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View Poll Results: Umineko no Naku Koro ni (Season 1) - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating
Perfect 10 40 12.82%
9 out of 10 : Excellent 16 5.13%
8 out of 10 : Very Good 50 16.03%
7 out of 10 : Good 66 21.15%
6 out of 10 : Average 48 15.38%
5 out of 10 : Below Average 29 9.29%
4 out of 10 : Poor 28 8.97%
3 out of 10 : Bad 15 4.81%
2 out of 10 : Very Bad 4 1.28%
1 out of 10 : Painful 16 5.13%
Voters: 312. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 2009-12-31, 16:37   Link #1
Klashikari
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Umineko no Naku Koro ni (Season 1) - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

This thread is to be used for discussing the first season of Umineko no Naku Koro ni... your thoughts about the show, overall impressions, speculation on the possible DVD only bonus episodes, etc., etc…

A few subjects you might want to ramble on about:
  • General impression of the series.
  • Opinions on the overall story, writing & plot devices.
  • Thoughts about the animation quality.
  • Will there be additional DVD only episodes and what will they contain.
  • How did the anime compare with the game?
  • Characters/Character Design
  • What the show meant to you.
  • What could the creators/animators/writers could have done better.
And so on.

The poll represents your total series rating. In other words, how you would rate all the episodes combined (1-10)? If you'd rather rate the whole series by technical/artistic merits, you can do so. An example:

Animation Quality: 1-10
Voice Actors: 1-10
Script: 1-10
Adaptation from Game: 1-10
Editing: 1-10

Average = Total Series Rating

Or a combination of the two. Or your general gut feeling.
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Old 2009-12-31, 16:41   Link #2
AmyElizzabeth
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Ooh, I personally absolutely loved Umineko to death.
I liked the art and story, and didn't care about what they cut out and all. It was the best of 2009 for me
Animation Quality: 9
Voice Actors: 10
Script: lolwut
Adaptation from Game: idc
Editing: 10
Overall:99/100. I took one away for a reason that is-They did take alot of stuff out, but I don't really care, but I still take one away
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Old 2009-12-31, 17:06   Link #3
Marion
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Wonderful. I already typed out my entire ramblings for this season, so let me post them now.

Spoiler for Best and Worst of the Series:



Animation Quality: 8
Voice Actors: 9
Script: 7
Adaptation from Game: 5
Editing: 6

Although that's how I feel about the series as a whole, my general feelings go up to Average (6). I didn't have high hopes and expectations, but just god.
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Old 2009-12-31, 17:35   Link #4
June 1983
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Animation Quality: 7 (Overall, I liked the animation, but if the quality had lived upt the design this would have been much higher)

Voice Actors: 9 (Basically excellent!)

Script: 7 (I felt like they cut out some of the best lines and some of the "summarization" dialogue they came up with fell very flat)

Adaptation from Game: 4 (Yeah. No need to explain.)

Editing: 5 (Also obvious.)

Average: 6
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Old 2009-12-31, 17:56   Link #5
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I give it 7 out of 10 even though I think it was just average because there aren't that many *better* shows, specially VN adaptations to compare to.
The animation was pretty good although it kept degrading through the series.
The Voice Actors were awesome. Specially liked Kinzo, Battler, Kanon, Jessica, Ronove and Beatrice.
As a standalone, its story is appreciable I guess but it hurt the feelings of anyone who has read the novel I bet, and I am no exception.
If it wasn't for the beyond crappy ending, I would have given it a 8. despite those holes in the characters and totally annoying exclusions from the game. The last episode was an epic failure.


BTW, hi everyone, I decided to stop being a silent stalker and make some posts
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Old 2009-12-31, 20:25   Link #6
Tomoya-kun
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Animation Quality: 7 - It was ok overall, but the quality in some episodes had "rushed" written all over it. Alliance did a good job of improving this though.

Voice Actors: 10 - These were the best part of the Anime. The voice actors did a stunningly good job. Especially Ohara (Beatrice) and Ono (Battler).

