Spoilers for Umineko and Higurashi!!
There's something so fascinating about the creator's distinctive second work when comparing it to the first (even though I'm well aware this is far from Ryukishi07's second work I just meant in the WTC series). The character designs seem more intricate. The story themes and way of telling it seem deeper. The character motivations seem more ambiguous and varied. The active push to make a series bigger and better, especially after the first one was so good, is a curious thing to watch as creators try to figure out how to follow up to something that anyone would be honored to have made.
The low hanging fruit I can compare this to is of course the case between Undertale and Deltarune. Undertale, pretty simple premise with pretty simple characters: show kindness to people, because your actions have consequences. Deltarune, more complex: although it's not finished, it tells of battle for control and escapism. Characters evolve more slowly, and they have the baggage that weighs them down while it was a matter of acting to make friends with monsters in Undertale (except, you know, the obvious).
The TL;DR of following up your work is that you should do something different, and Umineko takes the concept of trying to break the cycle of repeating the days over and over in a complex direction. So, in this case, it went from solving the mystery of a curse in a Japanese village with a small group of friends to a game against a witch in a Western-styled murder mystery with a large extended family.
Seriously. The main cast is MASSIVE with about 20 people, not counting the many other side characters. The fact that they all were able to be written well and uniquely enough to be distinct from one another is honestly amazing. Of course, them being varied in personality and demeanor means they're not all going to be winners, nor does it mean that we'll be able to fully understand their characters from the get-go.
And tangentially it is here that I make my rant against Kinzo. Fuck Kinzo honestly. Fuckin self-important asshole lockin himself up in his study all the time glaring and crying and acting like he's better than everybody else just because he pulled a blondie once. Every time he gets burnt alive, an angel gets its wings. Holy shit, fuck Rosa too she's well written but fuck me that scene of her ripping apart Sakutaro is ingrained in my head. I should note that none of these characters are poorly written, they're just extremely flawed people and I appreciate that Ryukishi expanded his writing of characters from overall likable with hidden flaws to outwardly cruel but secretly hurt and sympathetic characters.
Of course, there's no shortage of classic likable characters too. Me personally, I'm a fan of Jessica, Ange, Maria, Shannon and Kanon! But in the end, I hope each character gets their own satisfying arc and conclusion (except Kinzo can rot in hell). But you know what that means. Oh boy, I've gotten attached. See you all again in like a month.
The storytelling takes a nice change as it shifts from more psychological horror mixed in with body horror to pure viscera and body horror. This game is so gory oh my god I love it. The death sound effect and the scene of Maria singing while standing in a puddle of blood facing the wall are ingrained into my head. Actually the CGs of Maria's face warping in general are ingrained into me. At one point I was taking my headphones off because I wanted to physically get away from the horrific scenes. I thought I'd be kinda desensitized to this stuff by now but it's all about presentation that gets people.
Now for the plot, I was honestly enthralled from the start. The delicate balance of everyone secretly feuding for the inheritance was nicely done. Not that I've ever interacted with a rich family, but that dynamic I felt was written organically. And then there's Beatrice coming and fucking everything up in the best way possible and I love it. Honestly, the main conflict with Battler and her was a little aimless at first but as the story states later on that's kinda the point. It's just SO LONG. I wish getting attached to every character didn't mean having to go at it for 60+ hours but hey I'm getting my money's worth 💔.
So overall, yeah this is as good as people say it is! Honestly it's more repetitive than Higurashi which means that I probably would be less likely to reread it, but it wasn't bad. I just wish they potentially did more with the family conference rather than the same exact events over and over up until things get weird. That's what made each chapter of Higurashi stand out from one another, after all. But as it is this is a great read and a fantastic direction for the WTC saga. I can't wait to solve the mysteries again.
There's something so fascinating about the creator's distinctive second work when comparing it to the first (even though I'm well aware this is far from Ryukishi07's second work I just meant in the WTC series). The character designs seem more intricate. The story themes and way of telling it seem deeper. The character motivations seem more ambiguous and varied. The active push to make a series bigger and better, especially after the first one was so good, is a curious thing to watch as creators try to figure out how to follow up to something that anyone would be honored to have made.
The low hanging fruit I can compare this to is of course the case between Undertale and Deltarune. Undertale, pretty simple premise with pretty simple characters: show kindness to people, because your actions have consequences. Deltarune, more complex: although it's not finished, it tells of battle for control and escapism. Characters evolve more slowly, and they have the baggage that weighs them down while it was a matter of acting to make friends with monsters in Undertale (except, you know, the obvious).
The TL;DR of following up your work is that you should do something different, and Umineko takes the concept of trying to break the cycle of repeating the days over and over in a complex direction. So, in this case, it went from solving the mystery of a curse in a Japanese village with a small group of friends to a game against a witch in a Western-styled murder mystery with a large extended family.
Seriously. The main cast is MASSIVE with about 20 people, not counting the many other side characters. The fact that they all were able to be written well and uniquely enough to be distinct from one another is honestly amazing. Of course, them being varied in personality and demeanor means they're not all going to be winners, nor does it mean that we'll be able to fully understand their characters from the get-go.
And tangentially it is here that I make my rant against Kinzo. Fuck Kinzo honestly. Fuckin self-important asshole lockin himself up in his study all the time glaring and crying and acting like he's better than everybody else just because he pulled a blondie once. Every time he gets burnt alive, an angel gets its wings. Holy shit, fuck Rosa too she's well written but fuck me that scene of her ripping apart Sakutaro is ingrained in my head. I should note that none of these characters are poorly written, they're just extremely flawed people and I appreciate that Ryukishi expanded his writing of characters from overall likable with hidden flaws to outwardly cruel but secretly hurt and sympathetic characters.
Of course, there's no shortage of classic likable characters too. Me personally, I'm a fan of Jessica, Ange, Maria, Shannon and Kanon! But in the end, I hope each character gets their own satisfying arc and conclusion (except Kinzo can rot in hell). But you know what that means. Oh boy, I've gotten attached. See you all again in like a month.
The storytelling takes a nice change as it shifts from more psychological horror mixed in with body horror to pure viscera and body horror. This game is so gory oh my god I love it. The death sound effect and the scene of Maria singing while standing in a puddle of blood facing the wall are ingrained into my head. Actually the CGs of Maria's face warping in general are ingrained into me. At one point I was taking my headphones off because I wanted to physically get away from the horrific scenes. I thought I'd be kinda desensitized to this stuff by now but it's all about presentation that gets people.
Now for the plot, I was honestly enthralled from the start. The delicate balance of everyone secretly feuding for the inheritance was nicely done. Not that I've ever interacted with a rich family, but that dynamic I felt was written organically. And then there's Beatrice coming and fucking everything up in the best way possible and I love it. Honestly, the main conflict with Battler and her was a little aimless at first but as the story states later on that's kinda the point. It's just SO LONG. I wish getting attached to every character didn't mean having to go at it for 60+ hours but hey I'm getting my money's worth 💔.
So overall, yeah this is as good as people say it is! Honestly it's more repetitive than Higurashi which means that I probably would be less likely to reread it, but it wasn't bad. I just wish they potentially did more with the family conference rather than the same exact events over and over up until things get weird. That's what made each chapter of Higurashi stand out from one another, after all. But as it is this is a great read and a fantastic direction for the WTC saga. I can't wait to solve the mysteries again.