Story(5/10)
Umineko no Naku Koro ni's story is rather difficult to understand because of how it is told. The anime follows Battler as he battles the Golden Witch Beatrice to try and save his family. This story could have worked if not for 3 main problems. The 1st problem in this anime is that the main plot quickly becomes repetitive to the point where you are just hoping to see someone get killed in a cool way and no longer care about the actual story. The 2nd problem is the mystery side to the story where it try's to get you to solve its puzzles but doesn't give you all the necessary pieces. 3rd and the largest of all the issues is the fact that the anime itself is unfinished. Its ending hardly explains any of the problems showcased throughout the story and instead tells you to simply guess what might've happened in the show.
Art(8/10)
I actually enjoyed the art style of the show. Not only were the characters designs are great and fit each character quite well to their personality but the way people moments of insanity are done greatly compliment the anime and its music. The gore and magic in the anime is also done very well and showcase the shows brutality brilliantly.
Sound(9/10)
The best part of this whole show is definitely the soundtrack which has some great mood music. But the best part is definently the OP and ED which are both done beautifully showcasing both the animation as well as the song to its fullest potiental.
Character(6/10)
Another flaw within the anime is its flimsy characters. Whereas normally you care when a character is savagely murdered in this you are typically happy when most of them die. The adults are all made out to be heartless creatures who only care about their own greed. However during many of their death they attempt to showcase some sense of humanity which is always just annoying, because by the time they do you honestly don't care. The servants and demons/witches are actually interesting and needed to be explained in much greater detail. The grandchildren or our main characters have strong personalities but this also gets annoying due to the story. Beatrice is so messed up and when I say this I mean her character is flawed (notice how I focus on her while I put everyone else in groups) she starts off as complete antagonist performing grizzly crimes and simply laughing at the murders (her laugh is so annoying to where its more evil than her crimes). However her greatest flaw is the ending where she commits a giant 180 and is temporarily nice for no apparent reason... I wont even go on.
Overall(7/10)
Mystery animes typically follow straight and linear paths giving clues to the audience of how certain murders or crimes take place to show how the culprit committed the crime and is then caught as is usually done this allows us the viewer to feel like we are part of the anime... this doesn't do that. Even during few times that it does the show will completely ruin an intense mood by throwing flashbacks and backstory into the show completely ruining the mystery aspect of the anime. This causes the viewer to be completely disconnected from the show and not feel attached to these characters in any way. Its becomes repetitive very quickly and stops being an mystery anime completely. The few redeeming factors would probably be its animation and music which actually compliment the show quite well.
This anime needed another 25 episodes to be able to actually be completed as it is now the anime is literally incomplete causing everything story related to suffer, until such a thing happens there are too many plotholes to actually enjoy the anime.
