Umineko VN: Secondary Perspective

Due to requests on the Umineko thread, I'll be starting up a liveblog on the Umineko No Naku Koro Ni Visual Novel. I'm sort of slightly cheating because I've gone through the very beginning of the VN already, (As well as the first 10 or so episodes of the anime) since I didn't think I would be liveblogging this, but meh. Also, this is my first liveblog so I apologize if it's a boring read.

I have seen the first ten episodes of the anime or so, which kind of ruins it slightly, but once I've heard that it's pretty bad Adaptation Decay. Also, I'm a huge fan of Higurashi, (<3 Rena) so I'll be familiar with the general premise.

I'll update as often as I can, though my other activities get in the way of a lot of time. I'll probably manage to fit in three or four updates a week, though since I've never done this before, that prediction will probably be wayyyyy off the mark.

Anywhooo, let's get started.

Welcome to Hinamizawa Rokensomething.

edited 18th Jul '10 9:25:39 AM by neobowman

Courtesy link: Umineko No Naku Koro Ni

the future we had hoped for

Beginning

So title screen. Creepy mansion + seagulls. Sounds inviting enough. I prefer the creepy village + cicadas though. Oh well, I'm not here to make comparisons between the two so I should hurry up and start the story.

OH MY GOD THE ART! Well, that's what struck me first anyway. Portrait of Beatrice. Shouldn't know this but I do. looks fine, but the character models... Yeah... Well, I guess anything would look bad since I just started reading this after finishing through Ef and its beautiful everything.

Ok, Old man in fancy clothes and a doctor talking about stuff, and a servant at the side. I'm not too good with names until I'm familiar with the series so I'll just refer to them as old man, doc, and servo.

Doc's telling old man to stop drinking so much but old man refuses, even though he claims to be an old friend of doc. Doc makes a reference to the chessboard as to how much longer old man has to live.

Doc explains to him about writing a will and then the old man goes crazy about not handing down anything to his children. Oh, some talk about the contract with a witch? Old man seems seriously unstable. Then again, this is When They Cry we're talking about. Wanting to see Beatrice smile again, eh? Servo just stands at the side through the whole thing on the side.

Nice opening credits. If you can excuse the god awful art.

October 4th, 1986

So its three years after Higurashi takes place. Interesting.

Ok, so it looks like Battler's the main character. Surprisingly, I actually see him on screen unlike most VNs. Beside him is George, his older... brother? Nope, Cousin. Ok, we have a big intro sequence that introduces the characters. I'll skip over that for a bit and replace with character info we get in the scene. Guess I'll have to try and learn the names. Something I could never do while watching the anime.

• Cousins:
  • Battler

Main character so far, though after Higurashi, I would not be surprised if he was a Decoy Protagonist. Seems like a fun guy. A lot like Keiichi in terms of personality, except rather tall and 18 years old. Makes jokes and is playful in general. Has a hilarious fear of vehicles. Is seeing everyone in the family for the first time in 6 years.

• George
  • Classic example of a model older brother type character. Eva and Hideyoshi's kid. Already 23 and working in his dad's business.
• Maria
  • Nine years old and can't even string together a sentance? And she already has discernable assets? Strange as hell. Rosa's daughter.

• Parents of direct Ushiromiya descent:
  • Eva
    • (Stare)... Er, wasn't looking at anything... Anyway, nice dress, and seems to mesh with her husband, Hideyoshi in personality. Apparantly, she's good at martial arts. Is playful and likes to tease her brother and the kids. She's the older sister of Rudolf.
  • Rudolf
    • Oh man, Battler's dad looks weird, but it's probably just the art. Either way, Battler doesn't seem to have trouble getting along with him, but looks like he doesn't respect him at all either. Older than Rosa but younger than Eva.
  • Rosa
    • Don't have much of an opinion on her from the VN, but from what I've seen in the anime, I despise her. No matter how annoying your kid is, that's no reason to... yeah...

• Parents not of direct Ushiromiya descent:
  • Hideyoshi
    • Looks fun. I'd like to have him as my uncle. Husband of Eva. His personality is much like his wife's, but he seems to genuinely care for the kids a lot.
  • Kyrie
    • (Stare)... Uhh, anyway, after his real mom died 6 years previous, Rudolf married her. Kyrie is Battler's stepmom, and the two get along well but Battler doesn't consider her as a mother figure, and vice-versa. More of a close neighbour relationship, is how he describes it.

