NOTE, THE MONTAGE IN THE VIDEO HAS SPOILERS. DON'T WATCH IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE VN YET.
I just finished reading Umineko, and I don't know where to begin. I can't think up any other story I've read that's quite the same.
The story starts off quite slow, and I don't want to ruin the experience for anyone that's yet to read it... so I suppose I'll stay as vague as possible, leaving some final thoughts in this spoiler tag;
I won't say that the story is for everyone. For one thing, it's long. 100+ hours long. The word count for both halves combined is 3x the size of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Also, the official release of Umineko, while the translation is fantastic, lacks some features that some might consider irreplacable. There's a patch that adds in the voices from the PS3 version - fantastic voice-acting that really elevates all of the scenes - though it is an unofficial patch with questionable legality, so I can't recommend you download it or point you to where you can find it.
Similarly, the "default" portraits, that being the new sprites ripped from a Pachinko title, are rather odd. The original portraits, while they have plenty of charm are rather amateur. They grew on me, and especially the facial expressions are a step above of the other options... but I'd still concede that the portraits for, again, the PS3 version are the best middle ground. They maintain most of the feel of the original portraits while smoothing over the rough edges. The faces aren't quite as expressive as the original portraits, but most of the time they stack up quite well - and some added detail for some characters definitely help elevate the VN in their own way. Again, though, while there is a patch for the PS3 portraits + backgrounds, it's unofficial and in a legal gray-area.
Regardless of everything else, Umineko is a VN that I won't forget. Even if I say it's not for everyone, I'd still urge anyone that thinks they can handle the commitment to give it a shot. If you can stick with it until the end, and accept what the VN has to tell you, you'll definitely be glad you did. I was.
I just finished reading Umineko, and I don't know where to begin. I can't think up any other story I've read that's quite the same.
The story starts off quite slow, and I don't want to ruin the experience for anyone that's yet to read it... so I suppose I'll stay as vague as possible, leaving some final thoughts in this spoiler tag;
We never do learn the truth, even at the end. Everything remains shrouded in that illusion - but even if the truth was never found, we come to understand the story embodying the tragedy that had occurred. Ange could never accept and move on from her families deaths. How much of the tale was actually fantasy? How much was just the "magic" Ange finds inside herself? In the end, it doesn't matter. No matter what she may or may not know, no matter what society chooses to accept about the Rokkenjima Explosion - it's Ange's right to believe that her family never truly left her, that they were always there - watching over her from afar.
One thing that especially struck hard during Ep 8 was when I realized that "Ushiromiya" can actually be interpreted differently from how the original Kanji is written. 後ろ 見 家 is another possible way of writing out "Ushiromiya"... and can literally translate to "the family that watches over you". At first, I wasn't sure if that was intentional, but the more I read - the more it felt that my interpretation wasn't just a coincidence.
I don't think I've read such a human tale, ironically considering just how fantastical some of the scenes that are portrayed really are. I hated most of the family's guts when I had finished Episode 4, though by the end of the story I understood what made them tick... and even if what was shown might've been an illusion, when the dead are really gone the most you can hope for is that the family of the departed can look back fondly on those that left them behind.
One thing that especially struck hard during Ep 8 was when I realized that "Ushiromiya" can actually be interpreted differently from how the original Kanji is written. 後ろ 見 家 is another possible way of writing out "Ushiromiya"... and can literally translate to "the family that watches over you". At first, I wasn't sure if that was intentional, but the more I read - the more it felt that my interpretation wasn't just a coincidence.
I don't think I've read such a human tale, ironically considering just how fantastical some of the scenes that are portrayed really are. I hated most of the family's guts when I had finished Episode 4, though by the end of the story I understood what made them tick... and even if what was shown might've been an illusion, when the dead are really gone the most you can hope for is that the family of the departed can look back fondly on those that left them behind.
I won't say that the story is for everyone. For one thing, it's long. 100+ hours long. The word count for both halves combined is 3x the size of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Also, the official release of Umineko, while the translation is fantastic, lacks some features that some might consider irreplacable. There's a patch that adds in the voices from the PS3 version - fantastic voice-acting that really elevates all of the scenes - though it is an unofficial patch with questionable legality, so I can't recommend you download it or point you to where you can find it.
Similarly, the "default" portraits, that being the new sprites ripped from a Pachinko title, are rather odd. The original portraits, while they have plenty of charm are rather amateur. They grew on me, and especially the facial expressions are a step above of the other options... but I'd still concede that the portraits for, again, the PS3 version are the best middle ground. They maintain most of the feel of the original portraits while smoothing over the rough edges. The faces aren't quite as expressive as the original portraits, but most of the time they stack up quite well - and some added detail for some characters definitely help elevate the VN in their own way. Again, though, while there is a patch for the PS3 portraits + backgrounds, it's unofficial and in a legal gray-area.
Regardless of everything else, Umineko is a VN that I won't forget. Even if I say it's not for everyone, I'd still urge anyone that thinks they can handle the commitment to give it a shot. If you can stick with it until the end, and accept what the VN has to tell you, you'll definitely be glad you did. I was.
