This review contains spoilers
“Without love, it cannot be seen”
Without love, the truth can’t be reached. Without love, an understanding of the motives can’t be reached. Without love, the game can’t be played. So Umineko asks you to trust in its story and characters, time and time again. But…
“You can't trust anything, you can't trust any words that aren't red...!!”
You are tasked with 2 contradictory things: To trust the story, and to doubt it. Which puts you into the exact same position as Battler in the early episodes, not wanting to doubt anything, but being unable to trust anything either.
"Without love, it cannot be seen?... Hah. It's backwards. Because of love, you end up seeing things that don't even exist..."
And I foolishly trusted the people of the Ushiromiya family, being sidetracked and pulled in many different directions, trying to latch onto whatever red truth that allowed for the characters I loved to be innocent, while also trying to deny the witch.
“No more than 17 humans exist on this island! That excludes any 18th person.”
And so I finished the questions arc with no answer, no good way to solve the games, only theories piled on top of theories. And the final question “...who am I?”
Let me backup a bit. I am not a mystery fan. I enjoy mysteries, but I don’t try to actively solve them. Usually, that is not required. So I do what I do for any other story, and focus on the characters. And Umineko, very smartly, opens on a very, very, very long sequence, introducing its characters.
At the start, I gotta admit, I was pretty fucking fed up with the characters. Why is Battler so horny? Why is Maria so stupid and into witches? Why are Shannon and George so cringe? Why is Kanon so edgy? But despite them not being written in red, these are all clues to piece together what’s happening.
Slowly but surely, the layers of the characters unraveled themselves, and with it grew the unconscious feeling that I’m seeing what I’m seeing for a reason, until the game outright spells it out.
“It is forbidden for the culprit to be anyone not mentioned in the early part of the story.”
“It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented.”
Finally, at the end of episode 5, I resigned myself to try and actively solve the mystery at every moment of playing the game. I am not ashamed to admit my utter failure. Nor do I think it took away from the experience.
I did eventually figure it out at episode 7, despite how clueless I am, but by then, I found the question of “why did Beatrice” far more compelling than “who and how did Beatrice”. And episode 7 seems to agree with me on that. And at the end, the answers are not spelled out, the truth is not revealed.
And Bern mercissealy tears it out. In what are some of the heartbreaking hours of the game, and everything makes sense. There’s no mystery left, everything is depressing and done.
…and then episode 8 starts, and the script is flipped on its head for the final time. And at the end, I understood nothing, knew nothing, only had the characters, their heart, their sadness and happiness, the many tales they wove. And everyone was there, everyone, everyone, everyone.
Without love, the truth can’t be reached. Without love, an understanding of the motives can’t be reached. Without love, the game can’t be played. So Umineko asks you to trust in its story and characters, time and time again. But…
“You can't trust anything, you can't trust any words that aren't red...!!”
You are tasked with 2 contradictory things: To trust the story, and to doubt it. Which puts you into the exact same position as Battler in the early episodes, not wanting to doubt anything, but being unable to trust anything either.
"Without love, it cannot be seen?... Hah. It's backwards. Because of love, you end up seeing things that don't even exist..."
And I foolishly trusted the people of the Ushiromiya family, being sidetracked and pulled in many different directions, trying to latch onto whatever red truth that allowed for the characters I loved to be innocent, while also trying to deny the witch.
“No more than 17 humans exist on this island! That excludes any 18th person.”
And so I finished the questions arc with no answer, no good way to solve the games, only theories piled on top of theories. And the final question “...who am I?”
Let me backup a bit. I am not a mystery fan. I enjoy mysteries, but I don’t try to actively solve them. Usually, that is not required. So I do what I do for any other story, and focus on the characters. And Umineko, very smartly, opens on a very, very, very long sequence, introducing its characters.
At the start, I gotta admit, I was pretty fucking fed up with the characters. Why is Battler so horny? Why is Maria so stupid and into witches? Why are Shannon and George so cringe? Why is Kanon so edgy? But despite them not being written in red, these are all clues to piece together what’s happening.
Slowly but surely, the layers of the characters unraveled themselves, and with it grew the unconscious feeling that I’m seeing what I’m seeing for a reason, until the game outright spells it out.
“It is forbidden for the culprit to be anyone not mentioned in the early part of the story.”
“It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented.”
Finally, at the end of episode 5, I resigned myself to try and actively solve the mystery at every moment of playing the game. I am not ashamed to admit my utter failure. Nor do I think it took away from the experience.
I did eventually figure it out at episode 7, despite how clueless I am, but by then, I found the question of “why did Beatrice” far more compelling than “who and how did Beatrice”. And episode 7 seems to agree with me on that. And at the end, the answers are not spelled out, the truth is not revealed.
And Bern mercissealy tears it out. In what are some of the heartbreaking hours of the game, and everything makes sense. There’s no mystery left, everything is depressing and done.
…and then episode 8 starts, and the script is flipped on its head for the final time. And at the end, I understood nothing, knew nothing, only had the characters, their heart, their sadness and happiness, the many tales they wove. And everyone was there, everyone, everyone, everyone.
É tipo a bíblia mas se realmente fosse boa
My brain chemistry has been permanently damaged and the person that I was before this no longer exists. Thanks Ryukishi07.
My new personality
without love the truth cannot be seen
Learning to Love Umineko When They Cry
After 5 months and 137 hours, I now have fully experienced the story of Umineko: When They Cry. It’s a rollercoaster of feeling I can’t stop thinking on, but coyness from others suggesting why it’s so special turned me off and made me unnecessarily hostile. I want to reverse that view and try to explain what makes Umineko so special without giving away any major elements beyond what can be easily assumed.
At first, I wasn’t sure how much I’d get into it. I liked the plot of Higurashi, but outside of two characters aren’t super passionate for it nowadays. The 150+ hour length seemed like an insane commitment. And I worried about how the wackier anime quirks would clash with long dramatic storytelling. But I do enjoy stories about grand, gradually unfolding world defining mysteries, so with that and the enthusiasm of many friends in mind, I set to reading Umineko throughout the first half of 2024. And am I glad I did because the further in I got the more I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Umineko presents as a mystery, building and challenging in exciting, intricate ways that'll keep the mind busy with every new Episode finished, but beyond that Umineko is about GETTING people. Comprehending worldviews. Figuring out a line of thinking that inspires every member of its cast to believe what they want to believe. It is a story that asks to engage with storytelling and comprehension. What inspires us, what makes us believe in fiction, what do we see in those who create, what do creators seek to give back to the world, what hurt goes into creation? What weight IS our life experiences?