All the characters get along pretty well and there's no signs of anyone disliking anyone else in particular. The group take a small plane to Rokkenjima's island chain. Battler is of course, teriffied of the shaking. We are introduced to more characters once they land and go to the boat to Rokkenjima itself.

• Jessica

  • Another cousin, she's the same age as Battler and has the same kind of personality as him. Is boyish and active, and I'm guessing she's slightly perverted as well.

• Kumasawa
  • An old lady who is a servant for the Ushiromiyas while pushing her 80s. Wow. I hope I'm that fun when I'm 80.

After another "fun" trip for Battler on the boat, the group gets to the island. Well, actually before that, they spot a Torii or something on the island cliff that was there the previous year (or so the characters say) and is gone. Mentioning this fact in case it's a Chekhov's Gun. A storm is coming towards the island too, (Remote island syndrome?)and Maria starts with the creepy talk, spouting words like Misfortune, over and over.

Once the group lands, they meet Gohda, a nice looking servant. Also, after getting to the garden, they meet Kanon.

• Gohda
  • A pretty stale looking servant. Guess that's what his job is though. To be a servant without personality.
• Kanon
  • Quiet guy, looks a bit clumsy. Furniture boy. he's 16 so he's young compared to most of the cast. Doesn't seem incompetent though.

The group is in awe of the garden and stroll around to observe it for a while. Maria finds a withering rose and George ties a candy wrapper around it so she can take care of it during her stay on the island. Meanwhile, Kanon accidently spills the contents of a wheelbarrow, much to the embarassment of Gohda, who orders him to pick it up rather harshly. Battler also helps out, despite Kanon's protests.

They get to the guest house where they're staying for the night. The adults decide to go to the main house to announce their arrival, while the kids choose to stay for a bit. The younger generation just talk around for a bit before the scene changes to a much darker mood where the adults are...

That's all for now. Dunno how my writing style is so sorry if it's hard to read. Also, I might've skipped over too many details seeing as its When They Cry, where I should notice every tiny thing. On the other hand, I might just be being too slow by trying to capture everything.

So far, I have no clue on who could be the instigator of the things that might happen. This could be me just being terrible at mysteries in general, but the family seems to get along fine. Of course, I'm pretty sure the next scene will unravel most of that.

edited 23rd Jul '10 1:32:06 AM by neobowman

I quite like it so far : I shall be using this to rethink about the first few stories in light of recent reveals. (Without spoiling anything here, of course.)

Let's just say that among the 18 characters in the process of being introduced here, there's only one I can think of without any hidden secret or motive. Hidden Depths will be plentiful...

The Island

So, I decided to stop playing my favourite game for a while and start going through Umineko again.

The kids are all playing in the guest house and the adults go to the main house to announce their arrival. Now the adults are talking about various things inside while waiting for tea, and a new character is introduced.

• Natsuhi
  • Mother of Jessica. Can't discern any big personality traits yet but it looks like she and Eva have some bad blood between the two. Also, she seems like someone who gets irritated easily.

So as they're talking, Shannon, another servant comes in and delivers tea. Natsuhi gets angry with her with the speed of how everything's done. The adults converse about Shannon's behaviour and though she is obviously quite uncomfortable about it, the family continues. Kyrie seems nice enough to her though.

• Shannon
  • Another servant of the family, she seems quite clumsy and doesn't look too self-confident. I believe she may hold a grudge against some family members.

Kanon talks to Shannon, who is apparantly his older sister. He comforts her and says.

"Madam and Eva-sama can go to hell....... But the even worse coward is that guy."

Gohda apparantly had made the mistake that led to the delaying of the tea, and so, let Shannon deliver it instead to save face. Shannon thanks Kanon for his words and then Genji comes in.

