umineko no naku koro ni – Yuki The Snowman

Umineko no Naku Koro Ni – Raw Thoughts Pt. 1

August 17th, 2017 marked the 10th anniversary of the hit visual novel series “Umineko no Naku Koro ni”. Umineko no Naku Koro ni was adapted into a terrible, low rating animated series by Studio Deen in 2009. The manga adaption and the fighting game spin off are better. Seriously, don’t watch the anime. In reflection and celebration of the series 10th anniversary, I will be providing my raw, unedited thoughts of the anime throughout the month of August. I hope you’ll enjoy!

WARNING:
Violent, gory images below. Umineko spoilers below. If you do not like gory imagery or want to be spoiled, then please turn back now. Check out my other Umineko related content on my website such as my utter hatred for Kinzo Ushiromiya and my shame for enjoying the anime adaption of Umineko.

If you’re still here then that means you’re okay with being spoiled and you’re comfortable with viewing gory imagery.

How I got into Umineko is funny. Weird, but funny. I had just powered through Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai and Rei around mid November 2009. I was addicted. I needed more When They Cry and Higurashi in my life. A manga. A new anime series. A torrent link (don’t pirate kids) to the VN so I could experience this beautiful and deep story in it’s original, ham fisted characters design and terrible free licence music form.

I don’t know how anyone can play the VNs with the original sprites and music.

I just needed a new When They Cry in my life!

Desperate, I searched through /jp/ (4chan’s otaku board) for any information on new and upcoming When They Cry material. The degenerate weebs of /jp/ were discussing a new entry to the series: Umineko no Naku koro ni (lit. When Seagulls Cry) and its anime adaption by Studio Deen. They had some rather…not-so-nice opinions on the anime, and were encouraging everyone to stay far away from it.

Yet, I could care less for their opinions! It was a new entry to this excellent saga!

Umineko’s anime promotional art. One of only three good things about the anime.

I hit up YouTube to see if any episodes of Umineko were uploaded. To my excitement, there were some episodes up! Just that they were only in Japanese, as the subs weren’t up on YouTube at the time. I was never smart enough to download a torrent for the subs, so I gave up. (again kids don’t pirate).

Disappointed, I turned to the image-board Danbooru. I figured that I could get some minor information on the characters through fanart and fan comics. A quick search of the title lead me to some interesting fanart and 4koma four panel by the artist Rifyu.

I randomly selected one of his artwork; a crossover of the Umineko and Higurashi cast. The art was crude and simple, but it wasn’t too bad (and it was a hella better than Ryukishi’s art for the Higurashi visual novel). Based on this art, I assumed that that the characters of Higurashi might appear in Umineko, or at the very least Umineko was an expansion to Higurashi’s story.

I continue to scroll through his comics when I came across a 4koma of a gothic lolita cat-like girl who I presumed was Higurashi’s Rika, and a redhead schoolgirl at a bowling alley. The redhead made a successful strike and is at all cheers. Interesting, the word “strike” was in red. The gothic lolita doesn’t seem too impressed. Not by the efforts of her “friend” (ha ha ha), but by her usage of “red text”.

“Why is ‘strike’ is in red and why is Rika upset about her using this ‘red text’?” I questioned. I was confused by this “red text”. Was it something special for those two or anything?

Oh well.

The third panel focused on Gothic Lolita Rika throwing her ball in what I guessed was an attempt to one-up the redhead girl. Gothic Lolita Rika not only earned herself a strike, she also destroyed the bowling alley, and possibly killed a few people in panel 4.

__frederica_bernkastel_and_ushiromiya_ange_umineko_no_naku_koro_ni_drawn_by_rifyu__e476b8597895f74cae3a75b439f97822.jpg — Ange: “Yes! STRIKE!” Bernkastel:”Didn’t I tell you not to use the red text?”

“So I guess Rika is a jealous bitch in Umineko who feels the need to outshine people.” I assumed. I went on to read another 4koma, this time featuring a blue hair girl name Erika – a girl with bad fashion taste.

__furudo_erika_umineko_no_naku_koro_ni_drawn_by_drawfag__d0b2342658e0115820ddf0152f633ee7.png — Erika Furudo

“Erika, huh? Is she like another Rika because of their names?” I questioned, thinking there were a connection between the two.

From reading the Erika centered 4koma, I took a wild guess that she had a hardcore crush on Ange’s brother, Battler. I mean yea, having a cute little crush is cool, but Erika was taking her crush way too far. Creepy-stalker-with-a-crush levels of too far. She will sexually harass you too far. Erika is totally the type of girl you put a restraining order on because she doesn’t know what personal space means. And she might kill you in your sleep.