But themes can mean little without engaging characters to explore and embody these dynamics and Umineko puts remarkable work to answer the call. Not just from the number of characters introduced, but how numerous scattered ideas combine into a defined storytelling whole.
Umineko has one of my favorite ensemble casts I’ve experienced in anything. The more you read, the more it feels like you piece together an extensive headspace for every major character, and Umineko presents these characters’ distinct viewpoints on any circumstance as a means to actively move the plot forward and meaningfully debate the best course of action in increasingly more dire and paranoid situations. Anyone who knows me knows I’m not a big fan of overly reactive casts, where perspective feels irrelevant to plot events. Umineko is the opposite of this. It’s a cast where it feels like ANYONE can alter the narrative trajectory, exciting me in how strong personalities can twist. So many in the cast, particularly of the Ushiromiya Family, have intriguing shades of gray to their personalities, rich inner lives you can map out much of in your head, incredible voice actors or certain specific life philosophies it’s interesting to see pushed by how the plot clashes these characters together.
In this regard, Umineko is able to have its cake and eat it too with including cackling anime girls. New major introductions on top of the huge starting cast come packed with new intriguing life paths to contrast against our built-up view of the story, the protagonist's view of the story and how we've grown to see the search for the truth, in addition to fun new designs.
On the design front, while some certainly raise eyebrowsglaring at Gaap whose design is exceptionally distracting in should be serious scenes, others work to purpose in addition to being fashionable. Looking at the four mother characters (Kyrie, Natsuhi, Eva and Rosa), the design of each adheres to a distinct design sensibility that communicates much in who they are and how they want the world to see them. The addition of adult characters with extensive histories allows for greater opportunity than was possible in Higurashi to have designs able to express more personality from each individual character.
Umineko exists as an eight-episode odyssey, so not knowing who in its titanic cast would get spotlight in any particular episode had me continuously excited to read more. Over 100 hours in I was still given enough to be curious for roles of many supporting cast members to pay off and to a certain extent nearly all of them genuinely do at some point or another. There’s a goal for the series and goals for each Episode; most major characters either undergo substantial arcs or interesting tests of character pushing their strong personalities, emphasizing their ability to impact the narrative and the layers of personality they struggle with. It truly feels like The Unknown Journey once one episode ends and you decide to see what could possibly be in store for the next one. I never had any way of knowing for sure and that was tantalizing; perhaps even moreso if going in fully blind.
With that in mind, a spoiler-free dive into what makes Umineko's most important players so special!
The belle of the ball is of course, Beatrice the Golden Witch; given immeasurable sad love by fans, yet over the top maniacal and macabre, boasting wacky expressions that appeared impossible to take seriously. Before reading, I found that contrast of fans' feelings toward her with that attitude and those goofy expressions too heavy. It didn't seem like those two sides of her would be able to mesh properly.
And then I heard her start talking.
THIS was the moment I knew she, and Umineko as a whole, would stick me to at least some extent. Her voice actress, Sayaka Ohara, doesn’t just read the lines like any other character: she EXPRESSES them playing a gleefully assertive witch to where you can almost hear her smiling. The breathiness to her tone, boisterous sense of pride, panickedness if she slips up, and going all out for name calling and laughs are quirks conveyed beyond the words on page. Once it seemed as if she was quickly inhaling through her nose as if taken aback during a line. She manages that incredible combination of being intoxicating whenever she talks to keep wanting to hear her say more things, and getting on your nerves just enough to want to see her get knocked down several pegs in the future: a delicate combination for a villain in a story to embody.
Backing this is a gorgeously drawn character design. The dress gives her a level of dignity while embodying a bird, a flower and a Disney Princess (particularly Cinderella with the style of dress, hair and choker and Belle with the running Flower motif to her). And having such a bold, bountiful design perfectly fits Beatrice's character. She WANTS to be the first thing that pops in your head when thinking about Umineko, and as you keep reading it you get to see that thought expressed and stretched in numerous heart-turning ways.
As Umineko goes on, Ohara’s voice performance becomes more nuanced as you start seeing more “forms” of this character, including one that made me teary, but you still keep wondering “how did she end like this at the start” and Umineko mostly understands the value of that answer. For what reason she takes on her role to drive the conflict, and the answer the protagonist seeks to prove as the heart of her being kept me engaged, and Ohara truly gave it her all to give her so much expression and personality and become one of my favorite VO performances EVER.
Said protagonist, Battler Ushiromiya, also grew on me a lot. He starts out in a VERY questionable place with awful tone-deaf jokes, but Umineko recognizes just how far he should grow as a person and the story moves accordingly to how well he understands the rules of the overarching game. Daisuke Ono’s performance melds cocky youthful energy and gentle compassion seamlessly. Battler is a snarky, headstrong ego with a lot of grins and swagger and showmanship but with truly genuine care for his family, a strong sense of justice and an increasingly growing ability to understand the gravity of situations, nailing the game face when the chips are down. Jokes notwithstanding that mix of attitude and compassion makes it exciting to see what kind of crazy rabbit hat trick he'll try to decipher and also sad to see when he's back into a corner from horrific circumstances around him. Ono's able to sound genuinely depressed when the time calls for it.
As the story’s lead, Umineko has a lot of fun playing with his comprehension of the story in relation with our own; it examines the dichotomy of a pov character through multiple convergences and divergences from the audience in his journey to learn the truth of Umineko's mysteries. He has bite to him, not just mocking his opponents; but when pushed, looking down on them, belittling them and not standing for anyone’s nonsense. As he and Beatrice are very sassy and headstrong, their numerous debates lead into many fun, characterful and occasionally depressing back and forths. It's one of the main elements people who haven't played Umineko are probably aware of it. You could watch the two do something exceptionally mundane and their incredible chemistry and voice actors would make it feel both important and entertaining.
What is exactly is Ushiromiya Battler’s purpose FOR this narrative becomes increasingly dissected the further in you get. By the final episode, his role and comprehension of expression feels wholly different from the start, and we appreciably get to SEE all of it play out onscreen. No dumb timeskip bullshit.
The last character I want to specifically point at is Ange.
