Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch
Umineko When They Cry Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch

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When They Cry 3, dubbed Umienko no Naku Koro Ni is considered the spiritual sequel to Higurashi (direct in my opinion). Like Higurashi, its a mystery/thriller but with more emphasis on the mystery aspect. The state of affairs for the adaptions of the Umineko Visual Novel are pretty damn messy at the moment. There's the anime, which is a godawful piece of crap that's worth no one's time. Than there are the manga adaptions which are still being published. Simultaneously no less. Needless to say, it can get pretty confusing but that's what this review is for.

The premise is typical stuff for a murder mystery. ... The Ushiromiya family has an annual get together on the island of Rokkenjima. Of course while they're staying there, a storm comes a long and the next thing you know, half the people on the island are dead. Than its adopts the classic whodunit angle and we've got ourselves a run of the mill mystery. Except Umineko is anything but run of the mill, but I'll get to that later. The protagonist is none other than good ol' Battler, who's fairly silly, perverted and has a pretty good sense of humor. He's also very level headed and has a knack for thinking in a logical manner. All of this is integral to the story but it might not be so obvious as to why at first. Now an important detail to know is that Episode 1: Legend of The Golden Witch, is fairly different from the other 3 episodes. It has a completely different mood and tone from the others because the point of it is to establish characters and pose some initial questions to the readers. You can look at it as a long prologue of sorts, as the real story begins in Episode 2.

That's not to say that its bad by any means, on the contrary, episode 1 is a very good stand alone story that sells its mystery quite well. The suspense is excellent and a lot of the murders will leave the readers scratching their heads. Of course its all presented in a textbook fashion but considering what it has to work with at first, it does a splendid job.The pacing is great, if a bit on the slow side. Unlike the anime, the manga includes a lot of the details that the VN had in regards to the characters and story. It also has a very interesting spin on the more ambiguous events that in my opinion, add a lot to the elements of the story. It presents a whole load of interesting characters, like the abusive mother Rosa, the atypical loli Maria, the overcompensating grandfather Kinzo, and of course, the Endless Witch Beatrice. Although Umineko does have a tendency to take your impressions of characters and twist them hundreds of times over. In that sense, it has great characters who are certainly not what they seem at first.

The art is great, definitely better than the generic designs that DEEN did, and leagues above the VN's "art". Although the proportions on both the male characters and females can look kinda weird at times, its got a distinct style that suits the overall mood of the story well. Some of the details are exquisite, its definitely a pleasure just to stop and admire some of the spreads. The only problem I can think of about the presentation is that it doesn't have one of the VN's strong points: the BGM. Of course, this is the limit of the medium, but the VN's BGM went a long way in adding to the atmosphere. Some scenes in the manga are not as poignant without the appropriate tracks playing in the background but I guess its fair trade for the art.

As a mystery, Episode 1 is great if a bit familiar. I said before that Umineko isn't typical at all but the story only really takes off in the later episodes. Unfortunately EP1 is the only one that's been completely published so far, so you're looking at 3 other episodes that are still incomplete. There's continuity between each episodes, so this publishing method isn't exactly the best, seeing how the whole thing is fragmented right now. I wouldn't ever recommend watching the anime, so if you want to pick this up, I'd say do it sometime in the future unless you don't mind the wait. The only other option is to read the VN which I also wholeheartedly recommend if you really want to know what happens next.

*Note: This is a review of all eight episodes of the manga. Not just the first.*

tl;dr: A very unique story that tries to slowly weave an intricate build up to something grand, but slowly starts falling apart in the second half.

Umineko is a bit of a strange story. I suppose it has mysteries in it, but overall, it’s less of a mystery than it is a story about people playing a game based on mysteries. And furthermore, the key trick in the mysteries isn’t something that’s found by analyzing the details of the murder themselves, but rather by analyzing how said details are presented to ... the reader. As such, it’s a very meta type of story with a good deal of complexity. However, I think this is an example of how just because a story has depth and is intricate doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s good.