Script: 6 - Could've been better. While they did keep several good lines, a lot of good/comical ones were taken out. But it was good overall I suppose.

Adaption from the Visual Novels: 4 - Do I really need to explain? They took out a lot of good/comical scenes, and they also took out a semi-important one (in my opinion, anyway. Said scene was the adult discussion in Banquet).

Editing: 4 - same as adaption explanation.

Overall: 6 - Meh, it was average. It went from decent to suckish to great to bad. Not that great, but I've seen worse.
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Old 2009-12-31, 20:44   Link #7
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Higurashi is probaly my favorite series of all time. I'm quite aware that it was not a good adaptation, and had terrible artwork with questionable direction but it had enough screwiness and lovable enough characters that key moments were emotional ones that would be remembered. A good story can have you rooting for the characters to win! But for the most part, if you said Higurashi was good in spite of Deen and was too good to ruin, I could just go with that.

So along comes Umineko, and Kon Chikai/Deen are at it again. Did they get their shit together this time? Or perhaps at least make it a good standalone show? The result is well... questionable.

The story of Umineko challenges the reader to think on another level. Sometimes we think we know everything and become complacent. Our world view does not change, so once we see something out of the ordinary, our world falls apart and we try to reason it. When we can't find a reason, we often will succumb to the first meaningful explanation that appears. But the easy way out can't be taken; you will have lost! Umineko isn't Higurashi, and it's not right mindset to have.

Umineko initially started out pretty boring. It's understandable that the huge cast would have some flat characters, but most of them just seemed so pointless. I didn't even get to know most of their names into some way halfway through. For the most of the first half of the season, save for the end of the first arc, episodes consisted of Event A,B,C,D as if the script writer were just reading off a list and here they go! The transition from scene to scene is just not very good. Though they eventually get better at it.

And that's just how I felt about most of the characters. There were just plot devices being moved along by the plot. It became the character attachment of a typical crappy horror movie. Sure what happened to them may be pretty nasty, but anyone can make some random character die horribly. I need to be compelled to care about a character before I give a damn about them. However, the anime does a better job in the third and fourth arcs and thus the show became enjoyable to watch.

The best developed character out of the few that mattered (not in terms of boobage mind you) is Beatrice. She starts off as a generic villain, but as the series goes along we get to see many facets of her personality. Yes she is evil, but she's also devious and playful. In the late part of the season, we see that she is more than just a psychotic killer. While her ruse in episode 3 did get a lot of hate from me, it's revealed that not all of it may be fake. By the end of the fourth arc, we come to the realization that she doesn't want to play anymore, and is most likely being coerced. We also learn that nobody is on her side. Bern and Lambda are against her, and the family wins if Beatrice loses. Beatrice can not win and she's one of the most pitable characters in the story.

Our male lead Battler has a little development, but for the most part he remains rather generic aside from the pervertedness. But I must show my respect for anyone that makes vulgar jokes when he sees his aunt being forced to eat his own cousin. That was probaly his defining moment for this season. We now realize that giving up is not acceptable and there is nowhere to run.

He seems to have hit a wall in arc 4. Maybe because it's not concerning him too much, but he seems to lack emotion, though it could be expected due to all the crap that's already happened.

Maria... ugh. She was probably meant to be more sympathetic that she appeared in the anime. Indeed, those ridiclous faces and Deen's obsession with portraying her as a relative of Light Yagami pretty much failed miserably, and wasn't scary at all. Except some points in the 4th arc, when we realize how crappy a mom Rosa really is. The Rosa torture scene is indeed disturbing, but extremely effective in showing how broken Maria really is. Who would have known you could make a character more interesting by developing them?

George, Jessica, Shannon-- They are likable and aren't made of cardboard. But that's all I can say about them.

Eva/Eva-Beatrice is an interesting twist that happened as Eva seems to be torn apart in a fight agianst herself. She also seems to be plagued with guilt in the fourth arc. Eva-Beatrice is even more sadistic than Beato, and is pretty effective as a villain, but she lacks Beato's elegance.

