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 BGM: Rose Stars seemed to spin around inside my head. I could just lie down on the floor, but that'd only make him more angry. I've no intention of being obedient. Still, it'd be stupid to get myself punched for no reason, so I got up and stood at attention...  "..."The fighting's close, is it? You really think the American troops are likely to show up on this forgotten island? Then let them come right now. That's what I've been waiting for all this time.  "What's this cowardly look you're wearing?! Is this how afraid you are of death?! Are you so scared of those Americans?! You won't be killin' any of them with an attitude like that!!" "..."I was hit again.  They let themselves be controlled by this inexplicable anger because it was the only way to distract themselves from their own fear. Heart and spirit aren't any use when the battle becomes hopeless. When trapped by an insurmountable hopelessness, humans will rely on several other emotions to escape their fear. For these young, inexperienced soldiers, anger was a very convenient emotion to fall back upon. Anger is the wine they used to paralyze their fear. It made them chant 'drat the British, drat the Americans' as they swung their bamboo spears around and called it 'drilling'. The more one drinks wine, the more they need to drink to get drunk. Their useless anger continued to pile up, day after day, without pause. I... did not fear death. So, I had no need of the wine called anger. This made their cowardice all the more apparent to me. "What's that look on your face?! Ushiromiya, you've lost your nerve down to your very soul!! You're a fish, that's what you are. You've got the eyes of a dead fish!!"However, it went both ways. Just as I was able to spot their cowardice... They were able to pick up on my lethargy.  BGM: None "Stand up! No slouching about! Double tiiiiime!!"First Lieutenant Yamamoto was the commanding officer in charge of the Rokkenjima garrison. He was just another filthy coward trying to forget his fear with violence, and would often reprimand his subordinates for slacking off at the drop of a hat. The stories of his life he'd spout off when in a good mood were all about how much of a thug he had been, ignoring the rules of society. On and on about how so-and-so was a prick so he taught them a lesson, or how everyone was so scared of him that he got special treatment. He kept on talking about what a vile human he was as though it was a badge of honor. Normally, I had nothing to do with this disagreeable lieutenant. He would always hang around with his non-commissioned subordinates, so as long as I treated him with a snappy salute, I could more or less ignore him for the time being. Now that the construction project on this island has been suspended indefinitely, there's no longer any use for an engineer like me. So, why did the lieutenant ask for me specifically? At that moment, I couldn't think of anything...  BGM: Sukashiyuri  "I am proficient in both English and Chinese, sir."The lieutenant liked to brag about his education in front of the non-commissioned officers, but he held a bit of a grudge against me for being even more highly educated than him. Since he also felt uncomfortable about having a subordinate who was older than him, I wasn't exactly a person he would be willing to confide in. Just the fact that I knew several languages must have hurt his pride. "What about Italian?" "I don't speak that." "So, you wouldn't be much help as an interpreter between me and an Italian person, would you?" "It should be possible if they speak English as well." "...Ah, yes, very true! Have you ever talked with a foreigner in English?!" "I have."Why on Earth would he need an interpreter in a cave on an uninhabited island that even our superiors have forgotten? His question made it clear that some guest had arrived on Rokkenjima who would need an interpreter. "Good! Ushiromiya, you'll be my interpreter, that's an order!" BGM: Bore Ral That pointless cavern submarine dock that had never been used... was now being approached slowly by a submarine of the Italian Navy. Of course, I knew that the Italians had been our allies. However, this was the first time I had seen anything from their military with my own eyes.  "It was the Kingdom of Italy that surrendered. However, the ones who couldn't accept that surrender joined Mussolini and formed the RSI, so that they could continue fighting." "The RSI?" "The Italian Social Republic. Also known as the Salo Republic." "You know your history. The ignorant often call the Italians cowards, saying that they surrendered first of the Axis powers in 1943. That's not true. The military of the Italian Social Republic fought bravely from the outbreak of war until April 29, 1945." "And Berlin fell just three days after that. Far from being cowards, they gave one hell of a fight. Still, I'm surprised the RSI Navy even had possession of a submarine that could travel all the way to Japan." "...Even if they did, it's a surprise that they'd come out this far at all. Why would they come to Japan? To Rokkenjima?"The submarine was both weather-worn and massive. I doubt anyone had imagined that a foreign submarine would come all the way here... when we'd never even had one of our own submarines dock here. All of the guards of Rokkenjima, of which there were only about 30, stood at attention as the submarine docked.  "I heard a mine or some kinda accident trashed their sub." "From what I heard, it sounds like their ventilator broke down and the cabin got packed with chlorine gas." "Lieutenant was hinting about there being something veeery important in there..." "You mean like a code machine or the blueprints for some new kind of engine?" "I couldn't care less what they're carrying, i'm more surprised that the higher-ups still remember we exist..." "Hurry up, Ushiromiya!! How're you supposed to interpret from over there?!!" "Yes, sir..."On top of the hatch was a young Italian saluting us. Normally, this should have been the job of a commissioned officer, but his clothes looked like those of a sailor, and it really didn't look like he had the dignity and composure of a ship's captain. That probably meant that all of the commissioned officers in charge had died in the accident that had befallen this sub. Crew members crawled out of the hatch one by one, but they all looked pale and entirely worn out. I'm not sure how long ago the accident happened, but being crammed together in a tiny sub filled with chlorine gas for any amount of time can't be good for your health. Not only had the ventilators broken, but traveling about carelessly on the surface of the waters around Japan these days would be foolish in the extreme. Their trip had been like one inside a can of poison gas. Almost all of them were unable to walk without leaning on someone else. It looked like a bunch of people staggering out of a hospital boat. "Ushiromiya! Ask them who the captain is! Tell them that I'm in charge of this island!" The crew members seemed to understand that I was speaking English, but it looked as though none of them could speak it. Eventually, someone who seemed to be dressed as an officer saluted. "<Welcome to Japan. Are you the captain?>" "<I cannot speak English>... <Please, wait.>"The officer answered in slow, laborious English. After asking us to wait, he shouted something to his subordinates in rapid Italian. It looked as though he was telling them to get someone among them who could speak English. "Ushiromiya, what're they talking about?!" "They've asked us to wait. They might be looking for someone there who can speak English."At that moment, I heard a high-pitched cough. It wasn't a man's cough. It was a woman's.  BGM: Ballade Continuer As she came down from the hatch, a woman with beautiful golden hair said this in English. In this filthy cavern, the appearance of one as beautiful as she was seemed like an angel descending upon us...   "<The captain is dead. That man over there is the only officer left.>" "<My condolences. Can we do anything to assist you?>" "<Well, we would like some fresh air and water. Some of us are still having trouble breathing. We'd like a place to rest.>" "<We would be happy to help. Do any of the others understand English?>" "<There were some who did, but they're all dead. I'm the only one now.>" "Ushiromiya! What's that woman talking about?! Who's the captain? That man from a second ago?! Who is that woman?! Let's see some translating, dammit!!"The lieutenant has been yelling like that for a while now. He must have been surprised to see such a beautiful woman appear from the submarine... and more than a little annoyed to see all of her attention focused on me alone. It was a mark... of how divinely beautiful she was. "Sir, it seems that she's the only one who understands English. She will act as their interpreter. Their captain is dead. That officer seems to be acting in his place." "<Who's that loud man who keeps yelling at you? Don't tell me he's your superior.>" "<Yes, unfortunately. He probably doesn't like seeing me have such a beautiful lady all to myself.>" "<Oho. I didn't expect such flattery from an Asian. Your English is superb. I imagine you've been brought up very well. Unlike that rude man who keeps on shouting. They should have made you the officer in charge around here.>" "<Oh? I didn't expect such flattery from a Westerner.>" "<*giggle*! You're an interesting man. What's your name?>" "<Ushiromiya... Kinzo. If you don't mind, may I ask for your name as well?>" "<Beatrice Castiglioni.>" "<Welcome, Beatrice. Welcome to Japan.