Before anything else, I believe its appropriate to briefly discuss the soundtrack and what it accomplishes. From lighthearted moments shared between the cousins to the tense air surrounding the family’s inheritance affairs, EP1’s OST serves as the ideal companion to the story’s gradually shifting atmosphere, with goldenslaughter executing the episodes tone shift just as effectively as the first time I read it. It may not have the tracks Umineko is most remembered for, but it achieves what it sets out to do to perfection.

Moving onto the actual writing, its important to acknowledge what first impressions mean in Umineko. The airport scene is the audience’s first encounter with most of the Ushiromiya family, who make up a large portion of Umineko’s cast. More importantly, it is the last time Eva, Rudolf and Rosa will collectively be portrayed as the ‘likable’ siblings. Rosa is a charitable woman and the ideal mother. Eva/Rudolf are a fun, playful pair that a number of brothers and sisters will likely find themselves identifying with. The more chapters we progress through, the more we understand our first impression deceived us. Once the story moves onto mansion, a different face appears on these characters. We soon find one of those playful siblings repeatedly tormenting an already sympathetic Natsuhi for reasons the audience are not yet aware of. Shortly after, Maria's loving mother is seen mercilessly beating her daughter in front of the cousins. However, the episode continues to dig into their characters by giving us a small portion of their depth that would later be expanded on in the following episodes.

Perhaps the single most fascinating character showcased in EP1 is somebody we meet in the story’s very first scene, the family head himself: Kinzo Ushiromiya. There is virtually no consistency within Kinzo's characterization. In his first appearance, we see a sympathetic old man breaking down under past regrets, wanting nothing but to see a certain woman’s smile. A similar scene is shown a few chapters after, however, there is a notable difference. Rather than portraying him sympathetically, the words beneath his weeping hold a far more possessive, disturbing implication behind them. Unless we’re to pay close attention, this difference is very easy to overlook. Few chapters later, this is no longer the case. Kinzo's weeping is replaced by optimism and his fascination with magic finally makes itself known. This is built on in our next meeting with him as he shows a more competitive persona that is confident in his capability to snatch the aforementioned woman’s smile. Before his death, we’re shown Kinzo one last time with arguably the most jarring portrayal of his character yet. In front of Natsuhi, Kinzo is shown as the proud head of the Ushiromiya family. While his stance toward the siblings is unchanging, the tone of his speech is far more composed. We see his first act of kindness as he allows the suffering Natsuhi to regain her lost self-esteem with the implication that she, more so than any of his children, is worthy of becoming head of the family. Based off these scenes, making out who Kinzo is meant to be is nigh impossible. It is only at the very end of EP1 that we receive more insight on his character through his servants and the cousin's interpretation of their words.

The significance behind these scenes not only forces us to contemplate who Kinzo is, but it also adds intrigue behind the woman whose smile he yearned for, Beatrice. Until the tea party, Beatrice is not a character. We have no idea who or what Beatrice is supposed to be. The cousins theorize who this Beatrice could possibly, with guesses ranging all over the place. That in itself is the force that drives the narrative forward.

Along with Kinzo and Beatrice, a third character who heavily contributes to the plot of EP1 is Maria. Unlike the former two names mentioned, she is consistently present throughout the episode. What distinguishes her from the rest of the cast is she does not abide by conventional logic. Early on, her belief in magic is viewed innocently as something several girls her age might be interested in. It is not long after when we’re reminded yet again that first impressions in Umineko are not reliable. We begin to see the nature of how Maria operates as she stubbornly stands outside in the middle of a harsh rainstorm after being abandoned by Rosa. Her fixation on a single rose seen earlier that day tells us that they (Battler and the cousins) are not dealing with a regular girl, and that becomes even more apparent directly after the first twilight when the first 6 victims are killed. Fortunately, George gives the cousins, as well as the audience, an understanding for Maria’s disturbing speech and indifference to everyone’s deaths. We’re led to believe that this knowledge in mind would protect her strange behavior from their judgement. It is because of this belief that the slowly growing intolerance toward her becomes especially effective in showcasing how their predicament is impacting them. Despite how conflicted the cousin’s feel at the sight of Rosa beating Maria, they begin to share in her frustration after a certain point. Maria’s stubbornness and inability to cooperate with others drives the remaining cast into madness as everybody in the mansion is dying. until the boiling point is reached when Natsuhi points her gun at Maria and she’s forced outside, where its presumed the killer is waiting for them. Oh yeah and Natsuhi is pretty good here too I guess.

The last thing I’ll mention is how well this sets up the mysteries for the rest of the story. As Ryukishi dubs it, the concept of Anti-Mystery vs Anti-Fantasy is an innovative approach to the genre that is fascinating off its premise alone. The EP1 tea party only solidifies this as we’re given a new layer of depth to look at when determining what kind of mystery story Umineko truly is.

tl;dr EP1 is good as fuck