Battler's first decicive move against Beatrice in Episode 2. To wit, Beato had given Battler the rule that anything she says in red is the truth. With that in mind, she created a Locked Room Mystery with the chapel that could seemingly never be proved; they definitely used the front door, there's only one key to open it, there are no other methods of doing so, and the key was definitely in Maria's possession. Battler, initially distraught over his lack of options, quickly "spins the chessboard" and makes Beato exhaust all of her "true" answers until Beato could no longer deny a human possibility. In this case, it's the idea that the envelope holding the key wasn't in Maria's sight 24/7 between the time she got it and the time Rosa opened it, meaning someone else could have taken the envelope, used the key, and then resealed it before putting it back in Maria's bag. While Beato eventually bounces back, since that means someone Battler trusts is a likely suspect, it marks the first time that the Golden Witch loses her composure.
Rosa's final actions at the end of Episode 2: she faces down an entire army of demon goats with only a Winchester 45, a pen, and a gold ingot. It was awesome enough to inspire her own video game.
The whole ending of Episode 2, with the hunt, Rosa protecting Maria, then finally they put up a last stand together ending in a Rosa firing some shots with pictures flashing by ending with the Umineko logo and then the When the Seagulls cry message and all of this accompanied with probably the most badass of the music in the VN (which with how good the soundtrack is quite amazing) Worldend Dominator. Seriously just watch it.
Beatrice's first entrance in the anime. If there were any scenes in the anime that did the Visual Novel justice... Basically, Battler announces that if the others want to prove Beatrice's existence, they'll just have to bring her here. Guess who appears right behind Battler only seconds after his announcement?
Episode 3, to list the highlights:
The entire Myth Battle between Beatrice and Virgilia. Even if in some sense it wasn't real, it is still awesome for both witches involved. The anime for all its faults did this well.
As bad as this may sound, Battler standing up to Beatrice by slapping her and generally telling her he's not going to take her crap anymore. She is an Endless Witch, and he is a normal mortal. Considering everything the guy has suffered from her magic and her minions, that was intensely satisfying.
The incredible battle in the hall where Beato is shot through so many times that nothing but a HEART remains, and she still holds off Eva-Beatrice... and then in the meta world Battler forces Eva-Beatrice to stand down despite her being a witch of terrible power.
Kyrie and Rudolf facing off against two of the Seven Stakes, and Kyrie defeating her opponent by basically out-envying her. In the manga we see Leviathan in her stake form bouncing around Kyrie at high speed, all while Kyrie is recounting her relationship with Rudolf and her personal envy of Asumu. She then, without looking, grabs Leviathan in flight.
Speaking of Rudolf, let's not forget this little exchange:
Belphegor:Resistance is futile. You don't need to think about anything. Just close your eyes. I'll finish everything gently.
The episode culminates in Beatrice convincing Battler that she has turned over a new leaf, almost making him give her the very same homage he had refused to give her while being tortured and tormented.
The two battles in Episode 4 between Gaap and George and Jessica and Ronove wherein they are forced to make a Sadistic Choice: Commit a Heroic Sacrifice, kill the person they love most, or kill everyone else. Both make their choice in the most awesome way: Jessica sacrifices herself, but only if Ronove can manage to kill her. George decides to kill everyone except himself and Shannon — starting with Gaap, the person who forced the choice upon him.
George: I'll start with you. Any questions?
In Episode 4, after seeing Kinzo spend the first few games screaming Beatrice's name at the sky and begging for her to return, he finally takes action: He not only summons the Chiesters, he also summons two of Beatrice's most powerful furniture, and her mentor. At the same time. There's a reason he gained something of a fanbase in America after the anime aired that particular episode.
The ending of Episode 4 where Battler denies Beatrice with the blue truth qualifies...but later events make this retroactively into a Tear Jerker.
In Episode 5, Erika is about to trap Kinzo in a closed room in his study on the third floor. Battler smashes that closed room by proposing that Kinzo could've escaped by diving out the window... and then proves it by doing so himself. Crazy Is Cool: It's In the Blood.
Cornelia: Let me speak, let me speak! Be that as it may, this is the third floor...! How could a wingless human escape from the window...?! Know that you won't get through, you won't!
Battler: Quit your whining and watch!
The hidden tea party of Episode 5. Battler is defeated and humiliated, his aunt is set to be disgraced, and many of Beatrice's furniture are about to be executed for Bernkastel's pleasure. Until he discovers the truth and makes a comeback, facing off against Erika, the Eiserne Jungfrau, and Bernkastel at the same time, gets back-up from Ronove, Virgilia, Gaap, and the Seven Stakes...and becomes an Endless Sorcerer and the game master going forward.
The manga adaptation of this scene keeps all the awesome of the original, but Battler wielding the Golden Truth is by far the best moment, meriting a full colour page in the middle of the chapter.
The last chapter of EP6 has one for almost every fantasy character.
