So I took it upon myself to collect some of the spoilers floating around for SM. These spoilers should be taken with a grain of salt and definitely corroborated before being added to their pertinent articles.
For instance, the spoilers for SM's volume 5-7 mentions that Karel is Irisdina's brother. Karel is actually a character from Gretel's past. Back in 1978, Karel and Gretel were students at Karl Marx Comprehensive School (a special school for the children of party members and nomenklatura). The two had a budding romance which was dashed ironically by then lieutenant Beatrix Brehmer when her investigations of Karel and his family turned up seditious thoughts/activities (see Schwarzemarken Requiem 2 Chapter 1 ).
Without further ado, let's begin:
Bernhard im Schatten[]
Chapter 1 - “Jürgen Bernhard Deterred”[]
1972年、東ベルリン。主人公のユルゲン・ベルンハルトは、妹のアイリスディーナから、彼女が所属する水泳部に素晴らしい演技をする選手が入ってきたと告げられる。その後、水泳部のプールを訪れたユルゲンは、妹が話をしていた少女・ベアトリクス・ブレーメと出会うことになるのだが……。
First chapter is mostly there to establish the settings and main characters. It opens up in 1972 (couple of months before BETA make landfall) with our MC, Jürgen, going to meet up with Irisdina. His sister's participating in some school swimming event and there's this new girl in the swimming club. He's heard from Iris that she's apparently really good. This piques Jürgen's interest, as Iris is little miss perfect. She excels at everything she puts her mind too, easily beating the rest of the class and being very popular too boot. She's basically the school idol. Her having a rival is something Jürgen's gotta see. Rival girl turns out to be pretty cute. So Iris and new girl have their diving/swimming competition while Jürgen watches, and Irisdina wins, but its close. It's here that new girl finally get's introduced to Jürgen. Her name is *drumroll* Beatrix Brehmer.
Chapter 2 - “Beatrix Brehmer's Confession” []
住宅街に近いスーパーで、ユルゲンとアイリスディーナは、ベアトリクスと再会することに。そこでベアトリクスが料理に興味があることを知ったアイリスディーナは、彼女を自宅に招いて夕食会を催すことを提案するのだった。そして約束の日、ベアトリクスはSPをお伴にユルゲンとアイリスディーナの家を訪れることに……。
The title pretty much spoils it. The meet up at the residential areas (while being tailed by state police; more on that in chapter 3) and Irisdina starts chatting with Beatrix. They talk about a variety of things and the subject of hobbies comes up. Turns out that Beatrix really likes to cook of all things (Irisdina's is collecting tea accessories). Beatrix asks the two if they'd like to try some of it, and they say yes. For some reason, Beatrix doesn't want to go back to her home for the dinner party, so Jürgen invites her to the Bernhard residence. Turns out Beatrix wasn't lying about her hobby; she's a really good cook (Irisdina helped out a bit too). After the meal, Beatrix proposes that the they should hang out the next day, this time in the Mitte shopping district. The Bernhards agree, and the next day, while Iris is distracted, Beatrix nervously drops this bombshell on Jürgen:
「私と付き合いなさい」
“Please go out with me!”
Chapter 3 - “Irisdina Berhnard's Decision”
国家人民軍航空軍の士官学校に見事、主席で合格を果たすユルゲンだったが、近くの寮に入るため、卒業までアイリスディーナと別々に暮らさなければならなくなる。"アイリスディーナを自宅で一人暮らしさせてもよいものか"と思い悩むユルゲン。そんなある日、ユルゲンは母親からある提案を受けることに……。
Alright, this is where shit starts going down. We start getting a lot of background info and start getting some conflict.
Much to Beatrix's elation, Jürgen would love to the date her. Much to Beatrix's despair, it'll be a while before Jürgen can actually do anything with her. She's willing to wait for him though. You see, Jürgen's been attending the NVA air academy with his best friend. He's one of the best students too, so the commander eventually lets him have his “date” pass. One day at the academy, he gets a phone call from his mom that his dad has come down with something bad. Jürgen's parents turn out to be diplomats and travel around a bunch, usually leaving the kids in the care of a family friend. They're also seen as being a little too cozy with those blasted Westerners.