Rocking a design blending cool and cute, she is a young girl who struggles to get close to anyone, because of her powers, status, and cripplingly low self-esteem that makes her feel everything is her responsibility. Given the circumstances Ange starts in, it’s understandable she’d be closed off and emotionally guarded but it nonetheless makes it satisfying when you persevere with her and believe she can build morale to smile again. And that doesn’t stop her spitting some killer snark! Ange is Umineko’s fulcrum. To believe in Umineko is to believe in Ange. Ryukishi has many inspiring, heartfelt messages to convey with her malleable psyche in a deeply personal plot, leading to a uniquely compelling coming-of-age drama. Ange’s heart is her guiding key: will you help her find it?
I won’t go any further into specific characters, but I will say: how Umineko depicts parenthood across its wide cast substantially provided for what makes Umineko resonant for me. That was an element I had zero expectations for its handling going on, but I was shocked how thorough issues regarding being a parent and the tumultuous, messy outcomes of marriage in Japanese society at this time are so thoroughly depicted. It can be conflicting and gut-wrenching at times, but it never fails to believe empathy can exist.
Umineko tries its hardest to avoid selling the familial conflicts as strictly black and white. There’s layers of complicated feelings at play regarding how and why faults are created that I believe can very easily inspired continued conversations and let Umi resonant well after concluding. This story shows the worst of ourselves but also, the best of ourselves, and the belief there is always a reason to keep going. Always a thought to our actions. A reason to consider walking in someone else’s shoes for what drives them to extremes. It broadens our perspective on US. The "flip the chessboard" mentality coined by Kyrie doesn't just pertain to logic games. It speaks to our understanding of everyone around us and in the context of Umineko, the unique methods and lengths every character has for achieving their own goals.
But beyond character and themes, another way a story can stick with me (and a huge part as to why I've chattered about Sonic so much, lol) is a distinct, memorable soundtrack. And Umineko also has TUNES! It originally existed as a “sound novel” where music had to do much of the work in light of crude but soulful sprites and simple backgrounds, so Ryukishi brought a suite of composers for just that and later Umineko ports brought even more. The composer list feels as vast as a pre-Smash Bros 4 Smash game, many bringing their own style and zts being told to lock the F in every song. Many of the best songs play during some of the most powerful moments in the plot so I’ll share just one to embody Umi’s musical tone:
https://youtu.be/mcG0nYC89tQ?si=Y0UZOIn6zQ2hpcBL
Umineko has an onslaught of great songs that really make a splash when you first hear them. Goldenslaughterer, far, Toten Blume, the executioner, Monochrome Clock, Birth of a New Witch, Golden Nocturne and many more give scenes distinct, lasting expression beyond the limitations of VN sprites. And even beyond those, the credits themes for every chapter manage to close off each's mood in a particularly special way.
Also on the audio front is voice acting. A star-studded cast of exceptionally talented voice actors were added into later versions of the VN as enough reason for the maligned anime to justify existing. Even as someone who isn't usually enamored with voice acting for languages I don't understand, the performances are exceptional and a huge reason I kept at it. At worst, a performance perfectly embodies a character's archetype and at best it's some of the strongest acting I've heard in anything ever. As I've gone through extensively, Sayaka Ohara’s Beato was the sell for Umineko as a whole for me in how incredibly versatile her performance as Beatrice was, but these Daisuke Ono as Battler, Miki Ito as Eva, Mugihito as Kinzo and Yukari Tamura as Bern I believe were also some of the most consistently great performers to where I always let their lines play out. Yukari Tamura has a TON of great work in Umi's back half as you see the investment of that character evolve.
With everything I adore about Umineko though, I’m not going to pretend there aren’t notable flaws that could easily turn people off from the story/invoke side-eyes. So here’s a brief section discussing some of those:
For one: THE LENGTH. This 130+ hour story is several hundred thousand words longer than the Bible and at times you FEEL it. Episodes 1, 2 and 6 I believe have very slow starts on the first read before action takes off. In hindsight the choices made in these parts do pay off properly by either the end of the Episode or with twists in a future one but in the moment, they can feel like they drag their heels without the entertainment of debates. The only way to reach the end of this story having absorbed it all is to commit your LIFE to Umineko WtC, for at least a little while.
And even beyond length, sometimes it can feel too overindulgent for its own good. The end of Episode 2 comes to mind where I feel like shock value went a bit too far even for a story like this. While its jokes aren’t AS bad as Higurashi’s (hell there's even some good pure dialogue jokes at sporadic points in the run) many more devoted jokes fall flat in the early Episode sections, particularly from Battler in ways that could’ve been written smarter. Thankfully, these kind largely dissipate as the story continues.
Conversations between major characters can be exceptionally dense and revealing of intriguing interpersonal relationship drama throughout, but there are some side characters introduced that exist as tools, bereft of depth and relying on “anime quirky” personality traits easy to find grating. To its credit, Umineko IS better than most stories at suggesting which characters are clearly unimportant to the story’s grand scheme and it has more than enough to get around this, but it does make it less engaging whenever they appear.
Lastly, the middle third of the final episode, Episode 8 can feel very rushed, which may sound crazy from a story so long, but there are certain dialogue sections regarding its lingering mysteries that can and HAVE rubbed people very badly because of what it suggests of its readers. Personally, speaking I can understand what this section was trying to communicate but anyone who felt ripped by this point, I get it.
This is the one Episode where the adaptation manga is an essential, adding substantiality to many points including HUGE turning point question. Ignoring the awful first cover which gave me a horrendous impression of Umi before reading, the manga is sublime. Kei Natsumi understood exactly what dramatic beats to elevate. Action scenes that could feel gratuitous when merely written out have defined framing that's superbly drawn. Natsumi has impressive talent for detail, shading and spreads for how many characters exist at that point. And the chosen compositions had me crying my eyes out multiple times more than Episode 8 did in the visual novel.
Needing supplemental material in a different medium to fill holes is usually not a great thing, which is why I note it in the Flaws section, but when it’s THIS excellently made, it’s hard to be mad. The payoffs from the Ep8 manga are exceptional and it’s easy to find the manga for free if you know where to look.
Ultimately what I listed I consider to be slight blemishes to a distinct, immaculate tapestry.
From Ryukishi07's pen, the world was given many heartfelt sincere messages, absolutely wild plot twists, incredible voice performances, really fun and distinctly spread character dynamics, a soundtrack full of insane EDM trance headbangers alongside somber tracks that still stand out, characters that thanks to the story structure are allowed to feel incredibly multifaceted and/or morally gray with interesting inner lives and/or life philosophies to track while reading, mysteries with layered tricks that stick around in your head long after being raised and new avenues for conversation regarding stories and storytelling by using the Visual Novel point-of-view. In short, the Umineko brainrot is real.
