Umineko no Naku Koro ni (Season 1) - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[kuro_usagi]

Good Parts:
Voice Acting
I like most of Umineko seiyuus, especially Battler, Beato & Maria. They really did a good job potraying their character personality
Music
Love the OP song by Shikata Akiko. The ED song was okay but not my favorite. The BGMs were pretty good, though I wish they played more "haunting" music for horror scene.
Character Design
The character design is really good. Simple & neat, it's my favorite drawing style
I think the design is one of strongest point to attract audiences to watch this anime.

Bad Parts:
Story Telling
Umineko (VN) series is one of greatest stories I've ever known. I really like the plot.Too bad, the plot was rushed too much, causing many parts (which some are important parts) of original VN plot shortened even removed & confusing anime only viewers (like part where Eva solved the riddle). Though, some scenes were replaced with better one, for example Rosa's horror banquet & Ep3 2nd twilight.
But I didn't like when they prolonged less important scene, like Ange & Kasumi's at Ep4 adaptation

Characterization
Characterization in Umineko is less "cliche" than other animes (for instance, I've never saw anime mom with Rosa's personality before).
Sadly, the fast forwarded adaptation rendered down most personalities of characters, due their short screen times. I don't like this adaptation did with Battler, Kinzo & Rosa's. Their anime version (personality) is worse than VN. Only Maria & Ange that was given good flashback (Eva's was too short ), while others just being told in dialogue or never mentioned at all...

Overall:
Umineko is a great series with great characters but it was screwed up, due poor adaptation. The technical adaptation, such as character design & music is very good
Rushed plot is the one that made the adaptation turned out dissapointing
I don't mind if DEEN re-created the anime once again,like FMA Brotherhood case..of course, with better plot

[Ekureiru]

Voice Acting

The voice acting cast assembled for Umineko no Naku Koro ni was above the par of most series in that is contains a few veterans, and some rookies. Among the 'great' that takes part in the series is Ono Daisuke (Ushiromiya Battler). Known for his other roles in anime (especially Koizumi Itsuki from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu), his attitude and style fits the part perfectly. We also get to enjoy the sounds of Sayaka Ohara (Beatrice), Yui Horie (Ushiromiya Maria), Tomokazu Sugita (Ronove), Rie Kugimiya (Shannon), and among the name we also get known K-ON! seiyuu's Toyosaki Aki (Hirasawa Yui) and Yoko Hikasa (Akiyama Mio). Overall, the cast fits their roles greatly and were exceptionally delicious.
Score: 9/10

Music
The OP and ED for the series exceptional, and the BGM's fit the mood.
Score: 9/10

Character Design:
The designs used for the characters and quality and up to modern standards of animation. However, they are simple, neat, and clean. One of the best drawing styles you can use for an animated series.
Score: 10/10

Story Telling:
While the plot for the series was exceptional, allowing for an occasional 'wtf moment', 'mind screw', or great murder scene, the original visual novel plot must be taken into account while we grade this. Because this came from a visual novel, the content for the anime was substantial. While it could have slowed down the pace a bit while cutting out some material (which is expected from the conversion), they didn't. They decided to include all the details but rush it at the same time, which makes the enrapturement from the plot lesser than intended.
Score: 6/10

Characterization
The series contained bits and pieces of characterization for most of the characters due to it's 'rushed' plot. Only some characters (less important ones) received flashbacks or substantial background coverage (Ange/Maria, for example).
Score: 6/10

Overall Score: 7/10

[Endless_Saiko]

Voice Acting
The voice acting in this anime was one of the most enjoyable parts. I found that each voice was what I was expecting, Yuki Kaida (Gaap) aside, for I wasn't expecting such a mature voice. That, however, was a pleasant surprise. While the most enjoyable voices for me were Daisuke Ono (Battler Ushiromiya), Sayaka Ohara (Beatrice), and Yui Horie (Maria), I, as stated before, thought this cast fit the characters to a "T". There were no instances in which I thought a voice didn't fit a character or that I felt an actor didn't deliver a line correctly or effectively.
Rating: 10/10

Music
The OP was absolutely beautiful and quite addicting; nothing less to be expected from Akiko Shikata. The ED was very...interesting, but enjoyable and great to listen to nonetheless. The BGM could have been improved in certain areas, most notably horror scenes, but usually fit the the scene.
Rating: 9/10

