Umineko no Naku Koro ni – Review

When I first saw details on this, I was quite pleased with a fairly different take on the series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni “ひぐらしのなく頃に”.  Although that was not necessarily my favourite anime, it was up near the top.

This series takes place on an island owned by the Ushiromiya family, Rokkenjima (六軒島).  Shortly after the family members have arrived a typhoon his and the game begins.  Six mysterious deaths occur and the challenge of solving the witch’s epitaph begins.  Battler Ushiromiya (右代宮 戦人) is trying to figure out who is causing the murders, creating some rather odd circumstances so as not to suspect any of the family he loves. As time passes and the epitaph going unsolved, more people are murdered, narrowing both the list of suspects and increasing the likely-hood these murders were not committed by a human.

At the start of part two, Battler and Beatrice (ベアトリーチェ) the Golden Witch go head-to-head to prove, or disprove, the existence of magic as well as the reasons behind events that have occurred and still to come.

The real let-down in the series was most defiantly the final part. The final episode in particular really did not seem at all well planned to fit in with the series.

The first 3 parts of the series were pretty good overall, one or two episodes and ideas were a little far-fetched however.  It was the final few episodes that really let the series down.  It really did seem as though there had been no thought put into any of the episodes to make the final one make any sense.  Battler offered an extremely long explanation as to how the events all took place, yet it was entirely full of holes and seemed as though Beatrice (and the writers) had simply given up to let the anime die.

Although leaving out the final part would have really left the series incomplete and almost defiantly would have annoyed most, I feel as though this would have been a better ending.

I think I am going to have to read the Manga and/or Novel to see if this finale was what was originally intended.

Story

Overall, an OK story, just missed really being finished properly.

Characters

I must say, I don’t even recall the names of some of the ‘main’ characters

Music

The intro track was actually made this series to catch my attention, although it’s far from my favourite.