[Anime] Umineko - Spoilers & Expectations (for experienced VN readers only)

[Marion]

Originally Posted by Archer

SHAFT isn't so much of animation studio as it is just a bunch of lazy guys that put some stills together five minutes before the episode is supposed to air and put in some animation later in the DVDs.

Be careful some of the SHAFT worshiping Bakemonogatari fans might hear you

Well then what studio would be good for it, if DEEN certainly isn't?

[Archer]

Originally Posted by Marion

Be careful some of the SHAFT worshiping Bakemonogatari fans might hear you

Well then what studio would be good for it, if DEEN certainly isn't?

It's not so much of animation studios as it is the team that's working on it. I know that DEEN could do a good job on Umineko if it wasn't handled by one of the worst directors in the business. However, judging from the track record of VN adaptations, not many people in the business really care about animating VNs. They just shoe it in and leave their more talented people on more ambitious projects.

Let's see, despite what I said about SHAFT, it is true that they did work on two ef series, although that was handled by someone other than the infamous Shinbo. KyoAni also did a very good job with their Key adaptations, but I think most of their actual talent left the company already. Production IG has too high of a reputation to do something like a VN adaptation, and Gainax, while not as reputable, has for some strange reason avoided VNs like the plague for the past few decades despite being responsible for stuff like Princess Maker. We have studios with sketchy VN adaptation records that should be avoided if at all possible (Toei Animation, JC Staff, etc.). Umineko doesn't fit BeeTrain's style of animation, either. There's no need to discuss studios like GONZO and Artland. Sunrise is so caught up in the whims of the producers that it's the poster child of Executive Meddling.

Above anything else, I'd say that Umineko is better off with newer, up-and-coming animation studios that have something to prove. Studio Ordet, for example, could do reasonably well with Umineko, and so can A-1 Pictures. Brain's Base could do reasonably well, although they haven't wandered into the realm of VNs just yet. Ufotable actually managed to adapt a TYPE-MOON property beyond the level of merely average, so there's potential there too. There are probably other new studios as well, but they're not as prominent.

Of course, all this speculation is for naught if Frontier Works (the financial backer) has no intention of giving up the Umineko property, since they're the one that's ultimately responsible for the fate of the anime. Even with all these options, Frontier Works can still decide how much budget should go into something like Chiru. If the level of animation in the Umineko anime has some correlation to the amount of money that was poured into the project, then any animation studio would be stuck between a rock and a hard place (unless they have a godlike budget-handling director like Hiroyuki Imashi of GAINAX). Considering just how much money the animation project lost so far, I'd find it hard to believe that they would bother to allocate more money into it for Chiru.

[Tyabann]

Ordet would make the characters look hideous. Absolutely hideous.

[Jan-Poo]

Gainax made Puchi Puri Yuushie because "Princess Maker" is a game they themselves made.
Anyway considering their tendency of inserting demented cartoonesque gags in their anime I really wouldn't want them to do an Umineko adaption. Evangelion is probably their only series that barely got spared from that.

[immblueversion]

Originally Posted by Archer

It's not so much of animation studios as it is the team that's working on it. I know that DEEN could do a good job on Umineko if it wasn't handled by one of the worst directors in the business. However, judging from the track record of VN adaptations, not many people in the business really care about animating VNs. They just shoe it in and leave their more talented people on more ambitious projects.

Let's see, despite what I said about SHAFT, it is true that they did work on two ef series, although that was handled by someone other than the infamous Shinbo. KyoAni also did a very good job with their Key adaptations, but I think most of their actual talent left the company already. Production IG has too high of a reputation to do something like a VN adaptation, and Gainax, while not as reputable, has for some strange reason avoided VNs like the plague for the past few decades despite being responsible for stuff like Princess Maker. We have studios with sketchy VN adaptation records that should be avoided if at all possible (Toei Animation, JC Staff, etc.). Umineko doesn't fit BeeTrain's style of animation, either. There's no need to discuss studios like GONZO and Artland. Sunrise is so caught up in the whims of the producers that it's the poster child of Executive Meddling.

Above anything else, I'd say that Umineko is better off with newer, up-and-coming animation studios that have something to prove. Studio Ordet, for example, could do reasonably well with Umineko, and so can A-1 Pictures. Brain's Base could do reasonably well, although they haven't wandered into the realm of VNs just yet. Ufotable actually managed to adapt a TYPE-MOON property beyond the level of merely average, so there's potential there too. There are probably other new studios as well, but they're not as prominent.