Story Telling/Adaption
It would be quite difficult to rate this without keeping the VN/SN in mind, so I feel it's necessary to incorporate that into this part of the review. The plot of Umineko is one of the greatest plots I've encountered in my life. However, in the conversion from VN to anime, some scenes were lost, which was to be expected, as was story and character development. While DEEN did their best to fit in all the information into 26 episodes, they diminished the effect in doing so, and, in turn, made the plot a lot less enjoyable/understandable. In the beginning, it was impossible for someone who had no experience with the VN to understand most of the characters' personalities at all before the first twilight or said person's death. Also, some scenes that were cut could have been included if DEEN had discarded unnecessary instances of fanservice, when they could have just as easily provided the fanservice already in the VN. Overall, while the VN was great, the anime wasn't exactly up to par.
Rating: 6/10

Animation
This anime's animation was by no means horrible. It didn't cause bleeding of the eyes or the want to simply look away. While it did have it's off moments, such as Maria's "creepy" faces, certain "troll" faces, obnoxiously large breasts, and other, lesser instances, it was not be any means bad. It was even, in some scenes, graceful.
Rating:7/10

Character Design
The designs were very fresh, neat, and pleasant to look at. The attractive way the characters were drawn were very appealing to the viewer's eyes. Such clear designs most likely contributed to the previously mentioned animation quality.
Rating: 10/10

Overall Rating: 8/10

[Lenyo]

Eh... This topic is only somewhat inactive, no? I'd like to put my opinion in...

Animation Quality

My main complaint here lies in the almost seemingly childish mind of the head animator. There are unrealistically large breasts that are constantly focused on.

Other than the above critique, the animation style was actually an acquired taste for myself. And, of course, I acquired it in no time at all! I was taken aback by Battler's hair upon first watching the series, though I quickly was used to it.

Only problem other than the first one was Maria had unrealistic faces a lot for no reason. =/

Animation Score: 7/10

Voice Actors

I'll start this section being frank, and admitting that awhilst watching a Japanese anime with subs, I don't tend to listen to the voices, rather than read the subs. HOWEVER, upon thinking back on the voice acting, I found myself pleased with it. The voices were cast brilliantly for the characters, in my opinion. So, I'm going to give this section a perfect scoring.

Voice Acting Score: 10/10

Script/Adaption from game

And this is where my quarrels begin to lie... You see, I watched the anime first, thought it was pretty good. Bought the games and patched them, played them, and...

I honestly was getting sick over it. The anime failed to bring as much to the table as did the games. In fact, that's an understatement. It's as if the anime's script were a kiddie table you build legos on and the games were a banquet table made for thirty. The games had more character development, more explained, more information, and was really, just better. So yes, the anime gets a very low score here, for me.

Script/Adaption from the game score: 5/10


My opinion on the anime, ignoring what it lacks in comparison to the games/Overall score

Honestly, I immensely enjoyed the anime. I thought the idea of someone trying to disprove something, when that something is torturing them in every way was amazing. I was sold on the series after the last part of Arc 3 "Swindles." However... While I was playing the games, I was sold at the Tea Party of Episode one... So yes, the anime fails in comparison the games, but is great at standing alone, in my opinion.

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10
A great anime, though in my opinion, underrated due to how it fails to stand up to it's video game counterparts.

[Witch of Uncertainty]

Animation Quality: 7
Voice Actors: 10
Script: 8
Adaptation from Game: 7
Editing: 7

OVERALL: 8

I don't understand all this hate for Umineko. I thought it was a good adaption. Of course, it fades in comparison, but what doesn't?
The animations were choppy at some scenes (Rosa slapping Maria at the train, etc), but overall I don't have any complaints.

I even dare say that the first arc was done brilliantly.

[Baru]

Originally Posted by Witch of Uncertainty

I don't understand all this hate for Umineko. I thought it was a good adaption. Of course, it fades in comparison, but what doesn't?

I wholeheartedly agree.
I can understand preferring the visual novel over the anime. But some people take it to such an extreme and bash the anime whenever they can, and it's seriously annoying.

[Lenyo]

While I do agree taking every chance to complain about the anime's bad points is lame, the anime is honestly just not that good when you compare it to the VN. I mean, take the ending of Episode 4 of the VN, compare it to episode 26 of the anime.

