Reviews

An ingenious concept executed excellently in a visual novel and adapted poorly in an anime. I watched the first 6 episodes of this anime without having read the VN. At first I hated it because it confused the hell out of me. When I started to understand at least some bit of what was going on, I started really wanting to like it. But so much seemed missing while watching the anime. I decided to do what I have never done before, and I read the VN. That is when I realized that the story is not at fault, but the anime adaptation itself. Now after completing both the anime and the VN (1-4), I can see why so many people are upset.

Story (5/10)
The pacing. YOUR GOING TO FAAAST. SLOOOW DOWN! This was what really brought down the anime, there were so many cuts to essential bits of information, that it was hard to follow.

Art (8/10)
Animation was decent, not great. It could do with less crazy-face spam.

Sound (9/10)
This is one category where for the most part, it didn't go wrong. The OP and ED fit this anime well. Keeping a lot of the great music from the game helped. The VAs fit their characters.

Character (4/10)
The anime suffered the worst of all here. When anime adaptations have to cut a lot to fit the anime's length, character development is usually where it hits. And it really did. So little character development is given that you will find yourself not caring in the slightest for most of the characters, and that their soul purpose is to die for the convenience of the plot.

Enjoyment (6/10)
It was enjoyable to see some scenes from the VN play out in the anime, regardless of how rushed they were. If season 2 gets animated, I'll watch it too with this same logic.

Overall (6/10)
Overall the anime while generally enjoyable was pretty mediocre; however, if you think the story of Umineko no Naku Koro ni in general is mediocre, you should give the visual novel a try. The anime really didnt do the story justice.