Next, we learn a little about Beatrix's family life. Her dad, Abel Brehmer is a complete douche, to no one's surprise (explains why she's so hesitant to invite the Bernhard's back to her place). He's descended from one of the founding families (or soviet collaborators, take your pick) of the DDR, so he's really elite within the nomenklatura. The guy's a hardcore stasi, holding some really high office in it (wouldn't surprise me if he turns out to be the Minister that Schmidt "accidented" to get his promotion). He's the guy who got the ball rolling on transforming the stasi from a spy agency to the real power behind the DDR.
Quote from the guy pushing a new piece of legislation through the People's Assembly:
“国家安全部要拥有可以用自己权限动用的私兵”
"[The Ministry of] National Security can use this privilege to have private soldiers,"
He's a control freak concerning Beatrix, tasking stasi agents to keep him updated on/control her. The scene where he's introduced has him glaring and intimidating her . He's been attempting to groom her for a life in the stasi. Obviously, this hasn't been very good for Beatrix's social life, making her kinda lonely before Iris came along. Beatrix confides all this to Jürgen on their date, saying that she doesn't "Want her life bound to the ministry", but feels like she doesn't have a choice. One the reasons she took up swimming, in fact, was to get away from her Dad.
One of their conversations below:
“虽然让人家白白的等了两个月,但现在看来不算白费。我已经确信了”。
'啊,确信什么?
'“我肯定能从你身上学到不少东西”'
“嗯?“
'“和我交往吧!尤尔根·伯恩哈德”
Beatrix is basically joking to Jürgen about leaving her to hang for two months, but says it's alright now because she's finally got her dream date.
Near the end of the chapter, Jürgen notes that the military has been mobilizing, which has him scared (he doesn't know its for the BETA, thinking it's for a war with the West) Irisdina is shocked when she learns that Beatrix and Jürgen are dating: Pertinent quote from Irisdina on the matter:
“尼桑和贝亚成为恋人?真是斯巴拉西!”
With the military and all, he hasn't been able to hang out with Iris as often, even having to move away from her. To Iris, it looks like he's abandoning her in favor of Beatrix. This becomes the catalyst for the first of many Beatrix vs Irisdina bitchfights. Iris had been growing steadily more resentful over Beatrix challenging her number one school idol spot, even having the nerve to surpass her in the last swim meet. Iris isn't used to second place, so she's a terribly sore loser. Now Beatrix is trying to take her brother. Irisdina goes off on Beatrix:
“欧尼萨玛要和我在一起才对！”
“Onisama is mine!”
which leads to Beatrix shouting this back at her:
“自私也有有个限度，尤尔根大人是我的人！”
“[Your] selfishness has to have a limit, Jürgen is my man! “
Irisdina later apologizes to Beatrix and the two kinda make up.
Schwarzesmarken Volume V-VII[]
Intro[]
They go back to the base and start questioning Lyz, which then leads to the rebels asking Theodore to execute Lyz himself, which he does after hugging her. Meanwhile Katia was headed to were the execution was to try and stop it, but was too late as she heard the gunshot from a distance, at which she crumbled to the ground. Now in command of the 666th TSF squadron, Gretel has a conversation with Annette telling her that Theo had no choice but to kill his sister if he wanted to stay and fight with the rebels, as they suspected him of collaborating with the Stasi, since his sister was an agent after all. Theodore meanwhile all alone in a room, apparently breaking down from the fact the he shot Lyz, and during this Katia shows up to try and help him. She tried and talking to him in order to make him keep going on, and I think she mentioned that she loves him. He almost attacked Katia and wept, and she embraced him. After this, encouraged by Katia, Theodore, Gretel, and Annette move out to rescue Irisdina after they learned her whereabouts from Lyz, with Theodore being very determined to not let her die. Walter and Sylvia stayed in the base since they were too injured to fight from the torture, and I remember a scene were Sylvia cuddled with Walter.
Now the scene returns to Beatrix and her unit and showing them finally arrive at the rebels base and staging a preemptive strike, which leaves the headquarters in rubble. However at that point, Walter and Sylvia, having stayed at the base because of their injuries, launch their TSFs and engage the Stasi. They somehow survive the attack, and Beatrix eventually leaves the base, thinking that she killed Heim. Fortunately, the remaining soldiers finds Heim, and relocate along with Sylvia and Walter. Now, Theodore and Annette arrives at the base, with Theodore supervising the maintenance of his Mig-23, and being very worried about Gretel. Annette tells him that she'll be fine, and then tells him to go and eat something. Now, the rebels somehow got the location of Irisdina, and heim called up the remaining members of the 666th, telling them that rescuing Irisdina is their top priority, as she is a symbol of hope for east germany.