• Genji
  • Head Servant. I like his hair. He seems like a pretty nice guy, unlike Gohda, who, after the previous conversation, sounds like a Jerkass

Kanon tries to tell Genji of what happens, but Shannon stops him and the two leave. Kumasawa, the old woman comes in and talks to Genji about the other three servants and some others. Some backstory is given. Shannon and Kanon are disliked by Gohda, who has worked for the family less, but worked a high-class hotel before, and has a lot of pride. Natsuhi also dislikes the two and apparantly has an inferiority complex beacuse of something her husband did.

The scene switches back to the kids, where they're explaining their own backstory for the past 6 years to the others. Also, Battler and Maria promise that once Maria's assets are fully developed, Battler can rub them. Epic win. Shannon comes in to call the group for meal time and then Battler, like the man he is, goes to touch them and Shannon does not resist.... Wait, what?

Jessica slams him down in time and Battler goes on a rant about how Shannon should protect her assets more. Ok, enough talk about that stuff. The group goes to eat and meet Genji, who apparantly was the grandfather's most trusted person, even within the family.

BANG, big portrait of Beatr- Er, shouldn't know that it's her yet. BIG PORTRAIT OF SOMEONE! It was hung the April of two years ago (I have a feeling it's going to be important) and Maria tells Battler that it's a portrait of Beatrice. Then Battler goes off on an internal speech about how the island is Beatrice's, and not the Ushirosomething's.

The kids arrive to the lunch table, and the family's sitting by their rankings, which are not as logical as one might first think.

• 1. Old man (Hasn't arrived yet)
• 2. Krauss (Hasn't arrived yet)
• 3. Eva
• 4. Rudolf
• 5. Rosa
• 6. Jessica
• 7. George
• 8. Battler
• 9. Maria
• 10. Natsuhi
• 11. Hideyoshi
• 12. Kyrie
• 13. Rosa's husband (Not present at island)

Apparantly, the spouses in the family are regarded as lower than the direct descendants, so for example, George is above his father, Hideyoshi, since Hideysohi is not directly of the Ushirosomething line.

As the group wait for gramps to show up so they can start (No starting without gramps), Gramps himself is still up in his study, while Krauss knocks on his door. Gramps gets angry and starts going crazy while calling for Genji. Krauss and doctor leave to eat, while Genji accompanies Gramps. He gives him some wine fo some sort. Liquor of some kind, and gramps converses with Genji before going crazy about his family's apparant lack of prowess. He screams for Beatrice continually. What an annoying old geezer.

Krauss shows up to the lunch and begins the meal, saying grmaps won't show up. Then the freaking clock starts turning again. That's creepy.

The plot still hasn't progressed much but the introductions of the characters is almost done, and plenty of backstory's been provided. Story seems to be picking up. I expect the action to start soon.

As for who I suspect, well, Gramps is going kind of crazy so he's probably involved in some way. Krauss looks very suspicious. Very. Natsuhi might have done something because of her complex, and Eva kind of seems iffy as well.

edited 23rd Jul '10 1:33:38 AM by neobowman

As Shannon herself says in the scene with cousins, not really. They're just very close and behave as such.

The mystery of Maria's father is the big elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about. He's clearly "not around", but no details are provided for now. It's not even clear whether Rosa's actually married.

The 13th place on the table is set for Dr Nanjo, who as a guest obviously takes the lowest place.

I've always found it amazing how the Umineko Visual Novels manage to provide so much atmosphere with so little. The clock is a perfect example of this : it's a very simple graphic, but dear gods it's very creepy indeed.

I was going to edit a part about Kanon and Shannon's relationship but forgot to mention it. They would be a good siblings imo.

I assume stuff about Maria's old man will be explained later, right? Wait, shouldn't be asking. Potential spoiler. Don't answer that.

Oh, god, I know what parts are done with an Unreliable Narrator and which ones aren't and this (all of it) is just comedy gold.

The art could be worse.◊ Much worse.◊

Dead

Ok, I'm back. Took a bit of a break because of a realase of a certain sequel to a game I love.

Ok, now lunch is taking place in the Umineko world, and Battler explains a bit about the family conference and how they occasionally got violent when not everyone in the family was successful. We're also introduced to

• Krauss
  • Certainly looks like a Magnificent Bastard. Apparantly was on bad terms with the rest of the family the last time Battler saw him 6 years ago.
• Nanjo
  • Looks like an ordinary doctor to me. Used to own a large clinic but retired and handed over control to his son.
• Kinzo
  • Big daddy. Short temper is what Battler describes him as, and that's what I saw him as. To get into his history, I have to get into the family's history.