The first arc begins with an introduction to the wealthy Ushiromiya family as they meet on their own private island, Rokkenjima, for their annual conference. However, a mysterious series of locked roomed murders begins, supposedly being carried out by the Golden Witch Beatrice as part of a ceremony to bring about her resurrection. However, the first protagonist, Battler, refuses to believe in her magic regardless of what occurs. This leads to Beatrice pulling Battler off the ‘game board’ and vowing to convince him that she truly is a witch, while Battler remains insistent that magic does not exist.

This gives rise to the first meta-aspect to the narrative. It isn’t entirely made clear to the reader how this works exactly, though over time it does become relatively clear from context. It’s not really possible to discuss the details without delving into spoilers. But in a broad sense, Beatrice can veil the story in illusions that makes the events that occur seem like grand works of magic cast by witches. However, ultimately everything is something possible within the realistic bounds of normal people. It is up to Battler, and the reader, to try to see through the illusion into what is actually occurring to prove that no magic is taking place. For the next three arcs it goes through the murders on Rokkenjima repeatedly, each playing out pretty differently. And alongside that through character interactions, flashbacks, and even flashforwards, it delves into the various members of the Ushiromiya family, their backgrounds, and their relationships with each other. Though it isn’t clear where things are going, these arcs are well written and really interesting when first reading through them.

Similar to Higurashi, an earlier work from Ryuishiki07, the main story of Umineko is divided into four question arcs and four answer arcs. Though unlike Higurashi, I don’t think the question/answer labels really fit this time around at all. The first four arcs certainly do bring up a lot of questions and no good answers. And though things definitely change tremendously after that, the fifth and sixth arcs don’t really answer much either. Things do start to get much more meta however.

From the second arc and onwards there were various mechanics that make things more elaborate at a meta-level, such as Red Truths spoken by Beatrice which are always true and Blue Truths spoken by Battler that Beatrice must always respond to. Still, the focus was still definitely much more so on the murder mysteries than the higher-level meta-discussion between Battler and Beatrice. However, in the fifth arc it becomes clear that these mechanics weren’t being used anywhere close to their full potential. Their expanded use elevates what was just the story of someone trying to forcibly solve mysteries into a meta-level battle of wits with the mystery at its core. Ultimately, I would have to say that this battle in and of itself is written quite well, though everything surrounding that in terms of characters and such is an unpleasant mess so it’s hard to really get into it.

The seventh arc is what I would consider an actual answer arc. It goes through and explains essentially everything that needs to be explained about the earlier arcs, or at the minimum provides enough information that it should be reasonably possible to figure things out on one’s own. To be clear, by that I mean that before reading this arc it isn’t really possible to figure out any of the mysteries that pervade the narrative. It’s possible to point out inconsistencies and make minor deductions, but the core trick I don’t think is something is reasonable to expect the reader to be able to figure out on their own. I’m sure that there must have been some that did, because with a large enough group even just making shots in the dark is enough to find the solution to anything. But it’s nowhere near the typical type of mystery trick, and thus one should manage their expectations. This core trick is decent I guess within the larger context of the narrative, but going back to the earlier tricks in episodes 1-4 knowing that trick, the rest is all pretty trivial, so overall I think the mysteries in the first four episodes are pretty weak.

The eight arc is where I feel the story really fell apart however. At this point there isn’t really much of a mystery anymore, essentially everything was filled in by the seventh arc, so all this adds in terms of that is explicitly filling in details that can be inferred or details that don’t matter all that much. The main focus is one something else entirely however, it goes all in on the meta. The previous answer arcs had been amping up the meta-factor, but the eight arc takes it to a whole other level. The plot becomes completely ridiculous, which is pretty fun at times. However, there are larger thematic issues in play that result in it feeling incohesive. The first is that it felt like the author was using the meta-aspect to essentially communicate directly with the reader. However, as the meta-story becomes the main story, and what was merely metaphor become physical parts of the plot, things start to blur together in weird ways that make the messaging feel incredibly inconsistent.