After getting the information about Irisdina's whereabouts and meeting with Heim, Theodore and Walter starts discussing how they will fight the Werewolf unit, with Walter telling Theodor that he will sacrifice himself to stop Beatrix. Sylvia wasn't happy about that, and pretty much refused the plan as she doesn't want to lose Walter, since she loves him. Also, if I remember correctly, he tells Theodor to just concentrate on finding Irisidina, which means that while the squadron will be fighting Beatrix and her unit, he'll be looking for Irisdina. At this point, the only members left of the 666th squadrom are Theodore, Walter, Sylvia, and Annette. Katia is alive and well, but at the time she was heading underground to East Berlin to commence operation Ursula, which I will mention shortly. Now, the squadron reaches the base were Irisdina is held, and of course, Beatrix was waiting for them. Theodore separates from the squad and starts infiltrating the base, looking for Irisdina, while the others engage Beatrix and her unit; Walter fights beatrix and well, the fight was kinda awesome; while beatrix has a huge advantage since she's fighting Walter's Mig-21 in her Mig- 27, Walter was able to almost overpower her through a series of acrobatic techniques in close quarters, which lead to him damaging the frame of the Mig-27, as well as destroying one of it's arms. However, in the end Beatrix turns the situation around and kills him, but her TSF was quite beaten at that point. And by the way, the battle takes place almost at the Berlin war, and its at this time that operation Ursula commences, which is basically having Katia broadcast a speech, through a radio station in East Berlin in order to convince the people of east and west germany to unite. The operation was a success, and people from East germany starts showing up and the wall to try and destroy it.
That being said, this was a worst case scenario for Beatrix, whom after seeing this, tries to kill the east germany citizens who approach the wall. When she tries to do so, Sylvia and Annette starts attacking the unit, and this ends up with them protecting the people, however Sylvia is killed in the process. Soon after the Stasi leaves, and Annette watches the people tear down the wall as she cries for the death of both Walter and Sylvia, wondering why she is always the one to survive. Note that rescuing Irisdina was an important part of operation Ursla, and as such the rescue operation was broadcasted through a camera embedded in Theodore's fortified suit. Now, Theodore successfully infiltrates the base, however it has no soldiers, and most of the staff he encounters inside simply flee when they see him. He arrives at the room were Irisdina was supposed to be held, thanks to the directions of a map given to him by the rebels. Theodore, before opening the door, prepared himself for the worst case scenario, were Irisdina would be dead, however, shortly after he opens the door with a creak.
Now, the scene moves to Beatrix and her unit, as they wee escaping from the base, with Beatrix watching the live feed the rebels are broadcasting from the rescue operation, at which points she sees a young Eishi hugging a blonde figure; Naturally, that was Theodor and Irisdina. Theodor was hugging Irisdina, as she was alive, but her body was covered in bruises and scratches all over, with purple and black marks on her face. There was no irreparable damage done, and the integrity of her body wasn't violated since Beatrix ordered so, as she was planning to use Irisdina as some sort of bargaining chip. She was out cold, but after a while she notices Theo and calls his name, but he's unable to say anything, and tears start flowing from his eyes. She then faces the camera on Theo's suit, and start speaking, asking the citizens of both east and west germany to join hands, and then puts her hand on Theo's cheek and thanks him for saving her. He then, on impulse, hugs her again.
Finale[]
The scene starts with Theodor and Irisdina sitting somewhere while Theodor watches a medic patch Irisdina. He mentions in monologue that these injuries are going to make it difficult for her to rest or sleep, her nails from all fingers have been removed after all. A small conversation between them takes place, with Irisdina telling him that she didn't think she was going to die since she knew that the unit would come for her. They talk about some stuff and Theodor blushes, and then she reminds him of what she told him at the end of volume, which is basically that after all of this is over, they will go over to the villa south of Berlin that belonged to Theodor's family. And while she knew about the death of the members of her unit, she was saddened, but as she wouldn't let that appear on her face. Theodor then moves to fight Beatrix after getting a few tips from Irisdina on how to beat her, and in the end he manages to finish her off by stabbing the control unit of the mig-27 with his knife. Beatrix speaks a few lines,which Theodor interprets to be her final words, after which she dies.