Beatrice, after spending two whole games absent from the real Beato's face, we finally see her old self. She fearlessly crashes an armed wedding, and after staring at Erika greeting her, lets out her low, characteristic chuckle, which causes even Battler to react. Then she slowly raises her pipe, then progressively goes up from serene face, to gentle smile, to grin, to the long awaited sneer. After that entrance, she proceeds to calmly demand a duel from Erika, even though she could be killed at any moment, and then solve the closed room problem no one else could, then.
She and Battler get another, amazingly epic one at the very end of the episode, with just one line, after Erika declared in red that she's the 18th person on Rokkenjima: "Sorry, but-" "Even if we include you-" ""There are seventeen people.""
Virgilia, Ronove, and Gaap taking out the Chiesters.
Battler: "Maria, it's ten years early for you to tell someone to eat you. Make sure to tell me that in ten years, alright?"
From the second tea party as well: "Looks delicious. Slice up your cowtits and make me a sandwich." Especially in context: After her sound victory, Beatrice is torturing Rosa by making her eat remains of her siblings and more or less crossing the Moral Event Horizon by presenting Maria's head, who suddenly starts to beg. The game is already over, nobody is coming to save her, Beatrice laughing hysterically towards a perfectly plausible Downer Ending scenario... then that one line comes up, effectively and utterly destroying the hopeless mood. Cue Battler's Big Damn Heroes entrance.
Made several times more awesome by him smashing Beato's face into the table immediately after saying this. Too bad the anime didn't show it.
Dunno if many people caught this, but the fact that Chiesta 410 has faith in Battler in EP5. At one point during the main story, Battler is trying to argue a way to help the witch Beatrice and the phantom of Kinzo out of the closed room Erika has constructed, with the help of the Chiesta Sisters and the Eiserne Jungfrau. After he's told that escape is impossible, 410 simply comments, "But he'll do it anyway." And then, during the hidden tea party, Battler is revived from death, ready to fight again. Bernkastel orders the Chiestas to fire and destroy him; while readying to fire, 410 has a sad, apologetic look on her face. Right after it's revealed that they can't fire on him, her face has become a triumphant grin. When asked why they didn't fire, and it's revealed that Battler is the new territory lord of the fragment, 410 comments, "Nihi, I told you he'd do it."
Dawn again: The Stakes' subverting Erika and Dlanor to help Beato and Battler out when Beato makes her return. Gertrude is holding up a barrier that Beato won't be able to get through, and the Chiestas are quickly rebooting, almost able to take Beato out. The Stakes want to help the two out, but are unsure of how to proceed, because technically, Erika is currently commanding them. (Battler was comatose, and Erika married him; as his wife, she had the right to speak on his behalf and command what belonged to him.) Dlanor specifically tells Lucifer, "You are not allowed to move except by the orders of your MASTER." Then, this conversation occurs:
Leviathan: Who's our master?!
Satan: It's Erika now, idiot!
Mammon: No, our master is Battler-sama!
Belphagor: True, she only speaks on his behalf.
Asmodeus: That's right, big sister! Whose furniture are we?
Beelzebub: It's just too delicious! Let's eat!
Belz shoots forward and stakes Gertrude, but the barrier doesn't break. Gertrude just looks at Lucifer, and asks, "By whose orders? Know that Lady Erika has made no such order." "We do have orders. Th..the orders of our master!" "How can a master who cannot speak give orders?" "E..even though he can't talk, understanding a master's will is furniture's job!" With that, the six other Sisters all stake Gertrude, whose barrier shatters.
Episode 7. Although her motives are very morally ambiguous, it must be said that Rosa's zealous refusal to cover up her sister and brother-in-law for their Accidental Murder, combined with the fact that in the manga version she pushesEva away from her (so hard that in the next panel the latter touches the shoulder where Rosa pushed her as to indicate a form of pain) is very satisfying.
Episode 7.
Eva in the Tea Party surviving Kyrie's massacre and finally managing to take her and Rudolf down, then swearing to take care of Ange and ensure that she never learns the truth about her parents. Also counts as a Tear Jerker when you know how Eva's future with Ange turns out...
Will crashing the Tea Party to protect Lion from Bernkastel. Starting from when he freezes time and slices the screen apart to stop his murder, and then angrily refusing to allow Lion to even consider giving up. Getting thrashed by Bernkastel and losing his limbs does nothing to shake his absolute determination to save Lion and Beatrice, even at the cost of his own life.
Lion also gets to contribute by refusing to obey Bernkastel when Bernkastel orders him to beg Will to drop him and save himself. Instead, together with Will, he declares that they will escape and keep fighting for their miracle. Right to the face of the Witch of Miracles herself.
Episode 8, but it still contains a lot of awesome battles. Especially the EVERYONE vs. goats and Lambda vs. Bern/Featherine.
Also, specifically during the goat fight: Will HEADBUTTING A GOAT TO DEATH after it insults the mystery genre. The looks on everyone's faces as he does it are simply priceless.