The Ushirosomething family was prosperous and wealthy as they owned spinning mills until the late 1800s and early 1900s. Then, the family lost most of its members and its funds in the Great Kanto Earthquake. Kinzo, who was originally part of a branch family, took up the rest of the funds and then through a series of miracles, made the family wealthy again, after which he began looking into black magic. Also, this entire backstory explanation scene had ominous music playing throughout while I was eating my lasagna.

Battler is done with eating but when he sees dessert, he gets hungry again. How do people eat so much anyway? Old lady servant comes and chats with the family a bit. Gohda also explains the dessert. I would normally be drooling but I just finished my lasagna and am completely full so I am spared of that. When Shannon and old lady leave, she expresses her thanks to the old lady for saving her back there. Apparantly, the dessert was not exactly as Gohda had described it as. Or something else was wrong with it, and Shannon could not avoid the question so old lady helped her out with it.

The kids go out to play on the beach and the adults meet for tea in the parlour. And of course, the nice music stops and we're treated to the ticking of a clock. Nice subtle element. The adults start engaging in an "intellectual" discussion, talking about how Kinzo's dying. Oh, and music changes throughout the scene, or rather, the music has different parts to it. Oh man, that's great at upping the tension.

Ahem- getting back to the discussion. Natushi seems to be the only one bothered by the topic of conversation, and is continually overtaken by the other members. All the non-direct descendants are on the side and the main family members are the ones talking the most. Exept for Natsuhi anyway, who continually bursts into the conversation with a bit of anger.

The topic of discussion is Krauss's failure to do some things, as he created a hotel on the island (the guesthouse) 2 years earlier, intending to turn the entire island into a resort, but has not opened it yet. And Natsuhi continues to lose her cool as the other family members talk about her husband, Krauss. The talk eventually comes to the fact that the other family members suspect Krauss of using the family head's private funds to making the resort. Natsuhi once again gets angry and this time, Eva hits her and of course, she gets angry too. Natsuhi leaves the room in tears when her husband does not come to her aid.

Eva had been allowed to keep her family name because Natsuhi had not bore a child even after a long time of being married to Krauss. Eva claimed that she could bear a child earlier, and did so, thus she was ranked higher than Natsuhi and could act more arrogantly.

And of course, the screen shatters again and the clock appears.

The family's starting to reveal its true colours (not a misspelling), and I just know that there's going to be some detail that I miss that becomes important later on.

Natsuhi looks like she would want to take revenge upon the family in some way or another. I mean, after everything she goes through. Top suspect in my eyes.

There's a reason it's called a "sound" novel : the music is an integral part of building the atmosphere.

By the time they break out the Ominous Whatever Chanting (with a techno beat !), you know the shit's gonna hit the fan.

Well, you have to admit her whining wasn't helping his case. It's cold, but he needed her out of the room.

... Or maybe it's all an act, and a good excuse for her to wander off and do... whatever she needs to do.

I'm in kind of a depression seeing as how some of my friends are so much better than me in SC 2 T_T. Back to Umineko.

The kids are going to the beach on the island, and they pass by the Beatrice portrait again. This time, Battler sees the inscription below it, which apparantly leads to the location of the hidden gold.

Battler explains. Old man claimed that he got his original sum of money by experimenting with alchemy and the like and summoning BEATRICE!!!!!! Who traded his soul for 10 tons of gold. Eventually, this degenerates into a discussino of how much that would be, which turns out to be around 20 billion yen. Or around 200 million dollars.

Obviously, since witches don't exist, the kids can automatically assume that someone who gave gramps the money was just far too trusting, and therefore called a witch. Right?

Yeah sure.

Little kid starts screaming about how witches exist and everyone else has to play along to get her to calm down. Then Shannon comes along. WITH COOKIES! God, I want cookies. Why can't I have cookes? (smashes screen trying to get cookies). Erm, anyway, the group deicde to have an impromptu picnic.

And then, back to the adults' meeting... I want my cookies T_T.