The second thematic issue is that the message it does seem to be trying to convey is just no good. The moral of the story in Higurashi ultimately was the power of friendship. As such, I kind of want to go along with that and say that the moral of the story here is the power of family, but I feel that’s kind of missing the point. The message more so seems to be that everyone is complicated and everyone has good inside them despite what horrible things they do. That’s a pretty standard message as well, but it doesn’t quite seem to fit here. In most stories that have such a message, it is done through explaining the extreme circumstances that resulted in characters taking specific terrible actions. but with it trying to convey that that’s not who they truly are. Umineko feels like it’s doing the opposite. It kind of feels like everyone in the Ushiromiya family, or at least those one generation under Kinzou, is screwed up internally and by default would go down the path towards doing terrible things and only in just the right circumstances can that be avoided. The messaging about it not being any single person’s fault is fair enough, but spreading the fault out amongst the entire group doesn’t just make it disappear. And thus, pretty much all the positive emotional beats in the final arc fell flat completely.

The final arc also heavily involves investment in the entire cast, but at least for me I couldn’t bring myself to like any of them. To be clear I don’t really hate anyone either, but I don’t feel the narrative did a good enough job of getting me to like them either. The slice of life in general isn’t very good. The romance is all terrible. And while characters are easy enough to understand the motivations and backgrounds of, it didn’t really feel like I could empathize with them. I feel that part of that comes down to there just being far too many characters and certain aspects of characters being more convoluted than they needed to. But beyond that I just kind of feel that the cast of Umineko in general just isn’t all that likable, especially compared to Higurashi. I’m also really not a fan of the semi-reuse of characters from Higurashi, even if they aren’t actually the same. I also feel that the ending dragged on for too long, and that the epilogue was wholly unnecessary and somewhat off putting.

Like Higurashi, the manga of Umineko had arcs published simultaneously drawn by different artist. I think the art for Umineko is much more consistent both in style and quality so it isn’t as much of a mixed bag as Higurashi was. Still, there is a bit of up and down from arc to arc, with its overall being pretty solid. There are a lot of great character designs, heavily in part due to the nature of how the illusions allow so much freedom into just having fun with the designs irrespective of everything else.

Umineko no Naku koro ni - Episode 1

Right. I wasn't expecting much from the beginning. I actually had no idea what Umineko was about, but I knew it had a witch, a family, and a mansion. I went to see the anime, but it was so horrible that I preferred to erase it from my memory and start the saga adapted in manga. I will start with the elements that I thought were cool.

Basically episode 1 is a battle of the protagonist, Battler, with himself, in his quest to find the assassin inside the mansion, and, most importantly: to deny the existence of the Golden ... Witch, Beatrice. That point, specifically, is cool. Battler seems to have a future as a character.

OK, now I come to what I think wasn't cool:

- First of all, and probably best known among non-readers of Umineko, are the edgy faces. "Ah, but why are the edgy faces so bad?", someone may want to know, and I understand. Edgy things, like faces that represent insanity, anger, or hatred, are usually very exaggerated facial expressions that are there precisely to express a feeling without necessarily showing it. As if it were very difficult to create a character who can convey his feelings without reducing everything to a contorted grimace and a stick out tongue, as if this were extremely natural. And yeah, Umineko is full of scenes like this, if at any time Maria intends to change her personality, she will simply start contorting her face and laughing hysterically, because it is very difficult to create a more organic character that actually generates fear. Those expressions she makes are more comical than scary, in fact. And her mother beating her up for making those faces, with even more faces kkkk

Other example of this is Natsuhi in her clash with Eva, it literally becomes a war of who shouts the loudest, but this in itself is not a defect, who has never been in a family discussion and started shouting out of nowhere? The problem really lies in the faces and death threats, which, because they are uttered by characters we barely know, sound more like unpalatable insanity than a simple family disagreement.

- Another problematic point is how the manga doesn't know how to anticipate or prepare. Anticipation in plot twist is considered basic to believe that what was there all along, and a plot twist without anticipation simply sounds like a "the author pulled it out of his ass". And Umineko EP 1 is full of plot twists that have no basis whatsoever. An example of this is the corpse of the head of the family being found in a room, completely charred, and only at that moment is it revealed that the man had 6 toes on each foot, just because otherwise they wouldn't know how to identify the body. Couldn't it have been told before? Couldn't it be a fact somehow mentioned or just referenced? But no, it suddenly existed because the author needed it.

