Moving beyond the first page, the rest of the chapter doesn’t provoke quite as much thought or reflection. It’s mostly just the first big batch of character introductions while on the boat to Rokkenjima itself. Here we meet Battler, Jessica, Maria, George, and Kumasawa for the first time. Much of this chapter is spent establishing the general camaraderie between the cousins we see during pre-murder Rokkenjima scenes, as in-story Battler is finally meeting them all for the first time in six years. Interestingly, the manga cuts out the initial scene at the airport before the family even boards the boat, so introductions for everyone else will have to wait. As space is limited however, I think this is a sensible decision. Starting with the boat right away does a lot for the cousins up front, while also providing a taste of some of the mystery to come.
We start off with Battler, and get a pretty good look at him. He tries putting up somewhat of a front before falling victim to his fear of marine transport, which while pretty comedic does provide a glimpse into how I think he acts in many future scenarios. We see his fairly carefree attitude in addition to his positive energy, though it comes at the cost of bad anime-protagonist groping syndrome. Since this is Umineko however, this interaction isn’t without purpose, as we will see later.
George, Jessica, and Maria are also all done sufficient introductory justice. George shows his humility, as well as his responsible side in how he acts with Maria, additionally reprimanding Battler as only he can. Jessica shows off her boisterous side, something we must imagine doesn’t get to come out very much normally. And Maria shows off her lovely mix of her childlike innocence and disturbing, creepy, occult-obsessed side; the classic combination that can be seen in any nine-year-old.
With Maria specifically, we see Battler teasing her, asking her to promise to not be as violent as Jessica when she grows up, and to let him feel her breasts at that time.
. . .
Bad though this is, we see Maria’s openness towards believing others. While this is something she doesn’t always exhibit, especially when matters of the occult come up, this setup is useful for later scenes in which Maria is approached by Beatrice, as an example.
Next up we get a double whammy from Kumasawa, though the events are initiated by Maria. Maria notices that the small shrine situated on the coast of Rokkenjima is no longer there, prompting Kumasawa to ultimately step in and with an “Ho ho ho” attempts to tell a story about what happened, sending Maria into her occult mode.
The cousins speculate that a wave washed the shrine away, but Kumasawa spins a tale that lightning struck it instead, and that the local fishermen see it as an ill-omen. Maria latches onto to the ‘omen of bad luck,’ prompting some unease amongst the rest of the cousins. For Battler in particular, this behavior is new, so he attempts to comfort her, not yet understanding how Maria is when she gets like this.
Kumasawa continues, bringing up the more general topic of the supernatural, giving us this fantastic bit:
I really like this panel as a preview of the themes to come, especially as it’s portrayed quite differently than its later incarnations.
Finally, Kumasawa brings up what we’ve all been waiting for- that on Rokkenjima, there was a legend of a witch. Jessica immediately shuts this down, and Kumasawa stops with her typical chuckle.
…and that’s it for the first chapter. We’ve barely scratched the surface of the narrative, but even this early we get glimpses of things to come. Certainly, coming back to the early bits of Umineko with the knowledge of what comes after really gets the gears turning. Reflection on Kinzo isn’t the only sizable tangent that this chapter inspires.
Next time, I intend to talk a little bit about some thoughts that Jessica and Kumasawa’s actions brought to mind. Jessica’s role on Rokkenjima is very interesting to me, though I think these particular musings are just that, and nothing more, as the story seems fairly clear with how it wants us to view Jessica’s role.