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15th Dec '12 2:38:40 PM Oreochan

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Moved to English title.

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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gloriousep8_9027.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Welcome to Rokkenjima.]]

->''[[center:''"When will you believe in me?''\\
''That is all that matters.''\\
''If you want to do some detective work, go ahead.''\\
''If you believe that there is an answer, go and continue to search.''\\
''This is torture that will not end until you can believe in witches."'']]''

%% Please help move the wicks for Main.UminekoNoNakuKoroNi to VisualNovel.UminekoNoNakuKoroNi or Anime.UminekoNoNakuKoroNi
%% Click the "Related to" button above to start.

''Umineko no [[color:red:Na]]ku Koro Ni'' (''When the Seagulls [[color:red:C]]ry'') is a [[KineticNovel kinetic]] [[VisualNovel sound novel]] that takes place in 1986, on the island of Rokkenjima. The rich Ushiromiya family is gathering in order to discuss what will happen to patriarch Kinzo's inheritance, since he has been ill in recent days. The protagonist Battler also has returned to his family after 6 years of rebellion and is eager to meet again with his cousins.

While the arguments about the inheritance ensue, a typhoon traps all eighteen people on the island. The family then finds a mysterious letter from a person claiming to be Kinzo's alchemy councilor, the [[WitchSpecies Golden Witch]], [[TheDivineComedy Beatrice]]. Beatrice claims that she has been summoned by Kinzo to claim the inheritance, as the family has been deemed unworthy of it. [[GameBetweenHeirs Unless someone solves the riddle of the epitaph on her portrait]] [[RaceAgainstTheClock before midnight on October 6th]] and becomes the family successor, Beatrice will claim everything that the family owns, including the ten tons of gold that Kinzo claims will be given to the successor. This is only the beginning of the strange and shocking events that will occur on the island during these two days. Massive MindScrew ensues.

Similar to [[VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi its predecessor]], ''Umineko no [[color:red:Na]]ku Koro Ni'' consists of several arcs with the same scenario repeating for mysterious reasons - although unlike Higurashi where each arc was more or less independant, there is a continuity and transition between the arcs here. The first four arcs are the Question Arcs, where the puzzles are presented to the reader. Instead of outright Answer Arcs, the last four arcs are the [[FanNickname Core Arcs]], which provide the reader several hints on how to solve the mysteries, but without outright giving away the answer.

Part of the ''VisualNovel/WhenTheyCry'' series, which also includes ''VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi''.

The series currently consists of a [[VisualNovel sound novel]], a manga, and an anime. The sound novel is 8 Episodes in length, along with two fandiscs, ''Umineko no [[color:red:Na]]ku Koro ni: [[color:gold:Tsubasa]]'' (''When The Seagulls [[color:red:C]]ry: [[color:gold:Wings]]'') and ''Umineko no [[color:red:Na]]ku Koro ni: [[color:aqua:Hane]]'' (''When The Seagulls Cry: [[color:aqua:Feathers]]'') containing extra short stories called TIPS that don't fit into the main story. Each Episode is adapted into a manga, with the first four Episodes completed so far and the last four (and ''Tsubasa'') still ongoing publication. In addition, the anime adaptation by StudioDEEN spans 26 episodes, but only covers the first four arcs. The American branch of NipponIchi announced the localization of the anime on 7/30/2012 with a release date scheduled for 12/2012. Currently classified as 18+ due to intense violence which unlike the Japanese version, will be completely UNCENSORED. On a side note, there is also a movement within said fan base to try to get the visual novel (PS3 version) localized as well.

The entire novel has also been ported to the PS3 for a remake, complete with voice acting, remade sprites and [=CGs=]. The first four novels were released as ''Umineko no [[color:red:Na]]ku Koro ni ~ Rondo of Witches and Reason'', and the last four novels were released as ''Umineko no [[color:red:Na]]ku Koro ni [[red:Chiru]] ~ Nocturne of Truth and Illusions''.

In addition, a PC fighting game in the vein of ''VideoGame/MeltyBlood'' has been released, entitled ''Ougon Musoukyoku'' (''The Golden Fantasia''), featuring ten of the characters from the novels. An Xbox 360 port, ''Ougon Musoukyoku X'', has also been released, featuring the ten characters, plus three more added to the roster. And an expansion to the PC version, ''Ougon Musoukyoku CROSS'', has also been released, featuring all the characters from the original and the Xbox port, plus three more characters, and three others set to be added as updates.

Summaries of each arc may be found at the ''VisualNovel/WhenTheyCry'' page. Please put character-related tropes on the [[Characters/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi Character Sheet]]. Also check out the [[NightmareFuel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi Nightmare Fuel page]] and the '''''massive''''' [[WMG/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi WMG]] page. And if it doesn't go anywhere there, it probably goes on the [[Trivia/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi Trivia Page]].

Be wary of the terms used on the ''Umineko'' pages -- "Episode/EP" (with a capital "E") refers to a StoryArc of the novel, while "episode" refers to an episode of the DEEN anime.

A fan translation patch of the games may be found [[http://witch-hunt.com/links.html here]], acknowledged by Ryukishi07 himself. The patches require an original copy of the game, which may be found on the links page of the translation site.
----
!!On the fourth twilight, gouge the tropes and kill:

* ActorAllusion - The anime's next episode previews are filled to the brim with these. We've got [[RikiyaKoyama Jack Bauer]], [[KikukoInoue a potentially millennia-old witch claiming she's 17]]...
* AdaptationDistillation - Just like its [[VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi predecessor]], the manga is generally more faithful and does a better job in some areas of capturing the mood.
** With the exception of the Alliance of the Golden Witch manga, which takes Ange's [[BigBrotherAttraction bro con]] to near insane levels. Simply put, manga Ange only keeps moaning about "Battler Onii-chan" and barely mentions her parents (not to mention freaked out when her classmates touched the hair bobbles Onii-chan gave her). While in the VN, she always put her parents first while she still loved her brother.
** It's definitely worth noting that the manga takes things UpToEleven in almost every aspect, from how pretty the costumes are to how sadistic Beatrice is, to [[CreepyChild Maria's]] [[http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b366/firegirl957/umineko%20and%20higurashi/18_20.jpg creepiness]], to the Bern-Lambda LesYay. Even how [[AmbiguouslyGay Itsuki]] Ronove is for Battler.
* AdaptationDyeJob - Beatrice's dress (in the anime) and of course the eye colors of just about every character (Battler, Jessica, George, Shannon, Lambdadelta, Virgilia, etc...)
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal - One particularly epic piece of music of Episode 4 is titled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA-qw4Q2fE0 Rengoku kyoukyousoukyoku]] (The Dark and Crazed Requiem of Purgatory). Makes it all the more memorable.
* AerithAndBob - Most notably the witches: We've got Lady Bernkastel, Lady Lambdadelta and, of course, Lady Beatrice. 
** The Ushiromiya have a lot of this too: in the same family you have names like Krauss, Maria, George, Ange and Kinz&#333;. Even Kyrie has a foreign name, even though she is from an austere traditional Japanese family. And then there is [[OddNameOut Battler]]…
* AnAesop - An original story by Aesop is discussed a lot in EP 1 and EP 3, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Wind_and_the_Sun The North Wind and the Sun]].
* AllJustADream - [[spoiler:Maria murdering Rosa]] is implied to be this.
* AllHallowsEve - Actually, it takes place on October 4 & 5, but Maria is obsessed with Halloween for the first part of the second arc, a fact that is played with very nastily during the [[CruelAndUnusualDeath first twilight]].
* AllThereInTheManual - A number of TIPS were not shown in the game itself but released as side materials; these were generally short stories. Often they were humorous and not meant to be taken seriously ("The Stakes' Valentine's Day"), but some were plot relevant ("The Witches' Tabanata isn't sweet") and some others somewhat straddled between the two ("Cornelia the new priest"). ''Tsubasa'' collects most of these short stories and presents them in a Visual Novel format.
* AltarTheSpeed - Part of Eva's plan to have George jump ahead in the succession was to rush a marriage to Hideyoshi. In spite of that, they're quite HappilyMarried.
* AlternateCharacterReading - Up the yin-yang in the anime's ending theme, "la divina tragedia". A few examples: "orgy" is read as "banquet", "demon" is read as "my beloved", and "tonight we'll sacrifice this fool" is read as "[[MemeticMutation sacrifice sheep TO GAWD!]]"
* AlternateTimeline - Several of them. A notable one is shown in [=EP7=], where [[spoiler:there are no stories of Beatrice as a witch or a ghost who haunts the mansion, Shannon and Kanon do not exist (though they are used as pieces to represent servants), Kinzo never wrote the epitaph, and Battler does not come back to Rokkenjima--not to mention the existence of a new family member, Lion Ushiromiya]].
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl - [[spoiler:George]] in [=EP4=].
* AndThenJohnWasAZombie - as of Episode 5, [[spoiler:Battler is the new Endless Sorcerer]].
* TheAnimeOfTheGame
* AnthropomorphicPersonification - Most of the magical beings can be interpreted this way.
* ArcNumber - 19
** 07151129
** [[spoiler:Quadrillion]]
* ArcWords - "Without love, it cannot be seen."
** "Come, try and remember," often followed by "What form did you have?"
** "On that day, what happened?"
* ArrangedMarriage - Kasumi was forced into this after Kyrie ran off with Rudolf, which is the reason she hates both Kyrie and Ange so much. Eva also tries to set up George with someone to get Shannon away from him. Also happened to Kinzo when he was chosen as the family head. [[spoiler: Similarly, Krauss and Natsuhi]].
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign - If the letters on the blood runes in the original visual novel are actually supposed to be Hebrew, it is really sloppy Hebrew. The manga writes out the actual letters, evidently.
** {{Lampshaded}} in ''End of the Golden Witch''
--> '''Bernkastel''' - That Hebrew sure is crappy.
** The blood pentacles (runes have nothing to do with this) actually are [[ShownTheirWork scanned straight from a copy of the ''Key of Solomon'']], and using the correct meanings to boot, so the inaccurate Hebrew is accurate occultism.
* AsTheGoodBookSays - Each of the blood runes has scrawled on it a Bible quote in Hebrew.
* AscendedMeme - One of the anime's [[OnTheNext episode preview]] gags uses Eva-Beatrice's FanNickname, "Evatrice".
* AudienceMonologue - Kumasawa does a few of these in the first arc to explain various issues among the residents of the Ushiromiya mansion.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning - [[spoiler:Hugely subverted]] in the third arc. The epitaph is solved, the title of Golden Witch is passed on in a grandiose ceremony, and the murders can stop now, right? Like the letter said, right? [[spoiler:Wait, why's Eva-Beatrice pointing her staff at Rosa like that...?]] [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} And then there was cake.]]
* TheBabyTrap - [[spoiler:Kyrie claims Asumu pulled one to steal Rudolf out from under her]].
* BackForTheFinale - [[spoiler:Nearly every character]] comes back in the 8th arc.
* BackwardsFiringGun - Battler suggests this to explain one crime.
* BadassAdorable - Groups of cute young girls ''will'' mess you up: the Stakes, the Chiester Sisters, etc.
* BadassFamily - The Ushiromiyas, hands down.
* BadassNormal - Most of the Ushiromiya family gets a BadassNormal moment or two, but special mention must go to Kyrie, who's usually the first to start firing off shotgun shells or beating demons and whatnot with chairs while everybody else is still panicking.
** [=EP4=], where practically ''everyone'' who hasn't been killed in the first twilight gets a CrowningMomentOfAwesome, [[spoiler:which are all thoroughly underscored with the revelation that everything was going according to the witches' plans.]]
* BalefulPolymorph - In [=EP3=], [[spoiler:Eva-Beatrice turns Rosa]] into one of the golden butterflies, which promptly gets blown into a spiderweb.
* BatDeduction - Solving the epitaph requires a reasoning that borders on this trope. [[spoiler:The key to the Golden Land refers to a six-character word ; "My beloved hometown" is Taiwan ; "The sweetfish river" is a railway ; "The shore that the two will tell you of" refers to a station named Kirigan (which contains twice the "mouth" radical and the character for "shore") ; in Chinese, Kirigan is Qilian (this is the "key") ; then you must understand that in the tenth twilight, "the capital of gold", written &#40644;&#37329;&#12398;&#21375;, can be written &#40644;&#37329;&#12398;&#20140; ; the &#20140; character can be read as "kei", which means "ten quadrillion" ; so the first twilight begins at one tenth of that, "one quadrillion" ; then you must remember that the word "quadrillion" is written on the chapel's pediment, and that's where you must remove the six letters of "Qilian" ("sacrifice the six chosen by the key") ; after that you just have to follow the rest.]] [[SarcasmMode Easy, isn't it?]]
* BatmanGambit - Episode 3: [[spoiler:Beatrice coming out on top from her duel with Virgilia hinged on Virgilia healing Beatrice before realizing she was fatally wounded herself. [[HeelFaceMole Of course, they were actually working together the whole time,]] so not really.]]
* BeatStillMyHeart - [=EP 3=] features [[spoiler:Eva-Beatrice trying to destroy Beatrice's, but failing miserably, with Beatrice's heart refusing to stop beating, because it would leave Kanon and Jessica at Eva-Beatrice's mercy]].
** The end of [=EP4=] features what is probably one of the most touching moments ever created by this trope. 
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor - "The Witches' Tanabata" plays with this: [[spoiler:Beatrice [[PullTheThread pulls the thread]] on Maria's simple wish, gradually getting her to imagine her ideal world in greater and greater detail. Bernkastel, meanwhile, plays this terribly, horribly straight.]]
* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame - What Battler is trying to do. All the weapons he has to defend the {{Muggle}} possibility are supplied to him by the beings he is trying to deny.
* BeggingTheQuestion - Accepting the [[color:red:red]] text as only speaking the truth requires you believe both that Beatrice is being honest and that the red text speaks only the truth when statements like [[color:red:The red text speaks only the truth!]] come up. [[spoiler:Well, at least that's the case until we see Battler attempt to use the red to say something that turns out to be untrue.]] That said, it does happen to be true: Anything said in red is at worst misleading.
** Then again, the stuff under spoilers possibly occurs [[spoiler: to punish those who say things that aren't true in red.]] Also, red truth is simple truth without evidence or definition of terms. Red truth is only misleading if you don't know the definition which is of course intentionally obscured as part of the game.
* BigDamnHeroes - Ange's entrance. Also, in [=EP6=], [[spoiler:Beatrice crashing the wedding]].
** [=EP5=] has [[spoiler:all of Beatrice's Furniture come in to counter Erika's argument that Natsuhi is the culprit. While doing so, they beat the everloving shit out of her. In order: Gaap summons a hole at Erika's feet and has it open on the ceiling. Virgilia summons her "Smothered Mate" lance to skewer her. And the Stakes of Purgatory attack her all at once, so by the end she has a giant lance and 7 small stakes going through her]].
** [=EP6=] also has [[spoiler:Kanon breaking out of the closed room Erika created to save Battler from his closed room by switching places with him]].
** Will's entrance in Episode 7 shows him coming to the rescue of an innocent maid who's being interrogated by his own agency. [[spoiler:He does it again for Lion at the end of Episode 7.]]
** [=EP8=] has multiple, surprisingly many pulled off by the [[spoiler:antagonists! (and some morally dubious members of the case) Erika saves little Ange from being eaten by goats and Lambda sets off a multi-colored words battle the likes of which have never been seen in game against Featherine]]. The main cast gets their share too fighting off hoards of goats.
* BigFancyHouse - The Ushiromiya mansion, complete with servants and a secondary guest house, in case the main mansion wasn't big enough.
* BigScrewedUpFamily - The Ushiromiya family, of course.
** The Sumadera family also qualifies. 
* BittersweetEnding - The author intentionally gave you two ways to see this - either bittersweet or as a DownerEnding. Which one really depends on whether you take the mystery or fantasy explanations for what happened. Even with the fantasy stuff, though, it's pretty difficult to say it ends any better than bittersweetly. By the end, [[spoiler:almost everyone is still dead. Those who survived (Eva and Ange) still lived pretty miserable lives, although the ending gives Ange a chance to move on. You find out that Battler also survived, albeit amnesiac, traumatized, and crippled]]. It turns out that the series is about him [[spoiler:coming to terms with his past]], so in that way, the story ends happily, but in that way only.
* BloodFromTheMouth - In episode 14 of the anime, Beatrice doesn't so much cough up blood as she ''[[NauseaFuel foams red from the mouth]]''.
** Also used during episode 26, [[spoiler:as Battler uses the Blue Truth and Beatrice gets impaled, upon which she starts vomiting blood rather profusely]].
** Quite possibly [[http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a204/Montevyas/1283700728.png this image]] as well. Looks a bit like the bottom row of teeth in someone's mouth bleeding profusely.
* BolivianArmyEnding - [[spoiler:[=EPs=] 2 and 7]].
* BookEnds - In the sound novel, the OP for EP 1 plays in the credits of the Trick Ending in EP 8.
* BreakingTheFourthWall - The first tea party has the characters musing about how surprised they were about the "fact" that the story's a fantasy, rather than a mystery.
-->'''Battler:''' "Hey, everyone, good job finishing 'Umineko no Naku Koro ni'! Man, I still didn't have a clue what was going on when the story ended!"\\
'''Jessica:''' "So just what happened? Was that basically the '[[DownerEnding bad ending]],' where time runs out before the culprit can be exposed?"\\
'''Maria:''' "Uu-. [[ItsAWonderfulFailure Definitely a bad ending]]. Uu-."\\
'''George:''' "That's right. Beatrice's letter, which Maria-chan read on the first day, did tell us in advance to solve the riddle of the epitaph. We were all so busy trying to protect ourselves and look for the culprit that we didn't even take a shot at it."\\
'''Shannon:''' "... That's right. If we had actually tried to solve the riddle, I'm sure things would have ended differently."\\

