Umineko When They Cry( When The Seagulls Cry) is the second entry in the acclaimed 'When They Cry' franchise, right after Higurashi When They Cry, and is possibly the best entry in the mysteryXfantasy genre from the animated world's side. The series got two visual novel(arcs), an anime adaptation, a manga adaptation, a booklet, two fan discs( one of them explain a certain character from the VN), and a fighting games series dubbed as Ougon Musou Kyouko. The VN has a lot of premise to begin with, and the insane amount of detail utterly NOT expected from a mystery is enough to blow off even the most avid of the avid mystery aficionados.
The story revolves around a groups of siblings, their father and their children in a western mansion. Every year, a family conference takes place in the majestic and prodigious Ushiromiya mansion on a desolated island. In 1986, however, right after the first day of the guests' arrival, a typhoon strikes and cuts off the island from the rest of the world; making any means of communication worthless. A series of bizarre murders start to take place in the mansion's whereabouts right after the first day's end. The characters find themselves amidst the trap of an eccentric murderer whose out killing people according to a box are epitaph, and is dubbed by everyone insane enough to believe in occult as "The Golden Witch: Beatrice". (mystery part)
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...And after the entire terrific mass slaughter ends, the main character, Battler, engages within a battle of Logic VS magic with "Beatrice" in the metaphysical world and continues to deny her. The two have their battle as a chess battle, so the "checkmate" pops up quite often from the incompetent Battler's loud mouth. Eventually, he gets entangled up in a much more complicated state of affairs, and takes it upon himself to find out Beatrice's "heart" and the truth. There are a lot appearances in the story, partly which make sense an which do not; and yet, in the end, everyone's roles seem significant. (Fantasy part)
That does it for the synopsis. All you mystery fanatics would probably have notes that this entire mystery setting resembles some other story a lot. You'd be right; Umineko drew inspiration from Agatha Christie's best selling mystery novel: "And Then There Were None", along with a couple of other stories to boot. The "fantasy" part is there by Ryukishhi07 so that those who aren't really into crime stories can enjoy Umineko nonetheless. Though the true meaning of Umineko lies in seeing through the mass-hysteria of the illusions the "fantasy" aspect throws at you, and find out the truth yourself.
Like it's predecessor, Umineko's composed of two arcs, each having four "games" ( or episodes as Umineko terms them), making for a grand total of 8 episodes and a playtime worth 70+ hours.
STORY( 10/10):
The first and the foremost thing a VN is supposed to specialise in is the story. This is where Umineko outshines almost any other Japanese fantasy-mystery story, and even the famous western matey novels are utterly put in the shade by the sheer perfection and decisiveness of the story. It's been a trend( and still is) for mystery novels to reveal the culprit's identity at the end, and shock the readers( or make them yawn); thus putting an end to every single question. Umineko avoids that. Ryukishhi07 wanted his readers to think, think, and think. Which is precisely why the 'game' part of the visual novel kicked in fairly quickly; right after the first episode, unlike Higurashi, which had it coming at the last episode( the culprit's identity was also revealed in Higurashi contrary to Umineko). The author went with the "THINK!" theme in Umineko right off the bat. And as aforementioned, even in the end, nothing about the mystery's core is revealed, and yet, the clues are all there for those who think. It wouldn't be quite smart to create an unsolvable mystery now would it? And sadly enough, the anime adaptation ruined Umineko's fame. It sold bad enough and the 'Chiru' arc wasn't aired by Studio Deen as a result of their blowing up their budget. In any case, the story at first glance seems to be a lunatic's errand; what with a guy denying the existence of witches with a witch right in front of him. It eventually goes in much deeper than that; the "fantasy" aspect of the story. The constant and the irrefutable fact, the "red truth", is made use of to reach the truth/deny the false assumptions and allegations. The "chess battle scenes" seem like a shortened rip off from the Phoenix Wright Court scenes; what with there being a "witch side" and a "human side"; the former trying to prove their existence , and the latter to deny it by presenting how the murders were possible by a human. The fantasy aspect kicks in all the time, and the mystery is never laid low upon in the story. The story has its share of humour, teen angst, an elegant ambiance, and murderous ulterior motives' presentation. There is deception from the start and till the end. Just when you think everything's settled down even momentarily, it'll be your bad. ANIMATION(4-9/10):
Ignoring the surreal rating for the moment, the truth is that Umineko's art is...well, THE worst. For the PC version, that is. Ryukishii07's excellence with mystery is just about equal to his incapability to draw finely. Even though the art's just about fine from an unbiased perspective, it doesn't change the fact that hand look like gloves. The PS3 version of Umineko had the art redone by Alchemist, has voices, AND that is worth a hundred applauses. That's why the rating is 4-9; if we're talking about the PC version's art, it's lame. If we're taking about the PS3 art, then it's another perfection. Although, the characters' horrendous expressions are much masterfully depicted in the PS3 art, yet the PC art has its share of grotesque uniqueness and sublimity, albeit very low. Post Script: It is possible to incorporate the PS3 art style into the PC version through various methods. You'll then have the complete Umineko experience on the PC. Also, the voice acting isn't less than too notch, either.
PS: The image used here has the PS3 art sprites. You know what to expect now.
MUSIC(12/10):
This is probably THE strongest hold Umineko has to the grounds of perfection, before or after the story is up to you to decide. The music isn't simply "one" of the best, it's probably THE best out there. It perfectly, I repeat, PERFECTLY matches the situation in the VN and some BGMs leave an enormous emotional impact on the reader. It's a bleeding shame that there was no separate OsT CD released for Umineko. The musics' were done by a number of artists, and include everything from low/high techno tunes to emotional, royal and prestigiously musics, not to mention, a good deal of eargasmic vocal tracks, too. If you would wish for a comparison, then Chrono Trigger and Symphony Of The Night's OST, along with the infamous Final Fantasy OSTs pale in comparison to this. They LITERALLY pale in comparison. And this isn't an exaggeration at all. If it were not for its OST, Umineko wouldn't have been on the top of every unprejudiced-against-japanese mystery fan's favourites list, either.
VERDICT(10/10):
All in all, Umineko is a unique blend of a western mystery setting, and an incorporated fantasy setting brimming with the promises of a uniquely royal experience. With all this said, it wouldn't be fair for me to award this masterpiece anything than the perfect score. Anything I have seen/played concerning the Japanese animations doesn't match this. I have yet to come across anything superior. The answer's never made clear, the clues are all there, AND we have the two famous detective rule sets I.e Knox and Van Dine's commandments that were made way back in the 1940's applicable to this! By keeping all the rules, the red truths, the players/readers are to tackle the mystery themselves, seeing past the many illusions the storey throws in the form of magical scenes and the metaphysical perspectives. There are many theories over the net( more like assumptions) and it's been left for us to decide which one we'll follow and reach the truth ourselves. Yes, a google search for Umineko's truth won't help. You'll see after you finish it.
Addendum: It should be noted that the anime that was composed of 24 episodes only, covers only the first arc; that is the first four episodes of the Visual Novel. The "Chiru" answer arc wasn't aired, and the anime lacks in details a LOT. It has extremely poor sales to boot(this being the primary reason for its sudden and abrupt halt at airing), so plead don't let that crapshow dissuade you from the visual novel. The manga issues aren't complete yet either, and God knows when they will be. The visual novel is the best and the most feasible bet if you want to get into Umineko. There are some cameo..."sentences" from Higurashi, plus a track as well. Those who've played Higurashi shoulld note that this is nothing similar to Higurashi and is much, MUCH more complicated.
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