[crazysjd89]

Overall, I really enjoyed everything about Umineko. I felt it was written really well, although there are a lot of places where the scenes drag on, specifically in Episode 4 and 8.

Spoiler:

It is hard for me to define Umineko as a genre, because it has so many moments of almost every type in it, and I feel that Ryukishi made it work well. It really feels like there's something in here for almost everyone no matter what genre you like.

As for the writing style itself, like I said above, it often times can drag on for way to long, and it feels like there's a lot of padding in the story made for the sole purpose of increasing the length of any one segment. I felt the more romantic and dramatic segments were the most well written, but the more tragic segments were the ones that seemed to drag on, like he wanted to be sure we understood that what was happening was very sad. The action segments, to me, felt fine, and I enjoyed them a lot. But then again, I don't read or watch a lot of 'action' things, so my expectations might be a bit low, as far as that is concerned.

The mystery itself was also very interesting, and despite not being completly answered in the end, I still enjoyed the process of thinking up theories with everyone and discussing them. This is one thing I enjoy about Ryukishi releasing 8 volumes within 4 years, is the length of time between each episode gives time to discuss and talk about the most recent episode and thoughts we had on it. As I've said in the episode 8 thread, I am a bit disappointed that the answer wasn't revealed completely, and that I feel that the motive is a bit 'weak'. I don't think he'll go against his plans and include answers in the 'Rei' arc, but if he did, it would certainly make my impression of Umineko much better.

The colored text were also a very interesting aspect for the mystery, and I feel it was a very creative and fun idea. Aside from leading to really awesome scenes in the actual novel, it has also lead to me doing some fun things outside of it.

The message that Umineko was conveying in the end, I feel was a really nice message. The several messages presented throughout the entire series (multiple interpretations, truth of the future, etc.) really made me think deeply about the way I think, and I feel it's influenced my thinking manner in a positive way.

When Umineko was first announced, I was thinking 'Oh no, this is going to be riding on the coat tail of Higurashi's fame', but I got a pleasant surprise in finding that I liked Umineko much more then I did Higurashi.

Now to discuss the audio of Umineko:

I absolutely love the music. There are very few tracks that I can say I wouldn't listen to outside of reading Umineko and only 1 or 2 that I can say I don't particularly like. However, even the ones I don't like I feel do an excellent job of setting up the mood in the story. I would say a lot of the 'creepy' tracks could use work though.

The sound effects are also very well done and used at just the right times to give the feel of the atmosphere.

As for the characters, I feel that everyone was given a separate character with distinctly different personalities, which is hard to do when you have as many characters as he had. Though, because of the amount, there were certain characters that didn't get to much character development, and it makes you wonder why they were there. While they had their own personality, it was more like they were there just to fill a quota rather then to be part of the story.

But overall, I enjoyed the presence of most of the characters. It's hard for me to pick a favorite one, as there are so many different qualities I liked about them. Battler's light heartedness and his being awesome at the end, Zepar and Furfur's perkiness, Erika....being Erika.

As for art, well, it tends to be a bit off-putting, but you get use to it, and Ryukishi's art has a certain 'charm' to it, for me. He is wonderful at drawing expressions though, and I would love to see his art improve.

The character designs, I really enjoyed. I'm not really sure what to add to that.

This does not really have to do with the main series, but I also enjoy a lot of the fan stuff to come out of Umineko.

As for the episodes themselves, these are in order from most liked to least liked:

Episode 7: I know this is a strange one to be my favorite, but I enjoyed the mix of jokes, revelations, and other feelings in the episode. As it got closer and closer to the end, I felt it got more and more awesome. And I really loved Golden Nocturne. I do wish that Will and Claire's duel at the end would have been, at the very least, a bit more descriptive, to lead up to Episode 8.

Episode 5: The first time we see Erika, who I really liked as a character. I liked the feel of this episode, and there were many parts that made me very excited to be reading it.

Episode 8: Yeah, I know. Despite the fact that it didn't answer much at all, I loved this episode. Throughout the whole thing I wanted to know what would happen next. I didn't really find the 'fans are the goats' thing to be an insult like many people seem to have done, and even if I did, I don't mind laughing at myself, so it didn't bother me. As I said with Episode 7, I would have enjoyed this more had there been more concrete answers and I feel that not showing Eva's diary, despite most of the episode being about it was too much. I didn't mind the fluff, and in fact I enjoyed it, but I tend to like things like that so...

Episode 3: I still remember the first time I read this, I got really excited when the magic battle started. There were several heart warming moments in this episode.

Episode 6: Once again, the introduction of some characters I really like, Zepar and Furfur. This was a very sad episode and I enjoyed a lot of the moments in it. This, behind Episode 4 and 8, is an episode that tends to be a bit to overly descriptive though.

Episode 1: The start of the series. I can't help but feel it's so low down on the list for me because I wasn't expecting it to be much when I started reading it. But, regardless, I still liked it. There might be a bit to much introduction, though.

Episode 4: I have trouble placing this episode. There are several good moments, light and heavy hearted, and I really enjoyed those moments. And Ange is one of my favorite characters. But, as I said above, Episode 4 is so over described, that, when I was reading it, sometimes I would be thinking "Hurry up!".

Episode 2: This is my least favorite episode, but despite that, that doesn't mean I hate it, and in fact, I still really liked this episode a lot more then most things. Battler's complete incompetence is probably one big reason I didn't like this episode as much as others.

Overall, I really really enjoyed the whole series. I certainly plan to read his next series, if the end of Episode 8 is any indication.