I WILL NEVER FORGET THIS STORY
After 5 months and 137 hours, I now have fully experienced the story of Umineko: When They Cry. It’s a rollercoaster of feeling I can’t stop thinking on, but coyness from others suggesting why it’s so special turned me off and made me unnecessarily hostile. I want to reverse that view and try to explain what makes Umineko so special without giving away any major elements beyond what can be easily assumed.
At first, I wasn’t sure how much I’d get into it. I liked the plot of Higurashi, but outside of two characters aren’t super passionate for it nowadays. The 150+ hour length seemed like an insane commitment. And I worried about how the wackier anime quirks would clash with long dramatic storytelling. But I do enjoy stories about grand, gradually unfolding world defining mysteries, so with that and the enthusiasm of many friends in mind, I set to reading Umineko throughout the first half of 2024. And am I glad I did because the further in I got the more I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Umineko presents as a mystery, building and challenging in exciting, intricate ways that'll keep the mind busy with every new Episode finished, but beyond that Umineko is about GETTING people. Comprehending worldviews. Figuring out a line of thinking that inspires every member of its cast to believe what they want to believe. It is a story that asks to engage with storytelling and comprehension. What inspires us, what makes us believe in fiction, what do we see in those who create, what do creators seek to give back to the world, what hurt goes into creation? What weight IS our life experiences?
But themes can mean little without engaging characters to explore and embody these dynamics and Umineko puts remarkable work to answer the call. Not just from the number of characters introduced, but how numerous scattered ideas combine into a defined storytelling whole.
Umineko has one of my favorite ensemble casts I’ve experienced in anything. The more you read, the more it feels like you piece together an extensive headspace for every major character, and Umineko presents these characters’ distinct viewpoints on any circumstance as a means to actively move the plot forward and meaningfully debate the best course of action in increasingly more dire and paranoid situations. Anyone who knows me knows I’m not a big fan of overly reactive casts, where perspective feels irrelevant to plot events. Umineko is the opposite of this. It’s a cast where it feels like ANYONE can alter the narrative trajectory, exciting me in how strong personalities can twist. So many in the cast, particularly of the Ushiromiya Family, have intriguing shades of gray to their personalities, rich inner lives you can map out much of in your head, incredible voice actors or certain specific life philosophies it’s interesting to see pushed by how the plot clashes these characters together.
In this regard, Umineko is able to have its cake and eat it too with including cackling anime girls. New major introductions on top of the huge starting cast come packed with new intriguing life paths to contrast against our built-up view of the story, the protagonist's view of the story and how we've grown to see the search for the truth, in addition to fun new designs.
On the design front, while some certainly raise eyebrows
Umineko exists as an eight-episode odyssey, so not knowing who in its titanic cast would get spotlight in any particular episode had me continuously excited to read more. Over 100 hours in I was still given enough to be curious for roles of many supporting cast members to pay off and to a certain extent nearly all of them genuinely do at some point or another. There’s a goal for the series and goals for each Episode; most major characters either undergo substantial arcs or interesting tests of character pushing their strong personalities, emphasizing their ability to impact the narrative and the layers of personality they struggle with. It truly feels like The Unknown Journey once one episode ends and you decide to see what could possibly be in store for the next one. I never had any way of knowing for sure and that was tantalizing; perhaps even moreso if going in fully blind.
With that in mind, a spoiler-free dive into what makes Umineko's most important players so special!
The belle of the ball is of course, Beatrice the Golden Witch; given immeasurable sad love by fans, yet over the top maniacal and macabre, boasting wacky expressions that appeared impossible to take seriously. Before reading, I found that contrast of fans' feelings toward her with that attitude and those goofy expressions too heavy. It didn't seem like those two sides of her would be able to mesh properly.
And then I heard her start talking.
THIS was the moment I knew she, and Umineko as a whole, would stick me to at least some extent. Her voice actress, Sayaka Ohara, doesn’t just read the lines like any other character: she EXPRESSES them playing a gleefully assertive witch to where you can almost hear her smiling. The breathiness to her tone, boisterous sense of pride, panickedness if she slips up, and going all out for name calling and laughs are quirks conveyed beyond the words on page. Once it seemed as if she was quickly inhaling through her nose as if taken aback during a line. She manages that incredible combination of being intoxicating whenever she talks to keep wanting to hear her say more things, and getting on your nerves just enough to want to see her get knocked down several pegs in the future: a delicate combination for a villain in a story to embody.
Backing this is a gorgeously drawn character design. The dress gives her a level of dignity while embodying a bird, a flower and a Disney Princess (particularly Cinderella with the style of dress, hair and choker and Belle with the running Flower motif to her). And having such a bold, bountiful design perfectly fits Beatrice's character. She WANTS to be the first thing that pops in your head when thinking about Umineko, and as you keep reading it you get to see that thought expressed and stretched in numerous heart-turning ways.
As Umineko goes on, Ohara’s voice performance becomes more nuanced as you start seeing more “forms” of this character, including one that made me teary, but you still keep wondering “how did she end like this at the start” and Umineko mostly understands the value of that answer. For what reason she takes on her role to drive the conflict, and the answer the protagonist seeks to prove as the heart of her being kept me engaged, and Ohara truly gave it her all to give her so much expression and personality and become one of my favorite VO performances EVER.
Said protagonist, Battler Ushiromiya, also grew on me a lot. He starts out in a VERY questionable place with awful tone-deaf jokes, but Umineko recognizes just how far he should grow as a person and the story moves accordingly to how well he understands the rules of the overarching game. Daisuke Ono’s performance melds cocky youthful energy and gentle compassion seamlessly. Battler is a snarky, headstrong ego with a lot of grins and swagger and showmanship but with truly genuine care for his family, a strong sense of justice and an increasingly growing ability to understand the gravity of situations, nailing the game face when the chips are down. Jokes notwithstanding that mix of attitude and compassion makes it exciting to see what kind of crazy rabbit hat trick he'll try to decipher and also sad to see when he's back into a corner from horrific circumstances around him. Ono's able to sound genuinely depressed when the time calls for it.
As the story’s lead, Umineko has a lot of fun playing with his comprehension of the story in relation with our own; it examines the dichotomy of a pov character through multiple convergences and divergences from the audience in his journey to learn the truth of Umineko's mysteries. He has bite to him, not just mocking his opponents; but when pushed, looking down on them, belittling them and not standing for anyone’s nonsense. As he and Beatrice are very sassy and headstrong, their numerous debates lead into many fun, characterful and occasionally depressing back and forths. It's one of the main elements people who haven't played Umineko are probably aware of it. You could watch the two do something exceptionally mundane and their incredible chemistry and voice actors would make it feel both important and entertaining.