Of course, all this speculation is for naught if Frontier Works (the financial backer) has no intention of giving up the Umineko property, since they're the one that's ultimately responsible for the fate of the anime. Even with all these options, Frontier Works can still decide how much budget should go into something like Chiru. If the level of animation in the Umineko anime has some correlation to the amount of money that was poured into the project, then any animation studio would be stuck between a rock and a hard place (unless they have a godlike budget-handling director like Hiroyuki Imashi of GAINAX). Considering just how much money the animation project lost so far, I'd find it hard to believe that they would bother to allocate more money into it for Chiru.

I'm up for any adaptation so long as they keep the seiyuu.

[MetalGearFlaccid]

As a fan of the entire When the Cry metaseries introduced through the Higurashi anime dub (ya heard me right, dub!) I have to say, I don't really see any problem in DEEN's work. They did what they had to do to condese such a large body of work into a single series. Perhaps it's because I came in anime-first, but I find myself able to enjoy both versions of each without much complaints. I DID get into the VN because of Higurashi, but I still watched, and enjoyed the entire anime all the way through. Perhaps I became more attached to the characters because the actually had voices? I don't know.

Coming into the Umineko-verse more forewarned, allowing me to experience the VNs first, I still fully enjyed the anime. Forgive me for saying this, but I think a big reason is the art.
Yes, I KNOW it's a doujin game, and I shouldn't judge because of that, but to tell you the truth, DEEN's interpretation of the character art is much more appealing to me. ryukishi07 is a wonderful, perhaps even unsurpassed writer in his field, but his art does not quite match that level.

*Dodges a rock thrown at head for blasphemy*

Maybe a Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri-style PS2 port with cleaner graphics might work? Alchemist has done some excellent work with the first two When they Cry games. Why not let them do it to the latter two?

Until then, I will go out with honor for saying I prefer the anime. (Art! Anime ART! Not the entire thing!)

*Commits Seppuku before others are able to attack for this poster's sins.*

[Forsaken_Infinity]

Originally Posted by MetalGearFlaccid

As a fan of the entire When the Cry metaseries introduced through the Higurashi anime dub (ya heard me right, dub!) I have to say, I don't really see any problem in DEEN's work. They did what they had to do to condese such a large body of work into a single series. Perhaps it's because I came in anime-first, but I find myself able to enjoy both versions of each without much complaints. I DID get into the VN because of Higurashi, but I still watched, and enjoyed the entire anime all the way through. Perhaps I became more attached to the characters because the actually had voices? I don't know.

Coming into the Umineko-verse more forewarned, allowing me to experience the VNs first, I still fully enjyed the anime. Forgive me for saying this, but I think a big reason is the art.
Yes, I KNOW it's a doujin game, and I shouldn't judge because of that, but to tell you the truth, DEEN's interpretation of the character art is much more appealing to me. ryukishi07 is a wonderful, perhaps even unsurpassed writer in his field, but his art does not quite match that level.

*Dodges a rock thrown at head for blasphemy*

Maybe a Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri-style PS2 port with cleaner graphics might work? Alchemist has done some excellent work with the first two When they Cry games. Why not let them do it to the latter two?

Until then, I will go out with honor for saying I prefer the anime. (Art! Anime ART! Not the entire thing!)

*Commits Seppuku before others are able to attack for this poster's sins.*

Ryukishi's art leaves room for imagination at least?? Deen's *art* (well, it wasn't that bad but yeah...) seals the characters and it was still horrible. Damn them. And the animation was just omfgqqtime. I get the feeling you are one of those who finds anything with higher resolution to be *better art*, say, what do you think of Van Gogh's paintings? especially "Starry Night"?

Also, Umineko is supposed to be a SN before a VN so if anything, compare the sound >.>. The anime had damn nice voice actors but the worst script ever and BGMs were missing/bad. The novel is near perfect as far as music goes.

[sona-nyl]

I dont think Ryukishi's art is bad, the art in higurashi where ''bad'' but the art in umineko is just different, and Ryukishi really is amazing at drawing expressions.

[June 1983]

^ I definitely agree with that. There are still some character designs of his that I don't like (Gaap), but the expressions usually make them look wonderful. (For example, I thought Dlanor looked stupid as hell before I played the game, and then I absolutely loved her -- partially because of the writing partially because of her expressions.)

