Umineko no Naku Koro ni, or Umineko, or Umineko When They Cry, or Seacats, is a sound novel by Ryukishi07, perhaps known best for writing its predecessor Higurashi.
Umineko is the story of Battler, a boy who cries a lot, coming to his family reunion on the private island owned by his billionaire recluse grandfather Kinzo. With Kinzo's health on the decline, the matter of inheritance is hotly contested, with each of his children fighting tooth and nail for their share.
However, things take a turn for the bizarre when they receive a letter from someone claiming to be the Golden Witch, Beatrice, here in order to reclaim the hidden gold that was the foundation of Kinzo's empire.
Murder after murder occurs in impossible locked rooms, where it seems that the only way they could have been done was by someone capable of using magic.
Of course, because the genre is mystery, there is always a solution. If you follow the clues and read between the lines, the truth is always waiting to be found.
Umineko is an over-the-top anime action fantasy story, about the thousand-year-old witch Beatrice and her schemes to get everyone on the island to accept her existence and turn it into her eternal plaything.
Of course, because the genre is fantasy, there is absolutely no purpose in trying to solve it as a mystery. The truth is that the witch's impossible magic is to blame for everything, and it's only a matter of time until you surrender to this inviolable fact.
Umineko is a metatextual story being told on multiple layers simultaneously, both presenting a mystery/fantasy and examining what it means to explore either genre. As the tragedy unfolds, Battler and Beatrice exchange twisted logic to try and determine the truth of the game board once and for all.
The most famous aspect of this meta-battle is the Red Truth, where Beatrice uses red text to establish absolute truths of the board that can't be questioned. Can Battler explain how mundane humans could commit all the crimes on the island while still satisfying the rules of the game? Can you?
While Umineko has very little actual interactivity, it's still an extremely engaging game, in the same way the best whodunnits of the golden era all are. You have little control over the outcome, but you must keep thinking in order to stay one step ahead of the mystery as it unfolds.
The characters are all relentlessly memorable and distinct, with an unusual amount of emphasis on the adult characters who are usually just background dressing in VNs about teenagers.
It's a story about what it means to tell a story, about the legacy of abuse, about cruelty, about love, about redemption, about weird magical anime girls who may or may not be real.
while i do have characters i dont like, it's definitely not because they have bad writing. i think every main character (of which there are so many) was carved out and painted in a very three dimensional way
many characters do brutally, realistically awful things, and the story dedicates itself not to excusing them but to explaining how they got to where they are
Yeah, it's an unfortunate combo of one of the key team members having medical trouble just as things were getting going and also some legal stuff on the Japanese side of things
The Umineko Project is a fan-made, entirely above-board attempt at copying the PS3 version of the game to PC. however, you cannot download it if you don't own the physical version of the game, as they have the download link hidden behind a mini-puzzle that requires information from the physical booklets and discs
the download puzzle is their attempt at compromising with the fact that there is no real way to make you pay for this - yes, you can probably look up the information somewhere if you're sneaky/smart, but they would prefer you to also support Ryukishi and 07 in the process
(it's also technically a re-translation with an attempt at being more faithful then Witch Hunt. i have mixed opinions on this, but i do like some of their changes)
i wholeheartedly recommend the ps3/umineko project version, as all of the voices are gorgeous and Sayaka Ohara's Beato cackles are literally to die for
The last few episodes were written after the author lost his best friend unexpectedly, so it’s very... it has a feeling and message of healing, even under the tragedy.
It's been a couple years, so it's time to do another plurk about Why You Should Check Out Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Umineko is the story of Battler, a boy who cries a lot, coming to his family reunion on the private island owned by his billionaire recluse grandfather Kinzo. With Kinzo's health on the decline, the matter of inheritance is hotly contested, with each of his children fighting tooth and nail for their share.
Umineko is a classical fair-play murder mystery in the tradition of Agatha Christie and Ellery Queen.
Umineko is an over-the-top anime action fantasy story, about the thousand-year-old witch Beatrice and her schemes to get everyone on the island to accept her existence and turn it into her eternal plaything.
Umineko is a metatextual story being told on multiple layers simultaneously, both presenting a mystery/fantasy and examining what it means to explore either genre. As the tragedy unfolds, Battler and Beatrice exchange twisted logic to try and determine the truth of the game board once and for all.
The manga is a great adaptation!