What is exactly is Ushiromiya Battler’s purpose FOR this narrative becomes increasingly dissected the further in you get. By the final episode, his role and comprehension of expression feels wholly different from the start, and we appreciably get to SEE all of it play out onscreen. No dumb timeskip bullshit.
The last character I want to specifically point at is Ange.
Rocking a design blending cool and cute, she is a young girl who struggles to get close to anyone, because of her powers, status, and cripplingly low self-esteem that makes her feel everything is her responsibility. Given the circumstances Ange starts in, it’s understandable she’d be closed off and emotionally guarded but it nonetheless makes it satisfying when you persevere with her and believe she can build morale to smile again. And that doesn’t stop her spitting some killer snark! Ange is Umineko’s fulcrum. To believe in Umineko is to believe in Ange. Ryukishi has many inspiring, heartfelt messages to convey with her malleable psyche in a deeply personal plot, leading to a uniquely compelling coming-of-age drama. Ange’s heart is her guiding key: will you help her find it?
I won’t go any further into specific characters, but I will say: how Umineko depicts parenthood across its wide cast substantially provided for what makes Umineko resonant for me. That was an element I had zero expectations for its handling going on, but I was shocked how thorough issues regarding being a parent and the tumultuous, messy outcomes of marriage in Japanese society at this time are so thoroughly depicted. It can be conflicting and gut-wrenching at times, but it never fails to believe empathy can exist.
Umineko tries its hardest to avoid selling the familial conflicts as strictly black and white. There’s layers of complicated feelings at play regarding how and why faults are created that I believe can very easily inspired continued conversations and let Umi resonant well after concluding. This story shows the worst of ourselves but also, the best of ourselves, and the belief there is always a reason to keep going. Always a thought to our actions. A reason to consider walking in someone else’s shoes for what drives them to extremes. It broadens our perspective on US. The "flip the chessboard" mentality coined by Kyrie doesn't just pertain to logic games. It speaks to our understanding of everyone around us and in the context of Umineko, the unique methods and lengths every character has for achieving their own goals.
But beyond character and themes, another way a story can stick with me (and a huge part as to why I've chattered about Sonic so much, lol) is a distinct, memorable soundtrack. And Umineko also has TUNES! It originally existed as a “sound novel” where music had to do much of the work in light of crude but soulful sprites and simple backgrounds, so Ryukishi brought a suite of composers for just that and later Umineko ports brought even more. The composer list feels as vast as a pre-Smash Bros 4 Smash game, many bringing their own style and zts being told to lock the F in every song. Many of the best songs play during some of the most powerful moments in the plot so I’ll share just one to embody Umi’s musical tone:
https://youtu.be/mcG0nYC89tQ?si=Y0UZOIn6zQ2hpcBL
Umineko has an onslaught of great songs that really make a splash when you first hear them. Goldenslaughterer, far, Toten Blume, the executioner, Monochrome Clock, Birth of a New Witch, Golden Nocturne and many more give scenes distinct, lasting expression beyond the limitations of VN sprites. And even beyond those, the credits themes for every chapter manage to close off each's mood in a particularly special way.
Also on the audio front is voice acting. A star-studded cast of exceptionally talented voice actors were added into later versions of the VN as enough reason for the maligned anime to justify existing. Even as someone who isn't usually enamored with voice acting for languages I don't understand, the performances are exceptional and a huge reason I kept at it. At worst, a performance perfectly embodies a character's archetype and at best it's some of the strongest acting I've heard in anything ever. As I've gone through extensively, Sayaka Ohara’s Beato was the sell for Umineko as a whole for me in how incredibly versatile her performance as Beatrice was, but these Daisuke Ono as Battler, Miki Ito as Eva, Mugihito as Kinzo and Yukari Tamura as Bern I believe were also some of the most consistently great performers to where I always let their lines play out. Yukari Tamura has a TON of great work in Umi's back half as you see the investment of that character evolve.
With everything I adore about Umineko though, I’m not going to pretend there aren’t notable flaws that could easily turn people off from the story/invoke side-eyes. So here’s a brief section discussing some of those:
For one: THE LENGTH. This 130+ hour story is several hundred thousand words longer than the Bible and at times you FEEL it. Episodes 1, 2 and 6 I believe have very slow starts on the first read before action takes off. In hindsight the choices made in these parts do pay off properly by either the end of the Episode or with twists in a future one but in the moment, they can feel like they drag their heels without the entertainment of debates. The only way to reach the end of this story having absorbed it all is to commit your LIFE to Umineko WtC, for at least a little while.
And even beyond length, sometimes it can feel too overindulgent for its own good. The end of Episode 2 comes to mind where I feel like shock value went a bit too far even for a story like this. While its jokes aren’t AS bad as Higurashi’s (hell there's even some good pure dialogue jokes at sporadic points in the run) many more devoted jokes fall flat in the early Episode sections, particularly from Battler in ways that could’ve been written smarter. Thankfully, these kind largely dissipate as the story continues.
Conversations between major characters can be exceptionally dense and revealing of intriguing interpersonal relationship drama throughout, but there are some side characters introduced that exist as tools, bereft of depth and relying on “anime quirky” personality traits easy to find grating. To its credit, Umineko IS better than most stories at suggesting which characters are clearly unimportant to the story’s grand scheme and it has more than enough to get around this, but it does make it less engaging whenever they appear.
Lastly, the middle third of the final episode, Episode 8 can feel very rushed, which may sound crazy from a story so long, but there are certain dialogue sections regarding its lingering mysteries that can and HAVE rubbed people very badly because of what it suggests of its readers. Personally, speaking I can understand what this section was trying to communicate but anyone who felt ripped by this point, I get it.
This is the one Episode where the adaptation manga is an essential, adding substantiality to many points including HUGE turning point question. Ignoring the awful first cover which gave me a horrendous impression of Umi before reading, the manga is sublime. Kei Natsumi understood exactly what dramatic beats to elevate. Action scenes that could feel gratuitous when merely written out have defined framing that's superbly drawn. Natsumi has impressive talent for detail, shading and spreads for how many characters exist at that point. And the chosen compositions had me crying my eyes out multiple times more than Episode 8 did in the visual novel.
Needing supplemental material in a different medium to fill holes is usually not a great thing, which is why I note it in the Flaws section, but when it’s THIS excellently made, it’s hard to be mad. The payoffs from the Ep8 manga are exceptional and it’s easy to find the manga for free if you know where to look.