[MetalGearFlaccid]

Originally Posted by Forsaken_Infinity

Ryukishi's art leaves room for imagination at least?? Deen's *art* (well, it wasn't that bad but yeah...) seals the characters and it was still horrible. Damn them. And the animation was just omfgqqtime. I get the feeling you are one of those who finds anything with higher resolution to be *better art*, say, what do you think of Van Gogh's paintings? especially "Starry Night"?

Also, Umineko is supposed to be a SN before a VN so if anything, compare the sound >.>. The anime had damn nice voice actors but the worst script ever and BGMs were missing/bad. The novel is near perfect as far as music goes.

Just on a side-note, I think Starry Night is pretty damn good.

[Forsaken_Infinity]

Originally Posted by MetalGearFlaccid

Just on a side-note, I think Starry Night is pretty damn good.

Damn that "too short" notice

[ClannadDango]

I wonder if there will be another when they cry after Higurashi and Umineko, maybe they will all connect into one mega story.

[Revelation]

Depends if Ryukishi07 wants to write more since Umineko is done. Which he probably will.

What it will be about, we have no idea, but some of the speculated ideas are kind of funny.

[ClannadDango]

I hope there's another When They Cry... Even Bernkastel hinted she would be back when something else cries.

Wouldn't it be epic if Ryukishi07 wrote another bunch of When They Cry stories and they all turn out to be related in one giant storyline? That would be so epic if he planned something like that out.

[Kirroha]

Originally Posted by ClannadDango

I hope there's another When They Cry... Even Bernkastel hinted she would be back when something else cries.

Wouldn't it be epic if Ryukishi07 wrote another bunch of When They Cry stories and they all turn out to be related in one giant storyline? That would be so epic if he planned something like that out.

Yep, I sure won't put that past Ryukishi.

[Bluemail]

We do have Okonogi again (Amakusa might have been in Higurashi too), and there's Tokyo from Higurashi that could turn into a bigger development, so who knows? When They Cry 5 could take place in winter, because Higurashi happened in summer and Umineko in autumn... Maybe year 1989 (another 3 years gap)?

And MetalGearFlaccid, there is already a PS3 adaption by Alchemist for the Question Arcs. Called Umineko no Naku Koro ni ~Rondo of the Witch and Reasoning~

While I did like the anime to some degree, I felt that Umineko could have been so much more awesome anime.

[Kirroha]

If there's going to be a Chiru anime, I will be very interested in seeing how they will be handling Yasu. In the game, she's simply not shown and her story is all in first person, but the anime can't do that. They'll probably have to show her straight out.

[rogerpepitone]

Yasu's scenes could be shown from her POV. (The movie _Lady of the Lake_ was done this way.)

[lambdabern]

Originally Posted by Kirroha

If there's going to be a Chiru anime, I will be very interested in seeing how they will be handling Yasu. In the game, she's simply not shown and her story is all in first person, but the anime can't do that. They'll probably have to show her straight out.

That is not the only porblem.Episode 7 as a whole would be REALLY HARD to turn into an anime.I mean since it would have to be separated into episodes it would turn out pretty boring.In the vn you read all the answers(almost) in a fantastic way but mostly because fo the good way it was given to us.How could it be done?How could they do the whole theatre thing without making it ridiculus?And how about the connection between ep 6 and 7?And the theatregoing abillity?And the flashbacks?And yasu's story?And the tea party?Connecting them is one thing and if it was a movie it would be hard but plausible but separating it into episodes without any particular climaxin any of them but the last ones?All of this would need A REALLY GOOD DIRECTOR and i am afraid that not many of them choose to work on VNs.I would be interested in ep 5 and 6 though............

[ndqanh_vn]

Us fan are free to have dream, but let's face the truth: the question is not which studio are going to adapt Chiru, or how they would adapt it, but whether it is going to have an adaption or not.D ue to the poor sale of the first season DVD and the confusing nature of the stories later on (it became too meta now), I doubt Deen would ever give it an adaption, and I don't believe any of other studios would be interested in it.

Which is a shame, I always want to see Dlanor IN ANIME.

Maybe it's just me, though. Exactly how big is the Umineko fanbase in Japan? My friend came to comiket and told me it's not very popular...