>"  "...So, Beatrice was an Italian." "Yes. She was the daughter of a high-ranking RSI official. Apparently, their most important cargo was her father himself. Sadly, he had already died by the time they reached Rokkenjima." "Why would a high official like that come to Japan? You're saying he went through the Suez Canal and crossed the Indian Ocean to come all the way here?" "That's a good point. If they wanted to reach one of their allies, Germany should have been much closer. So, why would they make the long trip to Japan?" "...It may have been part of some grand, outrageous strategy. I don't know all the details, but shortly after, I learned that this submarine's mission was far from a minor one..." However, only about 10 of them, including Beatrice, had survived. Their submarine had apparently hit a mine or something in the nearby waters and sustained a great deal of damage. They told us that it had flooded rapidly with water, which had taken out the batteries and released a large amount of chlorine gas. Their sub had become completely incapable of continuing further, nothing but a massive lump of metal floating by the dock. Since the sub seemed to be carrying 'something of immense value', the higher-ups ordered us to investigate. After questioning the Italians, with Beatrice and me acting as double interpreters, we concluded that this thing of immense value must have been her father himself. Apparently, Beatrice's father was extremely high up in the RSI hierarchy, and it was thought that he might have worked alongside Mussolini himself. Though their massive voyage had apparently been part of some top-secret mission, now that the man himself and all of the commissioned officers had died, their reason for coming to Japan remained a mystery. And, since the higher-ups were telling us to investigate, that meant that even they didn't know what it was. Their ship had broken down, their mission was unknown, and the high official they had been carrying was dead. And even the Japanese government didn't know why they were here. The Italians' great and perilous voyage... had come to a meaningless and utterly fruitless end...  "<What a coincidence. I've always thought Italians had hair made of pasta.>" "<Of course we do. You don't know how hard it is to get that perfect al dente texture. I imagine you Japanese all wear spaghetti al nero?>" "<Oh, you know quite a lot, I see. In Japan, we like to use squid ink instead of shampoo.>" "<Kyahaha! You really are amazing, Kinzo. It seems you know everything! Have you ever been to Italy?>" "<Never. I have read a lot of your books, though.>" "<An Asian man reading Italian books?! Wow, what kinds of books?>" "<Niccolo Machiavelli. And Dante Alighieri. So, I know of course that you are the eternal lady.>" "<Oh, what a surprise... You must be quite the bookworm. Does this mean you came from some Japanese noble family?>" "<...Who knows?>" "<You're completely different from those other savage-looking Japanese soldiers. I can tell! You must've come from a noble family. Are the Ushiromiyas some sort of Japanese aristocrats?>" "<...Of course not. They just managed to strike it rich in the spinning industry in recent generations. I didn't study to prepare myself for nobility or anything like that. I just did it because I wasn't allowed to do anything except read, play around with roses, and get myself drunk.>"There had been no trace of malice in Beatrice's words. It had just been a curious question asked to a friend from a faraway country. However, Beatrice was from a noble family herself, so she could tell. She could see the faint gloomy look on Kinzo's face.  "<I... don't really care about my family line. When I die, the name Ushiromiya will have no hold on me. Then, I'll finally be free.>" "<...So, you joined the army because you wanted to die? You mustn't do that. Your family would be so sad.>" "<Family? I have no family.>"I have a wife for the sake of public appearances... and children. However, I've never wanted any of them. Everything, everything... is a fleeting daydream created by those selfish, greedy elders. So, at least being stuck on this island, I can forget about all of that... and find some peace. Peace...? But haven't I spent each and every day complaining that I wasn't sent to the front and haven't managed to die yet...?  "<...I can't understand the pain you're going through, but I do realize that my thoughtless words have hurt you. Forgive me, Kinzo.>"Forgive me, Kinzo. Yes, those words are probably what did it. All of the Japanese people called me Ushiromiya. It reminded me that I was the property of the Ushiromiya family every time they talked to me. But she was different. She... called me Kinzo. Not Ushiromiya. So maybe... just for the time I chat with her like this, I can forget that cursed family.  "<...Kinzo.>"I hadn't meant to make Beatrice feel guilty, but she seemed certain that her thoughtless words had hurt me.  BGM: Le 4 Octobre  "<Huh?>" "<Since you always call me Kinzo, I finally feel like I'm my own man. I think... that I've finally met a person who truly sees me for who I am.>" "<Kinzo. You may be a foreigner I met in a distant land, but I know your heart is very sensitive and beautiful. If we had grown up in the same neighborhood, I'm sure we'd have become quick friends." "...I'm happy too. You always call me Beatrice. Not 'the daughter of the Castiglioni family'.>"We were both in the same position. Her Castiglioni family must have been a rigid place as well. Though we came from different countries, we had finally found something that we both understood. "<Do you have a nickname that people close to you use?>" "<No. They would just call me Kinzo.>" "<Well then, you should stop calling me Beatrice. All of my close friends used to call me Bice. I'd like you to call me that too.>" "<Very well. From this point onwards, I will call you Bice as a sign of our friendship.>" "<Ah, come on. You can't talk all stiff like that. We're friends now, okay?>"A bright smile stretched across Beatrice's face...   "...So, by meeting Beatrice, you managed to regain your sense of self." "Or, as most people would put it, he cheated on his wife." "Nggyaaaahh, ggrrrrkkk..." "If you plan to continue being rude, I suggest you get in the habit of covering your butt."After having his butt pinched once more, Will hopped around in pathetic agony...  "So, in your eyes, Grandfather, Rokkenjima was always special for being the place you first met Beatrice." "...Yes. If I had never come to this island, I would never have met her, it truly is an island of miracles..." BGM: None "Yes, it's still there, close to Kuwadorian. It's in the shadows of a cove that can't be seen from the outside. After all, fishermen never approach this supposedly ill-omened island. It is unlikely that anyone besides me still knows of its existence." "Is the two-kilometer-long underground passage between Kuwadorian and the mansion a remnant of that base?" "That is correct. There was some nonsense about fortifying several locations across the island and connecting them with tunnels carved out of limestone caverns. I made use of that underground passage, and built two mansions, one at each end of the island." "Two mansions, two families. The Ushiromiya family mansion, and the mansion for Kinzo, released from the shackles of the Ushiromiya family." "...Correct. It was something I needed. A place for me to escape from the cursed name of Ushiromiya." "..." "<I don't really know what Papa's plan was. He said that we needed to run far away to hide 'it' until the time came.>" "<And what is 'it'?>" "<I don't know. 'It' was something very important, and he planned to hide it for many years until the right moment. Oh, and he planned to hide himself along with it. I know because he apologized to me for sending us to live a long time on foreign soil.>" "<Didn't that ensign of yours say that you had no cargo in particular, and that you were transporting your father instead?>" "<Ensign Angelo doesn't trust you or the others. Even I know a few things he's kept hidden from you. He might even know what Papa's goal was... and what the cargo is.>" "<Whatever it is, that's a mission for the Italian military. It has nothing to do with us. After all, we are allies. We should be able to trust each other.>" "<I have no doubts that you're a good person, Kinzo. I've even told Ensign Angelo that you're a man we can trust, but...>" "<...Why is it that men always get so rigid and uptight when they're in a strange land? Normally, they're all very bright and cheery people.>" "<Ever since we came here, there's been this strange feeling of tension. Ensign Angelo has ordered that his subordinates be armed at all times. It's almost as though we're in enemy territory.>"That was true. The Italians were clearly the very opposite of relaxed. The Japanese soldiers, watching this, began to suspect that the Italians didn't really trust them at all.  "<They have a person stand watch every time they sleep, and they're still keeping a lookout to make sure none of you approach the submarine, even though it's nothing more than an unusable scrap heap now. It almost feels as though they're clearly prejudiced against the Japanese, and that bothers me.>"True, they had set up a constant sentry by the submarine and had refused to let any of the Japanese soldiers come near. This hadn't made the Japanese particularly happy. However, submarines are treated as classified in all countries. Maybe it was just natural for them to stop foreigners from approaching it without reason. "<They're probably uncomfortable with being made to live in a way they aren't used to. That boat which is supposed to take you back to the mainland is still being delayed by weather and problems up the command chain. Just how long will it take before they can send you there...