Ultimately what I listed I consider to be slight blemishes to a distinct, immaculate tapestry.
From Ryukishi07's pen, the world was given many heartfelt sincere messages, absolutely wild plot twists, incredible voice performances, really fun and distinctly spread character dynamics, a soundtrack full of insane EDM trance headbangers alongside somber tracks that still stand out, characters that thanks to the story structure are allowed to feel incredibly multifaceted and/or morally gray with interesting inner lives and/or life philosophies to track while reading, mysteries with layered tricks that stick around in your head long after being raised and new avenues for conversation regarding stories and storytelling by using the Visual Novel point-of-view. In short, the Umineko brainrot is real.
I WILL NEVER FORGET THIS STORY
I have no words to describe how much I love Ange's journey.
This review contains spoilers
A while ago I made a pretty negative (at least compared to the Western consensus on the work) review of Umineko. This work has certainly made an impact on my life, with Ange's struggle being relatable in ways that I am not comfortable sharing, but suffice to say that this is the single most relatable work I've experienced to date, for better or for worse. My view of Umineko is completely reliant on my whims to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if whether I think it's good or bad depends on what side of the bed I woke up that morning. Numerical ratings are far from a holistic metric of how someone views a work, but it has ranged in scores anywhere from 2/10 to 10/10, changing frequently. I've tried giving it a neutral 5 or left it unrated, but even that felt off. I have never had a work I was so conflicted on live rent-free in my mind. So you can view this as another view of my "heart", so to speak. Without love it cannot be seen, different perspectives of the same person can be valid at the same time. I will leave this review and the old one up. It just feels right that way. Now let's dive in.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie is one of my favourites books. It sparked my interest in the mystery genre, and made the now cliche setting of a rich group of people being invited to a mansion on an island that gets caught up in a storm and cut off from civilisation a favourite, for sure. Umineko really has an interesting spin on it with how it revolves around a Japanese family with Western names, and how the island leaving no certain clues of what actually happened leads to any sorts of interpretations. The "magic system" largely revolves around walking concepts taking form as objects or entities. The author and heartless truth are concepts turned into characters that walk around and interact with the cast from what seems to be an entirely different genre. The mish-mash of genres is a constant since the ending of episode 1, and it's glorious to see how Beatrice and Battler spectate how the pieces behave through the 4th dimension, and how the soundtrack (which is absolutely top-tier, I don't know what they were smoking, but I'll be having some of that) encompasses a variety of genres, to the point of having techno-dubstep-whatever playing over characters arguing in a mansion ripped straight from ATTWN, or what is essentially Touhou music during magic fights. And I just LOVE the concept of the red/blue truths and will forever miss them in other mystery/death game media where they often just do a basic trial or something instead.
Umineko does so many things from so many different genres that it's easier to say what it isn't rather than what it is. I will say, though, the common sentiment of "if you call Umineko a mystery, you missed the point!" isn't really on the money in my opinion, and I don't think it's a view Ryukishi would support. Umineko is often called "a battle of anti-mystery and anti-fantasy", mystery is in the name. People aren't machines, and detectives are people. Who knows what sort of previously unseen evidence the detective overlooked? Who knows what happened on an island with no known survivors and no remaining evidence? The circumstances are so bizarre that it wouldn't be surprising if magical creatures descended onto the island at only that point in time, and before and after. All that is left to speculate, and that's why it's important to try to look at it from any possible point of view. Only then will we get close to MAYBE seeing the unattainable "what actually happened". Part of the point is that it is using that mystery to make the characters and readers try to reach the "heart" of the matter, to see it with love and not just treat it like a game. There are real people with many sides to them in all walks of life, even characters in mystery novels. All sorts of people get affected — culprits, such as Beatrice, whose life tipped the dominos that led to the tragedy; victims, such as Battler, who died and what was left behind was a new personality in the form of Tohya that complete disassociated from the disaster; those left behind, such as Ange, whose entire lives revolve around a single event. In a way, a "deconstruction" of the mystery genre with an uncertain solution is one of the best ways to explore such themes, because it demonstrates that anyone can be good and evil, victim or culprit, in various situations. We are all walking catboxes, even we aren't sure what is actually going on a lot of the time. Eva and Rosa can be abusers or victims of similar abuse themselves perpetuating the cycle, you often don't get the full story no matter how hard you try.
Despite my complaints about Erika and Bernkastel seemingly further enabling the sentiment that all mystery except rare exceptions like Umineko is a cold "puzzle mystery" where the detective walks in BBC Sherlock-style, solves the puzzle because they don't care about human suffering, and then walk out, the feelings of those affected be damned, they really do add a lot to the narrative. Erika is the antithesis of what Ryukishi wants someone with love to do. It's not that you have to stop thinking entirely, it's that you have to see the "love" and various sides of things. You can be so far gone in your attempt to try to logic everything out that you end up seeing a very shallow, and often incorrect, worldview. And that is one potential path that Ange could take, a life of obsession, chasing something she can never obtain. Someone so deeply buried in this hole that they won't climb out of that they reject any potential for future growth and happiness over something they have no control over.
In my view, there are three Uminekos. The first Umineko was something you had to be there for — the ambitious 8-part story with months and years between episodes which had people online in both East and West speculate about what could possibly happen, and the following frustrated reception, from which Ryukishi never truly recovered from. The second Umineko is the bingeable, complete 8 visual novel episodes that most readers who review it on this website complete. Finally, there is the manga, in which Ryukishi makes changes (for better or for worse, depending on who you ask) to the original vision. To be honest, I find it regrettable how often the view of "the VN doesn't answer anything, if you actually want an answer read the manga!" is. It Say what you want about Ryukishi's dry prose or higher-than-thou conceit (boy do we know I have a lot to say about that), but the original vision for Umineko is a work of passion, passion that you will rarely find elsewhere. It was a saga spanning years of author/audience interaction, with all sorts of possible theories and views coming up. It was a work so unapologetically dedicated to showing the "without love it cannot be seen" theme that it went as far as to call out people who don't think for themselves. Rarely will you meet an author who gives as much of a shit as Ryukishi.
And actually, the worst thing you can do is get mad at Ryukishi for you not being able to solve it. The hints are all there, especially in episode 7, they aren't talking about some random maid named Yasu and various other things like Shannon being in the same room for no reason. But that's just life, you can't expect to figure everything out. I've read plenty of things where I didn't fully get everything but I never once blamed the author. And actually, you don't need to be able to have a valid solutions for things like Yasu's identity, episode-specific murders, or the freakin' epitaph. You don't even need to put that much time into it. It's certainly nice if you do that and especially if you figure those things out, but it's not necessary. What's important is that you try.