There is a scene that one of the characters, Eva, kind of anticipates her father's movements by putting a piece of paper between the door so that he couldn't leave his chambers without leaving a remnant. OK, this served to make Battler doubt the provenance of the case and cogitate the existence of Beatrice, but why did Eva do that? Until that moment there was no suspicion and no crime concerning that part of the mansion, so what she did sounds quite meaningless. And the episode ended and nothing was commented on, she was just super psychic anyway.

And another example of this, is when Battler returns the lucky charm to Mary. In one chapter, the climax is in Battler saying that he is without the amulet, so it was not for him that Battler was spared by Beatrice, this to try to prove to Maria that the witch does not exist. A few chapters later, however, Battler says it was a lie and that it was always with him, just to give it back to Maria and protect her from any threat. Something that could be simply grounded quickly, but isn't, creating yet another script convenience.

- And now, what disappointed me the most in this manga, the characters. I have three main points that express my displeasure with the cast:

Case 1: They conclude things on their own

Umineko's characters vary greatly from super geniuses to amoebas during the manga. One thing that is really inexplicable is how sometimes they just come to incredible conclusions out of nothing. A good example of this is Battler's stepmother, this is before any murder happens. Battler is upset about how the family is fighting and falling out, and about the letter that was left between them, apparently written by Beatrice, and Kyrie, the stepmother, suddenly comes to his side and starts overflowing with wild theories, just out of the blue. Not even Battler was talking to her, and suddenly she comes up with endless strands of thought and history. It's not such an unreal thing, she could really be a genius just hiding, but since it wasn't something anticipated, she seemed more like an NPC who needed to leave crucial information for the character.

Case 2: They change personality

This one is more recurring. The cast of Umineko doesn't seem to have any personality at all. Battler is even minimally characterized, his beef is about whether the witch exists or not, so he denies and asserts this several times, even if very conveniently. What is even more convenient, is how the rest of the cast behaves: in chapter 20 there is the murder of three people in front of a child in a locked room, there being only the 4 of them there. Since Mary is a child and they don't suspect her, Jessica, one of the young women remaining in the mansion, immediately blames Beatrice for the deed. What we think: OK, she believes Beatrice." However in chapter 21, literally a few pages later, she sees her mother with a bullet from the gun she was holding in her head, and her reaction solely and completely is to bawl at her mother's dead body, "Why a suicide?" stating this several times. Knowing that there was a certain Beatrice causing serial murders, stating this a chapter earlier, and knowing her mother, who shortly before was determined to hunt down the culprit and get revenge on him, what was the obvious and singular alternative? Since Jessica herself had already received for herself the truth that Beatrice was real? it makes no sense.

Examples of this personality change are not lacking in Umineko. George, another young survivor, feels hatred for the mysterious killer who is taking his entire family, but when it is mentioned that Beatrice was the mistress of the head of the family, and he is trying to revive her with black magic by sacrificing her descendants, he puts himself in the killer's shoes and says he would do the same. ??????????

And another factor: they are always in sharp nuances of "Beatrice exists", "she doesn't exist!" when it suits them, the ones who run away from that the most are Natsuhi and Eva, the rest of the cast keeps contradicting themselves. There is a consensus that the murder in the locked room from the inside was Beatrice's doing, and in the next case they have already forgotten that conclusion and doubt her strongly again. It sounds very forced.

Case 3: They are dumb when it suits the author

Battler and company see the witch's ritual in chapter 3 or 4, read about the nights of the murders and Beatrice's return. But for some reason, the geniuses who solve murder cases chapters later, were too stupid at the beginning to know what it was all about, and they don't associate any of it with what happens later. Only in chapter 20, after more than half the house is dead, do they come to that conclusion, late, when it is already useless to them.

And what about the death of Kanon, the servant? In a fit of rage, he decides to go against the witch, In the most thoughtless way possible. Because of this abrupt change of personality, he is conveniently killed.

Plus Umineko's characters are too shallow, reduced to exaggerated facial expressions to show any emotion. An extremely low level manga, with a dirty build up that can't sustain anything, and a lot of things that were left totally open and will probably be covered up in the following episodes. A very bad start.