** Though this ends up being ruthlessly deconstructed when Battler becomes more and more confused and disturbed by how everyone so readily accepts the fact that it's fantasy instead of mystery, [[spoiler:and then everyone else rapidly returns to their state of death, Beatrice reveals herself for the first time, and then she whisks Battler off to Purgatorio where they start their battle of logic that frames the rest of the series]]. This also functions as a MetaTwist to those who expected a lighthearted "wrap party" with AnimatedActors at the end of every arc like in ''[[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Higurashi]]''.
* BreakTheHaughty - [[spoiler:Bernkastel/Erika's whole scheme in End of the Golden Witch leads to this against Beatrice.]]
* BreakTheCutie - [[spoiler:What Beatrice does to Shannon]]
* BrokenAesop - In Episode 6, sort of. [[spoiler:Battler, desperate that the reborn Beato is nothing the one he loved, has a conversation with "Beatrice" (well, he's just talking to himself) who says to him that the new Beato is a new person and that he should consider her as her daughter.]] That doesn't prevent him from [[spoiler:treating her very much like the old one and marrying her at the end; the chick Beato also ends up regaining the memories of the old one.]] So much for "treating her as a person of her own".
* TheButlerDidIt - Shannon and Kanon are usually suspects for many murders. [[spoiler:[[DoubleSubversion Doubly Subverted]] throughout the series as many incidents occur which completely dispel the audience's belief that either are involved, but Shannon and Kanon are later revealed to be the [[WholesomeCrossdresser same person]] and heavily involved in the murders.]]
* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth - If you see a gold butterfly, you're boned.
* TheCanKickedHim - In the first arc, [[spoiler:Hideyoshi's corpse is found in the shower with the water still running]].
* CassandraTruth - Maria keeps trying to warn everyone about Beatrice, but no one believes her.
* CastOfSnowflakes - Ry&#363;kishi's drawing skills may be limited, but he admittedly gave all the characters unique designs and faces (outside of the Seven Sisters and GenerationXerox characters).
* CastingGag - Beatrice is played by SayakaOhara, who is said to be the successor to KikukoInoue's role as go-to-YamatoNadeshiko actress--incidentally, Inoue plays Beatrice's mentor, Virgilia. (The PS3 port adds ''Inoue's'' predecessor, SumiShimamoto, but not in any way that could take the gag further, sadly, since she plays Kasumi Sumadera and not a witch.)
* CatGirl: In ''Umineko: Our Confessions'', Beatrice imagines the new demon [[ArsGoetia Flauros]] to be one, thinking that she should be portrayed as a [[BadassAdorable cute girl]].
* CatSmile - Maria, when Rosa gives her Sakutaro for her birthday.
** And about half of Dlanor's expressions.
* CatchPhrase - Battler's: "It's useless, it's all useless!"
** Both Kyrie's and Battler's: "Turn the chessboard around."
** Erika Furudo: "Simply by X, this level of reasoning is possible for Furudo Erika. What do you think, everyone?" and [[GratuitousEnglish "<Good!>"]]
** Eva-Beatrice's: "Why don't you just give up and die?!" &#8722; In Japanese "Heso kande shinjaeba~?", or "Why don't you bite your navel and die?"
** Gaap's: "But only if he's hot!"
** Maria's: "Uu- Beatrice exists."
** Ange's: [[GratuitousEnglish "See you again, have a nice day."]]
** Will's: "Don't think too hard about it. You'll get a headache."
** Clair's: "Oh, I am one yet many." &#8722; the Japanese phrase is the convoluted "Ware koso ha ware nishite, warera nari" ; roughly "I am 'I', and yet I am 'We'".
* CatsAreMean - Ayep. That's an understatement.
* CharacterShilling - Played for dark humor in the fifth and sixth chapters. The narration itself is clearly bent [[spoiler:by Bernkastel and Lambdadelta]] so that the story will constantly gush about [[spoiler:Erika Furudo]], as do the characters to a slightly lesser extent. However, she is clearly a complete bitch.
* ChekhovsGun - [[spoiler:Shannon mentioning a ChildhoodMarriagePromise between her and Battler]] in [=EP3=] is one. Beatrice mentioning the Knox's Decalogue in Episode 2 is another.
* ChekhovsGunman - Ange and Gaap are mentioned in the first novel (Ange is specifically stated to be bedridden with flu and can't join the...festivities; Maria mentions Gaap's powers as one way for Beatrice to smuggle Kinzo out of his room without breaking the closed circle). The anime's {{Image Song}}s also have Maria mention Sakutaro once near the end of her song; when the single was released, the anime was still midway into its third arc, when Sakutaro only appears in the fourth, [[spoiler:sixth and eight]].
** Willard H. Wright was first mentioned off-handedly a TIPS from Episode 5, as the head of the SSVD, "Wizard-Hunting Wright".
* ChessMotifs
* ChessWithDeath - This series extends the metaphor from Higurashi into a [[ChessMotifs motif]].
* TheChessmaster - The repeated invocation of a chess board by, oh, everyone regarding this plot. As of this writing, the only ones who seem capable of applying for the trope are the witches, although Battler seems like something of a chessmaster-in-training.
** [[spoiler:As of [=EP5=], Battler becomes the Endless Sorcerer, with approval by Lambdadelta. This means that he is now the game master, like Beatrice in the previous episodes. He has also gained the ability to use the Golden Truth.]]
* ChildhoodMarriagePromise - [=EP7=] reveals that one took place between [[spoiler:Battler and Shannon]]. [[ButterflyOfDoom It snowballed into a horrible tragedy.]]
* TheClan
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve - Beatrice's magic, as evidenced in the first tea party.
* ClicheStorm - [[invoked]] Episode 4's legendary [[spoiler:fight between Krauss and a goatman]] has the antagonists invoke NothingCanStopUsNow, {{Retirony}}, and the typical VillainBall move of 'promises are made to be broken' multiple times in quick succession, finishing it off with some GretzkyHasTheBall boxing gibberish. It's [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] the whole way through.
** That entire scene was basically a [[TakeThat ruthless parody]] of {{Nasuverse}}-style numerical "power levels". Though it was likely a fun jab, because Ryukishi07 and Nasu have a good relationship (as per Ciel's {{Expy}} in {{Higurashi}}).
*** You think too hard. Dragonball. Scouters. Sudden Power-ups and downs depending on emotional state. Heck, they reference the Dragonball tournament. Nasu ranks are set in stone for everyone, rather than fluctuating.
*** Probably a reference to both, since the power levels don't change at all, but multiple things factor in as combat multipliers.
* ClosedCircle
* ClothingDamage - Lucifer in the anime. Nice big ole straight line, right across the chest. [[{{Gainaxing}} Said chest jiggles heavily.]]
* TheCommandments - A variation of [[FairPlayWhodunnit Knox's Decalogue]] -- see the trope page for the complete list.
* CompressedAdaptation - The anime is a victim of this, but special mention goes to the fourth arc, which entirely cuts out the action sequence when [[spoiler:Kanon and Shannon's group escapes from the underground prison]] as well as [[spoiler:the whole scene where Battler wanders around the empty mansion, examining everyone's corpses (meaning that the anime doesn't even show you that Maria was killed or that Kanon's corpse can't be found)]]. This was the trade-off for what many saw as too much time given to the 1998 and metaworld sequences.
* ConspicuousCG - The butterflies in the anime.
* ContrivedCoincidence - As stated on the character sheet, Erika is a detective prodigy who just ''happens'' to shipwreck on an island with a soon-to-be murder mystery. [[spoiler:Which is less contrived if you assume that the real Erika was actually a corpse and that the InsufferableGenius GreatDetective we all LoveToHate is a character created by Bernkastel.]]
* CoolDownHug - Ange toward Battler in the fourth arc. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, its double purpose is to [[GoOutWithASmile keep him from seeing her as she's ripped apart]] for having said her name as Bernkastel's piece]].
* CosmicChessGame
* CreatorBreakdown - After Ryukishi's dear friend BT died, Umineko took on a very different tone from EP6 onwards.
* CreepyCathedral - Kinzo had a special chapel built near the mansion, where the first twilight of the second arc takes place. Happy Halloween for Maria indeed.
* CreepyChild - Maria has these moments from time to time, [[EvilLaugh kihihihihihihi!]] It was turned [[UpToEleven up to eleven]] in the anime.
* CreepyTwins - Furfur and Zepar.
* {{Crossover}} - The ''Umineko No Naku Koro Ni X'' manga is a rather comical and energetic crossover with ''Higurashi'', plopping the Ushiromiya manor within spitting distance of Hinamizawa. So, if you ever want to see Rena mowing their lawn, Rudolf hanging out with the Stakes in Angel Mort, or Battler perplexed by the whole deal, this is it.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath - The first twilight of Episode 2. The bodies of [[spoiler: Krauss, Natsuhi, Eva, Hideyoshi, Rudolph, and Kyrie]] are found locked inside the chapel [[spoiler: with bloody candies spewing out of their bellies. Their internal organs are found lying on the ground next to the bodies, apparently having been forced out by the surge of candy.]] 
* CurbStompBattle - Something like this: In Episode 5, [[spoiler:Bernkastel introduces CanonSue and new furniture to kill Beatrice, further her own plans, and royally screw with the status quo. Eventually, Battler and Beato's furniture decide that they are having none of this. [[RivalsTeamUp Epic smackdown ensues]].]]
** An even bigger one in Episode 8: [[spoiler: Lambdadelta challenges Featherine to a battle. Featherine doesn't even bother explaining HOW she wins, she just decrees it so, then promises to go back and write an impressive fight-scene later.]]
* CurtainCamouflage - Jessica in Banquet
* CutenessProximity - The Stakes. [[spoiler:Sakutaro]]. Result: [[TheGlomp glompage]] and a lot of {{Squee}}.
* CycleOfHatred - Too many to mention, to the point where there's even a character who exists as an incarnation of it.
* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy - [[spoiler:Both InUniverse and invoked. In fact, it's largely the point of the final episode, which points out that the Ushiromiya family could not have been nasty to each other all the time and that the previous episodes more or less both showed the family at their worst and that said worst is more or less only the theories of a bunch of gossipers.]]
* DarkReprise - [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAupQUUglkU goldenslaughterer]] is already a pretty dark BGM to begin with, since it plays during the more cruel deaths, but it gets a darker and more intense remix as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euezX9D3aDE the_executioner]] in [=EP7=], which plays during the fight between Will and [[spoiler:Bernkastel]].
* DarkWorld - This is what the Meta-World mechanic of ''Ougon Musoukyoku'' does, turning the localitations into a [[MagicVersusScience more fantastic and macabre]] version of itself, [[TheNightThatNeverEnds enveloped in night]].
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy - [[spoiler:Beatrice. See EasilyForgiven below.]]
** In [=EP5=], [[spoiler:Erika. She's fully aware that as a detective, people die wherever she goes.]]
* DeathByMaterialism - Kinzo doesn't seem to care about any of his children at least partly because he doesn't like them fighting over his inheritance.
* DeathIsCheap - Because of the GroundhogDayLoop, the fact that furniture apparently can be recreated without much difficulty, [[spoiler:even if their very existence has been denied,]] and the powers of any with with the Endless title to kill and resurrect someone infinitely. However, later on this is subverted: [[spoiler:everyone revives as pieces at the beginning of each new game, but in the real world, everyone is really DeaderThanDead and nothing can change it.]]
* DeathsHourglass - The clock that appears in the corner of the screen, of the spur-to-action variety.
** WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve - Twice. Usually, on the first day, there will be a time jump from around midnight to around six AM, implying that that's when the first murders occur, [[spoiler:although the fourth arc is a little different]]. By midnight of the second night, [[KillEmAll well...]]
* {{Deconstruction}} - Blatantly one of the mystery genre.
** DeconstructorFleet - If there is a trope, you can bet that Umineko will either subvert it or play it straight with the most disturbing consequences possible. It also goes out of its way to subvert many tropes that were played straight in ''[[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Higurashi]]''.
* DecoyProtagonist - Battler has the main role in the first half of the story. In Chiru, however, you could say that the main character is actually Beatrice, or even Ange. [[WordOfGod Ryukishi himself]] admits that "there are many main characters".
* DefeatByModesty - Kanon against Lucifer in the anime. He slashes a nice, clean, boob window onto her shirt.
-->'''Lucifer:''' "I've never been this ashamed--!"
** [[DontExplainTheJoke It's funny because]] Lucifer represents the [[SevenDeadlySins sin]] of {{Pride}}.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment - Rather common in the sound novels.
* DeusExMachina - [[spoiler: The gold truth. It appears rather conveniently.]]
* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything - In Ougon Musou Kyoku, you can't chose teams composed of the same character (Battler/Battler or EVA/EVA, for example). However, if you hack the game to do it, you can find out that the developers added quotes for calling the characters (every time you change the active character by doing a Normal Touch, the active character will call the other). For example, in an Erika/Erika team, Erika will say [[spoiler:"Witch of Truth!"]], her title, during a Normal Touch. Also, the characters sometimes have conversations with their partners in the Arcade mode. Guess what? Even same character teams have this. For example, if you play Arcade mode using a Lucifer/Lucifer team, during their conversation Lucifer will scold the other one for not being so effective in battle.
* DidYouActuallyBelieve - End of the 3rd arc [[spoiler:when Battler is about to lose, again. Beato pulls this off and brags about how her "tsundere" technique worked, and that Battler's a sucker for it. Later subverted when it's found out she wasn't acting at all, and really is that nice.]]