The readers that Ryukishi is not happy with are those that don't try. Let me clarify that I think the Umineko manga has its merits, such as with the art and Yasu's Confession, and I am glad that people are finding out about Umineko through it and enjoying it. However I think that the years of unjust hate after episode 8's original release got to Ryukishi, and so despite writing "his own version of the story that doesn't disrupt the catbox at all, it's just another view" (which no one listens to btw, it's frequently accepted as the "canon version of the story"), it gave the "goats" what they wanted. Yasu's Confession is the antithesis to what Will did in episode 7 — solving the core of the mystery in a respectful manner, with "love" for the culprit. In a vacuum it is a cool backstory, elaborating on things that are left ambiguous or more vague in a manner more preferable for some readers, but in return for this and Bernkastel being far more specific with her words at the end of the episode, a large part of what made Umineko special gets damaged, because getting told "okay, here's what ACTUALLY happened" in a story where not knowing the "objective truth" is contrary to that work's vision. And Yasu didn't want this kind of reveal, and that reveal was done in episode 7 anyway. Episode 8 is Ange's conclusion, really. Yet the manga rips the guts out of the mystery in as much detail as possible when it was never the point. Yes, the backstory is well-written, but I don't think it fits within the grander picture of what Umineko was originally striving to be.
What makes someone a "loveless" reader isn't trying to solve the mystery, it isn't wanting a different ending or themes, and it most certainly isn't being anti-escapist vs. the story easily being interpreted as an escapist one. Umineko is a work that encourages thinking from beginning to end. What actually makes someone a loveless goat is not trying to see... with love. It's being a "media consumer" that's looking for the next talked about "peak fiction" that just wants an answer and to move on without any regard for the characters and what they're going through and the themes of the story. It's the people who want another "puzzle mystery" where the sole purpose for many readers is to see murders happen and find the culprit. It's not one's fault for not figuring out absolutely everything in Umineko without outside help, but it is possible, and in any case I don't find it acceptable to blame the author for it.
And it is a mystery, at least in part. Mysteries that deal with a "catbox" situation where many solutions fit the bill have existed since at least the middle of the 20th century. Japan has had shinhonkaku — new generation Japanese mystery that breaks the tropes that classical mystery has overused like a broken record. Umineko is not the first, and it certainly won't be the last to try to see things with "love" even in the Japanese mystery catalogue alone. Any work that claims to be the end-all and be-all of a genre or whatever is very questionable by default. Mysteries that don't just involve being solved like a logical puzzle by a misanthropic detective are in abundance, too — plenty of mysteries all around the globe, especially those made in modern times care about the feelings of culprits and victims and how they affect those around them. That's not what really matters here, either, though — what makes Umineko so noteworthy is how it combines so many of these genres, themes, inspirations, aesthetics, musical styles and mixes them to deliver this core message. It is a story that tries to be so many things, released and constantly affected by the two-sided interaction between author and reader. It's honestly really hard to apply "the death of the author" to this where only the product matters in a vacuum, it's just not how it was made. Episode 3 ended up being different from the original vision due to Episode 2's audience reception, for example.
It's not just murder mystery casts that should live by the idea of "without love it cannot be seen" (within reason, I mean narcissists and psychopaths exist and the healthy approach with those is cutting contact, but moderation being key goes for anything in life). It is all of us. The people we meet and grow apart with, the ones we feel apathy or disgust for and the ones we love, everyone involved has not a singular story, but multiple stories to tell. Even they themselves rarely know that. In a way you don't really need 150+ hours on average to deliver such a relatively simple idea, but when it works, it really works.
So there you have it. Another possible view at the catbox that is my opinion on Umineko. It's very possible that tomorrow I'll wake up and think that it is awful. I feel like it's fitting that someone who has been on both sides of the spectrum write both highly negative and highly positive reviews on this work. Either way, I'm sure I won't stop thinking about Umineko for a long time.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie is one of my favourites books. It sparked my interest in the mystery genre, and made the now cliche setting of a rich group of people being invited to a mansion on an island that gets caught up in a storm and cut off from civilisation a favourite, for sure. Umineko really has an interesting spin on it with how it revolves around a Japanese family with Western names, and how the island leaving no certain clues of what actually happened leads to any sorts of interpretations. The "magic system" largely revolves around walking concepts taking form as objects or entities. The author and heartless truth are concepts turned into characters that walk around and interact with the cast from what seems to be an entirely different genre. The mish-mash of genres is a constant since the ending of episode 1, and it's glorious to see how Beatrice and Battler spectate how the pieces behave through the 4th dimension, and how the soundtrack (which is absolutely top-tier, I don't know what they were smoking, but I'll be having some of that) encompasses a variety of genres, to the point of having techno-dubstep-whatever playing over characters arguing in a mansion ripped straight from ATTWN, or what is essentially Touhou music during magic fights. And I just LOVE the concept of the red/blue truths and will forever miss them in other mystery/death game media where they often just do a basic trial or something instead.
Umineko does so many things from so many different genres that it's easier to say what it isn't rather than what it is. I will say, though, the common sentiment of "if you call Umineko a mystery, you missed the point!" isn't really on the money in my opinion, and I don't think it's a view Ryukishi would support. Umineko is often called "a battle of anti-mystery and anti-fantasy", mystery is in the name. People aren't machines, and detectives are people. Who knows what sort of previously unseen evidence the detective overlooked? Who knows what happened on an island with no known survivors and no remaining evidence? The circumstances are so bizarre that it wouldn't be surprising if magical creatures descended onto the island at only that point in time, and before and after. All that is left to speculate, and that's why it's important to try to look at it from any possible point of view. Only then will we get close to MAYBE seeing the unattainable "what actually happened". Part of the point is that it is using that mystery to make the characters and readers try to reach the "heart" of the matter, to see it with love and not just treat it like a game. There are real people with many sides to them in all walks of life, even characters in mystery novels. All sorts of people get affected — culprits, such as Beatrice, whose life tipped the dominos that led to the tragedy; victims, such as Battler, who died and what was left behind was a new personality in the form of Tohya that complete disassociated from the disaster; those left behind, such as Ange, whose entire lives revolve around a single event. In a way, a "deconstruction" of the mystery genre with an uncertain solution is one of the best ways to explore such themes, because it demonstrates that anyone can be good and evil, victim or culprit, in various situations. We are all walking catboxes, even we aren't sure what is actually going on a lot of the time. Eva and Rosa can be abusers or victims of similar abuse themselves perpetuating the cycle, you often don't get the full story no matter how hard you try.
