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

[Rias]

It's hard to speculate how many seasons. First we don't know how long ep5-8 will be. Second we don't know if Ryukishi is going to pull another "Rei". Third, we don't know how many epsiodes they are calling a "season" (could be 12-13 or 23-26). Fourth, who knows if there's going to be another "anime original" arc just to patch holes?

Let's just see how many episodes they have planned for season 1 first...

[Jan-Poo]

the three season package could be possible if they don't want to wait two years for the second season. I guess it all depends on the user demands, but as some pointed out they could also do season1 26ish episodes (first arc covered) the season2 13ish episodes (first half of answer arc) and season3 13ish episodes (second half of answer arc). Anything is possible as of now.

[Bananoha]

If he pulled a "Rei" for Umineko, it'd have its own OVA. I hope. I wouldn't exactly count it as a third season, if that's what you're trying to get at.

Originally Posted by tcaz2

Well why couldn't they do 3 (assuming they'll need it)?

Just because it's odd (It's really not all that odd, random example is Shakugan no Shana which will have 3 (at least) 24 episode seasons) doesn't mean they can't do it.

But really they should just use however many episodes they need. Higurashi needed another 13 episodes or so, I'd say (they left a LOT of stuff out from the anime), and if Umineko needs it, I think they should.

Er, I don't mean it like that.

As much as I'd love for them to somehow add nearly everything into the anime, this is an anime we're talking about. If I wanted something so detailed, I should just look at the original. Since Umineko is so text heavy, it's hard to tell what they'll do with it exactly. I mean, we're "tainted" since we're reading, so we'll know things people who are only watching the anime will know.

Take what they're doing with Saikoroshi-hen, especially with what they're doing to Rika and her inner thoughts.

Spoiler for Er, just to be safe in case anyone hasn't read it or seen up the ep 3 of the Rei OVAs:

If you haven't read the novel, it's actually pretty good at telling the main part of the story. Since I've read it and realize that they're focusing more on the "if" world than the Furude relationships and Bernkastel, it's lost much of the emotional impact because those two elements are what made the arc so enjoyable for me.

The scene with Rika freaking out at Hanyuu and Rika finding out her mother was the Piece were just kind of "Oh...." moments in the anime for me. Everyone else just talks about how that little fight scene between the White Devil Rika and Satoko was so cool. I guess it's the same kiddies who think Higurashi was a show about killer loli.

Erm, I hope that made sense. >_<;

Originally Posted by Proto

I hate to rain on everyone's parade, but i'd like people to breath deeply and look at this link. Now, be realistic and try again.

Yeah, was going to mention budget. I was just looking for something....

Originally Posted by Understanding Anime Business by MASUDA Hiromichi

*TV anime budget (of one episode, usually 24mins) is 10 to 14 million yen.
*OVA mean budget per minute is 1.0 million yen.
[i.e. 24.0M-Yen/24min]
*the budget of typical cinema anime per min is 3.0 million yen.
[i.e. 0.27B-Yen/90min]

From here.

[Deathkillz]

I would prefer if they don't decide to "invent" things until the final of the final arc is done and dusted. Since the question arcs are complete now it makes perfect sense for them to have 1 season to cover the question arcs then wait until the full answer arcs are release, heck I don't mind waiting if it's a good job done (better than fucking things up with original plots or whatnot). That being said I also think that the first season should be at least 24 eps...to cover the final details, if it was 12 episodes covering 4 question arcs...honestly 3 episode per arc would not do any justice to the original story (and frankly, some mail bombs need to be sent).

[Marion]

Originally Posted by Proto

I hate to rain on everyone's parade, but i'd like people to breath deeply and look at this link. Now, be realistic and try again.

Lol what financial crisis??

Originally Posted by LVD

Er, Lelouch's seiyuu is Fukuyama Jun, who also happens to be Lawrence in Spice and Wolf, if you want another little seiyuu joke.

I think you misunderstood me XD I said "VA" as in Voice Actor, since HigurashiUmineko mentioned Johnny Young Bosch should be Battler's dub-voice, and he voices Lelouch in the C.G dub :P~

Anyways, back on topic, I still wonder how they plan to fit so much into just four episodes per arc. Seriously I really do wonder how they plan on doing such a feat. I imagine most of the beginning will probably get cut down, like it was in the manga, but even then I hope they don't cut out extreme amounts. The Eva-Natsuhi fight over the receipt, for example, is something I hope won't be cut considering it does lead into Eva leaving with Hideyoshi and making the 2nd twilight.

[Ankoku-chan]

Originally Posted by Marion

Lol what financial crisis??