Now Theodore returns to the rebel's base, however everyone who was supposed to be guarding Irisdina is completely silent. Theodore makes his way to were she is, only to find her lying down, with Katia and Annette besides her. Katia's face was already drenched with tears, and then Annette explains to Theodore that Axman attacked the area, going after Katia's life. However, Irisdina shielded her, and got fatally shot in the abdomen. Axman mentions that as a reward for making it easy to kill her, he will let her die slowly, and leaves afterwards. Irisdina then looks at Theo, and speaks weakly and telling him its fine, since her part is done, and then looks at Katia and tells them not to grieve her death. She asks about Beatrix, and Theo tells her that she shouldn't have suffered much. She then tells Theodore that she wants to see the Berlin without the wall seperating east and west, and Theodore carries her and takes her to his mig-23. In the magazine, there's a picture of Theodore holding her, the same way takeru holds sumika, and yuuya holds cryska. They take off, and fly over Berlin, and Irisdina watches Berlin, telling Theodore that she is happy that germany is not divided anymore. Theodore watches people from the east and west, hugging each other like old friends, and then starts talking to Irisdina, but there is no answer. Theodore, knew what this means, and holds back his tears. He looks at her face, and see a content look on her dazzling face, but still decides to keep talking. He tells her that he loved her, and that he wanted her to find happiness more than anyone else, and keeps flying on. The scene ends here.
Now, apparently some time later, Heim tells Theodore that they need him on the frontlines, however he does so unwillingly since it hasn't been much since Irisdina's death, and as such he is worried about Theodore. Theodore takes the whole thing calmly, and meets up with Katia and Annette, the remaining pilots of the 666th. They speak about Irisdina, and Theodore mentions that she told them not to grieve. Katia is very worried about Theodore, and tries to talk to him to help him become better, but he pets her head, telling her that everything would be fine. Theodore mentions in his monologue that the face of Katia isn't the face of a kid anymore, but the face of the girl who helped break the Berlin wall through operation Ursula; in other words she matured. While walking to the TSFs, Annette mentions that the army is thinking of reforming the 666th. Now, as the commander of his unit, Theodore has matured greatly, and decides to keep going to get a better future for his country, and the scene ends up with him walking to his mig-23.
Epilogue[]
The epilogue makes a few time skips, telling the conditions of Germany and Europe in each period of time like how Germany was evacuated when the beta finally crushed all the efforts of the German army. It also mentions that Theodore sometimes saw Irisdina in his dreams, and he would ask her stuff like that he was worried that her wound was painful and so on.
In the author's comments, Uchida mentions that schwarzesmarken is part of a bigger project, so apparently the story isn't over yet, and as such he mentions that there will be news about a sequel or continuation in the future, although he doesn't mentions if the future stories will feature the remaining characters, which are Theodore, Katia, and Annette.
Lyz[]
She wanted to give her first time to her brother .
Told that it was all recorded, and would be shown to her brother unless she does what they say.
She agrees. Axmann (The Stasi Armed Police Security Force "Grey Beast" as per chapter 2) was the one who broke her. He tells her after the first time "Don't worry, I won't be touching you. I'm a guy who likes cleanliness, and after your new friends had fun with you, you're filthy."
She undergoes training to be a fem-fatal sleeper operative, getting her body used to get information for the Stasi. She also ends up being the secret mistress for the Security Force. She believes Axmann planned to us her that way from the start.
Constantly crying for Oni-san to save her when she is alone, but knows her body is too defiled already, having lost count of how many had had her.
After the events in Schwarze with Irisdine getting captured, she is blindfolded in Theodore's arms, apparently before her execution at his hands.
Chapter 35 Lyz end.[]
Her last words when she was temporally in a lucid state of mind, were "Therefore, forget me... Absolutely, do not remember me. Because this dog of the Stasi, does not exist..."
Katia who was running over to stop him, heard the shot, and a tear fell down to the ground.