Even before Lambda vs. Bern itself, Lambda sacrificing her own livelihood to bring Battler and Ange to Featherine's party and then later losing the game of rock-paper-scissors on purpose so that she would be chosen as the sacrifice should definitely count.
Episode 8 is more or less the only episode with Ushiromiya Kinzo interacting with the other characters as himself in true Ushiromiya Kinzo fashion. That should speak for itself.
A Fridge Brilliance CMOA for Battler, if you subscribe to a certain theory about EP6: if you believe he planned the entire thing, he managed to fool both Erika and Bernkastel into thinking he was a completely incompetent mess, while in reality he knew exactly what he was doing and was betting everything to save Beatrice. Just the fact that he was willing to spend years inside that horrifying closed room in order to revive her makes the episode that much more amazing.
The fantasy characters shooting down goats like there's no tomorrow.
Two closed room duels - Battler vs Erika and Beatrice vs Ange, happening at the same time, with this song in the background. For added awesomeness and badassery, Battler takes off his cape and throws it, before starting his duel with Erika.
And of course, the aforementioned Will headbutting a goat to death.
Rosa almost-killing Erika four times at once (including shoving a gun straight down her throat and firing and punching a pen through her eye socket) after she yells to Maria that Rosa never loved her. Erika manages to survive (mainly because Rosa apparently wasn't even fighting in full seriousness), only for Rudolf and Kyrie to start shooting at her - in perfect synchronization, with the bullets from their guns bouncing off each other in mid-air. And THEN, after running from them, Dlanor declares that her actions are unforgivable and issue a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown that forces her old friend to flee the battle.
And then there was a final Moment of Awesome for the whole family at the climax, but especially Ange. When she realizes her power as the Witch of Resurrection, she brings back Battler and every single one of her friends and family, real or imaginary, human or otherwise, who had died in the Golden Land just moments ago. Bernkastel's attempts to destroy them with the red truth are negated byeveryone's gold truth, which they then pool into a single, massive attack that tears through all the blue truths Bernkastel had been massacring Battler a minute ago and then continues on to her, finally defeating her. The Witch of Miracles was felled by not only Battler and Ange, but the entire Ushiromiya family and their friends. When you think of how much pain and suffering Bernkastel had caused them all, no defeat could be more fitting.
Earlier on, Erika's Villainous Rescue moment, saving Ange from a horde of goats.
Her first round with Battler in EP 8 manga, culminating in her handing his ass to him, solving EP 5 and 6 as well as the riddle of ShKannontrice is one Moment of Awesome long overdue.
And let us not forget the group that made it possible for us to read this series, Witch Hunt. Their work has been nothing short of amazing and with no payment, hundreds of fans constantly wondering when the next translation will be up they have now finished the series. You guys are nothing short of amazing and well deserve the praise R7 gave you.
Natsuhi's Mama Bear moment for Jessica by taking a stand against Beatrice in Episode 1. It fails miserably, resulting in her death, but given her Chew Toy status, you have to give her props for having the courage to do that for her daughter's sake.
In the beginning of Episode 5, we see Natsuhi getting into an argument with Krauss over his really stupid decisions and how he squandered the family fortune. When he starts getting too excited about the idea of fixing everything with Kinzo's hidden gold, Natsuhi actually slaps Krauss to get him off her. To clarify, Krauss was actually afraid of her and recoiled even though Natsuhi only slapped him to get him to calm down. Still, it showed there was a limit to how much stupidity she was willing to put up with from her husband.
While these days it is almost impossible to not know about Bernkastel's true personality, back when it still was not a widely known fact, the ending of the secret tea party of Episode 4 definitely qualified. Starting off almost cute, the scene quickly turns into a Curb-Stomp Battle without the defending party even being present as Lambdadelta piece by piece tears apart all the solutions for the mystery that Beatrice just accepted in her final fight against Battler. Things get calmer again, with Bernkastel and Lambdadelta talking casually with each other once more. Then, suddenly, the music fades, and both of them declare Beatrice's certain defeat. The truly epic and terrifying staff credits music from Episode 1 fades in, and for the first time, we see Bernkastel laughing diabolically, revealing her true nature and setting the stage for all the Episodes to come. Truly a CMOA combined with what was back then possibly the biggest Oh, Crap moment ever.
Episode 8's manga has one moment summed up in two words: Black Battler, or the culprit theory that becomes Black Battler. Heck, just the factor that he even APPEARS if mainly in reference is a moment of both awesome and horror considering how much more powerful he gets the more "Battler Culprit Theories" pop up. When he appears, he almost singlehandedly kills each and every one of the surviving family members as Golden Land falls apart. However, this gives way to an even BIGGER moment of awesome from Beatrice, who curbstomps him in turn by saying "Urshiromiya Battler is not the culprit!" in red which CUTS BLACK BATTLER IN HALF VERTICALLY. This both shows how horrifically powerful Black Battler can be, but also the factor that the true master and creator of the catbox is Beatrice, and that she can deny even the toughest of what anyone throws at it.