I think you misunderstood me XD I said "VA" as in Voice Actor, since HigurashiUmineko mentioned Johnny Young Bosch should be Battler's dub-voice, and he voices Lelouch in the C.G dub :P~

Anyways, back on topic, I still wonder how they plan to fit so much into just four episodes per arc. Seriously I really do wonder how they plan on doing such a feat. I imagine most of the beginning will probably get cut down, like it was in the manga, but even then I hope they don't cut out extreme amounts. The Eva-Natsuhi fight over the receipt, for example, is something I hope won't be cut considering it does lead into Eva leaving with Hideyoshi and making the 2nd twilight.

Has it been officially said that each arc will be four episodes?

[Baru]

Originally Posted by Ankoku-chan

Has it been officially said that each arc will be four episodes?

Nope, everything discussed here related to Episode count is speculation

[Avisch]

It's more believable that each arc would be 6 episodes. 4 x 6 = 24. But more likely they are going for a 26 episode count so one or two of the arcs will get an extra episode.

[myopius]

Also, since the later games, especially the fourth, are apparently much longer than the earlier games, it seems likely that some games will be getting more episodes than others. The episode should be divided up proportional to the lengths of the games, I guess.

[Bananoha]

I could actually see them doing ep1 in three episodes, maybe four. It's ep4 I'm worried about. And I guess it depends on what they're doing with the meta-world and if they're doing anything with the tea parties.

.... I just want to see Bernkastel do the nipaa thing so I can die happy. Maybe Inoue Marina singing Marisa Stole The Precious Thing, too.

Originally Posted by Marion

I think you misunderstood me XD I said "VA" as in Voice Actor, since HigurashiUmineko mentioned Johnny Young Bosch should be Battler's dub-voice, and he voices Lelouch in the C.G dub :P~

Oh, sorry, I actually have known people who confuse Ono-D and FukuJun with each other somehow, like how some people are mistaking Toyosaki Aki in K-On! for Kawasumi Ayako.... That and I don't know many English voice actors by name. Doesn't help that I tend to remember females better than males, either....

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

I would prefer if they don't decide to "invent" things until the final of the final arc is done and dusted.

If they're getting Ryukishi07's input if they "invent" something to make the anime adaption make more sense, I wouldn't mind. I'm someone who wouldn't enjoy seeing a bunch of red text while trying to watch the anime. :/

[Varion]

Originally Posted by myopius

Also, since the later games, especially the fourth, are apparently much longer than the earlier games, it seems likely that some games will be getting more episodes than others. The episode should be divided up proportional to the lengths of the games, I guess.

Honestly, I think the first half of episode 4 is probably relatively squashable - it dragged on a bit in the game as it is. In terms of episodes needed it doesn't seem to me that it'd need any more than episode 3.

But yeah, I can't really see every game having the same episode count.

[chounokoe]

Originally Posted by Varion

Honestly, I think the first half of episode 4 is probably relatively squashable - it dragged on a bit in the game as it is. In terms of episodes needed it doesn't seem to me that it'd need any more than episode 3.

But yeah, I can't really see every game having the same episode count.

The real problem I see with episode 4 is, that it offers much more new content in the beginning than episode 2 and 3.
You can probably leave out much of the beginning of the family conference, everybody meeting again and also many repeating 'finding out what happened' moments on the Meta-plane.

Well in the end it depends on the input of Ryukishi, when he's involved, and how important he regards Ange's character for the main plot.

In that point it really resembles Himatsubushi in a way, because it introduces a completely new way of telling the story, while the Arcs before that can be considered similar to the Higurashi arcs before Himatsubushi, because you could always just leave out the Club-Games.

Regarding the episode count, I think it's really difficult to decide what can be left out and what not, because we don't have even the slightest idea what's really important and what's not. It's kinda like what they did back then with Tatarigoroshi and how they didn't regard the Epilogue as really important to the main-plot.

[sona-nyl]

Originally Posted by LVD

I could actually see them doing ep1 in three episodes, maybe four. It's ep4 I'm worried about. And I guess it depends on what they're doing with the meta-world and if they're doing anything with the tea parties.

.... I just want to see Bernkastel do the nipaa thing so I can die happy. Maybe Inoue Marina singing Marisa Stole The Precious Thing, too.Oh, sorry, I actually have known people who confuse Ono-D and FukuJun with each other somehow, like how some people are mistaking Toyosaki Aki in K-On! for Kawasumi Ayako.... That and I don't know many English voice actors by name. Doesn't help that I tend to remember females better than males, either....If they're getting Ryukishi07's input if they "invent" something to make the anime adaption make more sense, I wouldn't mind. I'm someone who wouldn't enjoy seeing a bunch of red text while trying to watch the anime. :/

She didnt sing Marisa stole the precious thing she sang tsurupettan but I agree it would be nice to hear it in the anime.