Ange/Stakes-- While some might have found the start of the 4th arc to be boring, I found that to be really good as we finally have something that actually matters. Her interaction with the stakes is probably the high point of the series, and the epic slaughter in the penultimate is one as well.

The mystery. lol wut? Umineko's anime plot is quite the trainwreck as mostly I'm wondering what the hell was the point of most of the stuff. Indeed, the leaving out of details may have hurt it a lot. Most jarring is Eva appearing to just randomly solve the epitaph. Near the end was the worst The final confrontation had virtually no red text which means most of it is pointless. Wtf?? I'm sure it's solvable in the VN, but pretty much impossible from just watching the anime.

The ending was plain abysmal. Despite having one of the best previews ever, it had such a lack of emotion that it might as well have never existing. Especially Ange's death. Given all the time spent building up her character, you'd expect a dramatic exit with an angry Battler rising up to win for real this time. You'd expect something sad and memorable. That's not what you got here though. This alone knocks the anime down an entire point for me, much less the incomprehensible garbage that was the 2nd half of the finale.

Soundtrack was nice, and they actually used the awesome tracks from the VN, unlike Higurashi. Unforunately, as I've heard from VN readers, they weren't well used, and a certain god track was just left out. The OP is wonderful, the ED is funny.

Character designs were pleasant. Bern and Beatrice look great. The animation however... Deen hasn't learned yet.

The voice acting is great and why you should watch the series. Beatrice's VA did a exceptional job. CONGRATULATIONS made me fall out of my chair and rewind.

Overall: 6/10 I felt the show was more entertaining to watch for the 2nd half, and it had enough wtfness to keep me going. So I would say it was time well spent watching it, even though some of it was spent facepalming. The unacceptable ending drags it down a bit, and as with most other shows I give a 6 to could have been great with more effort. I'd like to see more of this, though it will probably be with another studio, which I'm sure others here would love. I do not want to see the When the Cry anime franchise to just end here.
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Last edited by Archon_Wing; 2010-01-01 at 21:56. Reason: Gonna try to rename "episode" to arc; getting confusing
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Old 2009-12-31, 21:02   Link #8
Klashikari
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As usual, my AS series review can be sort of longwinded. Please bear with me.


So, as some people might know, I'm in charge of Witch Hunt, the translation group of the VN ever since its creation back in February 2008. With that "intro", you can expect me to be well versed with the original franchise... and perhaps too much.
Indeed, I won't deny that my position wasn't making my anime enjoyment anything easier, but I certainly believe that as a VN reader, my critics so far were done in order to point out the inherent issues that should have been addressed, without putting the said adaptation to any more shame or praise than necessary.

Without much ado:


1) Image Quality:

1.1 Sakuga
The art style was, to be plain, not exactly what I expected.
It isn't about "good" or "bad", but rather how it was difficult to imagine the characters at the start with the first rough sheets (especially Battler, who still look extremely different to his original incarnation in my eyes). That wasn't much a problem as the characters were easily recognizable, but still the "aura" or "vibes" were definitely not the same, or lacked the emotions (or perhaps Ryukishi was really doing too much with the expressions?).

Anyway, aside of this point which was a plain demonstration of my preferences, the Sakuga themselves were really not consistent. To me, the designers were extremely basic in term of handling the designs of the characters, often abusing still shot and far zoom camera pan to decrease substantially the level of detail.
If it was just for this, it would be fine, but for some reasons, those who were in charge of the design were... probably fans of large breasts.
Let's be honest, yes female characters were gifted by Ryukishi in the original game, however, the proportions and chest inflation were beyond a joke. I really couldn't stop face palming at the sight of Natsuhi, Eva and Kyrie's balloons, almost as big as their head, breaking... what, E Cup?
Likewise, the men weren't really spared and it seems the old curse from Higurashi kai happened once again: they became quite strong built, but it seems their head wasn't accounted in the budget. Because of this, it isn't really rare to see Rudolf and Krauss with abnormal body frame, as if they were transformers or megazords in flesh.