** [[spoiler:Well, Beatrice was acting when she trolled Battler to keep him on the path towards the truth, which meant when she was being nice she was acting like a troll who was acting like Beatrice.]] [[MagnificentBastard She's that kind of girl]].
* DistantFinale: Episode 8's Hidden Tea Party. Decades later, [[spoiler:Ange becomes a famous author under the alias "Yukari Kotobuki". Having become famous, she attracts the attention of Tohya Hachijo, who turns out to be two people, one of which was Battler, who lost his memories and regained them. Ange and Tohya meet, but Tohya couldn't associate himself with his identity as "Battler". In the end, Ange invites Ikuko and Tohya to the reopening of the Fukuin House to let Tohya come to terms with his past.]]
* DoingInTheWizard - A [[InvokedTrope plot point]]. If Battler can Do In The Wizard, he wins his and Beatrice's game. Beatrice would, presumably, disappear in a [[TheHitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy puff of logic.]] [[spoiler:While it's never outright stated, the second half of the series does drop a lot of hints that witches and other magical beings may not actually be real in the first place.]]
* {{Doorstopper}} - The entire novel (all eight episodes) clocks at around 6 MB as a text file. Compare WarAndPeace, which is around 3 MB.
* DoubleEntendre - The entire [[spoiler:wedding scene]] in [=EP6=], particularly when [[spoiler:Erika tries to forcibly put a too small wedding ring on Battler's finger after ''lubing the ring and his finger up with saliva'' and insists that she will shove it into "the deepest part."]]
** Or Asmodeus and Satan's...er, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlEXR90m5sA choice words when confronting Kanon.]]
*** [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale "Are you scared? How cute!" "Where do you want it? Where do you want me to pierce you?" "...piercing it feels so good," "Come on, let me have another taste. Pleasure me all you can with that warm chest of yours!"]] 
* DrinkOrder - [[SpotOfTea Tea]]. Tea tea tea tea tea tea tea. Everyone drinks tea. Especially Beato, Lambda, and Bern (They are called "tea parties," after all, right?) But Bern usually specifies that she wants umeboshi (sour, pickled plum) tea.
* DrivingQuestion - The question that drives the first half of the series is who killed everyone on the island. The question that drives the second half of the series is [[spoiler:who Beatrice is]].
* DrunkWithPower - Leading to a rampage of perversion in [[http://umineko.wikia.com/wiki/TIPS/Game_master_Battler%27s_tip this]] spoilery sidestory (which takes place after Episode 5).
** [[spoiler:Apparently Yasu's motivation for becoming Beatrice, specifically, the first taste of magic by being possessed by Gaap.]]
* DuctTapeForEverything
* DuelToTheDeath - In [=EP1=], [[spoiler:Between Natsuhi and Beatrice]]. In [=EP3=], [[spoiler:Between Rudolph and Belphegor]]. In [=EP6=], [[spoiler:One between Kanon and Shannon and another one between Beatrice/Battler and Erika]]
* [[spoiler:EnemyWithout: Bernkastel to Rika Furude. To summarize, she's representative of all the Rikas who died in June 1983. Released from Rika's subconsciousness after surviving.]]
* EpiphanicPrison - The meta-world, at least in theory.
* EvenEvilHasStandards - The third arc has Beatrice trying to impress this on [[spoiler:Eva-Beatrice]]. [[spoiler:It fails, horribly.]]
* [[spoiler:EverybodysDeadDave]] - Happens ''twice'' to [[spoiler:Ange]] in Episode 8, the first time when [[spoiler:she learns the truth that everyone except Eva died on Rokkenjima and nobody is coming back]]. The second time is a subversion as it's ''the villains'' who announce that to [[spoiler:Ange and Battler, after the destruction of the Golden Land.]] 
* EveryoneIsASuspect - Almost every single character is a suspect for one murder or another.
* EveryoneIsRelated - [[JustifiedTrope Because it takes place at a family conference.]]
* EvilPhone - Hardly ever works; the one time it does during the first arc is when it starts ringing while everyone's holed up in Kinzo's room. Natsuhi picks it up and hears...a little girl singing.
** [[spoiler: Every single time the phone rings in [=EP5=], it's for Natsuhi, and a man claiming to be her son from 19 years ago gives her strange orders and taunts her mercilessly.]]
* EvolvingCredits - The witch portrait changes each arc (default-Beatrice, then ZettaiRyouiki[=-=]Beatrice, then [[spoiler:Eva-Beatrice]]); the fourth arc simply shows all three portraits in reverse order. Starting in the third arc they also added 15 new characters to the opening and changed the positioning of four others to reflect their relationship. By the fifth arc, [[spoiler:Erika]] now has a portrait in the opening, and by the seventh, all of the previous portraits [[spoiler:plus Battler's and Wright and Lion's]] are seen.
* {{Expy}} - [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Battler_Sprite.jpg Battler]] and [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/BeatriceFormal.jpg Beatrice]] bear more than a passing resemblance to [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adell_artwork.jpg Adell]] and [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Rozalin.jpg Rozalin]] of {{Disgaea 2}}.
** [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FFr_CL_FHPk/SnHEzCNZS4I/AAAAAAAANEU/nvlVYXIc1eo/s400/umineko05-00090.jpg Bernkastel]] and [[http://static2.animepaper.net/upload/thumbs/wallpapers/Higurashi-No-Naku-Koro-Ni/%5Blarge%5D%5BAnimePaper%5Dwallpapers_Higurashi-No-Naku-Koro-Ni_jigoku-shonen(1.33)__THISRES__67684.jpg Rika]], though this is intentional, given [[spoiler:Bernkastel is all the incarnations of Rika Furude who never made it past June of 1983]].
* ExtremeDoormat - Kanon verges on this with his whole "furniture" ideology, but it's subverted-ish in the end of "Turn of the Golden Witch," [[spoiler:when he admits he's in love with Jessica]].
** Played straight with Genji, who barely shows any emotions. 
* FacelessGoons - The goat-headed butlers.
** Played in multiple episodes where it is shown that the goat heads are actually wearing "masks." [[spoiler: [=EP2=] shows Bern taking off a goat head; [=EP4=] had Goat-kun which, as mentioned above, reflects on his life; and [=EP6=] has the entire Ushiromiya family taking off goat heads during Beato and Battler's wedding]].
* FailedASpotCheck - One or two of the riddles, most notably the Kanon-in-the-closet one from EP6 seriously relies on this ([[spoiler:It's not that there's ''no body'' in the closet - it's that the body is now inhabited by Shannon or Beatrice rather than Kanon]]).
* TheFairFolk - While they're called "witches" and have all the traditional trappings, their existence, playing with reality and fiction and following seemingly nonsensical rules, has many similarities. 
* FairPlayWhodunnit - This work is somewhat [[{{Tsundere}} bipolar]] towards this trope. The very first trailer started with the words "No [[http://www.diogenes-club.com/knoxrules.htm Knox]]. No [[http://gaslight.mtroyal.ab.ca/vandine.htm Dine]]. No [[CluelessMystery Fair]]". Then it begins with a fairly normal mystery plot which flies out of the window as witches and other magical beings keep appearing. But upon rereading earlier episodes it becomes obvious that all revelations were hinted at. 
** In Episode 5 a new character is introduced [[spoiler:whose name is Ronald A. Knox backwards, who gives the possibility that the Knox rules are true in the game, scolds the reader for getting distracted from the mystery by the fantasy elements and outright states that the author wants the reader to solve it on their own]]. Beatrice herself actually states that [[spoiler:the novels follow the Knox decalogue]] as early as [=EP2=] when she and Battler are arguing over hidden doors; most people don't notice this the first time around.
** Episode 7 [[spoiler:follows Episode 5's trend and introduces an [[AnthropomorphicPersonification incarnation]] of Willard H. Wright (the real name of S.S. Van Dine), who shows up to 'bury' Beatrice and reveal her heart. The ultimate answer is that, while the story is far from a traditional Fair-Play Whodunnit, it still is solvable with use of foreshadowing and reasoning.]]
** The anime drops this entirely, in favor of best visual presentation probably. The first arc doesn't even provide enough evidence to solve it as a mystery, and later arcs are reboots in which circumstances change, previous pasts are revealed in ways that couldn't be known to most the characters, and even characters differ without demonstrating development. Also, the on-screen deaths become more and more ostentatious in the use of magic.
* FakingTheDead - Several murders are only possible by the use of this trick. It's then horribly subverted in Episode 6 [[spoiler:where everyone was faking their deaths to play a prank on Erika… after which she proceeds to ''decapitate all of them'' to make sure there are dead, thus preventing anyone to save Battler and trapping him into a logic error.]]
* FanService - The game has the Stakes, the anime has...pretty much every other female.
** The ''Alliance'' Manga has a not-so-surprising amount of it considering half of it is centered on Ange and the Seven Sisters, plus the Chiester Sisters. With Ange, the author goes out of their way to always be just an inch away from the PantyShot.
* FanTranslation - [[http://witch-hunt.com/ Witch Hunt]], which actually got an [[http://witch-hunt.com/letter.html acknowledgment from the author]] and a ShoutOut in [=EP4=]. And it is most certainly well-deserved.
* FashionableAsymmetry - The Ushiromiya crest is a one-winged eagle, so it's only to be expected.
* AFateWorseThanDeath - Thanks to Endless magic, people can be killed over and over again in new and interesting ways. This pales in comparison to [[spoiler:the closed room Battler gets trapped in]] in [=EP6=].
** In that same episode, it's shown even Lambdadelta [[spoiler:is scared by the hell of being trapped in a logic error. "Hey....are you guys...really.....real?" Asking if the people she's talking to are there, and not just delusions of a mind that went insane from being trapped in a logic error.]]
* FaustianRebellion - Battler is trying to prove that witches and magic don't exist, while at the same time arguing with them and watching the period of time played out over and over. It's a miracle he doesn't just disappear in a PuffOfLogic. Battler himself notes the irony.
* FightingAShadow - Even if Beatrice (and Battler, for that matter) die on the chessboard, since their souls actually exist in the meta-world, they're fine to play another round.
* FlatEarthAtheist[=/=]NayTheist - Battler can be interpreted as being either of these at the beginning of the story, what with all the witches running around. However, as the story progresses, Battler's arguments and reasoning change as well, as he realizes that he doesn't need to disprove witches, just that witches commited the murders and mysteries. By [=EP6=], [[spoiler:he finds out the solution of the games and switches sides, becoming the Endless Sorcerer, and allies with Beatrice]]. Let's just say it's complicated and leave it at that.
* {{Foreshadowing}} - This being a murder mystery, there's bound to be loads of them. One plot related one, having nothing to do with the mystery aspect, occurs in EP 4 [[spoiler: when Battler says that he'll put Beato's name on the Death Sheet in the place of his true love (it was part of a gamble where he either had to kill himself, his love, or his family).]] In EP 6, [[spoiler:they marry.]]
** Beatrice actually states the story is supposed to follow the Knox rules in [=EP2=], although it comes off as pretty offhand.
** The first scene of the novels [[ProlongedPrologue (the airport scene)]] has gems such as [[BlatantLies "George has absolutely none of these love stories"]] and "How is Ange-chan?"
** "This sort of thoughtfulness was just like [[AbusiveParents Rosa Oba-san]]. [[BlatantLies She wasn't the kind of person who would forget or break a promise]]."
* ForWantOfANail - [=EP7=] presents an alternate 1986: [[spoiler:Natsuhi accepts the baby that Kinzo asked her to adopt. Because of this, the epitaph does not exist, and there are no mentions of Beatrice as a witch or a ghost in the mansion.]]
* FourTemperamentEnsemble - At the very least, the aunts.
** As well as FourGirlEnsemble.
* FreudianExcuse - Rosa often uses this to rationalize her [[strike:[[MemeticMutation Mother of the Year]]]] harsh treatment towards Maria. Her's own parents and siblings showed little mercy towards her when she was growing up, so she believes holding back on Maria would be "spoiling" her.
* FromACertainPointOfView - Anything said in [[color:red: Red]] needs ''careful'' attention paid to its ExactWords.
** Even that might not always help - if the {{Fanon}} theory about [=EP6=] is true, [=EP2=]'s Red Truth that [[spoiler:Kanon died in this room!]] can ''only'' be true metaphorically.
* {{Gainaxing}} - In the anime with anyone with developed breasts.
** It also appears in the game ''Ougon Musoukyoku''. Shannon's boobs jiggle ''every time'' she performs a special attack.
* GambitPileup - Most non-magical explanations for the murders in any given arc require multiple murderers, often working at cross-purposes, and different ones for each arc.
* GambitRoulette - Episode 3, where Beatrice's strategy hinges upon [[spoiler:Eva-Beatrice]], Battler, and Eva all taking a very specific set of actions.
** Bernkastel was probably TheManBehindTheMan on this very one, adding yet another layer to the entire thing: Beatrice had to take a very specific action at the end for Bern's own plans to work out.
** If Episode 8 is to be trusted, [[spoiler:Battler pulls one off in Episode 6. His humiliating defeat at the hands of Erika, threatening to forever trap his mind in a logic error, was so that Beatrice could be revived and come to his rescue.]]
* GameBetweenHeirs: The successor to the Ushiromiya family's headship and fortune (which includes ten tons of solid gold) seemed to be locked and set in stone and then a letter from the [[MagnificentBastard resident witch]] arrived, announcing that the spoils have been made fair game to anyone who can solve the Witch's Epitaph, a long riddle which incidentally, details a ritual requiring human sacrifice. Mind games (and [[AnyoneCanDie lots and]] [[KillEmAll lots of murder]]) ensue. 
* GenderNeutralWriting - Episode 7, to the point it's {{lampshade}}d. Now imagine you are a French or German translator for this Episode. You can start to cry in despair.
* GenreBusting - Fantasy? Mystery? One with elements of the other? [[spoiler:Nope! Try "romance with fantastical mystery Jungian-psychological elements".]]
* GenreShift - Starts as a classical murder mystery but veers more and more towards fantasy as the story progresses… [[spoiler:Or so Beatrice would like to make you ''think''.]]
* GeodesicCast - With the exception of Maria's branch, most of the cousins' families work kind of like this - one mother, one father, and one child. It gets more confusing later, with the introduction of Ange [[spoiler:and Yasu.]]