The group agree that no one believes in the witch, but that they have confirmed that there is a big sum of money somewhere. The only person who doesn't belive so is Krauss, who says that old man fooled everyone into loaning him money somehow.

The group then agrees that Krauss either found the hidden gold, or is embezzling (love that word) old man's money. Krauss denis both, saying he has business contacts. Eva and Rudolf respond with the threat of investigation of old man's funds once he's dead and the fortune is being split up. Thus, they give Krauss a deal.

He can take over investigating old man's money once he's dead, which means he would be able to hide the fact that he was embezzling money if he was, in fact, doing so. Also, he would be able to distribute the money to the other siblings the way he wanted. The conditions:

• 1. He has to admit to finding big papa's gold
• 2. Take each sibling's portion of the gold and pay them it.
• 3. The successor to the Ushiromiya main family will get 50%. The rest will be split between siblings.

That would mean 12.5 billion would go to Krauss, 2.5 to Eva, Rosa and Rudolf.

• 4. Divided gold will be included when the inheritance is distributed at the time of big papa's death. However, as a deposit, 10% of our portions will be paid to us promptly. The payment must be made before March of next year.
• 5. This decision must take precedence over Father's will.

Wait, seventh condition? Uhhh, ok.

• 7. In the situation that any sibling other than myself finds the gold, they will immediately turn it over to me.

The siblings had always been OPRESSED by Krauss, so now by banding together, were fighting back, with the deal as a threat. Still kind of confusing for me, but I'll move on. But apparantly, Krauss had something in store for them. He accepts the deal. And everyone else in the room become uneasy. They take out a contract, and Krauss claims that there should be a single amendment. Remove the part where he would pay 10% in advance, and he'd sign the contract.

The other siblings disagree, and Krauss begins his phase of the attack. He claims that some bad shareholders have bought into Hideyoshi's company. They were buying out more stocks so that they could take over the company. Whoever had more money could buy more stocks and win. Thus, and I'll quote here.

"THEREFORE, MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, HE WANTED A LOT OF MONEY RIGHT NOW...!"

Yes, the capitals were there.

He then turns to Rudolf, saying that he was about to go into court with an American company and was trying to negotiate a surrender.

"THEREFORE, MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, HE WANTED A LOT OF MONEY RIGHT NOW...!"

Yep, capitals again. Krauss turns to Rosa, and for some reason, for the first time I've seen in the VN, she starts yelling. Apparantly, the all wanted a lot of money at that moment, and now, Krauss controlled the deal. He could provide them sponsers for a high interest rate. He had effectively cornered the rest.

And we go back to Kinzo. Kanon is telling him what his kids were talking about, and he says that if they can find the gold before the miracle is fulfilled, then he would be epic pwnzordz. Thus, whoever figures out the riddle, pwnz all. And the more people who try and fail, the greater his magic will become. And thus, Kanon leaves, and the door locks automatically behind him.

Genji, head servant, and doctor talk about how Kinzo is actually quite deep when thinking, and could actually want the siblings working together to find the gold. Then it completely destroys that possibility by claiming that Nanjo and genji both realized that that was impossible. [[colour:white: OR IS IT?]]

And we come to the riddle.

"My beloved hometown, the sweetfish river running through it. You who seek the Golden Land, follow its path downstream and seek the key.

If you follow the river downstream, you will find a village. In the village, look for the shore the two will tell you of. There sleeps the key to the Golden Land.

He who lays hand upon the key shall travel under the rules below.

At first twilight, you shall lift up as sacrifice the six chosen by the key. At the second twilight, those who remain shall tear apart the two who are close. At the third twilight, those who remain shall praisemy honorable name on high. At the fourth twilight, gouge the head and kill. At the fifth twilight, gouge the chest and kill. At the sixth twilight, gouge the stomach and kill. At the seventh twilight, gouge the knee and kill. At the eigth twilight, gouge the leg and kill. At the ninth twilight, the witch shall be revived and none shall be left alive. At the tenth twilight, the journey shall end and you should reach the village of gold.

The witch will praise the wise and should bestow four treasures.

One shall be, all the gold from the Golden Land. One shall be, the resurrection of the souls of all the dead. One shall be, the resurrection of the lost love. One shall be, to put the witch to sleep for all time.

