Title: Umineko: When They Cry
Encompasses: The Complete 26 Episode Series over two Premium Edition Releases
Published by: Nippon Ichi Software America (North America)
Based on: Umineko no Naku Koro ni Sound Novel by 07th Expansion
Genre: Murder Mystery, Supernatural
Audio: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Classification: This title has been classified as M18+ for Intense Violence, Blood/Gore and Language
Special Thanks: NIS America for providing me with a copy of this release to review!
The affluent Ushiromiya family patriarch, Kinzo, is on his deathbed, and his family has assembled at their private island to discuss the division of his estate. As they bicker over their father’s immense inheritance, a typhoon closes in, trapping them on the island. They suddenly receive an eerie word of warning…and then, in the dead of night, the murders begin.
One by one, family members are discovered murdered in bizarre and inhuman ways. Some within the family turn to superstition, blaming it on a witch rumored to inhabit the island. But one of them – the young Battler Ushiromiya – refuses to accept the supernatural and vows to uncover the real killer behind the seemingly impossible slaughters. He soon finds himself confronted by the apparent witch, and enters into a life-or-death battle for the truth.
Partly due to the closure of Geneon Entertainment USA, North America has to date yet to receive the conclusion of the Higurashi: When They Cry anime series. However, NIS America last year charged ahead and picked up the license to the anime adaptation of “When They Cry 3”, also referred to as “Umineko no Naku Koro ni” or “Umineko: When They Cry”. Unlike the previous two, this takes place in a whole new location with all new characters and a much heavier emphasis on the supernatural as you are led to determine if one of the 18 people on Rokkenjima Island are responsible for a series of brutal murders against the other inhabitants or if it is all the working of the Golden Witch Beatrice.
As with most of NIS America’s anime releases, this series comes in Premium Edition only installments at this time – for a total of two sets each exclusively to the Blu-ray format. The sets are not equal in episode contents however, the first comprising of the first three question arcs “Legend of the Golden Witch“, “Turn of the Golden Witch” and “Banquet of the Golden Witch” while the second contains the fourth and slightly longer arc “Alliance of the Golden Witch“. Given these were released at the same time, this review shall be a major review encompassing both sets. Without further ado, let’s jump into this review!
Storyline
Welcome to Rokkenjima Island! Every year the Ushiromiya come together on this island for a family conference, with the big topic of the year being the inheritance due to the family head “Kinzo’s” impending passing. At dinner on the first evening, the youngest member of the family Maria pulls out a letter which claims to come from the Golden Witch Beatrice (Who in the past was claimed to have granted Kinzo ten tonnes of gold) and taunts them to solve an Epitaph in front of her portrait lest she starts to take the lives of the inhabitants according to it. Those residing on the island (13 family members and five servants) awaken the next morning to find six of their own dead… and from there more begin to occur both in grotesque and almost impossible ways.
Following the trend of Higurashi, each of the four arcs involve a single time loop each with different events. However instead of just watching the events, Battler Ushiromiya from the first arc who denies the existence of the witch transcends his normal role and fights against Beatrice in a battle of who is the culprit – “Human or Witch?”. While the core character set consists of the 18 characters on the island as well as Beatrice, each episode brings in new characters whom shake the viewers perspective up in different ways.
Essentially, in the first arc you are provided with a relatively realistic view with only a few potential clues. With each arc that passes you are given a greater view into the events that take place during the arc but are obscured by supernatural scenes – from assumingly human characters who have specific supernatural abilities to battles between supernatural and human characters based on more than just physical ability alone. To break through this, the series makes use of “Red” and later “Blue” text, the former representing claims which when spoken hold true (Not necessarily with explanation).
The storyline unfortunately doesn’t meet up to the standard of the original sound novel released by 07th Expansion, although I think this may be more noticeable if you have read your way through them. That being said, given the limitations of a time-frame I don’t think it did too bad a job of delivering at least the key aspects of the series, and if you go in for a decent storyline with plenty of mysterious over-the-top murder mysteries like Higurashi provided…. you should be left satisfied. Don’t go into this expecting more of the same that was present in “Higurashi: When They Cry” however…. sure there are still murders and other similarities but plot progression and the overall basis for the show differs.
In the end, Umineko: When They Cry is an experience. Just like its predecessor the series has impact and despite the time loops you will never get the same experience in two sets, with new characters, murders, backstories and character development included in each.