>"We had been told that a boat was being sent for them directly from the mainland, but apparently, thanks to the weather, problems up the command chain, and the recent air raids, there were no ships to spare for a forgotten island like this. There might have been some sort of diplomatic problem. After all, their homeland had already surrendered to the Allies. I didn't know the details. The only thing I knew for sure was that they'd been stuck on Rokkenjima for two whole weeks and no one had come to get them. Of course, we had some small boats on Rokkenjima. There was nothing physically stopping us from taking them to a nearby island. Still, Rokkenjima was technically a top-secret base, and contact with the outside world had been strictly forbidden...  BGM: Le 4 Octobre "<...True.>"To me, those two weeks... were the first I'd ever truly lived. The faint 20 years before all seemed to vanish in the sparkle of those two weeks. I realized that she would have to leave this place eventually. And yet, this one moment felt so rich and dazzling... that I felt myself wishing it could last forever...  BGM: None  "<...It's Ensign Angelo. Looks like he wants you for something.>" "<Probably to scold me. These days, he keeps yapping on about how I shouldn't get too friendly with the Japanese soldiers.>"The ensign approached, saluting Kinzo, and after glancing at Beatrice as though asking her to translate something, he began to speak in Italian. Judging by his tone, it sounded like something serious.  "<...Ensign Angelo has something very important to say, so he wants to talk with your commanding officer. He wants your help with something. I don't know what.>" "<Something important...? Got it. I'll go find Lieutenant Yamamoto.>"Ensign Angelo had two of his subordinates with him and wore a stern expression on his face. They didn't have to say anything for us to realize that this must be something very serious...  BGM: Bore Ral The winch creaked and the thick chains rang out with a dull clang. Very, very slowly, 'it' was lifted up out of the submarine's cargo hold. "...Now I get it! So this is why those Italians didn't want us near their sub...!"The lieutenant and the others looked up at what the winch was slowly lifting up, all of them wearing unpleasant, forced smiles...  "<...Unbelievable... So this is what Papa brought all this way...?>" "<I, incredible... I've never seen anything like this...>" Those carefully piled bars were being slowly lifted out of the cargo hold, one group after another... This gold had been their true cargo. I don't know where they were planning to take it. They might have been trying to sneak it into Japan, one of their allies, or they might have been on their way to hide it in some remote area. Was it some sort of strategy? A conspiracy? Embezzlement? Top-secret transportation of wealth? This incomprehensible amount of gold led to all sorts of dark suspicions, but we didn't know anything about the truth. All told, the gold weighed an incredible ten tons. That was the only truth we could wrap our minds around at the moment... They had strongly resisted showing this to us. However, the submarine could no longer make sea, and it was apparently continuing to take in water bit by bit. Rokkenjima had been outfitted in an extremely slipshod way, so we had no means of repairing it. Also, while we could unload the sub, there was no way we could lift it up again once it had filled with water and sunk to the bottom. Now that it was clear that transporting the gold had become completely impossible, they had apparently decided on unloading it. Of course, they made no effort to explain the reason for all this gold. They had just asked us to help them take it out... "<Why would they take so much gold out of the country...? Couldn't they have changed the course of the war with this much wealth...?>" "<...Weapons change the course of war, but after the war, they aren't useful for anything. Money may also change the course, but it remains just as valuable after the war.>"There's no longer any way to change the course of this war. The Axis powers will probably all surrender, leading to an Allied victory. Anyone could tell this simply by looking at the American planes flying across the sky day after day. However, gold does not lose its value after war. Everyone stared upwards, dumbfounded... as the winch slowly lifted the dully sparkling gold... 
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Jul 9, 2017 14:32
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*Hears OST Bore Ral* We're getting into some poo poo here, aren't we? 
