Umineko: Introduction & Spoiler Policies [How not to get Banned]
 

This thread will serve as an introduction for all of you who aren't familar with Umineko no Naku Koro ni.

If you ever heard of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, you probably had the hunch that Umineko is linked to Higurashi, by just looking at the titles and subtitle. This is indeed the case, but to make sure you don't make any misunderstanding, the thread will serve as a little introduction. But first, here is a little summary of the premises:


The story is set in year 1986 on a secluded island named Rokkenjima, within a timeframe of 4th and 5th October. Kinzo, the head of the wealthy and prestigious Ushiromiya family, is declared to die soon by his attending physician. As result, his four sons and daughters prepare their next annual family meeting on the secluded island, to determine how the family assets will be shared among the siblings and their children.
However, during the meeting, all 18 people are trapped on the island by a typhoon, and soon after mysterious murders occur...

Ushiromiya Battler, the main protagonist of the franchise, will be facing a challenge: is everything humanly possible? Or does Beatrice truly exist?


As you might know, Higurashi was famous for its horror, mystery, suspense and drama themes over its 2 seasons.
As its successor, Umineko will certainly share some similarities in the themes, however that's that. Unless it will be as a cameo, you won't see characters like Keiichi or Rena in Umineko. None.

Umineko is by no mean a Higurashi II with different characters, nor a sequel/prequel: it is a story on its own. While Higurashi main vector was Mystery, Umineko focalises much more on the detective aspect: unlike Higurashi, Umineko will quickly show various typical detective plot headlines (the so cliché murder incident on a locked island), somewhat similar to Agatha Christie's And then they were none.
However, summarizing Umineko with this famous detective fiction would be unfair and inaccurate: aside of its detective aspect, Umineko offers a lot of different themes such like Higurashi: romance, drama, psychology and a very odd "Anti-Mystery VS Anti-Fantasy" aspect which will be addressed in Episode 2.
As you can see, the themes are really widespread and this is thanks to the plethora of characters we are served with Umineko. Although very different from the colorful cast of Higurashi, Umineko delivers many differents characters, all rich of traits, depths and unique problems that can turn the whole story as a sideplot.

Due to its inherent storytelling and structure, Umineko gives a formula combining the usual detective fiction with a twist of "alternative results", which was already used in Higurashi, a signature move of their author, Ryukishi07.
With this, the plot engross the readers over time regarding the nature of the murders, but more particularly to this specific question: Was everything the doing of a witch? Or can you claim the culprit is indeed human?

This challenge seems to be naturally driven to deny the witch, but common sense doesn't always prevail against the might of Fantasy. Deny it, overlook it, ignore it, forget it, but you certainly cannot make it unexistent unless you can prove it to be pure delusion.


Addendum:
As you probably saw in this sub-forum, many Game threads have an obscure "term": Episode. This is used pretty much like the term "chapter" and refers to the individual Umineko games.
If you ever happen to notice "episode", be cautious of the context of the discussion: talking about episode 2 and Episode 2 can be totally different (former being the second aired episode of 20 minutes of the anime series, while the later is the second ARC of the series).
I ask all of you to keep a certain "consensus" so none of you will be mistaken when discussing about Umineko: please use a capitalized E for game arc, while regular e for anime episode term. Also, the anime use a straightforward fashion for this: Episode X-Y (X being the number of the arc, Y being the number of the part/episode of this arc).
Of course, using the term "chapter" or the title of the said arc (Legend of the Golden Witch for example) can also do the trick.


Umineko no Naku Koro ni airs on Chiba TV on Thursday at 1:30AM, which means on Wednesday at:

-UTC: 4:30PM
-CEST: 6:30PM
-PDT: 9:30AM

If you want more accurate timezone, please check any time zone website, such like this one. From there, you can calculate yourself with the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC - GMT) as the reference point. You can also follow this site.
Please do not start asking "when it airs depending of your location": the means have been presented to you, so use them at your own convenience.

Regarding Spoilers for Umineko [How Not To Be Banned]
 

As stated in our Spoilers Policies, we do not allow any spoilers EVEN in spoilers tags if they aren't located in the appropriate threads.
The use of spoiler tags doesn't make any spoilers eligible unless they are in their original material thread, the spoiler thread or for comparison sake (without any future event content).

Considering how the english community for Umineko grew much more in touch with the original material compared to Higurashi, it is inevitable that spoilers would be much more recurrent. This is the reason why rules WILL BE enforced.

Any game spoiler posted in an anime thread (except the spoiler/expectation thread) will end up with a temporary ban of 1 day, without any kind of warning (there won't be any excuse, and spoiler tags won't be any!). Further offense will escalate to harsher ban.

As game readers, you certainly realized that spoilers can have a huge impact on the enjoyement of this franchise, especially considering its mystery and detective aspect. Therefore, please do not spoil the fun of your peers who did not play the game like you did.

Comparisons with the original material and the manga is fine. BUT as stated in our policies, they can only be used if the material used was ALREADY shown in the anime medium. Therefore, please DO NOT start ranting about an inconsistency that can lead to some problem with a future Episode: it will just make things even more complicated for those who didn't read the visual novel! Please use the spoiler thread instead.
Furthermore, please do not switch the topic of the anime episode thread into a long extended comparison discussion. Again please use the spoiler thread.

Theses rules also apply to Avatars and Signatures: it is inevitable that some people are already spoiled due to the numerous use of spoilerish images. However, that doesn't mean any image can be used as avatar and/or signature.
Should it be considered as too spoilerish, it will be removed without any warning and infraction/ban can be issued. So please play it safe (if you are unsure, you can ask to me or any other seasoned game player if your image is a spoiler or not).

Additionally, please remember that everyone didn't finish/watch/read Higurashi before watching/reading Umineko. Therefore, please keep it safe and use proper spoiler tags and titles. Due to Umineko basis, it is pretty easy to inadvertaly spoil Higurashi.

Finally, please remember that we, moderators, are here to settle things the fastest we can. Therefore, if you notice a spoiler, please report it by clicking on the report icon (http://forums.animesuki.com/images/a...ons/report.gif). It will be much faster this way than quoting and saying "IT IS A SPOILER!".
Not only it won't fix anything, but if the spoiler wasn't obvious, your post will put more emphasis to it and might turn to a REAL spoiler as result.

These are good guidelines, I was not aware of this lowercase for anime and uppercase for game thing, will keep that in mind to avoid confuse. I might just say 'game' and 'tv ep' or something since it seems confusing for people who don't read this page.