* GeometricMagic - The blood runes.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar - In [=EP3=] of the sound novel, while trying to explain playing with letters and anagrams, Rudolf says "… It's like 'Sucker Merry Barrels'. What do you get when you take out the e's and r's?"
* GildedCage - Kuwadorian.
* GloveSlap - In [=EP6=], [[spoiler:Beatrice throws a white glove at Erika]], challenging her to a duel. Refusing would forever mark her a coward in the eyes of the entire magical community.
* GoMadFromTheIsolation - What happens to people who get trapped in a logic error. Specifically, [[spoiler:Lambdadelta and especially Bernkastel.]] Doesn't make up for the horrible things she's done, but you still sympathize with her, considering [[spoiler:Bernkastel's logic error wasn't even her own fault - she was only a piece in that game. Her master, the player, created the logic error, then abandoned the game, leaving a piece that knows nothing with the task of solving the error to escape. The fact that, after hundreds of years, she was able to do so is why she became the Witch of Miracles.]]
* GoKartingWithBowser - Battler and Beatrice have a dialogue (and applause contest) at [[spoiler:Eva's succession ceremony]].
* GoldFever - All four siblings to some extent, but particularly strongly with Eva. [=EP7=] shows how [[spoiler:the Japanese and Italian forces on the island wiped each other out over the massive load of gold; the siblings then repeat this in the tea party.]]
** Somewhat subverted actually: it's lampshaded in the same Episode that since the gold is of unknown origin, no one will want to change it for cash legally. Meaning this shining 10 ton mountain is practically worthless.
* GoodWitchVersusBadWitch
* GorgeousPeriodDress - Just about all of the witches in the series wear these.
* GothicPunk - The plot and style share many, many similarities in common with the Gothic novels of the 18th and 19th centuries. 
* GratuitousEnglish - There are a bunch of cases. Please don't list them here, or this will get too long.
* GratuitousFrench - The upcoming fighting game's opening is full of it, it is a translation of the witch's epitaph in French. Also, every sentence under the health bar is also displayed in bad french: for example, you can see under the message counter hit "sens inverse coup" whereas a more fitting translation would be "contre". 
* GratuitousGreek - Lambdadelta (&#923;&#916;) as well as the firing sequence of the Chiesters.
* GratuitousItalian - The opening song. Averted in the case of [[MeaningfulName Virgilia]] and [[MemeticMutation BEATORRICHEE'S]] [[DivineComedy names,]] which are often mistaken for horrible GratuitousEnglish.
* GratuitousJapanese - The Witch Hunt translation is sometimes guilty of this, notably leaving words like "nee-chan" (young girl) or "kakera" (fragment) in Japanese with no apparent reason. It's also rather inconsistent with family terms, with "jii-sama" (grandfather) being translated while "oba-san" (aunt) is left in Japanese, for example.
* GreekChorus - If the meta-world didn't turn into its own subplot, it would be a very developed one of these. However, a more straightforward example occurs in the sixth arc, with Featherine and Ange taking up this role.
* GretzkyHasTheBall- Ep 6 [[spoiler:With all the chess talk up to this point about pieces, moves, and checks, Lambdadelta all of a sudden starts using poker terminology when asking to see Battler's "cards" to fix the logic error. Battler joins in too talk about flushes and straights. It goes back to chess when Erika declares checkmate though]]
* GroundhogDayLoop - Only magical/meta-characters ([[spoiler:and "furniture"]]) are aware of this, though, and each arc is actually a different world. [[spoiler:By [=EP8=], this turns out to be subverted, since the whole series is actually RecursiveCanon. The first six arcs are just different interpretations of the events that took place on Rokkenjima ([=EP1=] and 2 are message bottles that were written by Yasu, which washed up on the shores of Japan, while [=EP3=]-6 are novels written by Toya Hachijou, formerly Battler Ushiromiya).]]
* GuideDangIt: One answer at the end of Episode 7 is actually in the TIPS of Episode 6, and most people probably missed it. [[spoiler:If you Execute Erika, you will see her fate in the real world (that she fell from the boat and went missing, with her parents thinking that she washed off on Rokkenjima). The "Rokkenjima accident" is called the "Rokkenjima ''Explosion'' Accident", while it was left vague in Episode 4.]] 
* GutPunch - During 10 long chapters, we see nothing but cousins joking, siblings talking about the economic context of Japan, two lovebirds making a marriage promise and a little girl reading a slightly unsettling letter. Time jump to the morning after… [[spoiler:[[ScareChord THEY HAVE]] [[{{Gorn}} NO FACE!!!]]]]
* HappilyMarried - Oddly enough, the most stable couple (the wife's problems come from elsewhere) is Eva and Hideyoshi. [[spoiler: And when [[MoralityChain Hideyoshi kicks it]], Eva completely SNAPS and goes madder than she already is.]] In [=EP6=], [[spoiler:Battler and Beatrice as well]].
* HarshWordImpact - Colored text can be utilized in such a way that declarations of truth, theories and things of the like behave as this trope, [[PlayedForDrama done for drama]] and gone [[UpToEleven far beyond any scale of Meta-awareness]]. Justified because the characters who are affected by this trope reside in a place [[FanNickname commonly referred to as the Meta-World]]. 
** In Episode 4, [[spoiler:Beatrice is impaled by giant blue spikes when she can´t (or won´t) deny Battler's theories.]]
** In Episode 5, we have Dlanor manifesting the power of Knox's Decalogue in red swords, culminating in [[spoiler:Dlanor denying Battler's theories and impaling him a gigantic sword. [[OurHeroIsDead What happens]] [[HesBack afterward must be]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome seen to be believed]].]]
* HauntedHouse - The Ushiromiya mansion, in theory.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor - Some of the witches enjoy going through this, notably Beatrice and arguably [[spoiler:[[WildCard Lambdadelta.]]]]
* HeirClubForMen - Eva was almost pushed out of the line of succession because when she married Hideyoshi, she should have lost her name. However, she convinced Kinzo to adopt Hideyoshi as an Ushiromiya, allowing herself to retain her position (Rosa retains hers because [[DisappearedDad no one even knows who she married]]). This is also a reason, along with George's older age, that Eva thinks he should be ahead on the succession.
* HeroicBSOD: Hilariously subverted. Ronove ''says'' that Battler was so shocked by [[spoiler: Beatrice's plan to trick him into believing in her]] that he refused to talk or eat, but then he shows up fighting with one of the Seven Sisters of Purgatory for a basket of bread rolls. Ronove was just teasing her. 
** Later played straight and brought UpToEleven when [[spoiler: Battler finds out that the woman he thought was his birth mother, really wasn't his mother at all.]] He subsequently [[spoiler: '''stops existing for half an arc.''']] 
* HeroicSacrifice - Several. For example, [[spoiler:Jessica throwing herself in front of Kanon to block one of the stakes]] in [=EP2=], [[spoiler:Ange revealing her name to snap some sense into Battler]] in [=EP4=], and [[spoiler:Kanon trading places with Battler in the closed room]] in [=EP6=].
** [[spoiler: [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Lam]][[TearJerker bda]][[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming delta]] towards the end of Episode 8.]]
* HideYourLesbians - An odd example. Even after [[spoiler:Bernkastel and Lambdadelta]] have said repeatedly and unambiguously that they love each other, the narration and the characters continue to call them [[JustFriends "friends"]]. It's a bit jarring.
* [[spoiler:HijackedByGanon]] - Taken to UpToEleven as [[spoiler:Bernkastel and Lambdadelta successfully usurped the villain's role and are aiming for the role of the ''hero'' as well too by means of invoking DecoyProtagonist]].
* [[HitMeDammit Hit Me, Dammit!]] - [[ChivalrousPervert Battler's]] reaction when Shannon almost ''does'' let her feel him up on the basis that [[ExtremeDoormat she's not supposed to refuse any request from a guest]].
--> '''Battler:''' ''Crap, I wasn't planning on this! P-please, hit me right now! At this rate, I'm seriously gonna''-'''''*thwack*'''' Guaah...oww. Thank you, Jessica.
-->'''Jessica:''' Why the hell are you ''thanking'' me?
* {{Homage}} - To ''VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi''. Many occurrences. For instance, Maria is shown watching clips from the show, and Kanon uses Rena's cleaver.
* HopeSpot - Pretty much everyone who faces off with the killer gets one.
** [[spoiler:[=EP7=]'s main story ending]] is a big one for [[spoiler:Clair and Lion]]. [[DidYouActuallyBelieve Did you really think]] [[spoiler:Bernkastel]] will give everyone a happy ending?
* HostileShowTakeover - Played for '''[[{{Deconstruction}} drama]]''' in EP 5.
** And for laughs in the preview for episode 17 of the anime where [[spoiler:Eva-Beatrice tries to rename the show to ''MagicalGirl Pretty [[FanNickname Evatrice]]'']].
* HotBlooded - Kinzo's legacy.
* HotMom - Although all the aunts are noticeably attractive, Rosa probably fits the description best. But it's subverted pretty early on, when it's revealed [[AbusiveParents what a facade it is.]]
** As standard Ryu07. All young moms have to be hot.
* AHouseDivided - Particularly strong in the first arc.
* HowDareYouDieOnMe - [[spoiler:Battler to Beatrice during the fifth tea party]].
* HowWeGotHere - The very first scene in [=EP5=] is the last scene on that world's gameboard. [[spoiler:This was the first scene for meta-Battler, as well, before the Bern and Lambda rewound the story for him.]] [=EP6=] does this as well, starting with [[spoiler:Battler's [[AFateWorseThanDeath horrific defeat]] and a closed room prison]] that is revisited multiple times before it finally makes sense.
* HumanChess - Deliberately invoked by pretty much the whole plot.
* HumanSacrifice - [[spoiler: [[RedHerring Subverted.]]]]
* ICannotSelfTerminate - [[spoiler:Beatrice begging Battler to kill her]] in [=EP4=].
* IfIWantedYouDead - How Rosa argues her innocence in [=EP2=]: She's been carrying around a loaded rifle since the first Twilight. If she wanted anyone dead, ''they would be dead.''
* IHaveYouNowMyPretty - A rare [[GenderFlip Gender Flipped]] version of this occurs in [=EP6=] when [[spoiler:Erika forces Battler into marrying her after she has effectively locked his mind inside his own closed room.]]
* IKissYourFoot - Kanon does this to Beatrice so Shannon ''might'' not be chosen as a sacrifice in episode 2.
* IdentificationByDentalRecords - At the end of [=EP1=] [[spoiler:Maria's jawbone]] is identified this way.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming - All the anime episode titles are taken from chess terminology.
** Also, all of the episodes of the visual novel are named "_____ of the Golden Witch".
* ImAHumanitarian - Characters occasionally get ripped to shreds and eaten by the goat people. [[spoiler:Rosa gets force-fed parts from her siblings ''and'' her daughter]] at the end of the second arc; CrossesTheLineTwice in the anime when [[spoiler:Maria's severed head starts talking and happily tries to shove itself down her throat]].
* ImaginaryFriend - Sakutaro is given this treatment, although he's actually a stuffed animal.
** Also, Eva has her teenaged younger self as an imaginary friend in the third Episode. [[spoiler: Too bad Eva-Beatrice is even ''more'' nuts than Eva has ever been.]]
** In [=EP5=], [[spoiler: Beato and Kinzo's phantom can be thought of as imaginary friends to Natsuhi.]]
** A recurring theme in the story is how the creation of one or more of these is used by various characters as a way of coping with psychological stress. Maria's case especially is discussed in detail by Ange in [=EP4=], and aside from Eva and [[spoiler:Natsuhi]], this is eventually revealed to be how [[spoiler:Yasu, the real Beatrice, dealt with [[AmbiguousGender his/her]] orphan's ordeal and the injuries to his/her body.]].
** In EP6 when [[spoiler: Battler as the Game Master creates a piece version of Beato that acts like old Beato due to his distress over the chick version of Beato.]] It gets even sadder when you realize that [[spoiler: he's talking to himself through her.]]
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice - [[spoiler:Beatrice]] during the [=EP4=] tea party. And [[spoiler:Battler during [=EP5=], complete with IronicEcho.]]
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes - All of the Ushiromiyas have utterly impeccable fashion sense, as do the witches and demons. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that the former are [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob all fabulously wealthy]], while the latter [[AWizardDidIt have magic]].
** This looks rather strange in some flashbacks. Victorian dresses of the Ushiromiyas next to the T-shirts of pedestrians?
** The creator can't be bothered with drawing new sprites every time someone changes an outfit. It's also shown that some characters have street clothes (George's alternate sprite has him wearing jeans and a "Tomitake Flash" t-shirt, along with a dogtag), while others seem to only have 2 outfits. Maria is seen in either pajamas or her white dress before going crazy. The anime, manga, and [=PS3=] remake all give characters casual clothes when needed, however.
** In [[http://nekketsunikki.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/report-ryukishi07-at-the-french-con-epitanime-27th-of-may/ this interview]] the author says some characters clothes are designed to challenge a female coworker and cosplayer. This is the case of Gaap.
* ImprobablyFemaleCast - The human cast is pretty balanced. In the fantasy cast however, there are exactly five male characters (Ronove, Sakutar&#333;, Will, [[AmbiguousGender either Zepar or Furfur]], [[spoiler:and BATTLER]]). Bar those five, all the witches, furniture, demons and other fantastic agents are female. Of course, this doesn't include [[spoiler:Lion/Yasu]], whose gender is unknown (if you count them in the fantasy cast).
* InadequateInheritor - Kinzo feels this way about his whole family. The "real" successor, Krauss, seems to show this as well.
* IncestIsRelative - In [=EP7=] it is implicitly revealed that [[spoiler:Shannon and Kanon are George and Jessica's ''aunt'' ([[AmbiguousGender or uncle]]) AND half-cousin. Simultaneously. Of course, Yasu doesn't find out about his/her parentage until about a year before the story begins, and George and Jessica never find out at all]].