__furudo_erika_and_ushiromiya_battler_dawn_of_the_golden_witch_and_umineko_no_naku_koro_ni_drawn_by_rifyu__16a339d8d4168f31a1a383937fcd95e9 (1)

__furudo_erika_and_ushiromiya_battler_umineko_no_naku_koro_ni_drawn_by_rifyu__4b4739f7a5109a549564f512e1057c61

__furudo_erika_and_ushiromiya_battler_umineko_no_naku_koro_ni_drawn_by_rifyu__2505ebbe06be7cb8d4b55d5f3928bb26

“Ya know, maybe this is why Ange is overprotected and super close with Battler in some of the 4komas. The women who are attracted to him are crazy.”

Not only was she a bit too protective of Battler in these comics, she might have been like him a bit wee too close as siblings. There were two other 4komas of Battler chilling with different women: Beatrice and Gertrude. In these comics, Battle is on a date with either woman but suddenly Ange burst in and blocks any attempt of the Beatrice/Gerrude growing close with Battler.

__beatrice_ushiromiya_ange_and_ushiromiya_battler_umineko_no_naku_koro_ni_drawn_by_rifyu__96ca932885314ecc1546f1eaaa1e39ef

__gertrude_ponyo_ushiromiya_ange_and_ushiromiya_battler_umineko_no_naku_koro_ni_drawn_by_rifyu__c5dc4239c5f04261ecadcd458c928d4b

__gertrude_ushiromiya_ange_and_ushiromiya_battler_umineko_no_naku_koro_ni_drawn_by_rifyu__7452a417e005b8568cd805a620678818

__gertrude_ushiromiya_ange_and_ushiromiya_battler_umineko_no_naku_koro_ni_drawn_by_rifyu__bfd06ea462f6b7215d7b000a552f6426

“So, does Ange has a brother complex like she Lachesis off Fire Emblem 4? Is she one of them fujoshi wotaku nerds that take their otaku hobbies and fantasies too far and want to get with her brother like some weird anime character? Ange got some issues.”

(Man, she has issues indeed but I won’t go over them in this post.)

I spent the entire night reading through Riyfu’s comics of Umineko. They were funny as fuck and gave me a nice insight of the series and characters.

“Man, Umineko is nothing like Higurashi! I hope the anime is light-heart and funny as these comics!” I foolishly told myself.

Man.

My.

Black.

Ass.

Was.

Wrong.

AFTERWORD:
My bad for waiting until two days after the anniversary to post this work was kicking my ass and I didn’t have the energy or drive to work on this freewrite Thursday. I am working on Part 3 of my Higurashi raw thoughts if you’re looking forward to that!

By Yuki The Snowman Posted on August 19, 2017

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30 Day Anime Challenge Day 23: Most Hated Character (Kinzo Ushiromiya of Umineko no Naku Koro ni)

Kinzo. Fuck you.

Kinzo Ushiromiya; the patriarch of the (in)famous multi-billion dollar Ushiromiya family. He’s a superior demon summoner and black magic user, owner of the private island of gold: Rokkenjima, diligent businessman, and an abusive, psychotic piece of shit. This man, boy. Let me tell you why I hate this how horrible dude.

Prior to the Umineko series, he lost his lover, Beatrice Castiglioni (who died during childbirth) and was grief stricken. Honoring her, he named their (illegitimate) daughter “Beatrice”, after the mother. Cool. Whatever helps you overcome grief . What’s not fucking cool was Kinzo raping and impregnating his teenage daughter – because she resembled his lover.

That’s fucking sick.

Beatrice.Castiglioni.full.1891578.jpg — Beatrice Castiglioni. Kinzo’s late mistress.

Beatrice Ushiromiya – daughter of Kinzo. She’s a lovely, charismatic young lass with cowtits and is a huge fan of weird, outlandish kinky BDSM play.

Oh, it gets worse. This wouldn’t be the last time he abused his children. Yes. Children. I did say Beatrice was his love child. So, what about his real children? Well, to “toughen up” the others (Kruass, Eva, Rudolf, and Rosa) for the real and business world, he physically, emotionally and psychologically abused them. Naturally, his abusive ways caused his children to disdain him. Worse, his children would pass down the cycle of abusive towards their own, and in many causes, the siblings would abuse each other – Kruass (the eldest) being the worst offender.

