4/5 ★ – Perrythe8's review of Umineko no Naku Koro ni Episode 4 Alliance of the Golden Witch.

Chapter 4 of Umineko really felt like Chapter 3 of Higurashi. A little slow at times, with a lot of epic moments; the best chapter of the Question Arc. It also resembles chapter 3 of Higurashi in the way that it hurts to read it. Like, emotionally. Maria's story, Ange's past; everything is so, so sad, and it just hurts. They're slow moments; in fact, it doesn't quite pick up the pace till there's only 4 hours left or so, and this was the longest chapter in the whole Arc. Specially that Tea Party, boy that was long. But it has some of the best moments on the novel, at least for the moment. It demonstrates that the victims aren't victims cause they're weak; but because they're outnumbered by the "supposed magic". Everyone is extremely capable of doing almost anything, and this really shows. I also really liked and hated at the same time how VIRGILIA is now used for comedic relief. I liked the 4th wall breaks, for sure, and the "loser flags" thing was really cool. But VIRGILIA went from a wise, powerful witch, to a laughter character that can't even surpass a punch from a richy man with almost no strength. I'm really at the edge of my seat waiting for the answers to everything, specially to why Beatrice was acting so weird in a specific moment. But that's what this is about: letting you know what's to come, so that it can blow your mind at its best.