** Also, in the end of the second arc, when [[spoiler:Maria's disembodied head tells Rosa to eat her]] Battler tells Maria to "It's ten years too early for you to tell someone to [[spoiler:eat you]]. But make sure you tell me that ten years from now, okay? It's a promise."
* IncredibleShrinkingMan - [[spoiler:Jessica]] in ''[[CrossOver Umineko no Naku Koro ni X]]''. See also BalefulPolymorph, above.
* IndecisiveMedium - The anime keeps the use of colored text so vital to the original VisualNovel, despite the fact that the dialogue in the anime is audio-based rather than text-based.
** In some instances for the final episode of the anime, the text does not appear in the form of text, though the sound effects (a slashing noise for red and a booming noise for blue) remain to imply that what they say is "colored."
* InnocentInaccurate - As Ange points out, the "happy memories" in Maria's diary are [[AbusiveParents a lot less happy]] when one reads between the lines.
* InterClassRomance - George, a member of the obscenely wealthy Ushiromiya family falls in love with Shannon, one of the servants at the main house.
* InvisibleToNormals - Witches, although who qualifies as "normal" seems to shift between arcs.
* IronicEcho - If you hear echoes in your head of Beato's and Virgilia's exchange when you start reading exchanges between Beato and Eva-Beatrice later on in that arc, you aren't the first.
** Bernkastel's spin on the ArcWords "Without love, it cannot be seen".
* {{Irony}} - In the author commentary of ''[[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Minagoroshi-hen]]'', Ryukishi07 wrote that it was fun to make theories about the mysteries, but that it was frustrating if you couldn't compare them to the one right answer given by the author at the end. Less than two years later, he started to write a series where, not only is the name of the culprit not given, literally half of the plot is left to the interpretation of the reader.
* JesusTaboo - Played straight, barely: in the anime, Beatrice makes reference to "a single man" who "appeared thanks to a star's guidance and finally explained the single element (love) that makes up the world." She then asks Shannon if she knows who the man is, but the question is rhetorical. The TIPS section for [=EP4=] mentions a magical grimoire that has "a history of over 2000 years, is currently still in circulation, and continues to acquire new alliance members even now."
** Averted in [=EP7=] when Maria tells Will about her belief that she was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, since Rosa kept telling her that she didn't have a father. To back this up, she quotes from the Book of Matthew (1:23) and states that since Jesus was born from the virgin Mary, she may have been born the same way.
* KangarooCourt - The [[spoiler:Rosa torture]] scene has more than a few elements of this, especially in the visual novel. Also played terribly straight with [[spoiler:Natsuhi's trial]] at the end of [=EP5=].
* KansasCityShuffle - Right from the first arc, Battler deconstructs exactly why the chessboard thinking he tries to use isn't going to work - because he doesn't know the rules of the game. Because he doesn't know the rules of the game, he has no idea which moves will result in which pieces being taken.
* KarmaHoudini - The third arc casts [[spoiler:Eva as one responsible for most of the deaths, and she shoots Battler when he confronts her over this]]. Then in the BadFuture we learn that the subsequent police investigation [[spoiler:cleared her completely, leaving her with the entire family fortune. She is still considered the villain by the general public, though, and spends the rest of her life in torment.]]
** According to the Tanabata side story, [[spoiler:Eva ''was'' willing to care for and love little Ange as her own daughter, but Bernkastel poisoned their relationship for her own amusement.]]
** Then the seventh and eight arcs pretty much confirm that [[spoiler:Eva is, in fact, a SilentScapegoat, hiding the truth of Rokkenjima to keep the public from desecrating it, as well as to protect Ange, who she fears would GoMadFromTheRevelation.]]
* KickTheDog - When [[spoiler:Rosa tears up Sakutaro]].
** [[spoiler:Bernkastel]] has a lot of them. In the VN, there are ''multiple troll sprites'' for this character.
* KidsAreCruel - Rosa's justification for her treatment of Maria (or the one she ''tells'' people anyway; in Maria's backstory we find out that [[spoiler:Rosa hates her a good deal for just ''being'']]). Basically, "All the children make fun of her! Don't you see?! ''Beating her will '''[[WhatAnIdiot obviously make her stop whining!"]]'''''
** [[spoiler:Bern and Lambda as well.]]
** Not to mention Ange's [[GirlPosse classmates]].
* KilledOffForReal - The following is said in [[color:gold: gold text]]:[[spoiler: "I guarantee that this corpse is Kinzo Ushiromiya's corpse!"]]
** [[spoiler: Everyone except Eva, Ange, and Battler. Eva dies later anyway, so it's technically everyone except Battler and Ange.]]
* KillEmAll - "When the seagulls cried, no one had been left alive." 
* LamarckWasRight - Being a descendent of Kinzo evidently allows you to be able to use magic. Made even more odd by Beatrice's admission that Kinzo himself was never very talented.
** Descendants of Kinzo almost universally inherit the key elements of his 'magic', pure blind determination and an idiot's understanding of chance and probability. This clan of human lemmings would be marked for mass extinction in the real world, and indeed are, in the world of Umineko.
** This goes even further. Apparently, Kinzo(and thus, Battler) are not only untalented in magic, but have a supernatural resistance to it. And yet....
* LampshadeHanging - In Episode 3 of the sound novels, Beatrice puts a massive lampshade on [[spoiler:her own {{Tsundere}} behavior in that arc, even mentioning anime and dating sims.]]
* LanguageOfTruth - [[color:red:Anything spoken in red text is true. If it isn't true, it can't be spoken in red text and may be subject to [[UnreliableNarrator Unreliable Narration]].]] ([[spoiler:And if you actually try to state an untruth in red text, you will come to ''physical harm'']].) For whatever reason, this doesn't stop people from throwing around red statements frivolously (Beatrice cackles on two separate occasions in red, and a few characters deliver death threats in red, as if there were doubt about it or something). In [=EP5=], [[spoiler:''Gold Text'' is introduced out of nowhere, which according to WordOfGod can only be used by those who"understand the rules"]].
* LargeHam: A special one goes out to Jimang, the guy who sang the show's ending theme. It's so over-the-top that it's nearly impossible to see something involving the show without "[[MemeticMutation OH DESIRE]]." See the [[Characters/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi character sheet]] for in-show examples.
** In-story, there's Beatrice, Erika and Kinzo.
* LaserBlade - Kanon's and the Stakes' swords are very elaborate versions.
* LastKiss - Not quite a kiss, but to similar effect, in the second arc when Beatrice has broken through Shannon's shield, Shannon turns to George and asks him to tell her one last time how much he loves her. [[spoiler:He starts, but is cut off]].
** Also [[spoiler:Beatrice kissing Battler before jumping from the boat with the 10kg ingot]] in the magic ending. [[TearJerker Riposa, riposa in pace…]]
* [[spoiler:LastStand]] - [=EP8=]. [[spoiler:Ange-Beatrice crashes the afterparty, summons Eva-Beatrice, who in turn summons an infinite horde of goats that begin devouring the game board, forcing the fantasy characters to fight for their lives until the Golden Land opens up.]]
* LawOfInverseFertility - Partially fed into issues between Natsuhi (unable to conceive for 12 years) and Eva (who gives birth earlier and thinks her son should be the heir).
* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn - Two scenes in EP4 in the novel open with an upbeat jazzy soundtrack, but Ange complains and has Amakusa turn it off.
* LegacyImmortality - Battler's hypothesis as to how [[ExactWords the figure known as Kinzo Ushiromiya]] could take so much hands-on action in the fourth game [[spoiler:despite dying before the start of any game]] is that [[spoiler:someone took on his name and that the rest of the family acknowledged this]].
* LegionsOfHell - Beatrice's furniture.
* LethalChef - Beatrice, if the "Beatrice's White Day" side story is any indication.
** Beatrice Castiglioni acknowledges it in ''Requiem'', saying that "only her alchemy can turn pasta into a black heap".
* LethalHarmlessPowers
* LemonyNarrator - The narration of the first tea party has an mild, very tongue-in-cheek example.
* LettingHerHairDown - Beatrice in [=EP5=].
* LibraryOfBabel - "The City of Books" in Episode 8, owned by Featherine, where most of the Episode's climax occurs.
* LightIsNotGood - The main antagonist, Beatrice, is nicknamed "The Golden Witch" and is said to appear as [[ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth a flock of golden butterflies]]. So what does she do during the first four arcs? Oh, only sadistically kill off the entire cast. [[spoiler:Later it's revealed that this is more of a case of Light Is Not Nice.]]
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters - Starts off with the Ushiromiya family, their servants, and Kinzo's physician for a total of 18 people [[ClosedCircle trapped on an island during a storm]] and goes up from there as Beatrice starts bringing in more of her associates (justifying it as the magical world gaining influence over the game). All the new witches, demons, servants, and BadFuture characters bring the count to 53 named characters, who almost all have a role at some point ([[spoiler:although the exact count is made complicated by all the [[SplitPersonality Split Personalities]]]]). To give an idea, [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Ryukishi's previous work]] had maybe a dozen relevant characters for a story of similar length.
** Lampshaded to hell and back in [[http://umineko.wikia.com/wiki/TIPS/Game_master_Battler%27s_tip this]] [[BreakingTheFourthWall Fourth-wall shattering]] TIP from [=EP6=].
* LockedRoomMystery - [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] many times and taken by some characters as evidence that murders were committed by the Golden Witch rather than by a human. Of course, the point of the game is to not buy any of it.
* LimitedWardrobe - With Kanon and Shannon exempted, most of the characters in the VN are only ever seen in one outfit, even in flashbacks, when it is also noted that these are their formal clothes that they're wearing for the family conference (although according to one [=TIP=], Krauss and his family wear formal clothing ''all the time'' at home, not just for conferences). The anime and the PS3 port largely avert this trope in the flashbacks, but they still keep them in the same outfits through multiple days, even though, logically, everyone should have known that they would be staying more than one day and packed a change of clothes.
* LogicalFallacies - When Battler accuses Eva of lying in red her response is to say [[color:red: "The red only tells the truth."]] and to accuse Battler of insulting Beato's honor. This is intentional given that "Anti-Mystery vs. Anti-Fantasy" points out that the red truth relies on you trusting Beato. Furthermore, actual evidence supporting the validity of the red truth is presented later on. 
* LonelyPianoPiece - "Fortitude" is the most common one, although "Wingless" and "Umarete Kite Kurete Arigatou" ("Thank you for being born") also deserve a mention.
** A good part of the music could be considered for this. Dai is really fond of using pianos.
* LongLostRelative - Although the moment was suitably surprising for Battler, the audience is set up to have already known "Gretel"'s true identity.
* TheLostWoods - The rest of Rokkenjima besides the main mansion is uncultivated forest, and Kinzo's favorite legend involves telling his children that the witch Beatrice lives within the woods, so it's a very dangerous place. [[spoiler:He isn't lying, since Rosa stumbles across her hidden mansion after running blindly into the forest.]]
* LotusEaterMachine - Beatrice creates her own perfect world with just her and Maria. Also, the Golden Land in the first arc functions this way.
* LoveEpiphany - [[spoiler:Kanon]] in [=EP6=].
* LoveHurts - A major theme, and according to [=EP7=] this is almost entirely the cause of [[spoiler:the Rokkenjima Incident]]. [[spoiler:Yasu]] serves as one of the page quotes for this trope. 
* LoveImbuesLife
* LoveMakesYouCrazy - Kinzo, who became obsessed with the occult as a way to revive Beatrice and happily watches over the start of a ceremony to sacrifice his children. [[spoiler:Nevermind about that second point, though, as he eventually turns out to have died over a year ago.]]
** [[spoiler:However, Kinzo really was deeply in love with Beatrice Castiglioni, and she with him. Unfortunately, she died in childbirth, with their daughter surviving, and as she grew older her uncanny resemblance to her mother led to Kinzo doing something [[ParentalIncest he'd regret for the rest of his life]].]]
** In [=EP6=], [[spoiler:Battler also demonstrates this in his desperation to revive Beatrice and his bitter disappointment when the new Beatrice has no memory or personality of the old; he eventually gets over it]].
* LoveMartyr - Maria's relationship with Rosa is treated in this way [[spoiler:[[BewareTheNiceOnes until the fourth arc]]]].
* LoveTriangle - [[spoiler:The cause of the entire tragedy.]] To elaborate, the cousin-servant couples are Jessica/Kanon, and George/Shannon. However, [[spoiler:Battler and Shannon were formerly couples (see ChildhoodMarriagePromise), and Shannon and Kanon are the same person.]]
* LyricalDissonance - The character songs for Beatrice and Maria. Beatrice's character song starts out as an upbeat rock/pop song, but the lyrics are about Beatrice wondering who she lives for and beginning to doubt if she will ever find true happiness; after the first couple verses establish this, the melody gradually becomes more fitting for the song. The case with Maria's character song is not immediately obvious because it has an upbeat tune with upbeat lyrics...until you stop to think about what the lyrics ''really'' mean, which is when this trope kicks in full force and turns the song into a TearJerker. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PzilquQlBE The comments made by vidread, XanthsAMV, and littlexscreamer explain perfectly why this is a case of Lyrical Dissonance.]]
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyhKX3TaOu8 The Stakes' image song]] definitely qualifies. The song contains a cutesy, energetic and upbeat music about how the stakes want to gouge and kill your body.
* MagicVersusScience - Magic versus logic. Anti-mystery versus anti-fantasy.