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Jul 9, 2017 15:09
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EagerSleeper posted:*Hears OST Bore Ral* We're getting into some poo poo here, aren't we? Well, we have two groups of desperate men with guns around and no real reason to trust each other, and into that mix has dropped the historical go to for conflict: a mountain of wealth that only increases in value as time goes by. Yes, I would say that things are about to get heated. (Interesting song, that... is the singer a man or a woman, and is the androgyny deliberate?)
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Jul 9, 2017 15:23
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<Good.> It also looks like Beatrice genuinely might have stayed with Kinzo voluntarily. I hadn't expected them to have a real love story with some actually cute moments. Or, I guess, it might be cute if all these people weren't about to kill each other over this gold. It's also interesting to see a Japanese perspective on the Axis powers. It's probably accurate to say that the remnants of the Italian military were brave, but I can't imagine ever reading those words in an American history book. Edit: And we get more detail on how Kinzo thinks about his family. No wonder he acts like such an rear end in a top hat about everything connected to them. All this stuff about Ushiromoya pride is just projected onto his ghost by the people pretending he still exists. idonotlikepeas fucked around with this message at 15:31 on Jul 9, 2017 |
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Jul 9, 2017 15:26
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resurgam40 posted:(Interesting song, that... is the singer a man or a woman, and is the androgyny deliberate?) Sounds like a countertenor to me. They 'sound like women', but only because people generally aren't used to hearing men sing in head voice. There was a time at which it was very popular for opera composers to write parts for countertenors; then they fell out of fashion and those roles became 'pants roles' (male characters sung by women). Countertenors are coming into fashion again now, though. David Daniels is a particularly well-known one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa1e49KLXNU
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Jul 9, 2017 15:33
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I admit this is the first time I heard about the RSI fighting after Italy officially surrendered - least until Il Duce was executed. Who called it that the gold's missing is fascist war gold?
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Jul 9, 2017 16:13
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ProfessorProf posted:
Reminder that Eva is 8 years old right now, Krauss 11. Kinzo: always a poo poo.
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Jul 9, 2017 16:36
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idonotlikepeas posted:It's also interesting to see a Japanese perspective on the Axis powers. Please look forward to Proof's Rose Gun Days lp then 
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Jul 9, 2017 16:47
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Hey I'm happy you guys like this update, this is just a friendly reminder to listen to Ballad Continuer when Beatrice leaves the ship. In fact just listen to all the music up to this point because EP 7 has some loving amazing tracks.
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Jul 9, 2017 17:11
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idonotlikepeas posted:Edit: And we get more detail on how Kinzo thinks about his family. No wonder he acts like such an rear end in a top hat about everything connected to them. All this stuff about Ushiromoya pride is just projected onto his ghost by the people pretending he still exists. I'm not quite so sure. We can establish that the flashbacks we get from Eva in ep 3 are very likely true, and he's still definitely an Ushiromiya-loving rear end in a top hat then.
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Jul 9, 2017 17:18
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Probably once he has a literal mountain of gold and the attendant power for himself that he can tell all the hold farts that toyed with him to get hosed, he starts feeling a lot better about the name Ushiromiya.
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Jul 9, 2017 17:21
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By that time, the Ushiromiya family would have become his in truth as well as in name, basically, so it's all reflecting on him.
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Jul 9, 2017 17:24
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Robindaybird posted:Who called it that the gold's missing is fascist war gold? I had guessed it was Nazi gold via Italy, but I suppose this is pretty close. Rodyle posted:By that time, the Ushiromiya family would have become his in truth as well as in name, basically, so it's all reflecting on him. A good point. He never seemed to warm up to the kids he had via his "official wife", though.
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Jul 9, 2017 17:40
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idonotlikepeas posted:A good point. He never seemed to warm up to the kids he had via his "official wife", though. Imagine reclaiming your prestigious family name and a bunch of fascist Italian gold, then realizing your heir is Krauss. I'd wind up being crabby too.
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Jul 9, 2017 17:47
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ProfessorProf posted:
I feel like this is kinzos entire character in a nutshell.