When Beatrice asked "Who am I?" In the anime. I was like "Woah, deep."

When Beatrice asked the same question in the VN, I literally peed myself just because of how creepily she set it up. She also used red text to clarify that she was standing in front of Battler, about to kill him.

The VNs tend to make much greater impacts than the anime for the people who play them.

[Witch of Uncertainty]

Originally Posted by Lenyo

While I do agree taking every chance to complain about the anime's bad points is lame, the anime is honestly just not that good when you compare it to the VN. I mean, take the ending of Episode 4 of the VN, compare it to episode 26 of the anime.

When Beatrice asked "Who am I?" In the anime. I was like "Woah, deep."

When Beatrice asked the same question in the VN, I literally peed myself just because of how creepily she set it up. She also used red text to clarify that she was standing in front of Battler, about to kill him.

The VNs tend to make much greater impacts than the anime for the people who play them.

I agree with your points, though I don't think it was reepy in the VN. Just a lot more... errr.. "beautiful", maybe? I honestly wish that DEEn had added the hug, though. I don't think they emphisised enough on Beato's pain. But overall, I was impressed by how good they managed to make that episode, comparing all the material they had to put in.
That said, the anime is nothing compared to the anime. I would probably have bought the season, if I coulkd get it with subs.

[Steampunk Librarian]

I loved the Anime until the last arc. The last arc... felt boring. The final battle of words... was lame as hell.

[Archon_Wing]

The third arc was the best especially with the way that concluded, and the fourth arc was going really well til the end. But the last episode was so bad, I'd almost rather have it just end on the first part of episode 26.

[Steampunk Librarian]

Am I crazy for thinking the first two arcs should've been it for season 1? D:

I mean, idk. Arc 1 is "boring" since its a lot of setup, but I think it could have been cool.

[momobunny]

Originally Posted by Steampunk Librarian

Am I crazy for thinking the first two arcs should've been it for season 1? D:

I mean, idk. Arc 1 is "boring" since its a lot of setup, but I think it could have been cool.

If you're crazy for thinking that then I must be crazy too. ^^;

[Archon_Wing]

In an ideal world that would be possible and most certainly would be better. But then you'd need like 4+ seasons for the whole series, and then budget crap and maybe they didn't want that kind of commitment.

But given the poor sales, that might have been worth in the long run...

[erneiz_hyde]

Still, I think the anime did a good job portraying everything just enough so when season 2 comes out if ever those that didn't play the game will get the "oh, so that's how it was".

That was my personal reaction with higurashi. I originally had an internal swear not to read any "when they cry" games because I know I would be addicted. But, just last month I became the cat and voila I'm hooked to it and only then did I know the name Ryuukishi07, just as i feared
I still haven't played Higurashi though.

[OgodItsKanon]

Animation: 8/10 Nice, but some parts were a bit choppy.

Voice Actors: 9.5/10 Oho. Wonderful, wonderful VAing. Special mention to Tomokazu Sugita(Ronove).

Music: 8.5/10 I LOVED the opening, but they really should have kept the VN BGM. And the ending was a little too trippy for me

Adaptation from Game: 3/10 DEEEEEEEEEEEEN! It had plot holes so wide you couldn't see across. Dragon-Kinzo was awesome though lololol

Character Design: 7/10 Most of the character designs were nice, but the women... TOO. MUCH. GAINAXING. Seriously, it's like Rosa and Ange are the only women in the series who've ever heard of a bra.

Overall: 7.2/10 It was meh. DEEN could have done a MUCH better job with the adaption. However, it wasn't like the worst thing EVAR. If there's a second season, cross your fingers and hope DEEN learned from its mistakes.

[CrimsonMoonMist]

Animation Quality: 8/10: Probably the biggest reason for me to watch this was to see how the characters would look drawn "well", and Deen did not disappoint. Sure the overall look is quite generic and the animation get kinda unrefined once it zooms out, but they remained faithful to the original designs,
and all characters looked like themselves. That being said, the oversized breast proprtions of some characters kinda disturbed me.
Voice Actors: 9/10: Everyone sounded exactly like i thought they would!
The actor i enjoyed the most would be Daisuke Ono as Battler, he really nailed the performance perfectly.
Adaptation from Game: 4/10: Everything was faitful enough, but so much was taken out that the end result felt like a slideshow. I found it to work surprisingly well as a summary of sort to refresh my mind at times. But this is not what an anime adaptation should be, as it is, if you plan to introduce yourself to Umineko, you should just play the novel first instead of it just being for ones who'd like a little more information.
Music: 7/10: I was pleasantly surprised to find that the anime actually uses a largy amount of remixed music from the VN. Unfortunately, the music selection and when they play seem kinda odd. WHERE'S DREAD OF THE GRAVE?