** As time goes on, things get more complicated. The game continues to go on, but considering that they're by then well-developed characters, are the witches so easy to brush off as non-existent? One could argue that the witches being real or not doesn't change whether the murders are magic or mundane--and if they ''are'' mundane, would that really cast doubt on the existence of ageless, extradimensional beings like witches?
* MamaBear - Rosa. Her last act in the second arc is [[spoiler:to mow down goat-headed butlers with a rifle and Maria at her side]].
** Also Natsuhi. Kumasawa actually says in regard to her, "They always say that the most frightening bears are those that have children." [[spoiler: It doesn't work, though.]]
* ManBehindTheMan - The third tea party has [[spoiler:Lambdadelta state that she gave Beatrice her powers in order to create a board to beat Bernkastel in]]. Later reinforced by the [[spoiler:alliance of Bernkastel and Lamdadelta against Beatrice]] in the fourth tea party.
* [[MarathonLevel Marathon Episode]] - Episode 4. Between Ange's travel in 1998, her learning of Magic while she was OffToBoardingSchool, Maria's diary and the fourth game, be ready to spend at least a good week reading it. The Ange and diary parts make up a good half of the Episode, and several of the chapters are ''very'' long - the 16th chapter has basically the length of three or four normal ones. And that's not even including the Tea Party, which covers [[spoiler:Battler investigating the crime scene and the entire final Battle.]]
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane - The point of the entire series.
* MeaningfulFuneral - [[spoiler:To Beatrice in ''Requiem''.]] Of course, [[spoiler:Bernkastel]] finds a way to ruin it...
* MeaningfulName - Several. Beatrice and Virgilia both derive their names from Dante's ''DivineComedy''. The "Stakes of Purgatory" have the names of demons corresponding to the SevenDeadlySins. The "Chiester" bunny girls are named after Winchester shotguns. Finally, Lambdadelta's name is Greek for "34", which may hold some significance for those who saw ''[[VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Higurashi]]''.
** Also, Maria's name is one that is a common translation of Mary - a reference to the woman from the New Testament who gave birth to Jesus Christ. In the fourth arc, one of the TIPS speculates that [[spoiler:Maria is one of the Creator witches, who can create something where there was previously nothing]].
** The significance of Maria's name is further explored in [=EP7=], and Maria even says that if she had been born a boy, she would have been named Emmanuel, one of the names for Jesus, meaning "God is with us" in Hebrew.
* MentalStory: Combined with [[spoiler:a ShowWithinAShowReveal]] in Episode 8 -- most of the plot is [[spoiler:Toya Hachijo attempting to recreate the events of Rokkenjima 1986 as mystery novels in order to speculate on what happened on the island]]. 
* MercyKill - [[spoiler:Ange did one to Eva]] near the end of the fourth arc. Also, [[spoiler:Beato gave one to Maria and Rosa]] in the third arc.
* MessageInABottle - The ending of "Legend of the Golden Witch."
* MindControlEyes - In [=EP6=], [[spoiler:Jessica takes on these, though they're really just an indication of how she's hardening her heart]].
* MindScrew - Ryuukishi07 is a master of this.
** Wait, what? [[spoiler:Everybody's alive again?]] What do you mean, "[[AnimatedActors wrap party]]"? So, what, everybody dying was [[PostModernism some TV show we were all watching or something]]? [[spoiler:''Beatrice!?'' What are ''you'' doing here?!...'''Wait, ''none'' of this was some weird meta gag?!''']]
*** Of course, if you played ''{{Higurashi}}'', it's a double-whammy of a Mind Screw, since ''Higurashi'' had wrap parties too. [[spoiler:It's just that those ones were non-canon. Thus, when Umineko pulls out the first tea party, the results were a subversion of their use in the previous games]].
** This goes to new levels in [=EP5=], where depending on how you look at it, there can be 3 or 4 levels of Meta-Worlds.
** Episode 6 has another massive one: [[spoiler: Ange is reading the part of ''Dawn'' to Featherine where Beato asks about information of "old" Beato, in which Featherine opens a door to bring Virgilia and Beato to look through her library. Then later, while Ange is still reading she stops and asks Beato, who was ''still in the library'', a question.]] MY BRAIN CANNOT FULLY PROCESS THIS.
* MindScrewdriver: While the end of the series still leaves some things unexplained [[spoiler:i.e [[AmbiguousGender Yasu and Lion's genders]], [[TheUnreveal what really happened during that fateful weekend on Rokkenjima]]]], ''Chiru'' drops more hints about the true nature of the series than it did in the first half.
* MissingMom - Battler's mother Asumu died, and it's stated outright that Kyrie is more of an older sister than a mom to him. In fact, Battler is distanced from Rudolf because he married Kyrie TooSoon for Battler's taste. [[spoiler:Of course, it turns out Asumu wasn't his real mother, and Battler has a HUGE HeroicBSOD when he finds out.]]
* MobileShrubbery - One of Battler's more ridiculous theories in Episode 2 involves Piece Beato [[Franchise/MetalGear sneaking into Maria's bedroom and stealing the chapel key while hiding in a cardboard box.]]
* MoodWhiplash - A pretty strong element all throughout the series.
* {{Mooks}} - All the goats, who are also {{faceless goons}}
** Subverted in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoDmGsm83no one scene]] of the [=EP4=] visual novel where [[ADayInTheLimelight one of the goats]] [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes reflects upon its life]] before triggering too many loser flags and dying at the hands of one of the heroes.
* MultigenerationalHousehold - The main house.
* MultipleEndings - There's the usual ''VisualNovel/WhenTheyCry'' stuff with the multiple endings playing into a larger ending, but the last arc itself can also end multiple ways.
* MundaneMadeAwesome - It's kinda hard to remember with all of the sound effects and shiny slashes that when characters use [[color:red:red text]], [[color:blue:blue text]], and [[color:yellow:gold text]], they're really only rebutting each other's arguments. It's like the most [[PowerGlows shiny]] debate club competition EVAR.
** Remove the color tints and special effects at the end of [=EP4=] and you get [[spoiler: Battler trying to speak but choking halfway. How Narm.]]
** Lambdadelta's power include bombarding her opponent with… candies.
** ''Dawn'' has a particularly interesting case and even lampshades it. Erika picks a fight with Maria over the fact that Maria claims Beatrice made candy appear from an empty cup. It escalates to the point where [[spoiler: Maria and Erika have a Truth battle to determine whether or not this candy trick was an act of magic.]] It's a WizardDuel meets [[spoiler:bickering over candy with a 9 year old]].
---> '''Cornelia''': [[LampshadeHanging Let it be known that this fight has no point...]]
* MythologyGag - Many references to Higurashi. 
** 34 sympathizes with Eva's "unfortunate childhood a bit".
** Maria's letter to whoever discovers the bodies at the end of [=EP1=] is nearly identical to the one Keiichi wrote in ''Higurashi''[='s=] ''Onikakushi-hen''.
** Unimpressed by his hypotheses at the end of [=EP4=], Lambdadelta suggest that Battler's next crazy theory should be that everyone on the island is infected with [[strike:Hinamizawa]] Rokkenjima Syndrome.
** Similarly in the first novel, Battler makes it clear that "he's not infected with some disease that makes him scratch his throat to death if he doesn't fondle breasts".
** The Seven Sisters' outfit looks suspiciously like [[MemeticOutfit Angel Mort's uniform]].
** Nearly 90% of the attacks in ''Ougon Musou Kyoku'' are these, in fact, the game itself is full of this.
* NestedStoryReveal - Episode 8 reveals that the entire plot is [[spoiler:Toya Hachijo's attempt to recreate what happened in Rokkenjima by writing mystery novels ("Forgeries") based on the original two message bottles that washed up on the shores of Japan]].
* NeverFoundTheBody - Anyone who survives until the end of the arc tends to die in this manner. However, even during the arcs, [[spoiler:Kanon]] seems to have these sorts of deaths a lot.
* NeverTrustATrailer - The anime's next-episode trailers are full of blatant lies and out-of-character behavior. They're hilarious. [[spoiler:Except the last one.]]
** The trailer before the release of the first game opened with the words "No Knox, No Dine, [[CluelessMystery No Fair]]". [[spoiler:Episodes 5 and 7 introduce incarnations of the Knox and Van Dine rules respectively.]]
** A [[http://www.alchemist-net.co.jp/new-project/ website]] version. Alchemist announced a Umineko project, but used different characters drawn in the Umineko portrait style. This all turned out to be a joke and the characters were for their new game [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXI6BVSOJrM Galgun]], but at the same time they announced [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zez-F8ilASs Rondo of the Witch and Reasoning]]
* NightmareFace: Really gets ramped up in the PS3 remake; they generally involve shadowy brows, [[GlasgowGrin extremely wide grins]] and bugged-out eyes. [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beatrice_grin_330.GIF Beatrice provides a comparison the PC and PS3 sprites.]]
* NoblewomansLaugh - Beatrice is prone to these, and Maria's giggling sometimes morphs into it as well. Lambda has her "O-ho-ho-ho-ho!" in the VisualNovel as well.
* NoBodyLeftBehind - The Stakes are some of the few characters NOT to leave gruesome corpses. Unless they're the ones doing the killing, but that's another matter… This also happens every time [[spoiler:Kanon]] dies.
* NotSoFastBucko - Used horribly effectively in ''Requiem''. The funeral is over, the rain stops, everyone can go, a sweet piano music plays along with the "Umineko no naku Koro ni" ending screen. [[spoiler:Then in the Tea Party, we are brutally reminded that [[CompleteMonster Bernkastel]] is the Game Master of this Episode.]] Of course, all the Tea Parties have a twist, but this one is notable for being almost an Episode of its own (it's even divided in chapters).
* NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont: Amakusa tries to pull this on [[spoiler:Ange in the Trick ending, upon which she calmly replies that the Tokarev does not have a safety and shoots him to death]]. 
* NoNameGiven: Kinz&#333;'s wife and Maria's father remain ghost characters until the very end.
* OccultDetective - The Witch Hunters in Episode 4.
* OfCorpseHesAlive - [[spoiler:Kinzo. for a YEAR; you've gotta give Natsuhi credit]].
* OfficialCouple - There are nothing but these. Not much room for {{Shipping}} in this series. George/Shannon, Jessica/Kanon, Rudolf/Kyrie, Eva/Hideyoshi, Krauss/Natsuhi, [[spoiler:Beatrice/Battler, Lambdadelta/Bernkastel.]]
* OffModel - There's a bit of a joke among the fandom that the animation is so bad because they blew the budget on the voice actors. 
* [[OminousLatinChanting Ominous Italian Chanting]] - The anime's opening.
** The openings as well. It's gotten to the point where Akiko Shikata created a new version of the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NjZZWxq4hU VN's original opening entirely in Italian.]]
* OminousPipeOrgan - Odds are, if you're magical, your theme tune hits this trope. For some examples, we have "Organ Opusculum No. 600,000,000 in C Minor" (Beatrice), "happiness of marionette" ([[spoiler:Eva-Beatrice]]), and "Dance of the Moon Rabbit" (the Chiester).
* OnOneCondition - If you find the gold before midnight of the second night, you win! If not, "The witch shall be revived. None shall survive."
** And even when someone DID find it, [[spoiler:"When the seagulls cried, there was but [[AxCrazy one survivor]]."]]
** In [=EP5=] [[spoiler:the gold was found and a murder occured anyway. Furthermore, while the game ended before everyone died, the author implied in an interview that more people die anyways.]]
** Not to mention [=EP7=]: [[spoiler:Everyone works together to find the gold... and promptly turn on each other.]]
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname - Beatrice's name is treated as a title, and indeed, when [[spoiler:Eva-Beatrice]] becomes the new Endless Witch, Beatrice claims that she is now "nameless." Battler then gives her the nickname "Beato" to use, which has been used for her more often than not since.
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou - Lambdadelta toward Bernkastel. Beato toward Battler and vice versa.
* OntologicalMystery - [[spoiler: How part of [=EP6=] is played out.]]
* OtakuOClock
* [[spoiler:OurHeroIsDead]] - Towards the end of [=EP5=]. CrowningMomentOfAwesome later ensues.
* OurHomunculiAreDifferent - Beato's explanation of 1967 Beatrice's existence is that Kinzo created a homunculus of her and trapped her soul in it. [[spoiler:In [=EP7=], it turns out that this probably isn't true.]]
* OutOfCharacter - Ronove and Beatrice in [[http://umineko.wikia.com/wiki/Forgery_no.XXX Forgery No.XXX]] (which features an AxeCrazy version of Battler). 
* PaintingTheMedium - [[color:red:Red truth]] is for an absolute truth. [[color:blue:Blue truth]] is for a magic-denying theory. [[color:gold:Gold truth]] is for those who have understood everything of the game board. And ''Twilight'' has [[color:purple:purple statements]] for important testimonies in [[spoiler:Bernkastel's mystery game.]]
** Red text has appeared in the anime as the visual gaining a red tint with the significant sentence being both said aloud and zooming around the scene in white font with butterflies circling it.
* ParentsAsPeople - A pretty sharp contrast to ''{{Higurashi}}'', where you [[TheFaceless don't even see the protagonist's parents' faces]].
* [[spoiler:ParentalIncest - Kinzo fathered a child with the daughter he had with the original Beatrice. What's worse is that since he saw Beatrice II as the reincarnation of her mother, and she could neither return nor understand these feelings, he essentially raped her.]]
* ParentWithNewParamour - Battler took very poorly to the fact that Rudolf remarried so quickly after Asumu's death.
* PastelChalkedFreezeFrame - Each member of the cast gets an introductory one in the first episode of the anime.
** The Anime's depiction of [[spoiler:the meta-world]] may qualify for this as well.
* PaterFamilicide - Essentially, Kinzo's plan is this plus spouses and grandkids. [[spoiler:Subverted, since Kinzo's dead before it all happens.]].
* PensieveFlashback - Ange with Maria's diary.
** The anime adaptation also uses this for the the meta-scenes.
* PimpedOutDress
* {{Pixellation}} - It's used a few different times in the anime, although it's removed on the [=DVDs=].
* PosthumousCharacter - Asumu [[spoiler: as well as Kinzo and Beatrice]]. On the magical side, we have Chiester 556.