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Jul 9, 2017 17:53
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ZiegeDame posted:Probably once he has a literal mountain of gold and the attendant power for himself that he can tell all the hold farts that toyed with him to get hosed, he starts feeling a lot better about the name Ushiromiya. But the cycle of abuse refused to change...
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Jul 9, 2017 17:56
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ZiegeDame posted:Reminder that Eva is 8 years old right now, Krauss 11. Kinzo: always a poo poo. Rudolf may have been born recently as well.
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Jul 9, 2017 18:50
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MonsterEnvy posted:Rudolf may have been born recently as well. Doubtful, considering Kinzo enlisted in 1943 (that's 20 years after the great Kanto earthquake) and spent the whole time on an island hoping to die. My money is on Rudolf being conceived when Kinzo came home shortly after the surrender in September 45. He was probably thinking about Beatrice the whole time.
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Jul 9, 2017 19:00
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ZiegeDame posted:Doubtful, considering Kinzo enlisted in 1943 (that's 20 years after the great Kanto earthquake) and spent the whole time on an island hoping to die. My money is on Rudolf being conceived when Kinzo came home shortly after the surrender in September 45. He was probably thinking about Beatrice the whole time. Well he could have been born after Kinzo left and have been conceived just before. I recall it being stated that Rosa was the only one born after the war.
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Jul 9, 2017 19:07
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MonsterEnvy posted:Well he could have been born after Kinzo left and have been conceived just before. I recall it being stated that Rosa was the only one born after the war. I don't remember this, but Rosa was certainly the only one born after the mansion was built.
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Jul 9, 2017 19:20
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Beatrice C is cute.
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Jul 9, 2017 19:46
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So does the scenes of them talking in English have them speak in English or is it all Japanese?
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Jul 9, 2017 19:56
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Tired Moritz posted:So does the scenes of them talking in English have them speak in English or is it all Japanese? Japanese I believe.
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Jul 9, 2017 19:59
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ProfessorProf posted:
Well, gosh, that's inconvenient. Or maybe the other thing, instead.
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Jul 9, 2017 20:22
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Kinzo being fluent in Chinese (though he doesn't say what type) could mean the people who theorised he's from Taiwan are right. Even if I don't really remember why that came up, it could mean the rest of the epitaph theorising related to is is good too.
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Jul 9, 2017 22:01
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I see I was the next target of the thread's avatar-buying spree.
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Jul 9, 2017 22:28
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Graylien posted:Kinzo being fluent in Chinese (though he doesn't say what type) could mean the people who theorised he's from Taiwan are right. Even if I don't really remember why that came up, it could mean the rest of the epitaph theorising related to is is good too. People were trying to figure out where his 'beloved hometown' was, and Taiwan was the theorised location. I'm thinking that guess regarding the No. 2 line was correct, but there should be another stage from the Quadrillion Gate. The section at the beginning of 5 doesn't make sense otherwise. ProfessorProf posted:I see I was the next target of the thread's avatar-buying spree. I thought that was your choice. Apparently not.
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Jul 9, 2017 23:29
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I'm bad at history and geography. Why would a Japanese person have their hometown in Taiwan again?
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Jul 10, 2017 00:01
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Wow. The Ushiromiya wealth being fascist gold, Beato's actual nickname being 'Bice' (pronounced "bee-che"), and Kinzo behaving slightly like a normal human being. I have the feeling that the chlorine gas is gonna to be the inspiration of the mass of golden butterflies, and that Kinzo and Bice are gonna gently caress over the rest of the soldiers by letting the chlorine gas end them. The legend of Beatrice the golden witch needs to start somehow, and the color of the gas is, while very distinct from a golden color, a good enough yellow to start rumors. So this means that the two are gonna have to start loving right now if Beatrice 2 is gonna be around the proper age to die. But I forgot when Kinzo actually started showing his business chops. ... Oh God he's going to actually imprison his mistress on the loving island. Whether for hiding her from the world governments or because he goes full-blown crazy, I can't say. But this definitely explains why he moves the family here.