Sleep peacefully, my most beloved witch, Beatrice."

And the clock again.

I'm going to spend the night trying to figure out the puzzle. I already kind of know how the first arc goes through, but forgot the details. I'll post my findings next time. For now, Krauss is one Magnificent Bastard.

... Apparantly, I can't think of anything even after that long. Well, the counting obviously refers to the deaths that will occur but other than that, can't figure it out.

Thankfully, Shannon, Maria, Jessica, Battler and George, who are heading down to the beach, do some of the analysis for me. They narrow down the most likely location of the key to a certain town/village thingy. Though it's big so looking for a key is obviously impossible.

After they arrive, they continue the discission, talking about the sacrifices, and how everything would be made proper at the end. Also, it eventually ends up with Maria getting angry at the teens not believing in Beatrice again.

Shannon tells the group a ghost story.

There were once two masters of the mansion. One of day and one of night. When the servants did their final rounds for the day, numerous doors and windows were open when they should have been closed, etc, etc. The servants would blame it on the witch.

Eventually, the conversation leads to Maria giving Battler and Jessica a scorpion emerald charm againat magic. Chekhov's Gun I'm betting. A storm looks to be coming, so Shannon returns to do her work, and the rest go back to the guest house to watch TV. As they pass the rose garden, Maria remembers her marked rose. They search for it where they thought it was, but don't find it. Maria insists that it's there though, so they continue.

Rosa comes, and Maria runs to mama, insisting that she look for the Rose. Then Rosa gets angry about how Maria should stop using such phrases such as 'uu-uu-'. Apparantly, she was still a bit frustrated from the meeting.

Of course, they continue searching for it and being unable to find it. Mother and daughter get angry at each other and it escalates to Rosa slapping her. Of course, Maria starts crying and Rosa asks the teens to return to the guesthouse. Battler intervenes and tries to calm Rosa down, but then, she gets angry at him too, saying Maria need's to stop her 'uu-uu-' habit. In all honesty, I wholeheartedly agree. George convinces Jessica and Battler that they should leave. Rosa leavesaswell, fearing that she would get even more angry, leaving Maria to search for the rose alone.

Kinzo starts his 'ritual', taking off his ring and throwing it into the rain. And screen cracks and clock cotinues.

Hehe, I can tell this is where the fun starts.

Rosa seems to have some anger-management problems. I suppose with what just happened in the meeting, it could be a bit justified, but still. I would feel bad for Maria but her speech impediment annoys me as well.

Well, I can tell the next segment will be fun.

Don't feel bad about not being able to solve the riddle. As far as I know, the Japanese fandom haven't been able to crack it, either.

And yes, this is where things start getting interesting.

(Maria's 'Uu'ing isn't a speech impediment—it's a Verbal Tic.)

edited 13th Aug '10 1:37:41 AM by arbane

I prefer calling it a speech impediment.

Back after playing Kira Kira. Needed something to pull me out of a bad mood and Umineko isn't a good choice for that.

Ok, so time passes by while Jessica, Battler and George watch some TV. Kanon comes to get them for dinner and asks where Maria is. The kids assumed that she was with Rosa, but apparantly not. Then the kids, Kanon and Rosa find Maria still searching for the rose in a pouring downpour, but thankfully, some kind fellow gave her an umbrella. When questioned, Maria says that said kind fellow was Beatrice.

Now, no one believes her of course. They return to the main house and at dinner, (which big granddad is once again not attending) Rosa asks around as to who gave Maria the umbrella. Turns out no one says they did. Or rather, they have alibis for something which is something to be thanked for.

The servants are later seen discussing as to if Beatrice has returned. Gohda does not even think about the topic as he's a new servant, but the others apparantly know something about Beatrice. Apparantly, they believe her to be real.

Ok, now normally, I would think the servants are either delusional, but I already know about Beatrice so there must be something there. It's possible that they know something about Kinzo's past. I don't have much opinions on this yet, but everyone's alibi seems extremely solid so the only person who could've given Maria the umbrella would be Beatrice. Huh.

Things to do when I rewatch this part : reconsider everyone's alibi in light of what we later learn.