* PostModernism - And ''how''. The series uses so many tropes from the [[MetafictionDemandedThisIndex Metafiction Index]] that the truth loops around itself and reality becomes unstable. Between deep discussions of what consists mysteries, implications that some of the narrative is untrustable, lampshades of [[InvokedTrope Invoked Tropes]], and the entirety of the Meta-World, the viewer is left to [[WildMassGuessing guess wildly about]] [[EpilepticTrees what is going on]].
* ThePowerOfLegacy - An ongoing theme throughout the series and is pretty much the point of the ending theme "Ricordando il Pasato" ("Remembering the Past")
* ThePowerOfLove - According to Episodes 3 and 4, magic was originally intended to bring about happiness and gained its powers through the efforts of love. [[ThePowerOfFriendship Knowing]] [[VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Ryukishi]], this was completely intentional.
* PowersThatBe - The Witches' Senate may be something of the sort. We are never really explained what it is, what kind of power it has or how its members are designated. We just know that Bern, Lambda and [[spoiler:Featherine]] are part of it and that it's a ''very'' bad idea to go against it. 
* PresentDayPast - Internet as presented in ''Umineko'' would seem plausible if we talked about 2012. In 1998, though? It wasn't big [[spoiler:to the point of having ''millions'' of people posting theories about the Rokkenjima incident.]]
* ProlongedPrologue - ''Legend of the Golden Witch'' is divided into 17 chapters. The first 9 chapters are entirely focused on presenting the characters and their relationships, with the murders starting on the 10th. 
* PsychicPowers - [[spoiler:How some believe Ange is able to "talk" with pre-Rokkenjima Maria through Maria's diary.]]
* PsychologicalThriller
* QuirkyMinibossSquad - The Stakes of Purgatory.
* ReadingsAreOffTheScale - "H-His anti-magic resistance level is at Endless Nine!"
* RealAfterAll - Possibly. After it is seemingly established that [[spoiler:witches and fantasy creatures are essentially imaginary beings (or at best exist on a different plane)]], Episode 8 shows [[spoiler:Ikuko/Featherine]] using [[LanguageOfTruth the red truth]] during a press conference ''in the real world'', and not aging the slightest bit in something like 40 years, thus implying that witches do exist after all. Like an ultimate MindScrew from the author.
* RealPlaceBackground: Like in ''{{Higurashi}}'', the original sound novels mostly use photos as backgrounds. The Ushiromiya mansion is based on [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5sRPF_ml6A the Kyu-Furukawa Gardens in Tokyo.]] 
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld - Both Bernkastel and Lambdadelta, as well as Beatrice. [[spoiler:From a mundane perspective, however, this is not actually the case with Beatrice.]]
* RecurringRiff - The major composers each have a prominent one:
** zts has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAupQUUglkU goldenslaughterer]]
** dai has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOq7ZNTPVug hope]]
** Luck Ganriki has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyzV_zgmT50&fmt=18 Organ Short #600 Million in C Minor]]
* RecursiveCanon - [[spoiler:Revealed to be the case in [=EP8=].]]
** Also parodied, in episodes 2 and 3 Maria watches an episode of VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi.
* RedEyesTakeWarning - Both the Stakes and Chiesters, as well as Lambdadelta (but only in the anime and PS3 remake).
* RedHeadedHero - Battler and Ange later on.
* RedHerring - One that can be suspected as early as Episode 2 if you pay close attention. [[spoiler: Not only are the "epitaph murders" not part of any revival ceremony, the one who supposedly begun said ceremony is long dead.]]
* RelationshipUpgrade - [[spoiler:Jessica and Kanon]] in [=EP6=].
* RetCon - An integral part of the plot. If I mention quantum post-selection paradoxes, would you understand?
** In [=EP6=] this concept is weaponized to [[spoiler:force Battler to make a Logic Error]]
* RivalsTeamUp - In VN Episode 5, [[spoiler:Battler, Ronove, Virgilia, Gaap, and the Seven Sisters of Purgatory all band together to give Erika and the Eiserne Jungefrau (particularly Dlanor) [[CurbStompBattle a serious beatdown]].]]
** In EP 6, [[spoiler:Gaap and George and Ronove and Jessica in the first twilight. Kyrie and Leviathan also]] 
** In EP 8, [[spoiler:Will and Dlanor team up to fight the goats.]]
* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship - [[spoiler:Erika and Dlanor]] in [=EP6=] most likely qualify for this.
* RoomFullOfCrazy - Kinzo's room.
* RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts - A few of the Battler's theories to solve the murders involve this trope.
* SacrificialLamb - Subverted in the same way as ''[[VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Higurashi]]'', but slightly more ironic, as those who die first do so as sacrifices to summon Beatrice.
* SadisticChoice - Episode 4. [[spoiler:In order to gain two, sacrifice one: Your life. Your loved one's life. Everyone else's lives.]] Amusingly, everyone shown indicates one of the choices, then goes on to [[TakeAThirdOption Take a Fourth Option]] anyways.
** The entire plot is a sort of variation. Battler must accept magic's existence or blame one of his close relatives. As Beatrice gleefully points out ''several'' times. He has big qualms with both.
* [[SawedOffShotgun Sawed Off Rifle]] - The WeaponOfChoice for most of the adults.
* SayMyName - All the time. (Beeeeeeeeeeaaatriiiiiiiiiiice!)
* ScareChord - A [[HellIsThatNoise rather terrifying]] one.
** Episode 4 somehow wanages to make a *pin pon* sound like a schare chord [[spoiler:when Gaap stops pretending she's in trouble.]]
* SceneryPorn - ''Ougon Musou Kyoku'' has most possibly the most detailed and beautiful battle backgrounds EVER, especially the Meta World ones.
* UsefulNotes/SchrodingersCat - A recurring motif. Used by Virgilia and Battler to explain why the fantasy scenes happen: as long as the detective can't see them, there's a possibility that it either happened, or it didn't happen. And that in a ClosedCircle, two theories (or more) have the same weight of truth until the closed circle is broken.
** Catbox is also used as a metaphor for [[spoiler: what really happened on Rokkenjima. The only one said to be able to open it is Eva, since she was present. She however chose not do so for the sake of Ange.]]
* ScienceDestroysMagic - This is the witch's defense for why they don't use magic openly: People don't believe in it anymore which undermines its effectiveness. The validity of the argument is intentionally ambiguous.
* [[spoiler:SecretUndergroundPassage - Rokkenjima used to be a military base, so now it gets used for the passage to Kuwadorian.]]
* SerialEscalation - Everything that happens in one game usually gets this treatment in the next; heck, it also happens in the middle of the games themselves, from the awesomely epic magic shows to the badass BGM to the number of characters per game to the ridiculous and outrageous theories for the murders to the amount of memes generated per game. Special mention goes to Episode 5, in which the [[HolyShitQuotient HSQ]] reaches its peak.
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong - Ange's goal in going back to 1986. [[spoiler:She isn't able to.]]
* [[spoiler: ShaggyDogStory - Though the phrase is never used, some characters discuss whether the story itself should be this in Ep8. Whether the story itself '''was''' this is a frequent bone of contention for the fandom.]]
* SlidingScaleOfTrollCruelty. Lambadelta is type 3. Beatrice is type 4. Bernkastel is type 5.
* ShamefulStrip - After [[spoiler:Battler surrenders to Beatrice]] in the second arc, he is stripped completely except for a chain around his neck that Beatrice uses as a leash.
* ShoutOut - Once again, too many to list, so please don't try here.
* SimpleScoreOfSadness - "Moon" and "Fortitude".
* SlasherSmile - Everyone who is involved with the murders of family ([[spoiler:Eva, Eva-Beatrice, Kinzo/"Goldsmith"]] come to mind) has one.
** In the manga, Dlanor "GREAT EQUALIZER IS THE DEATH" Knox gains a SlasherSmile [[http://www.mangareader.net/umineko-no-naku-koro-ni-chiru-episode-5-end-of-the-golden-witch/15/42 here.]]
* SocialServicesDoesNotExist - Averted. It ''does'' exist... [[spoiler:Rosa just doesn't care. Well, she also threw them out.]] 
** Just about everyone could have used some therapy as well, but apparently, ThereAreNoTherapists.
* SkyscraperCity: The City of Books is described as this.
* SoHappyTogether - In the first arc, George proposes to Shannon in a gazebo with all sorts of pretty music playing in the background. [[spoiler:Guess who's one of the people found dead the next morning, with the engagement ring on her finger]]?
* TheSoulless - From an anti-mystery perspective, furniture.
* SoundtrackDissonance - Episode 3. People getting killed horribly with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ksK1dudxDw this music]] in the background.
** That's nothing compared to [[spoiler:Eva-Beatrice's]] theme song: It's even called [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J5LF2Udf20 Happiness of Marionette]]. So when does this play? Whenever the villain of this arc is contemplating how she'll torture people, of course!
** Note: if, when playing Umineko, a piece of music is played containing either a pipe organ or a harpsichord (unless it is in the beginning, setting up the Rokenjima family gathering), NOTHING positive is going to happen in that scene. No matter how happy, fun, pleasant, or uplifting it my sound, some serious shit is going down. Someone is either going to: A) Die horribly, B) Have their perception of reality shattered, C) [[spoiler:Get trapped in a horrific logic error]], D) Have their argument torn to shreds, E) THINK that they are going to win, then get completely and utterly beaten, or F) All of the above! 
* SplitPersonality - [[spoiler:Eva and Eva-Beatrice]].
** Also something of a LiteralSplitPersonality and possibly an EnemyWithout.
** It's implied that [[spoiler: three other characters are really the same person]].
* SpoilerOpening - In each arc the opening animations change, most notably the portrait. The second animation set shows [[spoiler:Beatrice's Human Form]], and the third set shows [[spoiler:Eva-Beatrice, Virgilia, and the Siestas]]. The fourth one shows all three portraits, [[spoiler:another Siesta, and Maria's witch outfit.]]
** The opening of the {{PS3}} port is very bad with it. Showing quickly important scenes without context may not be bad enough, but showing characters whose very existence are a big surprise for first time players make sure a good part of the mood of the first few episodes are completely changed.
* SpoilerTitle - ''End'' and ''Requiem''.
* SpookyPainting - Beatrice's portrait.
* StarCrossedLovers
* StayInTheKitchen - While growing up, Eva was repeatedly told by her family that she fails as a woman because she didn't know how to do feminine things. The creation of [[spoiler:EVA-Beatrice]] largely stems from her resentment of this.
** Also, Krauss repeatedly shuts Natsuhi up. Unfortunately this isn't to his benefit, since she basically runs the house and has much more common sense than he does while he squanders their money on poorly thought-out business ventures.
* StrawFeminist - Arguably [[spoiler:Eva-Beatrice: the side of Eva's personality that wants her to break out of the Ushiromiya family's restrictive gender roles turns out to be, in Eva's own words, her "evil side". And then [[AxCrazy kills people]].]]
* StealthPun - Why is Leviathan's hair an odd shade of green? [[FridgeBrilliance She's green with Envy.]]
* SuccessionCrisis - There were all sorts of tensions laid about. Then Beatrice's letter shows up (effectively forcing the current heir, Krauss, to fight for his position), and all hell breaks loose.
** According to Battler's final game, [[spoiler:this is apparently subverted, since Kinzo makes an official succession ceremony and distributes the inheritance to the family.]]
** Also averted outright in [=EP7=], [[spoiler:since there is no epitaph and Kinzo already has an appointed successor, Lion Ushiromiya.]]
* SummonMagic - Just about all furniture requires this.
* [[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish Surprisingly Good Italian]] - Akiko Shikata, who composed the VN and anime's opening and the VN's final ending ; what can be more fitting for the series than a Japanese woman who can write and sing in Italian? 
* SwitchedAtBirth - [[spoiler:Battler is Kyrie's son]].
* TakeThatAudience - A rather unsubtle one in [=EP8=] towards the readers. [[spoiler:A seemingly endless bunch of goat-headed creatures making [[EpilepticTrees hilariously stupid theories]] and demanding answers from the creators.]] Some even took this quite offensive. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in-story.
--> The enjoyment comes from sorting and thinking to reach the truth, and not demanding it.
* TakeUpMySword - In [=EP5=], Battler [[spoiler:becomes the Endless Sorcerer after Beatrice is killed by Erika]]
* TakingTheBullet - In the third arc, [[spoiler:Belphegor does this to protect Eva-Beatrice]].
** In the second arc, [[spoiler:Jessica takes a Stake for Kanon. It doesn't really accomplish much, since Beato has 6 more.]]
* TalkingIsAFreeAction - Gleefully averted. In the first arc, Kanon [[spoiler:has a long rant about how he's going to kill himself and ruin Beatrice's plans, but she sics a Stake on him before he gets around to acting on it]]. There's also an awful lot of people [[KilledMidSentence dying in the middle of trying to say something important]]. The anime, on the other hand, fell a victim to this trope with a Jessica falling to the ground in a bullet time and talking at the same time.
** Played straight later in the novels, Battler's debate with Beato at the end of the fourth arc and the trial at the end of the fifth arc last a minute each.
* [[spoiler:TalkingToThemself]][=/=][[spoiler:ActingForTwo]] - It takes more than half the series for the readers to realize that these tropes are in effect whenever [[spoiler: Shannon talks to Kanon]], but in Episode 7 this fact [[FridgeBrilliance becomes obvious]]. Also, no matter how you look at it [[spoiler: Beatrice is [[ActingForTwo Acting For Many]] in both the Meta-World and the piece-world.]]
* TangledFamilyTree - And ''how''. It's revealed in [=EP7=] that [[spoiler:Kinzo had a daughter with Beatrice I, and then had ''another'' daughter/son [[ParentalIncest with that daughter]]. Said second daughter/son is in a relationship with at least two of Kinzo's grandchildren. Gender ambiguity actually being a plot point here. You do the math.]]
* TemptingFate - "Unless messing up sets off [[spoiler:a trap that blows up the island]], of course." You just ''had'' to say it, [[spoiler:Beato.]]