Design
Unlike many NIS America anime releases I have at least watched in the past which have been either DVD only or DVD/Blu-ray Combo, their release of Umineko: When They Cry is only available on the Blu-ray format. The actual design quality is good but not the best I have seen in an anime series, however aided by the Blu-ray format the actual visual quality was of a high standard which brought out the expansive colour palette and other aesthetic additions incorporated into this series.
The expansive character cast’s designs are based on their original sound novel counterparts – and have carried across well with their own unique designs and emotional/personality related traits incorporated into their animation, expressions and stance. Several locales of the island also carry over and have been well adapted into the anime environment.
As confirmed by me when NIS America first announced their acquisition of the title, this release is uncensored. So given there are some grotesque death scenes in this series take this into consideration before purchasing.
Music / Voice Acting
Umineko: When They Cry comes with a single opening and single ending sequence. The opening theme is titled “Katayoku no Tori” by Akiko Shikata who was also behind the sound novels original opening theme. The song is pretty enjoyable while the animation is changed between each of the arcs – with a major alteration in the second half with the inclusion of many new characters. The ending theme is la divina tragedia—Makyoku by Jimang, and while the sequence lacks a bit in animation makes up for it in the song.
The original visual novel “Umineko no Naku Koro ni” is sometimes referred to as a “Sound Novel” – in which asides from the storyline the music plays a very important role in setting the mood. By its conclusion the game had an almost countless number of tracks included in it at some point, with new ones being added with each release. Given the transfer to anime style visuals the music felt less dominant in this adaptation, but several tracks from the game once again make an appearance alongside a nice set of anime-exclusive tracks.
As with all NIS America anime releases, Umineko: When They Cry does not have an English dub. As the original game release did not have any voice acting, one of the first installments in this series to have voice acting was the anime and for the most part the Japanese voice cast does a strong job of representing their respective characters and displaying the proper emotion and tone where required. Special mentions in this release go to Daisuke Ono as Battler Ushiromiya, Sayaka Ohara as Beatrice, Yui Horie as Maria Ushiromiya, Atsuko Tanaka as Kyrie Ushiromiya, Minori Chihara as Sakutaro and Tomokazu Sugita as Ronove.
Extra Content and Packaging
As with all other NIS America anime releases to date, before being released as a standard edition (If it does) the series will be released as a Premium Edition with a number of bonus goodies. Both volumes come in hardcover artboxes which are big enough to fit all the contents of each in them. Unfortunately in my case to get one of the (slim) DVD cases out of Volume 1 I almost had to break the box as it somehow ended up stuck at the bottom of the box… however I assume this is an isolated case as it has never happened to me with any of their other releases. Volume 1 contains two slim DVD covers while Volume 2 contains one, each of which features artwork of different characters pictured above.
In recent releases, NIS America have been pretty creative with their hardcover artbooks…. with anohana they titled it “The Super Peace Buster Chronicle” while with Usagi Drop they themed it after Rin’s First Year. These ideas are simple, but theming them help make the books feel less like bonus goodies and more like they part of the series. In the case of Umineko, the two books are themed after Case Files of the murders – not only profiling each of the characters and locale designs but providing thoughts and commentary on the events which take place. As the smaller of the two installments, the second volume also includes an “Additional Materials” section which includes relationship trees and several pieces of artwork.
Other bonus content on-disc includes a standard set of trailers for other NIS America anime as well as clean opening and ending sequences. The Clean Opening animation pertains only to the visuals shown in the first arc. All in all, it is standard for NIS America’s Premium Edition releases, but is overall good quality in both packaging and bonus materials.
Final Word
While the Umineko: When They Cry anime series may not live up to the standard set by the source material, taking into account the format and time they had to work with it turned out to be a very pleasing psychological and supernatural mystery series. This series comes with good production quality, a great soundtrack and solid voice acting, but unfortunately despite this series originally being aired in 2009 there is no word on if an anime adaptation of the Answer Arcs (Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru) will be developed, which may leave this series unfinished and leave many of the mysteries and plots unsolved and unresolved. It was however an enjoyable watch and one I could recommend checking out if you are into the genre.
As for an official game release by the company… in 2010 and 2011, Japanese developer Alchemist released the entire eight arc sound novel series over two Playstation 3 releases. While NIS America have not announced any intent on localizing this title – a request thread on their official forums has currently netted over 2,700 posts…. so there might just be some small possibility of seeing an official release of it somewhere down the track.
Final Score
Storyline / Character Development: B
Design: B
Music/Voice Acting: A-
Extras: B
Personal Preference: B+
Overall Score: B