The cousins were spared of this, except perhaps Jessica in few instances (yes, I'm talking about Episode 5, and its instant framerate X2 increase for some breast jiggling), and Maria's psychotic faces that were totally overdone (VN readers can confirm they weren't intended to be like that and latest episodes prove Maria is nowhere close to facial distortion).

Just to add the insult to the injury, the consistency is often at stake, without trying to pull a pun: the Stakes often got their hair color or even hair style swapped within bare few seconds within the same episode (especially that scene with the Stakes being obliterated by Ange).

Finally, the real regret I had with the design was the utter lack of emotions: most characters had stiff expressions and didn't really show their anger, sorrow and so forth.
It was even more noticeable in the last episodes, with Ange being basically indifferent to Battler's existence denial, Beato's reaction towards Ange's intrusion or Battler "rage" in the last episode... perhaps this is more like a script issue instead, which will be developed later on.

Aside of the characters, the architecture of the mansion and its scenery were fine, though the colors in general were awfully dull. I know it isn’t as close as Hinamizawa, but the lack of proper gradients minimized use of rich colors (Red, Yellow, etc) don’t help in that dull impression.

1.2 Animation
Now that makes the whole Sakuga problem even worse, as basically the animation was alienated by (un)intelligent abuse of camera pan. The problem is that it doesn't compliment the efforts they have done, when the only moving thing is the only character speaking, or the camera itself (the legendary "sidewayyyy" abuse in Episode 1 arc).
I will not deny few things were well animated (such like Kanon VS Lucifer in Episode 3 arc), but it is quite saddening that their budget was kind of fixed on breast jiggling and very rare key scenes.

In short
In that regard, I really think Higurashi Kai was superior in both design/image and animation departments.
I would still give a "decent" score for this, as I can see they didn't go as low as cabbage love or whatever kind of mockery.
6/10

2) Sound Quality:
2.1 Voice Actors
Probably one of the few strong points of this adaptation: the plethora of Seiyuu.
As a lot of people around, I was quite skeptical about Beato and Battler's seiyuu assignments’ back at the start, but in the end, it wasn't that hard to be accustomed.
In fact, there weren't many characters that didn't feel right.

I can only say that Siesta 410 voice is basically atrocious (and unfitting), Rosa just sound too young even after 26 episodes (but excellent outbursts), Kinzo lacks of "class" still (for me, of course... I guess I still have Wakamoto in mind), George... not enough "Tommy" like (Mikiya!! )
Meanwhile, I loved the Stakes voices (minus Asmodeus), Battler, Natsuhi, Krauss, Ronove, Beato and of course Bernkastel (Yukarin :3)

2.2 Opening / Ending
The opening was quite nice, but I think the flow was kind of broken... I guess the momentum break at "nakanai de" was bit overkill to me, but it certainly fits very well the franchise.

The ending was perhaps a better highlight for me, considering how it suits so well Kinzo .
If it wasn't for the crazy parts of Episode 4, I guess the impact would have been much more lessened.

2.3 Inserted Songs
There was unfortunately none. It isn't bad per se, since there were only 1 inserted song by Episode arc in the VN, but I think it wouldn't have been a problem for them to add these. Not really a minus point, it isn't like they are more important than the next point...

2.4 BGM
...now that is probably the only red mark of the sound department here.
As you know, Umineko is exactly like Higurashi: a VN, but more precisely, a sound novel. Their main strength is the mood enhanced with the SFX but mainly the BGM.
And this is where it doesn't look that good: the person in charge of the composition didn't exploit the excellent OST of the game.
Truth to be told, Umineko has good anime original tracks, which is a far cry from those shamelessly recycled in Higurashi, but most of them didn't feel completely fitting with the scenes they were used in.
But that wasn't that much of a problem, since these weren't used in a bad way.
The problem however is how they misused the original tracks. I guess this opinion is shared, but I really think someone at DEEN HQ had a big obsession over "suspicion", to the point it is used like at least thrice per arc, which is extremely jarring so to speak.
Using the bad track isn't only the sole issue here, but also how some tracks weren't given justice due to the timing... I think the first twilight discovery is enough to realize how it was really badly timed but also too low.

