SCATTERED THOUGHTS ON UMINEKO NO NAKU KORO NI

TONY T. - Managing Editor, 3rd Year, Economics and Data Science

"10/10."

Writing about Umineko no Naku Koro ni is tricky for me. Not only is it something I’ve just finished and am still digesting, it’s also a work that appeals to me immensely in spite of possessing elements that I inherently disdain in other works. While the existence of recency bias is obviously something that should be kept in mind, Umineko is a work which like, say, Neon Genesis Evangelion, says so much to me to where it’s almost hard to put my appreciation into words other than consistent urges to other people that they should play it.

The aspect that I enjoy the most about Umineko is probably the writing. Now, without any context, that should be obvious – it’s a visual novel. However, visual novels are a medium which I’ve never really enjoyed; this has little to do with the actual strengths that it possesses, but more so the fact that none of its strengths are actually properly utilized. The majority of visual novels are what I’d describe as pornographic. I don’t use that term to imply the most inherent implication that its usage would connote, although that definitely isn’t that uncommon. Yet beyond strange sexual content, the gratuitous nature of visual novel writing is something that I find extremely annoying and repetitive within the medium. Too often, decent concepts are completely wasted on being emotional pornography, relying on cheap tropes or overwrought concepts to have any meaningful impact. I particularly remember Key for having a plethora of releases that simply exist because watching anime girls being melodramatically sad is something that people really enjoy for some reason.

Where Umineko differs for me is in author Ryukishi07’s writing, which is absolutely brilliant in how certain themes are woven throughout several disparate but interconnected storylines. Oddly enough, my favorite portion of the story is the first one, the repeated and often contradictory portrayals of the Rokkenjima Mass Murders. And yet, I can’t simply point at those aspects as the best part of the series, as the other layers, like the anti-fantasy vs fantasy debates, to the 1998 storyline of consequences, to the metafiction layer of Featherine, all add thematically to this initial core. The second half of the novel is fittingly subtitled “Chiru” given how the story as a whole starts with that initial storyline of October 4 and 5, 1998, and scatters into numerous storylines that all somehow interconnect. In keeping a sense of consistency through what is for most people a 150 hour experience, Ryukishi07 honestly accomplished a task of sisyphean proportions.

The characters which I found most compelling within Umineko were Ushiromiya Rosa, Ushiromiya Eva, and Ushiromiya Ange. For the first two, while they are never what I’d call pleasant, they possess so many dimensions to where I can’t help but be engaged thoroughly in them. Even if Rosa and Eva are ultimately extremely flawed people, the manner in which these flaws present themselves, not to mention the characters’ (perhaps misguided) attempts to overcome them, are enthralling. With Rosa, her abusive relationship with her daughter is something I find inexcusable, and yet something that is the tragic product of her background and the societal standards given the time she lives in. In spite of this, Rosa gets some of the most heroic moments in the entire series where she affirms certain extremely positive traits. In a similar light, Eva is painted in an extremely negative light. Her portrayal as a witch in Eva-Beatrice is itself likely a representation of how mass media presents itself. But given the often repeated phrase of “without love it cannot be seen”, Eva is a far more complex individual, disliking the role that she plays and wishing she could move beyond her inner childish desire for power. It’s these dynamics that make me sympathize with characters who, at first glance, appear just as one-dimensional as the casts of most visual novels.

Ange’s role is a bit different. While still a flawed individual like other characters, she is a character that drives the plot thoroughly. As someone who avoided the unfortunate Rokkenjima Mass Murders which frame the initial narrative, she is nonetheless a victim due to the widespread media backlash. Her struggle to move beyond the tragedy in a repeated sway between wanting to learn more and being content with a perhaps skewed interpretation is something that is compelling while also developing the other layers of the story. As one of the two main characters alongside her brother Battler, Ange is a character I like a great deal due to her internal thoughts being examined in great detail. Beyond being well fleshed out, the story can almost entirely be viewed through the lens of a fiction she creates, which I guess could explain interesting anachronisms like Battler knowing Higurashi or Jessica being a Touhou fan.

All in all, Umineko is a work which has had a large impact on me. Having previously read many visual novels in the past and enjoying none of them, the series managed to surpass the limitations and pitfalls that generally befall visual novel writers and ends up rather poignant in what it conveys. At the risk of sounding overly corny or sentimental, the writing of Umineko implores the reader to be empathic and understanding via its characters. That the series largely succeeded at evoking emotion from me is a clear indication that its messages were solidly constructed and expressed. Umineko no Naku Koro ni is a masterpiece.