berneice47 - 2015-06-11 05:41:03

Umineko No Naku Koro Ni(うみねこのなく頃に) is an anime adapted from a visual novel of the same name. The show was to go along with the release of the VN, and while the VN got positive reviews, the show was not as well received. I'll try to review this anime and tell you if you should watch this or not.

Story & Characters

The story takes place in 1986, on the the secluded island of Rokkenjima. The Ushiromiya head, Kinzo, is dying and the family members have to decide how Kinzo's assets will be distributed between themselves. A few hours later, a storm hits the island and the family is stuck there until it clears. The youngest child, Maria, gains a letter from The Golden Witch Beatrice, saying that the family has to solve the witch's puzzle, or they will all die.

The story basically goes through cycles (just like Higurashi). When everyone dies, the "game" resets. Each reset adds new characters and different outcomes. The problem with this is that the story feels the same, even with new characters. The story feels rushed and is cut off after the 4th arc of the VN. To pour salt on the wounds, the story itself ends on the cliffhanger, which left many viewers(including myself) pissed off.

The characters are pretty bland, in my opinion. The main character, Battler, is that stereotypical "Never give up!" guy in Shonen. The rest of the cast, excluding a few can be summed up with one word each. The cast is too large, which makes them forgettable.

Animation & Sound

The animation is pretty standard for Studio DEEN. With a few stand-out moments (Those being the moments where magic is used).

The soundtrack is the best part of the show. The opening theme and a few other songs are some of the best. My least favourite song of the show would be the ED, as I felt that it did not with the show.

Final Thoughts

Umineko No Naku Koro Ni is an okay show, but it's nowhere near the best. The issues with the show spawn from the rushed and cut-off story. My only hope is that another animation studio tries & successfully adapts all of the VN (maybe Ufotable, but eh). 

izaiah.johnson - 2015-05-16 23:53:41

I just finished it after having put it on hold for literally 1378 days (and I've read the VN before).

My opinion will probably be neither original nor surprising. It was terrible.

Let's see the good things first. Because there are a few good points into this anime. I've counted three of them to be more precise. Maybe four actually.

Firstly, and by far the best one, is the OST. Since the anime decided to use a lot of tracks from the VN, it instantly makes it VERY good. Some original tracks are meh but the remixes just help supporting the anime.

Secondly, it's a bit weird positive point, but I honestly think it is absolutely impossible to do a good anime of Umineko. It could have been way better, but it couldn't have been good. So one some ways, it's hard to blame them to have failed doing a good anime. But that's not a good excuse since it could have been acceptable, which is not the case.

Thirdly, YAMI WO KIRISAKU OH DESIRE. This ending is terrible but I laugh every time.

And the last but not the least, watching the anime gave me the envy to read the VN again, which is a very good thing.

That was the positive points of this anime. Absolutely everything else is terrible. Like EVERYTHING. The scenery is terrible (seriously the storyboard is probably horrible), the animation is poor as fuck, the character are bad (in the sense that DEEN changed them from the VN. Like Maria has a totally different personality because you know, being a psychopath weirdo is so funny), the scenario... Well it's umineko scenario so it is good, but it is so poorly adapted that you lose too much thing to fully and clearly understand the plot. 

And it's too damned gore. When censored, it becomes ridicule, and when not censored, it becomes VERY ridicule.

Just don't watch it. You won't ever have a second season. Read the VN. It's ten thousand time more worth your time.

jeanette.gottlieb - 2015-03-28 20:07:02

The finale was amazing, the mind games continue right up until the final minutes, it stays true to the games, Bernkastel and Lambdadelta's post credit scene was perfection, and it kept its atmosphere active right up until the end. However much I may have loved it that cliffhanger is already driving me insane, and a second season had better be on its way. But even if there isn't another season a cliffhanger like that isn't actually a horrible way to end it, given how the show was (and if you really want to find an ending you can always play the games, but who's to say you will find the same one >:D ).

I can not recommend it enough, mind games, mystery, intrigue, science fiction and supernatural. Be warned that it can get very dark and violent at times, but it does have its lighthearted moments to even them out (this is something to expect given its 'parent' series Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni). Speaking of Higurashi, if you haven't seen it you'll miss out on a few in-jokes and a bit of back story for Bernkastel, but it really isn't necessary to have seen Higurashi to still enjoy Umineko. I recommend watching it first to get the most out of Umineko but Higurashi is a long series, and to be honest I think Umineko is probably my favorite individual installment in the franchise.

norma.parisian - 2015-03-24 19:23:37

Umineko no Naku Koro ni is the third entry (second depending on how you look at it) in the When They Cry series, and the visual novel is considered superior to it's predecessor on nearly every account by many fans. The anime, unfortunately, doesn't get to boast in such a similar way. Sure, the visuals are good for the most part, and the music is mostly just remixed versions of what you get in the visual novel, but unfortunately the rest isn't too great. As a stand alone series, Umineko starts off very enjoyably. It has that weird feel that attracted so many people to Higurashi in the first place, but this time the situation is on an isolated island. While Higurashi was able to tell it's story and still mostly retain the point the author, Ryukishi07 was trying to make. Umineko does not retain that, however. One of the few things that the anime does right is the voice acting, which was so well chosen that the PS3 remakes of the visual novels retained all of the voice actors from the anime, which brings the characters to life in an otherwise fairly meh adaptation.