Third Generation Ushiromiyas. From left-to-right: Eva (2nd child) Rudolph (3rd child), Kruass (Eldest Child), and Rosa (youngest child)

powerful-kinzo-512x287 — Kinzo lifting and chocking Kruass

Due to Kinzo’s abusive parenting and teachings, Krauss emulated his dad’s abuse. He would emotionally bullying his little sister, Eva (as well as being sexist towards her). This created much disdain in and anger in her heart, which she passes down to her husband, the kind-hearted Hideyoshi (who loves Eva to death), and her only child, George. Further in the future, Eva passes the abuse down to her niece, Ange, but more on her later. Let’s focus on Eva’s sister, Rosa.

Rosa (just like her only sister Eva), was too abused by not only Kinzo and Krauss, but her other siblings as well (due to her status as the youngest). Lacking someone to hurt in their family to soothe her rage, she had nobody to further the chain of abuse, until she had her daughter, Maria. Rosa (never recovered or attacking her pain in a healthy matter) starts to abuse Maria, verbally and physically beating her.

See how Kinzo’s chain of abuse goes further? Kinzo abuses Krauss, whom abuses Rosa, who in turn abuses her daughter, Maria. Now his grandchildren are affected by the abuse her created. Speaking of his grandchildren, let’s go back to ~~series best girl~~ Ange.

So Ange. Her entire family (sans Eva) was massacred on Rokkenjima (due to Kinzo’s bullshit), leaving her orphaned. Eva, being the “good” aunt that she is, adopts Ange. The two somewhat got along, until the stress of her family’s deaths (as well as the media accusing her for their murders) took its toll on her. Eva in turn, took her anger out on Ange, putting her through the same abusive treatment as her father did her. This ruined Ange’s already troubling mental state. Due to Eva’s abuse (among other things), Ange would grow to hate herself, becoming suicidal. In one scene, Ange is seen lashing out on her best friend, Mammon and her sisters. She calls them “useless” and wish that they all die.

Even after his death, Kinzo’s abusive cycle continues.

Remember how I said that the massacre of Rokkenjima was due to Kinzo’s bullsht in the last paragraph? Well, Kinzo is not above having his own family members killed for his own desires.

As mentioned earlier, Kinzo dedicated his life to learning summoning and black magic, and studying occult spells. His plan was to master black magic in order to revive Beatrice. Not his lover Beatrice, but their daughter. The same daughter that he raped. He wants to see her once more So, he successfully revives Beatrice, right? However, as exchange for her revival, Kinzo must sacrifice a few people.

000247872 — Six members of the Ushiromiya family sacrificed to Beatrice

Kinzo selects his own family members as sacrifices. He seems them as vultures after his riches. He believes his nether children nor his grandchildren gives a damn about him (as they rightfully should not), and wants them all dead. Beatrice kills them for him, nad in turns – kills her abuser Kinzo.

1477175620356 (1).jpg — Kinzo burning alive by Beatrice;s magic.

Kinzo if you think about it, is the main source of his entire family’s pain and suffering, from him raping his daughter, abusing his children. The same abuse in which was passed on to his kids down to their own. By direct and indirection action, he ruined his family.

Fuck you Kinzo.

AFTERWORD

Whew. I didn’t expect this post to go on that long, but I figure I would provide details and proof to show how much I despise this dude. This would had been much longer if I would had gotten drunk to write about how much I hate Kinzo as I originally planned lmfao (all the liquor stores in my area were closed at the time of writing the first draft.. You know those 3 o’ clock A.M. alcohol laws can be.

Fuck you, Kinzo.

Ushiromiya FAMILY art source:

https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=7436300

Further Reading on the abusive cycle of Umineko:

http://jjblue1.tumblr.com/post/72269926124/umineko-and-the-chain-of-hate-abuse

By Yuki The Snowman Posted on July 21, 2017

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30 Day Anime Challenge Day 19: Favorite Comedic Character

Laughing at the suffering of fictional characters is comedy, right?

As somebody with a rather terrible sense of humor, I can find humor in even the most horrible of situations. Besides, comedy is what help us human cope. To help you cope with whatever you may be going through, here are just a few of my favorite comedic characters.

Hotaru Tomoe (Sailor Moon)

Her entire existence is a cruel joke from God. Or Queen Serenity whoever the fuck is their deity in that universe.

Follow me on Instagram!

Yes. So fans can have someone to feel sorry for.