[Rias]

Originally Posted by chounokoe

The real problem I see with episode 4 is, that it offers much more new content in the beginning than episode 2 and 3.
You can probably leave out much of the beginning of the family conference, everybody meeting again and also many repeating 'finding out what happened' moments on the Meta-plane.

That might be so, but I personally don't see the point of the two giant delusions of Maria and Ange to serve any importance besides to convey the whole "hapiness depends on how you see it" thing (which of course, is quite BS as they are just delusions)

Thus I think those are scenes that can be really condensed, and focus more on the adventures of Ange and Amakusa. Personally I think more emphasis should be put on ep3, more than the other 3 episodes.

[maximilianjenus]

Yeah, basically, if they don't cut a lto of things, the anime might get fairly slow and thus boring for most people. still, some of the last arc of higurashi lasted a good amount of episodes yet were not boring.

[chounokoe]

Yeah, basically, if they don't cut a lto of things, the anime might get fairly slow and thus boring for most people. still, some of the last arc of higurashi lasted a good amount of episodes yet were not boring.

Yeah leaving too much drama in may really kill the pace.
I have to admit I considered Minagoroshi both in the Game and in the Anime to be quite a drag, because you only waited for the moment where 'whiny girl' would finally come to her senses and call for help.
Of course it was necessary in a way and the ending proved to have all the more impact, but still I wouldn't want to go through this another time.

That might be so, but I personally don't see the point of the two giant delusions of Maria and Ange to serve any importance besides to convey the whole "hapiness depends on how you see it" thing (which of course, is quite BS as they are just delusions)

Well, we still have to wait what the real 'truth' behind everything is. Of course right now they only seem to be two giant illusions, but there were still 2 or 3 things being told by the stakes and Sakutaro that couldn't be known to Ange...so there's still the question in how far they really are just a delusion.
And well I wouldn't call it BS, that would be a bit too harsh to describe the complete youth of Maria, wouldn't it?

I on the other hand hope there's not a bit of Ange/Amakusa in the anime...but that's my subjective view because those parts of Episode 4 dragged like hell for me.

[tcaz2]

I have to admit I considered Minagoroshi both in the Game and in the Anime to be quite a drag,

That's funny because Minagoroshi-hen was my favorite arc >.>

And I quite enjoy the Ange and Maria back story in 4. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

[momobunny]

Minagoroshi-hen was also my favorite arc in the anime. O.o

Though... Ange and Maria's backstories in EP4 just drags on and on...

[Bananoha]

I liked Ange's back stories. Maria.... not as much, since it's mostly the same stuff done differently, but the "uu" thing was pretty sad/cute. :/

I liked pretty much everything about Kai....

Originally Posted by HanyuuChan

She didnt sing Marisa stole the precious thing she sang tsurupettan but I agree it would be nice to hear it in the anime.

Argh, yeah, I just remembered when I left for work and didn't bother to edit. I guess I got mind fcuked when she's dressing up as Marisa, so I think of Marisa. And there's this very nice Umineko version that I still faintly remember....

-sigh- I could see them cutting out that entire chapter. Kanon and Jessica still have enough interactions with each other in the mansion. It'd just mean people might go "Er, what?" when we see her brass knuckles in ep4. They didn't appear in ep3, right?

Still, it'd be amazing to her Inoue Marina trying to sing it. ;_____;

[Marion]

Originally Posted by LVD

I liked Ange's back stories. Maria.... not as much, since it's mostly the same stuff done differently, but the "uu" thing was pretty sad/cute. :/

I liked pretty much everything about Kai....Argh, yeah, I just remembered when I left for work and didn't bother to edit. I guess I got mind fcuked when she's dressing up as Marisa, so I think of Marisa. And there's this very nice Umineko version that I still faintly remember....

-sigh- I could see them cutting out that entire chapter. Kanon and Jessica still have enough interactions with each other in the mansion. It'd just mean people might go "Er, what?" when we see her brass knuckles in ep4. They didn't appear in ep3, right?

Still, it'd be amazing to her Inoue Marina trying to sing it. ;_____;

I really hope they don't cut out the school festival stuff. It really helps explains Jessica's home life, like how she interacts with her parents, and builds up on the 2nd twilight scene in EP 2.