Overall: 6/10: The end result is not too bad, it's cool that they used music from the VN and seeing and hearing the familiar characters this way is also worth watching for. Unfortunately, the anime completely fails at the most important aspect, the story. And i can't really reccomend it to anyone other than those who has already read the VN and just want something extra.

[Pascha]

Out of all animes that I have watched over the years, the title song of this anime is the best and awe inspiring apropos to any particular genre of animation.

[Meltyred]

Animation: 7/10
If I compare it to the original art, then it would be 10/10, I'd take unnecessary gore over blurred backgrounds and weirdly proportioned sprites any day.

Voice actors: 8/10
Nothing bad, they sounded great. Cept for that Uu-Uu, it sticks to my mind like glue.

Adaptation from game:4/10
In the end it felt like the best way to watch the anime was for the story(which is full of plot holes.) and play the game for the mysteries instead, which was why I got into Umineko.
They left out the more important deductions/ theory crackings and fleshed out the characters more, but with some missing scenes it just didn't flesh them out enough. (I mean, we almost saw krauss get some character development, then bam, he's dead.)

Music: 7/10
Music didn't have the impact it did in the VN had, it wasn't the voices, I played ep1 in PS3 mode (which had voices). Though the OP and ED has great synergy with Umineko itself.

Overall: 6.5/10
Sadly, it fails to fully let the audience experience the world of rokkenjima and the suspense and thrill, as well as sense of dread when the murders happened.
You don't get the same feeling when you watch the anime, feels as though it was more strangers dead, instead of the tension that creeps up as the survivors slowly decrease...

[RandomAvatarFan]

I saw the anime before I read the VN. I never read the Higurashi VNs, and I thought since the Higurashi anime was quite fun (especially the second season) I'll give Umineko a go.

Animation Quality: 7
Compared to Higurashi, I thought Umineko's animation was much more consistent. QUALITY happens no matter which studio you go to. I do feel that they did get lazier with it in EP 4. Oh and Maria's facial expressions were just terrible. The character designs were nice though.

Voice Actors: 10
Haha, I loved the voice actors, mostly because of Bernkastel and Beatrice. I felt Episode 2's Tea Party was a great performance by all those involved. Even though I hated her expressions, I loved the way Maria's VN did the switch from little child to psycho.

Script: 4
I watched the anime before I read the VNs. I actually stopped watching it halfway through Turn, because I was severely confused by the premise. Legend's ???? Tea Party didn't do anything for the plot. Characters pop out of the woodwork, and magic appears to be nothing but a delusion. 1998 also made very little sense.

Adaptation from Game: 1

Oh my. There were a lot more clues, more red, more awesome music in the VN!
Yeah, Golden Slaughterer is fun, but why do you play it every chapter. How do you cut out Hope and all of the songs that share its theme? I felt the music was way too low, and was the Sound Novel's best trait. I'm jamming out to the Music Box right now. I guess if you don't know what you're missing, you can't miss it.

And the clues! There's more to Kinzo than what the anime shows you, there's more to the servants. I haven't read Chiru yet, so I don't know what's a red herring or a legitimate clue, but still... Ryukishi himself said it was possible to solve the epitaph by the end of Banquet. I don't think it's possible to solve it after watching the anime.

Lot's of red was taken out as well, but this seems to have already been discussed.

Finally, the deepest core of the story was just glossed over. The thing that makes Umineko truly When They Cry 3, a sequel to Higurashi, is explored a lot more in the VNs.

Overall Umineko was very difficult to follow before reading the VN, and just a huge fail after reading the VN. DEEN is incompetent!

[battle22]

um guys amazons says that this dvd of umineko has english subs. is it true?

Spoiler for amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Umineko-Naku-Koro-Complete-Anime/dp/B005CKZXT6/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1314982912&sr=8-4