Kumasawa left, Battler notices the envelope containing a second piece of paper, upon which a magic circle is drawn. In the anime, he does that after he heard that Natsuhi was relived to be safe and takes responsibility for the situation, having to chase out the others to protect Jessica.
  • The anime omits George discussing to Battler that Jessica liked Kanon and that Jessica regrets being so harsh on Maria.
  • The anime omits the discussion of Rosa's emotional rejection of Maria being a possible cause for Maria to bury herself in her occult hobby.

Trivia[]

  • In Chess, a Blunder is a very bad move.
  • The song Maria sings in the parlor is Butterfly (ちょうちょう Chōchō).
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