Quote:
Originally Posted by Renall
As I've said before, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and commits ritualized serial murders like a duck, it's a duck (who is also a ritualistic serial killer).
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That's not the whole point. I may easily admit that we (I and over 70% of Umineko fanbase by my rough estimation) have been just trolled or brought this on ourselves because we didn't see what supposedly enlightened people like AuraTwilight have seen all along. That’s not the problem.
The problem is, it makes me wonder what are those other people so satisfied with now? What are they seeing that I’m not seeing?
Higurashi was an uneven attempt, it had corny ending but at least it worked as an above average horror story, as a pulpy mystery and even sent some important messages like "friends are good" (which I suppose clearly shows who its target audience was supposed to be
). And most of all, Higurashi was internally consistent, even painfully so, 'cause R07 went to great length to ensure that (even to the detriment of the last episode's quality as a piece of fiction). In short, Higurashi worked.
But this mess called Umineko? It doesn't work as a mystery, it doesn't work as a fantasy, and it hardly even works as a cheap romance now, either. Mind you, that was all up in the air till Ep8, and could have been played any of those ways with some effort from 07thExpansion. But what we’ve got instead is neither of those things. It has no merit whatsoever in its finished form. It can't be even considered a literary experiment gone awry because of its inhumane length and the sub par quality of the writing throughout. The only good thing about this whole mess is music, which is excellent by the highest standards applicable. But I wasn't buying music CDs, you know.
So the only thing that makes me curious is what are all the Umineko defenders so happy about now? What are they getting from that mess that I'm not getting? Is there anything redeeming that I fail to see? In short, what is the merit of the work?
Really, I don't have a clue.