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Jul 10, 2017 00:30
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Tired Moritz posted:I'm bad at history and geography. Why would a Japanese person have their hometown in Taiwan again? Up to the end of World War II, Taiwan was a Japanese colony. After World War II, it spent four years as Chinese territory until non-communist China fled to it. It's been it's own country (or, if you ask communist China, part of China that doesn't want to admit it) ever since. Fates End fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Jul 10, 2017 |
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Jul 10, 2017 00:32
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Well I have read enough to know who the killer is. Or at least guess who: Lion/Shannon/Kanon/Beatrice the Third is the one who after the massive amount of misery on this Island and it's family chose to kill them all.
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Jul 10, 2017 01:10
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bman in 2288 posted:So this means that the two are gonna have to start loving right now if Beatrice 2 is gonna be around the proper age to die. But I forgot when Kinzo actually started showing his business chops. They've got at least 5 years to pop out a baby for her to be ~18 in 1967. Man I almost wrote 'of child-bearing age' there instead of '~18' and now I'm gonna go vomit.
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Jul 10, 2017 01:40
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#gpoy
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Jul 10, 2017 02:26
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quote:Fate's End - Today at 6:28 PM
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Jul 10, 2017 03:36
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When in doubt, it's always nazi gold. I'm curious what the date of this event would be mapped to the real world calendar. D-Day was June 1944, the surrender of the Nazi gov't is April 1945, and August is when the two nuclear bombs were dropped. Going to be interesting seeing all this wrapped up. Thanks to the thread we've had a lot of theories that seem solid, but getting the final story will be pretty great, and I'm happy to be present for it. Also, with the presence of the military base, tiny bombs is back on the table. 
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Jul 10, 2017 03:54
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TheDavies posted:Well, gosh, that's inconvenient. Or maybe the other thing, instead.  It seems fitting if the "real Beatrice" Kinzo's in love with never really existed at all. Sindai fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Jul 10, 2017 |
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Jul 10, 2017 03:59
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You mean, an idealized version of Beatrice that Kinzo had that wasn't at all like Bice? Sounds like Kinzo, yeah, but this got me to thinking, where's Kinzo's misogyny in all this? We know that he was a stickler for male dominance in the family, but I'm surprised he's hitting it off with Bice like this, where she's just popped out of a submarine and actually working with him as an equal. Does those rules of patriarchy not apply where Beatrice is concerned? Is she the one who pushes him farther down that road, or does bad things happen that further change his views once Bice is gone? I'm betting that Kinzo is being hypocritical where Bice is concerned, because that sounds more like the Kinzo we know: if you aren't Beatrice, get the gently caress out... huh. This is further leading me to believe that maybe Leon has something to do with Beatrice. Why else would he treat Lion with anything approaching respect if that's not the case?
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Jul 10, 2017 04:15
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I'm pretty sure Kinzo looks down on the whole human race, not just the female half of it. He didn't remove Jessica from the line of succession. Has he ever said anything nice about anybody? Beatrice 1 in this update and before that....
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Jul 10, 2017 04:25
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BurningStone posted:I'm pretty sure Kinzo looks down on the whole human race, not just the female half of it. 
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Jul 10, 2017 04:26
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| # ? May 14, 2024 12:04 |
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RedMagus posted:I'm curious what the date of this event would be mapped to the real world calendar. D-Day was June 1944, the surrender of the Nazi gov't is April 1945, and August is when the two nuclear bombs were dropped. Large-scale air raids in Japan started around D-Day. Kaiten torpedoes were not manufactured until July of 1944 (in prototype form). So we're in the latter half of 1944 at this point, at the earliest. Japan is also running too low on resources to properly outfit a base it had set up. The Japanese navy was destroyed as a unit in July of 1945, so we have to be before that; it's impossible that Kinzo wouldn't have heard about that. Given the apparent temperature from the pictures, it can't be winter yet, so I'd guess we're in fall of 1944.
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Jul 10, 2017 04:34
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