Some key scenes were seriously affected by the lack of such BGM, to the point the mood might be totally different (I think almost everyone can agree regarding dreamenddischarger for the very "battle" in Episode 26, or dir for Ange's death).

This is really the true negative point in this section that does have a certain weight...

In short
If it wasn't for the BGM issue, they could have almost get the max score. However, they still did a decent job, despite there were a lot left to be desired regarding the BGM.

8/10


3) Script:
This is probably the biggest issue of this anime. Basically, the whole ordeal of the characters wasn't really smooth in term of pace and content.

3.1 Characters:
The characters were basically a "watered down" version of their VN selves in most case that I often wondered if it was really an adaptation.

I acknowledge that it is by no mean practical or feasible to have every detail or character developments. That's a pure given.
However, aside of possible cuts, my main problem is how some characters are void of emotions or their characteristic TRAITS.

Jessica is the prime example of this: she is not exactly shown as the rash and tsundere girl around.
Episode 1 and Episode 2 were quite the proof of it: she was basically quite "generic" without her characteristic burning passion. Because of this, her "development" in Episode 4 wasn't exactly convincing, even with VN knowledge. It didn't need any character development, but plain traits used. Therefore, the lack of cold shoulder and "rants" over her parents don't give emphasis on the heartwarming effect of the scorpion charm with Natsuhi. Likewise, the struggle with Kanon in Episode 2 arc doesn't seem exactly as problematic, when Jessica just soak what Kanon said and let him leave without protesting (which doesn't help her supposed "you are human!!!" comment).

But as I mention the characters traits (affecting characters like Jessica, Gohda, Kumasawa etc), the problem is the lack of emotions that really put all the empathy almost to 0.
Episode 1 and Episode 2 first twilights were quite a letdown: you have a blunt shock, then almost nothing has happened (especially Ep2, until the kids show up). That trend was kept thorough the series, even in the end. I personally wasn't happy how Battler was kind of "shocked" at most when Ange was bleeding, then ultimately dying. Serious? yes. Enraged? no.

It is really difficult to "care" about characters when they don't exactly feel human, and this is exactly what's happening with Umineko, especially when it comes to corpse’s discovery in general.

This is why both points combined leave me a sour aftertaste regarding the characters.
Umineko is nowhere close to be a plain carbon copy of "and then there were none" with an otaku disguise: against the usual and cold detective story mood, Umineko sets so many layers of depth and subtle details with a giant cast of characters.
Thus, it is quite disheartening to see most of them as good as bunch of dolls or "read the script" pole. Even with the Seiyuu best performances, they can't outmatch the letdown if they are told to say a line without much aftermath behind.

3.2 Story progression
A very debated point, that's for sure.
As you know, Umineko really suffered a lot for its jarring pacing. Of course, it was "thanks" to its gigantic size and level of details. However, it has to be said that the scripters and series composer were kind of goofy regarding the pacing and things to be given, and that more than once.

Because of this, a lot of events and details felt quite disjointed, and due to some details missing, it is actually hard to connect the dots regarding some characters' reactions (the lack of Kanon's self admission regarding his love for Jessica + Furniture/human in Episode 2 intro was quite a problem to understand why he turned her down, etc).

And of course, some events don't exactly make much sense without VN knowledge (gapgapgap for instance...)


In short
They certainly were affected by the overall number of episode for this season, yet I think budget and time constraints don't mean scripters can't have any creativity to overcome this kind of issues. Most cuts were needed indeed, but some could have been made in a different way, without losing much in the process.
5/10


4) Adaptation from the game
Aside of that huge debate regarding Episode 25, Umineko didn't exactly have its best share of pacing, that certainly cost a lot of details in the process.