Despite my complaints about Erika and Bernkastel seemingly further enabling the sentiment that all mystery except rare exceptions like Umineko is a cold "puzzle mystery" where the detective walks in BBC Sherlock-style, solves the puzzle because they don't care about human suffering, and then walk out, the feelings of those affected be damned, they really do add a lot to the narrative. Erika is the antithesis of what Ryukishi wants someone with love to do. It's not that you have to stop thinking entirely, it's that you have to see the "love" and various sides of things. You can be so far gone in your attempt to try to logic everything out that you end up seeing a very shallow, and often incorrect, worldview. And that is one potential path that Ange could take, a life of obsession, chasing something she can never obtain. Someone so deeply buried in this hole that they won't climb out of that they reject any potential for future growth and happiness over something they have no control over.
In my view, there are three Uminekos. The first Umineko was something you had to be there for — the ambitious 8-part story with months and years between episodes which had people online in both East and West speculate about what could possibly happen, and the following frustrated reception, from which Ryukishi never truly recovered from. The second Umineko is the bingeable, complete 8 visual novel episodes that most readers who review it on this website complete. Finally, there is the manga, in which Ryukishi makes changes (for better or for worse, depending on who you ask) to the original vision. To be honest, I find it regrettable how often the view of "the VN doesn't answer anything, if you actually want an answer read the manga!" is. It Say what you want about Ryukishi's dry prose or higher-than-thou conceit (boy do we know I have a lot to say about that), but the original vision for Umineko is a work of passion, passion that you will rarely find elsewhere. It was a saga spanning years of author/audience interaction, with all sorts of possible theories and views coming up. It was a work so unapologetically dedicated to showing the "without love it cannot be seen" theme that it went as far as to call out people who don't think for themselves. Rarely will you meet an author who gives as much of a shit as Ryukishi.
And actually, the worst thing you can do is get mad at Ryukishi for you not being able to solve it. The hints are all there, especially in episode 7, they aren't talking about some random maid named Yasu and various other things like Shannon being in the same room for no reason. But that's just life, you can't expect to figure everything out. I've read plenty of things where I didn't fully get everything but I never once blamed the author. And actually, you don't need to be able to have a valid solutions for things like Yasu's identity, episode-specific murders, or the freakin' epitaph. You don't even need to put that much time into it. It's certainly nice if you do that and especially if you figure those things out, but it's not necessary. What's important is that you try.
The readers that Ryukishi is not happy with are those that don't try. Let me clarify that I think the Umineko manga has its merits, such as with the art and Yasu's Confession, and I am glad that people are finding out about Umineko through it and enjoying it. However I think that the years of unjust hate after episode 8's original release got to Ryukishi, and so despite writing "his own version of the story that doesn't disrupt the catbox at all, it's just another view" (which no one listens to btw, it's frequently accepted as the "canon version of the story"), it gave the "goats" what they wanted. Yasu's Confession is the antithesis to what Will did in episode 7 — solving the core of the mystery in a respectful manner, with "love" for the culprit. In a vacuum it is a cool backstory, elaborating on things that are left ambiguous or more vague in a manner more preferable for some readers, but in return for this and Bernkastel being far more specific with her words at the end of the episode, a large part of what made Umineko special gets damaged, because getting told "okay, here's what ACTUALLY happened" in a story where not knowing the "objective truth" is contrary to that work's vision. And Yasu didn't want this kind of reveal, and that reveal was done in episode 7 anyway. Episode 8 is Ange's conclusion, really. Yet the manga rips the guts out of the mystery in as much detail as possible when it was never the point. Yes, the backstory is well-written, but I don't think it fits within the grander picture of what Umineko was originally striving to be.
What makes someone a "loveless" reader isn't trying to solve the mystery, it isn't wanting a different ending or themes, and it most certainly isn't being anti-escapist vs. the story easily being interpreted as an escapist one. Umineko is a work that encourages thinking from beginning to end. What actually makes someone a loveless goat is not trying to see... with love. It's being a "media consumer" that's looking for the next talked about "peak fiction" that just wants an answer and to move on without any regard for the characters and what they're going through and the themes of the story. It's the people who want another "puzzle mystery" where the sole purpose for many readers is to see murders happen and find the culprit. It's not one's fault for not figuring out absolutely everything in Umineko without outside help, but it is possible, and in any case I don't find it acceptable to blame the author for it.
And it is a mystery, at least in part. Mysteries that deal with a "catbox" situation where many solutions fit the bill have existed since at least the middle of the 20th century. Japan has had shinhonkaku — new generation Japanese mystery that breaks the tropes that classical mystery has overused like a broken record. Umineko is not the first, and it certainly won't be the last to try to see things with "love" even in the Japanese mystery catalogue alone. Any work that claims to be the end-all and be-all of a genre or whatever is very questionable by default. Mysteries that don't just involve being solved like a logical puzzle by a misanthropic detective are in abundance, too — plenty of mysteries all around the globe, especially those made in modern times care about the feelings of culprits and victims and how they affect those around them. That's not what really matters here, either, though — what makes Umineko so noteworthy is how it combines so many of these genres, themes, inspirations, aesthetics, musical styles and mixes them to deliver this core message. It is a story that tries to be so many things, released and constantly affected by the two-sided interaction between author and reader. It's honestly really hard to apply "the death of the author" to this where only the product matters in a vacuum, it's just not how it was made. Episode 3 ended up being different from the original vision due to Episode 2's audience reception, for example.
It's not just murder mystery casts that should live by the idea of "without love it cannot be seen" (within reason, I mean narcissists and psychopaths exist and the healthy approach with those is cutting contact, but moderation being key goes for anything in life). It is all of us. The people we meet and grow apart with, the ones we feel apathy or disgust for and the ones we love, everyone involved has not a singular story, but multiple stories to tell. Even they themselves rarely know that. In a way you don't really need 150+ hours on average to deliver such a relatively simple idea, but when it works, it really works.
So there you have it. Another possible view at the catbox that is my opinion on Umineko. It's very possible that tomorrow I'll wake up and think that it is awful. I feel like it's fitting that someone who has been on both sides of the spectrum write both highly negative and highly positive reviews on this work. Either way, I'm sure I won't stop thinking about Umineko for a long time.