Do yourself a favor and read the visual novels, which has an English translation that had so much love put into it that the author himself included the name of the translation team in the story as an homage to their dedication.

barry.swaniawski - 2014-07-31 04:31:47

Story
The story of Umineko no Naku Koro ni in concept is very different from it's older brother Higurashi. However the story is told in the same way with story arcs. If you have seen the Higurashi series before you'll already be familiar and used to the concept. Umineko's story feels a little bit convoluted though. Some of the things that happen make little sense, and it tries to urge you into reading the visual novels, which gets annoying. However, if you ignore it you are in for a treat. 7/10

Animation

The animation is very good. Although the character designs feel a bit bland, the scenes that show off the witches' magic are superbly executed and they are very engrossing to watch. The opening is animated pretty well too, showing off excellent images of the island Rokkenjima. The ending's animation is pretty lame though featuring nothing but shaky images of different locations on the island. 8/10

Sound

The soundtrack features a lot of tracks that warrant different emotions and fit different scenes. The only problem is they are somewhat unmemorable. The only memorable song is the opening theme, which is both epic and dark. It gets you pumped for what's to come in the episode. 8/10

Character

Battler Ushiromiya is the main protagonist of the series. He is clever, smart, and a practical genius. He is brave and courageous standing up for those he believes could not have committed murder. It's interesting to watch him uncover the mysteries that occur around him. The main villain of the show is Beatrice is the witch. She is crooked, evil, and truly wicked. She is an excellent villain who counters Battler in every way and only does what she does to get what she wants. Some of the supporting cast gets more developed than others which is disappointing but the cast is so large between the Ushiromiya family and the servants that it is somewhat inevitable. This makes it hard for the viewer to sympathize with a character that dies. 7/10

Enjoyment: 9/10

Overall

Collectively, Umineko no Naku Koro ni has a very solid story with some good characters. The only downfall is that it ends on a cliffhanger and there are no future plans to make the final season of the show. Umineko has been licensed by NIS America, and the only way to legally view them is to by the two volume Blu-Ray set. However, there is no DVD version, there is no dub, and it is expensive. So most likely people are going to watch this using fan subs and fan dubs. 8/10

newell.lindgren - 2013-12-01 05:51:20

If you are a fan of "And Then There Were None" written by Agatha Christie or any murder mystery then this anime is seriously up your alley. It was a stunning anime with a good combo of mind games and thrilling murder mystery to match I will however admit like most other animes it was a bit slow at first but really sped up and became more and more interesting as we got to learn more of the mysterious golden witch Beatrice.

senger.aracely - 2013-07-22 23:28:48

Umineko no Naku Koro Ni could be considered the little brother of the oh so high praised Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni. This being, the expectation were exceptionally high for this series. Many say though, that the Adaption itself was shit. I, who hasn't read the Visual to neither Higurashi nor Umineko can't tell. But what I can tell is what I got as an Anime itself. And that shall be presented here:Story: The story of Umineko is just as Higurashis really complex and seems to quite equal to it. But as soon you reach a certain episode you might realize, that it is not!The story takes place on an island called Rokkenjima. One day the head of the rich Ushiromiya family, Ushiromiya Kinzo, invites all his children and grandchildren to come to his island. Here the actual story is going to get started. After a bit of talk and backgroundknowledge, some people get brutally murdered. Soon it turns out, that those shouldn't stay the only ones getting killed. One after another the whole supporting and even the main cast gets wiped out. The end? No. Not even close. As you might have guessed the whole thing works the same way as Higurashi does and different archs continue this slaughter in different ways.The whole story has a heck of a lot of twists but it sometimes fails in keeping you concentrated and you might get a bit confused about how everything worked out this way.8Characters: The whole character list for this Anime is far too long to list everyone here, so I'll just name the few that get the most screentime, which are Ushiromiya Battler, who is the one that has to solve the whole riddle. He is more of a fighting style character, but does lose his confidence sometimes, which makes him a bit more human.The next one is the golden eternal witch Beatrice, which is a cruel witch, that kills everyone for the sake of her revival. She is the opponent of Battler and is our typical psycho-antagonist.The supporting cast is as I said earlier really big, with it holding every single bit of the Ushiromiya Family and their servants. They are giving a lot of careful attention to them though, explaining a whole lot of background, which makes everything much more deep.8Art: The art isn't really a master piece. It is well done for it's time but by now quite aged. The character design, does look good if you compare it to the original one (which I saw on some pics). I mean...seriously the original one was crap.6Sound: The Sound of Umineko does always fits well to the tone the Anime does currently have, but never is somewhat memorable. I found myself listening and singing with the Opening many times though. Espacially the ending always made me hyped for the next episode. The Opening just fit really well to the whole show (even though I liked Higurashi's more at this point)Enjoyment: If Umineko no Naku Koro Ni lacks one thing it is continuity. There are many points, that just make you go "wtf? What just happened?" If you aren't prepared for some oddly placed Shounen scenes and some random fanservice (it is not much though), that sometimes don't really fit the show's theme, than you will be really surprised by this (at least I was). There were points in the show where I almost sopped watching during an episode due to boredom.On the other hand, there were also parts, that hooked me so much, that I actually jumped out of my seat (I mean...literally). Combined with the ending that effect was even better.7Summary: In total, the whole plot of Umineko is really interesting. It has a good idea, has a lot of good characters and a heck of a fanbase loving the VN. But as we know DEEN, they like to disappoint us whenever we are expecting the highest. They had many points, were they executed it brilliantly but also many points, were they did it just as poorly. It got me hooked and it got me bored. So I give it in total a 7/10