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EPISODE 1: LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN WITCH

Maria is the youngest of the Ushiromiya's family, daughter of Rosa. She has a very shiny personality, and is often very outgoing with persons she knows. At the contrary, she becomes doubtful with who she doesn't know, as it is with Battler at the begin of the story, because they met just when she was 3, and she couldn't remember anything about him. She's very sociable and, as every child in the world, she loves sweets and such. Despite of her childish personality, she's not very well seen at school, in fact, Rosa says more than once that she has no friends. It is because she likes very much dark things, as magic and witches in particular, and this kind of cult is just something "for children", as her mother says, because she doesn't believe in it. We can clearly see a strange relationship between her and her mother. Rosa is a kind of person who easily loses temper, and everytime she does it, she starts to slap Maria and to hit her head... but very badly. In this first act, we see that, after that Maria sees a sick rose in the rose garden and menages to take care of it thanks to George, she, after a bit, realizes that she can't find it anywhere, and starts to cry because that was Maria no bara "Maria's rose". One of her particularities is her way to talk, because she adds a -uuu to every sentence she makes (even only a "uuuuh" as reply is ok for her). This word is really annoying for Rosa and, when Maria starts to cry for the rose, her mother slaps her as stronger as she can, telling her to remain there and search for the rose alone. Battler, George and Jessica, that saw all the scenario because they were helping their cousin, were shocked by that situation, but couldn't make anything but to come back to the guesthouse since a typhoon was approaching very quickly. Maria was sure that she would find the rose, and, even if it started to rain, she remained there and looked trough all the garden, in order to find it again. It was raining very badly, and Rosa thought that Maria's determination was surely that strong that she would remain under the wild rain; so, because of guilty feelings, she came back to the rose garden, and, down on her knees, hugged her daughter, asking her to forgive her bad mom. Maria forgave her in the blink of an eye, because the main problem, in her mind, was the fact that Rosa's body was possessed by an evil witch, who freed her in that moment. Another problem was that Maria was keeping an umbrella, and she said that it was given to her by Beatrice, the Golden Witch of Rokkenjima. Rosa was not convinced of this,but left the problem unsolved in order to don't become crazy again and starting to hit Maria, so they came back together to the house.
Maria likes a lot to watch tv. In fact, she spends the most of the time in front of it from when the storm starts. She's a key in this first step of the Witch, because Beatrice told her to read a letter (that she gave her when they meet in the rose garden) to everyone after they've finished to eat dinner. The problem, in fact, were the conents of the letter: Beatrice was inviting all the persons in Rokkenjima to her game that was about to solve a riddle that was written in the letter and that was carved at the feet of the big portrait that was in the house. If the riddle of the epitaph would be solved, the witch would give all the gold she gave to Kinzo to the person that would found it, and with it, the name of the Ushiromiya's family too. Obviously this thing shocked everyone in the dining room, and what's more important, is that no one believed to Maria's words and they insisted to ask her who was the person who gave her the umbrella and above all, the letter. The poor little Maria-chan started to cry after a bit, because she was saying the truth about Beatrice, but all denied her because they don't believe in magic. After a big outburst of the parents, they decided to leave the children go to their room and talk alone by themselves.
Maria will show, more than once, her skills with magic. She carries with her a book that she keeps with pride inside of her bag, and this is called Book of Riddles. Inside of it, Maria made a lot of draws about magic circles and such, a lot of draws about witches too, that her cousins, definitely saw what kind of thought she had in her mind about them: they were not scaring as all the other people, and especially a child, think, but she considers witches beautiful women, with an extremely infinite power. She talks a lot of Beatrice, and explains them that all the times that she comes in the main house once a year, she talks and play with her, and it was her the one who teached her things realted to magic. It was because nobody believed in her words that Maria told her cousins that Beatrice smiles to the ones who talk well of her and become furious with the ones who make the contrary, so she gave them as a gift some lockets with the shape of a scorpion: these ones would help them, since witches are rejected by them and she wouldn't come near them. From these "little" things, we can understand how much she adore Beatrice, the witch who told her that, if they will solve the riddle of the epitaph, will lead Maria and her mother in the Golden Land, so that they can stay together all the time.
From the first Twilight, Maria is sure to know that the person who killed her relatives (and her mother too) is the witch, and that everyone should believe in her (even if everyone continue to don't take care of it). All, in fact, are astonished from the fact that Maria is not surprised of her mother's death and continues to watch tv as nothing happened, and her behaviour starts to change, because, apart the usual smiling happy face, she starts to laugh in a very strange way, that is so creepy that Battler will be scaried of it. Thanks to Maria's charms, her cousins and Natsuhi (who had Jessica's locket) won't die until the end of the first Game, but up to that moment, they won't believe in her words: in fact, at the end, she will be considered one of the culprits and, together with the furnitures, she will go out of the room where the "survivors" were gathered. This will lead all to feel guilty about to blame a little girl who lost her mother, up to the moment in which... Maria will make a phone call to the room, singing a song. Battler and the others will be very scared of this, and will go and search for her, seeing that all the other were already died in the same room that was Maria, with the receiver upon her ear, still singing the song. When all asked why she was like that, she replied that was Beatrice the one who told her to do it: when in the meanwhile, she was killing all the others in the room, she didn't wanted Maria neither to see that abominable scene, nor to hear other sounds than her song.
At the end of the game, in the Tea Party, she will be the one that will say until the end to Battler to admit that the witch "exists", even after that she was dying as the others that were together with them.
After Rosa's death, we see a very different part of Maria, as I previously wrote. The Maria that we know here is yes, the childish girl, but we find out that she knows very well many things, not only from black magic, but from the Bible and religion too, and she can read English very well.

Thank you so much to Miriallia

PECULIARITIES

In Episode one we meet Maria for the first time, obviously through Battler's eyes.
A strange child. Maria is 9 and she's a child with an unusual sinister expression on the face. It's as she went in another world.
Many aspects of her are the ones of a normal child, but she likes magic (black magic) and occultism, making her passion something real, that the others can't understand. She believes in witched and her behavior is childish with who doesn't believe her words. In a first moment she's introducted just to say "uuuh!" (words that characterises all Maria's sentences) in every discussion, and we can notice that she thinks in third person and with simple phrases, like a child younger than 9.

Here Battler explains how Rosa, Maria's mother, is a wonderful person and how she loves Maria (who played all the game until the 6th, looking at this moment makes a big, BIG laugh LOL ), describing his aunt as a strong and sensitive woman saying that: "she'll never break a promise" (LOL).
Beacuse of this, we can't understand well Maria's personality, because we need to see a narration that isn't the one of Battler but one closer to Maria, of someone that knows how she lives her life day by day.
Maria likes simple things and animals, she shows a great enthusiasm for any little thing that touvh her heart of child.
We can say that a part of her is very candid and pure, but Maria is full of sides that a single game doesn't explain.
She's stubborn and when she wants something, she claims to have it at once.
While the journey to Rokkenjima, she makes jokes with Battler and even if she can't remember nothing about him (it's normal, because 6 years ago she was 3), she decides to call him just Battler (instead of Battler onii-chan) and they become closer than they could image.
She believes in the words of who is kind with her and who shows her the truth, so she likes George and Jessica, and she spends a lot of happy moments with Battler and them.

Maria is totally convinced that Rosa's bad actions are falut of the Black Witch, a dark and evil witch that wants to riun her life with mama. This is the reason why Maria always continue to love Rosa and to desire to go to the Golden Land together with her, refering her as "the real, cute mama".