And by no mean these details were small. Of course, we can just ignore details like Kanon being a weak boy unable to carry a bag of fertilizer. I mean details like
red truth.
I mean... does it make any sense that Beatrice starts to say in Episode 3 that she "already confirmed" the death of the first six, despite it didn't happen in the anime?
Likewise, why Hideyoshi's testimony wasn't in red? How about the whole list of "death"?
Episode 4 was basically the straw: if we suppress the lack of "Beato's counter offensives" the whole issue is that the anime doesn't provide enough information to the watchers.
Was it too much to make Beato say "Kanon is dead" despite Piece Battler didn't find his corpse? Likewise, how about the last riddle, when Battler is about to be killed, but not in red? How a watcher is supposed to know if it is a fact that can be trusted?

This is where lies the most problematic issue regarding the adaptation, all categories alike: the consistencies and clues.
So many red were removed altogether without any proper justification, but it goes worst when Episode 4 is totally screwed up with a mess in the murders.
And this is probably the sole mistake that I think any VN reader has the rightful right to rant like no tomorrow: no matter how they miss character developments, BGM or whatsoever, they ought to give the minimum and CORRECT clues/hints/murders setup due to the plot nature of Umineko.

And again, to add the insult to the injury, they managed to omit important red truth that are part of a plot twist and resolution in Episode 5. Without this red truth, it is 100% impossible (no exaggeration) to adapt Episode 5, unless they edit it to the point it is not an adaptation.
If you add the issue regarding the characters, it is just more salt to the wound. The only saving grace is like what Marion mentioned in her review: Beato was well adapted... which wasn't exactly the case for Battler...

In short
And in that regard, I can hereby say that the scripters failed. Not totally, but they really messed up a lot of things that it is really impossible to buy that Ryukihi supervised them. At the very best, he just guided them for few points and then the scripters had a field trip.
And that point doesn't help much with the aforementioned points.
3/10


Conclusion
This adaptation of
Umineko no Naku Koro ni wasn't a total disaster, but it wasn't far from it either.
Crippled too much by a very uninspiring direction and poor choices regarding budget and the like, the series was basically a mere digest display of the true story, which is unlikely to be the purpose of an "adaptation".

Even if the series could be considered as a standalone, the glaring mistakes and lack of proper time management don't make it any more "suitable" for non VN readers.

Quite a disappointment for me, there is no need to hide that.
5/10 - below average


This "essay" is of course my only opinion, and I don't pretend to get an appreciation more worthy than anyone else's.
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Old 2009-12-31, 21:40   Link #9
k//eternal
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I'm not a fan of writing big, long-winded reviews, and I think Klash has touched on many of the points I have in mind, anyway.

Suffice to say, I feel like between the tasteless "fanservice", complete butchering of the mystery (especially in the final battle where just making the text red would have helped substantially), completely bland action scenes (when I know DEEN can do better based on F/SN... never mind the overall quality of that adaptation), tone problems (see the epilogue of EP2), and animation errors (including the overuse of Mariaface), I couldn't begin to think that the animators had actual respect for the source material, which is truly unfortunate.

As an adaptation of the SN, this doesn't even begin to fly. The mystery is completely ruined.

As a first introduction to the series (with a view to pointing people toward the games), this is only moderately successful. I've seen people claim that it's a Higurashi rehash. Anyone who's actually played the games would know this is far from the truth, but based on the anime itself, I can't blame them.

As a supplement to the SN catering just to the fans, it still disappoints. As mentioned, the action scenes just fall flat, and doesn't begin to represent DEEN's best. Cans of mackerel and the random addition of "gapgapgap" are NOT a satisfying callout to existing series fans. The anime's strong point (had it been something "for the fans") should have been in the action scenes, at least compared to the SN and manga, and this just didn't happen.

I think that the anime aimed at all three of these goals in an indecisive manner, and in short, it quite frankly fails at all of them. And now that it already exists, any hope of a better adaptation is effectively dashed.