Ange Ushiromiya (Umineko no naku Koro ni)

She can crack jokes about people’s hairstyles and declare her aunt as a living joke, but her life? A comedy waiting to happen.

Homura Akemi (Madoka Magica)

Oh you miserable time lesbian. It’s so funny and cute that you thought you could save Madoka.

In her defense, she had legit reasons to become a demon and a psychopath.

Yamcha (Dragon Ball Z)

Do I need to say more.

Guys. Life is too short to be mad and sad all the time. Laugh a little, even if you need to laugh at the pain and suffering of fictional characters!

Homura is a Psychopath image source:

http://clearly-clarity.tumblr.com/post/83257217568/matsurisunrise-lustfuldemoness

By Yuki The Snowman Posted on July 15, 2017

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Day 2 – Anime You’re Ashamed You Enjoyed: Umineko no Naku Koro Ni

One should never feel ashamed for enjoying an anime (well, unless it’s some sexualized loli crap, then you should be ashamed and arrested). You shouldn’t feel embarrassed by it – even if it’s a terrible, flawed adaption. You enjoy it regardless. This is how I feel about Studio DEEN’s infamous animation adaption of the visual novel series “Umineko no Naku Koro ni” (When The Seagulls Cry). Despite the disrespect towards the original source material, such as key story elements left out (creating loose ends untied) and animation errors, I hold a small space in my heart for Umineko.

A space I use to make fun of shitty adaptions, but a space nonetheless.

I_have_no_mouth_and_I_must_grin — Seriously nigga how?

The Umineko anime is garbage compared to the original visual novel and amazing manga counterparts. I can’t deny that Studio DEEN did a horrible job on it. Even if visual novels are awkward to adapt (I assume it’s hard to animated scenes from a source material that only has a static image, character sprites, and background music) , Studio Deen is known in the anime community for being lazy with their work and creating horrible adaptions (see: their version of the Fate/Zero anime). Umineko isn’t exempt from DEEN’s laziness.

The Umineko VN is heavy with detailed dialogue scenes which were omitted from the anime (which I can assume DEEN was being lazy). Any mention of kid Ange’s sickness preventing her to attend the Ushiromiya annual family meeting by her parents from Episode 1 in the anime? Nope! Did you love how Rosa barbarically jammed an ink pen in the eyes of a Goat Butler and saying her saying her epic line ‘I’ll show you how lukewarm the hell you came from is!’ before blowing it brains out with her gun in the visual novel? Well, DEEN decide to not add that in.

Reflect on how sorrowful you felt for Ange when she revealed her true identity was to her brother Battler, pleading to him to defeat Beatrice and return to Kid Ange to prevent living the lonely, depressing life as her future self as she was dying in the visual novel. Remember man?

Well, It’s in the anime, but DEEN managed to ruin that with one simple frame:

hqdefault — Oh the jokes the fanbase were cracking with this awkward shot. 2009 was an amazing time in the Umineko fan community.

Because of Deen’s hilarious errors , the Umineko fanbase straight up loathe the anime. The very mention of the anime and anyone admitting that they enjoy it will trigger even the most chilliest Umineko fan. You’ll get attacked with great vigor by the diehards. It’s not worth it unless you like creating conflict. Go on the Umineko tag on tumblr or /jp/, say you think Studio DEEN did nothing wrong with the anime, sit back and watch the rage.

Despite the flaws of the anime, I still love it as it’s special to me.

ange_best_girl — Ange (best Umineko girl) and one reason why I love the series

There’s something about the anime that I can forgive its awfulness. It made me aware of narrative themes in anime such as abuse (sexual, emotional, and physical), the past returning, revenge, and suicide. Umineko (both the visual novel and anime) shows how abuse can be passed down within a family, as we see patriarch figure Kinzo passing down his abusive ways to his children. This results in mother Rosa abusing daughter Maria.

Hell, this gets worse with Eva (suffering from being the sole survival of the massacre of her family in Episode 4) abusing her niece Ange (who too was suffering from losing her love ones). The abuse from her aunt, the impact of losing her family (who was involved in some pretty illegal shit mind you), and being bullied in school drove her to become suicidal. Even with the awfulness of the anime, it made me aware of narrative themes within the story-line which got me hooked into the series.

I do not feel ashamed about my love for the Umineko anime. In fact, I feel given it got me into the original visual novel and the manga (which is a superior adaption compare to the anime), Yea, it’s garbage, but it made me notice themes in anime.

But seriously, you fucked up Studio Deen.

By Yuki The Snowman Posted on June 28, 2017