Quote:
Originally Posted by Will Wright
There are times when the whydunit is ignored, but the howdunit and the whodunit is ignored just as often.
"I don't know how you did it," says the detective, "but you did it. I'm sure of it."
A common scene in mystery fiction. The who and the why are clear. It's the how that is the problem.
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This is not what Ryukishi means by "heart". It's not about using the why to discover the criminal, it's about putting forth the idea that someone's reasons for doing something can be just as important and interesting as the things they do.
I mean, come on here. Let's not play coy. Anyone that's read any amount of mystery novels knows that stories like Umineko are far and few in between, especially when it comes to Golden Age mysteries.
Most mystery novels are not set up for you to care about the cast in any meaningful way. Our sympathies are supposed to lie with the detective, and he's an outside force. (That's why Erika is an interesting deconstruction, because it shows that the intrusion of such a larger than life, obnoxious know-it-all is far more likely to be resented by the people to whom the situation actually pertains.)
Likewise, the "why" is usually a tacked on after-thought to explain why the criminal went to the elaborate contortions that s/he did to commit the crime. It, like the crime itself, is there mostly so the pieces fall into place and we're satisfied with how things turned out. Readers won't accept someone who plots elaborate crimes for no reason, but mysteries rarely delve deep into the psyche of the criminal either.
In fact, I'd say Umineko is more like a mystery turned inside-out, which is why I enjoy it so much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Will Wright
Do you know how a fencer can't enjoy a sword fighting scene in a movie because he knows how foolish and wrong they are? It's the same thing here with mystery fans.
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I wouldn't speak for all mystery fans. I love mysteries (and would actually like to write them, though mine are also rather non-traditional in a lot of aspects) and I don't regret the time I spent with Umineko in the slightest.
Really, I think all the complaints are more like this. Ryukishi invited us all to dinner and mentioned that the main dish would be meat. Some fans jumped to the conclusion that this meant Ryukishi was going to serve us filet mignon, but when we got there, we found out that it was pot roast instead. Very nicely cooked, but pot roast. You can either keep crying about how Ryukishi tricked you into thinking it was filet mignon and talk about how terrible the dinner is, or you can accept the nice pot roast and critique the work based on what it actually is. (And don't get me wrong--I didn't exactly want pot roast either. I wanted stew. But it's not a bad pot roast.)