In light of that, I can't give this more than 3/10.
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Old 2010-01-01, 01:39   Link #10
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Seems the guys here are crueler than I perceived them to be lol (and I thought people would find my 7/10 cruel >.>). Time to get a new perspective.
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Old 2010-01-01, 19:26   Link #11
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A wonderful mystery anime. I'm almost shocked this was made by the same group as Higurashi... I wonder if they really want the audience to try and solve everything in a logical manner, with girls flying around and turning into spikes and people teleporting around in the most entertaining outfits.
Well, I'm sure they can answer everything with "It was just a delusion."
Heck, it couldn't even turn into horror, with overdone face distortions that only brought laughter.

Either way, I'd give it a 1/10 for being so disappointing as a person looking forward to a mystery, but I'd say 4/10 because it was so entertaining as a comedy. Too bad 11eyes beat it there.

2nd season?
......
Heh.
No, I was just laughing over the dragon in the last episode, that's all...
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Old 2010-01-01, 19:41   Link #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Forsaken_Infinity View Post
Seems the guys here are crueler than I perceived them to be lol (and I thought people would find my 7/10 cruel >.>). Time to get a new perspective.
There's nothing cruel about calling a series "good". There's also nothing cruel about calling a subpar series that craps all over its source material "bad".
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Old 2010-01-01, 21:15   Link #13
Forsaken_Infinity
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Originally Posted by k//eternal View Post
There's nothing cruel about calling a series "good". There's also nothing cruel about calling a subpar series that craps all over its source material "bad".
Amen to that
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Old 2010-01-01, 23:53   Link #14
tcaz2
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Animation: 4

The animation... normally, this would not bother me in a series (Higurashi's sure didn't), but there were so many glaringly obvious problems, like Genji's shirt being transparent in an early episode, or changing hair colors for the Stakes, etc. I've seen worse, but not too many.

Voice Actors: 9

Ah, the high point of this series. The voice actors really did a great job for the most part, and all of them fit the characters to almost exactly how I'd thought of them in the VN, save Beatrice (who I got used to pretty quick). The only reason this isn't a 10 is because they really, really lacked emotion in some of the key scenes in the series. However, this seems to be a directing problem and not a VA problem, because in things like the drama CDs for the same scenes, they're fine.

Overall, a solid cast.

Music: 6

What happened here? The VN series known for having awesome music and we get... either terribly butchered versions of songs from the VN, bad original music (for the most part, there's 1 or 2 decent ones), or ones that just plain don't fit the scenes.

I'm horribly disappointed in the music aspect of this series. It's just plain pathetic, but what IS there and IS matched up well is enough to save it from being abysmal.


Adaptation from Game: 1

What. The. Fuck.

That's all I can really say here. I've not seen an adaption this terrible since the Tsukihime anime. Not explaining crucial parts of the plot, leaving out tons of character development, changing character personalities, cutting short or screwing with the best scenes in the series, and leaving out important red text... it's just beyond terrible. A 1 might even be too high. I and many others have ranted so much about how absolutely horrid this is as an adaption, so I'm not going to go back over it here.

Either way, I'm very, very sorry for anyone that watches this anime and does like it enough to read the VN afterward, because it spoils all the surprises, and doesn't even do ANY of them well.

Overall: 3

My score isn't an average, because I don't think I can fairly judge the story, characters, etc by the anime alone since I know their VN counterparts and they're so different. Instead, I'm rating the overall on just how I feel about the series and how much I enjoyed it. Quite frankly... I didn't. This is the only anime series I've ever said "Thank god it's over" to, and I hope to hell it is for good.
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Old 2010-01-02, 00:34   Link #15
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A word: First, let me clarify I have not read the VN. Aside from some scenes I caught on Youtube, I don't know much about the VN Umineko.

Animation Quality: 8

I really like how the characters were drawn. It really was a beautiful Anime. I know a lot of people have issues with the animation, but I honestly didn't even notice the things I've read in this thread. I liked the coloring, the Golden Butterflies were especially pretty.