* TenLittleMurderVictims- The TropeNamer is even named in ''End of the Golden Witch'' and parallels are drawn.
* TheGameComeToLife - ''Jessica and the Killer Electric Fan''
* ThemeNaming - With the exception of Kinzo, the blood members of the Ushiromiya family all have Western(-ish... "[[ForeignSoundingGibberish Battler]]"?) names transliterated as kanji. A few others follow this trend as well, like Shannon the maid. All the women related to Battler also are named from Christian mythos (Kyrie Eleison = The Kyrie Prayer, Assum = Assumption into heaven, and Ange = Angel).
** Not to mention a number of magical beings are named after characters appearing in Dante's DivineComedy (Beatrice, Virgil (Virgilia), and Bernard of Clairvaux (Clair Vaux Bernand) are all Dante's guides).
* TheSummation - repeatedly subverted to leave it up to the viewer to solve the mystery.
* TheyKilledKennyAgain - Every. Single. Character.
* ThirteenIsUnlucky - A total of 13 people are killed in the epitaph's ceremony.
* TimeTravel - Ange is an interesting case. It is not clear when or where the Meta-World is, but Battler and Beatrice's fight takes place in 1986; Ange lives in 1998 and with Bernkastel's assistance reaches the Meta-World. One way of explaining this is that since [[spoiler:Episodes 1 and 2 (sans Meta-World sequences) were found as message bottles after 1986, all Ange is doing is metaphorically going back to 1986 and trying to find out what really happened. In such a case, this probably counts as a subversion]].
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Bernkastel and Lambdadelta. Probably not coincidentally, the words "miracle" and "certainty" are found ''very'' often in the same sentence, in several character's mouths.
* TitleDrop - Over and over again by Battler. "When the seagulls cry" refers to when the typhoon is over and everything's safe. It's also used at the very end to give the body count. Er… perhaps "survivor count" might be a better description.
** Several Episodes also drop their own title in the dialogue.
* TookALevelInBadass - In EP 4, [[spoiler: both Jessica and George - formerly [[DamselInDistress damsels in distress]] give Ronove and Gaap a run for their money.]]
** In EP 2, there's [[spoiler: Shannon. In the first arc she seems to be a generic shy {{Moe}} {{Meido}} archetype who becomes cannon fodder early on. Cue the second arc when she stands up to the witch who's supposedly killing everyone and basically tells her that because she gets enjoyment from seeing them squirm, she's not going to react to give her the satisfaction. Not to mention the [[BarrierWarrior barrier powers]]...]]
** Battler, who was level grinding throughout the entire series so far, and boy does it show in the later ones.
* TheTragicRose - The rose garden in front of the Ushiromiya mansion, and Maria's search for her marked rose.
* TheTreacheryOfImages - A plot point actually. Battler is nearly won over in the third arc when Beatrice starts showing him visually spectacular witch battles, but Virgilia reminds him that this is still a narrative being told by Beatrice, so he should take the visuals with a few cellars of salt. By the time the 7th arc rolls around [[spoiler:it's blatantly obvious in regards to at least 3 characters, if not more]]. Those who want to solve the mystery by then should take to heart the fact that the story is basically lying to the readers as much as it can without distorting the truth.
* {{Troll}}: The witches in general, though depending on the witch, their trolling can be somewhat amusing in a dark comedy sort of way. Special nod goes to Bernkastel, who's trolling is not only incredibly cruel, but absolutely not funny. She ain't called Trollkastel for nothing you know.
* TrollingCreator: Guess who, and we love him for it too.
* TropeOverdosed - Ain't it just.
* {{Tsundere}} - Jessica and [[spoiler:Beato towards Battler.]]
** [[spoiler:In Beato and Battler's case, this is subverted massively in Episode 3, but appears to be true in Episode 4 anyway.]].
** [[spoiler:Battler even talks about it in [=EP5=].]]
--> '''Battler''': When she comes back again, I'm going to tell her "You're such a tsundora."
* UmbrellaOfTogetherness - George and Shannon do this in the first arc when the typhoon hits.
* {{Understatement}} - Episode 22's title in the anime, "Problem Child". In regards to ''Maria''. For some context, that's the one where she [[spoiler:kills her mother over and over and over. Hard not to cheer for her though, considering that Rosa is the [[MemeticMutation BEST MOM EVER]].]]
* UnexpectedSuccessor - Kinzo, actually. The Ushiromiya family used to be very powerful, and Kinzo was a member of "a branch of the branch family." Then, an earthquake took out just about everything, and it was up to Kinzo to restore the family to its former glory.
** Not even that. The elders of the family were still alive and intended to use Kinzo as a figurehead, and he even knew that they were going to make a puppet out of him. Somewhere along the lines, he decided to take matters into his own hands, presumably with the help [[spoiler:of Beatrice I]].
* [[spoiler:TheUnreveal - The reader ''never'' learns what ''really'' happened on Rokkenjima. They are only ever given hints to reason the answer for themselves. The reason given in-game is that by never revealing the truth, Ange's hope for a miracle that everyone survived can never be denied. The truth is at least something disturbing enough to drive poor Ange to suicide.]]
** And similarly, we are never shown [[spoiler:what Ange saw in Kawabata's house in Episode 4.]]
* UnexplainedRecovery - What happens when [[spoiler:a new game begins]] after the last, in which [[spoiler:EverybodyDies. Or at least a majority of the cast.]]
* UnusualEuphemism: Referring to the servants as "furniture" ("kagu" in Japanese). [[spoiler:[=EP7=] reveals that it was coined by Yasu, and it's actually a euphemism for something worse; namely, because of his/her mutilated body which "can't love", he/she may as well not be human...in fact, he/she may as well be furniture.]]
* UpdatedRerelease - Like [[VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Higurashi]], it has a remake on a [[PlaystationThree Sony console]].
* UnreliableNarrator - A key part of the plot. It's explicitly stated that anything not in red text is liable to be false. What is in red text? [[MindScrew ...Not very much...]]
** Episode 5 [[spoiler:spells out what can and can't be taken as reliable - For episodes 1-4, only scenes that piece Battler narrates, For episode 5, only scenes that Erika narrates (which are very few)]].
* TheEndingChangesEverything - It's fair to say that at least a few arcs end this way.
** [[spoiler:So does the ending of the series. You'll never look at it the same way again.]]
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans - Battler speculates that the reason Maria is so calm about everyone dying is the promise at the tenth twilight that she'll reach the [[LotusEaterMachine Golden Land]] and everything will be restored - and her mother will be nicer to her to boot.
* VerbalTic - U~~. [[spoiler:This is later shown to be not just a random noise]].
* [[spoiler:VillainBasedFranchise]] - Subverted in that [[spoiler:Bernkastel wasn't a villain in {{Higurashi}}]].
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential - The original VNs allow you to "execute" characters to see how they died.
* ViewersAreGeniuses - In order to understand what the [[DoingInTheWizard show really is about]], you need to pay attention to a lot of small details such as where the characters get hurt ([[spoiler:in different places in the fantasy and real scenes]]), where do they die, who talked about fantasy, etc.
* WastedSong - ''Ougon Musoukyoku'' uses songs directly taken out of the game, like goldenslaughterer or haze and worldend dominator, which usually last for about at ''least'' five minutes, on a game where the average match doesn't lasts more that 3 minutes, which means you won't hear all of the song unless you deliberately pause the game.
* WeirdnessCensor - In the anime, almost no attention is drawn to Maria's [[CreepyChild cackling, odd foreknowledge, and general sociopathy]] by other characters (the biggest example is probably the MoodWhiplash above). In the manga, Battler reacts with proper dread at her mysterious statements most of the time, and while he tries to laugh it off in the visual novels, he ''does'' find it troubling.
* WellDoneDaughterGirl - Natsuhi has this to Kinzo, her father-in-law, as she loves him very much and desperately wants his approval. [[spoiler: And she wants it so bad that she is driven to psychosis after he dies, imagining his ghost is praising and reassuring her. Bernkastel later makes a point of [[FortheEvulz telling her in the red that he never thought she was good enough.]]]]
* WhamEpisode - The anime's episode 18. This is partly due to CompressedAdaptation.
* WhamLine:
** Episode 6:
--> '''Dlanor''': [[color:red:Kyrie Ushiromiya cannot save you.]]
** Another red in Episode 6 that has screwed more than one mind:
--> '''Battler:''' Sorry, Erika, but…\\
'''Beatrice:''' Even including you…\\
'''Both:''' [[spoiler:There are 17 people.]] *cue gunshot and credits rolling*
** Episode 7:
---> '''Bernkastel''': [[color:red:This game]] [[spoiler:[[LanguageOfTruth will not have a happy ending]]]].
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic - Rosa's daughter, Maria. One of the kanji in her name is essentially a cross, [[spoiler:she's known as the Witch of Origins (who, according to the visual novel, "[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything holds the motherly magical power to give birth to 1 from the sea of zero]]"),]] and is usually the first one to know exactly what's going to happen before everybody else.
* WhichMe - There are about ''twelve'' different versions and variations of the Beatrices. Eleven if [[spoiler:Shannon and Kanon are separate people]], but that's still one hell of a lot. Some of them have their own names ([[spoiler:Ange]]-Beatrice is usually known simply as [[spoiler:"Ange"]], unless some distinction between 1998 and meta-1986 needs to be made), some have last names that are applicable (Beatrice Castiglioni), and some of them simply have fan-created names, because otherwise, you wouldn't be able to figure out who someone was referring to (Moetrice, suit![or sometimes, piece!]Beatrice, Beatroll, etc.).
* WhiteMagic - According to Virgilia, this was initially the purpose of Endless Magic. However, the magic itself can be used for either this or BlackMagic depending upon the intentions of the user.
* WhodunnitToMe - [[color:red:"Battler Ushiromiya, at this time, I will kill you. And right now, there is no one on the island other than you. The only one alive on this island is you. Nothing outside the island can interfere in any way. And of course, I am not you. However, I am here now and will kill you."]]
* WhoWantsToLiveForever - Most of the witches have been driven near-mad with sheer boredom after centuries or even millennia. Bernkastel repeatedly refers to boredom as "the witches' sickness".
* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent - Rosa toward Maria.
* WifeHusbandry - [[spoiler:Kinzo to Beatrice Ushiromiya/Beatrice II. [[ParentalIncest Yes, the one he fathered]].]]
* {{Wimpification}} - Good lord, Battler gets this a lot in both fandoms on either side of the ocean.
** Lion, despite being [[AmbiguousGender gender-ambiguous]], is often reduced to being a DamselInDistress by the Japanese fandom.
* WitchSpecies - The fourth arc's TIPS describes three different types described in ascending power: Witches, who can possess immense power in one world that is considered to be its dominion; Voyagers, who can travel freely in between the different fragments; and Creators, who can "create a one in a world of nothingness."
** TheFairFolk - The concept of witches used here actually has more in common with a lot of the older stereotypes of fairies than witches.
* WorldOfBuxom - Virtually every female over the (apparent) age of 13 is noticeably… "blessed". Especially true of the Ushiromiya clan.
** Boobs in this series come in two sizes; almost non-existent (Lambdadelta, Maria) and DD (every other female). Bernkastel is either totally flat or mildly busty depending on the author.
* WorldOfHam - Virtually every single argument in the series, even the most mundane ones, is undeniable HamToHamCombat. Then the colored texts and magic weapons come into play, and [[ChewingTheScenery the scenery is]] '''''[[ChewingTheScenery literally]]''''' [[ChewingTheScenery torn to pieces]].
* WorthyOpponent - Battler and Beatrice refer to each other as this constantly.
* WrestlerInAllOfUs - In the fighting game, Ange with her DABURU JAAMAN
* WrongGenreSavvy - Battler doesn't believe in the supernatural and tries to find mundane explanations for everything bizarre happening on the island. Oddly enough, Beatrice seems amused by his denial and traps him in a time loop, challenging him to find a mundane explanation each time. [[MindScrew Or something]]. [[spoiler:He eventually realizes by [=EP5=] that he must change his priorities, and becomes one of ''the'' most appropriately GenreSavvy characters in the series]].
** Also, it may be [[spoiler:Erika and Dlanor case]] in [=EP5=]. [[spoiler:They use the "fact" that they are in a mystery to use Knox's Decalogue as basis of most of their deductions. However, it was never stated that the Decalogue is really ''valid'' (Dlanor even acknowledges this).]] 
* YellowBrickRoad - ''Jessica and the Killer Electric Fan''
* YouAreWorthHell - [[spoiler:The fantasy ending of the series has Battler declare this for Beatrice]].
* YouBastard - In the Tanabata side story, [[spoiler:Bern addresses the reader several times during her section, repeatedly asking, implying, and outright stating that they prefer seeing the sort of twisted 'wish-granting' she indulges in.]] Looking back, considering how Higurashi's ending was midldy appreciated because it was "too happy" for the series, she may not be totally wrong.
* YouCantFightFate - Ange helps even knowing that going back in time to help Battler won't fix her own timeline: just the one that Battler will now go to which makes her a FutureBadass. [[spoiler:In the end she can't fix Battler's timeline either, but it still turns out that aside from Eva he was the only one to make it off of Rokkenjima alive.]]
* YourMindMakesItReal - Pretty strongly implied in every arc after the first as a sort of extension of the LiteraryAgentHypothesis with a touch of TheTreacheryOfImages tossed in for good measure. Did you notice that this is labelled "MindScrew"?
* ZettaiRyouiki - Beatrice in her suit and Ange in particular.
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'''When the seagulls cry, none are left alive.'''
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