I HATED THE MARIA FACES. PLEASE IF THERE IS SEASON TWO... OMIT THEM.

Voice Actors: 10!!!!!!

I don't need to say anything. You can just hear the wonderful talent provided by the entire cast. I don't speak Japanese, but none of the voices seemed out of place. Ronove was my favorite. Beatrice would be my second. Virgilia is a third.

Script: 5-10 (varies)

Sometimes the dialogue seemed dull. Especially in the final episode where everything should have been keeping me on the edge of my seat. Even finding out that Kinzo was dead didn't shock me when it should have. :/

Adaptation from Game: ????

No clue.

Editing: 1

The last Arc was BORING, UNEVENTFUL and LAME. Ep 25 was entirely about Ange doing errands. I know they are probably key to solving the mystery... but it was such a yawn fest. In all honesty, I don't remember anything about Arc 4 except George and Jessica own each other, Ange gets the shit kicked out of her and Battler is apparently completely wrong with all his blue.

Average = 7-8

Only worth watching for the music + voice acting... well all the episodes were interesting to me except those associated with Arc 4.
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Old 2010-01-02, 01:15   Link #16
Kite22
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Originally Posted by serenade_beta View Post
A wonderful mystery anime. I'm almost shocked this was made by the same group as Higurashi... I wonder if they really want the audience to try and solve everything in a logical manner, with girls flying around and turning into spikes and people teleporting around in the most entertaining outfits.
Well, I'm sure they can answer everything with "It was just a delusion."
Heck, it couldn't even turn into horror, with overdone face distortions that only brought laughter.

Either way, I'd give it a 1/10 for being so disappointing as a person looking forward to a mystery, but I'd say 4/10 because it was so entertaining as a comedy. Too bad 11eyes beat it there.

2nd season?
......
Heh.
No, I was just laughing over the dragon in the last episode, that's all...
Sounds like you STRONGLY need to read the Visual/Sound Novels since that has the mystery you're looking for, it's not even close to being as simple as "Just denying everything, problem solved!"
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Old 2010-01-02, 04:06   Link #17
LaplaceNoMa
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Moving past the 'Ono and Sugita, Itsuki and Kyon, etc etc' jokes, Sugita did very well with Ronove. He truly brought out Ronove's personality and didn't make him sound too flamboyant or too rough, but found a very nice balance with the character. Truly one of my favorite VA's.
Are you serious? No, I can totally agree with you that he's a good VA.

But still. Brought out Ronove's personality? That hysterical laugh instead of 'pu ku ku'?
Dude, even Wakamoto Norio would be a better Ronove than him.
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Old 2010-01-02, 05:29   Link #18
Marion
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Originally Posted by LaplaceNoMa View Post
Are you serious? No, I can totally agree with you that he's a good VA.

But still. Brought out Ronove's personality? That hysterical laugh instead of 'pu ku ku'?
Dude, even Wakamoto Norio would be a better Ronove than him.
Sorry but for me he did bring out the character. And what hysterical laugh? I think you're confusing characters because Beato was the one who was hysterically laughing. Ronove was always doing a snickering pukuku in his scenes and always classy. I think Sugita did great.
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Old 2010-01-02, 07:37   Link #19
urusai
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Gave it a few points for the commendable efforts by the voice actors.

Too bad the only people at DEEN who gave half a crap about this show were the ones who did the stupid episode previews.

Without love..(ry
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Old 2010-01-02, 08:29   Link #20
June 1983
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Originally Posted by LaplaceNoMa View Post
Are you serious? No, I can totally agree with you that he's a good VA.

But still. Brought out Ronove's personality? That hysterical laugh instead of 'pu ku ku'?
Dude, even Wakamoto Norio would be a better Ronove than him.
Yeah, um, what the hell are you talking about? He didn't have a hysterical laugh. I can't even think of a single instance in which you could ever describe him as hysterical. "I do not think that word means what you think it means ..."

He played Ronove as he extremely restrained and sort of darkly mischievous, exactly as he's supposed to be.
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