Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Masterelia
One of the most infuriating adaptations I've ever seen. Umineko is my favorite story of all time. Tragic that the anime had to rush through plenty of great character moments, remove amazing moments of tension and throw away some of the greatest back and forths I've ever read. The ONLY saving grace is the opening and ending song, which are pretty incredible. I recommend reading the Visual Novel. At least episode 1, Legend of the Golden Witch. If you don't give enough of a shit to read such a long visual novel (listen, I get it), then really don't even bother. It's like being promised a pizza, except the chef decided to throw shit on it. Do you still want the pizza, even though it's covered in shit, poop and feces? Fuck no, nobody does. So skip the damn pizza, and get yourself another meal.
Read at the sourceMiss_Ety
I am appalled at how many reviews are actually a comparison with the original material.
I watched Umineko without any bias, and I don't remember being that hooked at the end of each episode. That says it all!
Characters are varied, stakes are real, suspense and interest is just everywhere! I loved it.
It was very interesting to follow all the logic behind the crimes, and the very concept of a scene replayed several times in different ways is wonderful. Murders themselves are gore, but the gore is logical, usually subtle, and globally not overdone, unlike the new shocking trend for teen anime. It's the first time I'm able to watch such scenes, focusing on the suspense - they are well made and they just make sense.
The evolution of each setting, the new characters introduced... It all was s…
Read at the sourceangecritter
I'm a bit conflicted on the Umineko anime. On one hand, it's got a great atmosphere, solid usage of gore, and a story that's only getting more mysterious as it goes on, not to mention the amazing character development that goes on. But on the other hand, as an adaptation? This series has a plethora of issues, even beyond its nature as an adaptation, but what's really damning is just how good the source material is. It's a shame that anime-only watchers will probably walk away confused and disappointed, as it only adapts the first 4 arcs (of which there are 8) of the original.
Then again, the series is still pretty damn good, all things considered, and has some moments that rival the best of the visual novel. What's most surprising about this series is how the showrunners aren't afraid to…
Read at the sourceDarkSlayerVergil
If you intend to start Umineko No Naku Koro Ni, the anime is a bad starting point. A lot of things are extremely rushed, not to mention it only covers the question arcs. Studio DEEN had a bad idea taking a 100+ hours VN and making it a 26 episode anime. If you want to start Umineko, get the Visual Novel, or the manga. The manga does a way better job than the anime does. However, the best way to enjoy Umineko is by reading the visual novel. You can watch the anime after you've finished Umineko No Naku Koro Ni VN fully, just to make fun of it. At least, that's what I did. Overall, not recommended.
Read at the sourceumisabre
If you wanna experience Umineko for the first time, DO NOT watch the anime, read the visual novel and if you can't afford the visual novel by any chance watch a playthrough of it, this anime will ruin your perception of the Umineko story.
Studio Deen had the anime rushed due to time constraints with in turn caused key elements of the story and plot to be skipped over, not only does this make the story less engaging but it also leaves the viewer confused at most of the mysteries in the anime since the answers for the mysteries were completely omitted from the anime. The story isn't the only thing that lacks in this adaptation, the animation whilst not bad isn't great either, although there are some scenes where the characters just look so bad. The only thing going for this anime is the mus…
Read at the sourcePipeOrganLover
This just my opinion, but only watch the first few episodes. The first 4 episodes is amazing classic murder mystery horror, near peak as far as anime horror goes. The first 4 eps are definitely worth your time to watch, and I can't recommend them enough. But once you reach ep 5 that is the start of where the story massively changes and turns into something huge, drawn out, and overly convoluted to follow. The first 4 eps earned it a higher rating than I would give it based on the remaining episodes. Not saying that the remainder isn't good, it is just a lot to follow and overwhelmed me a bit. It twists people and events a lot and made me feel lost, conflicted, and confused at points. The driving concept from ep 5 onwards was cool, but in practice was not well received by me. It did have it…
Read at the sourceNikkocai
Please, don't watch the Umineko's Anime, read the visual novel instead. If you don't have enough time to read the vn (i mean, you need at least 120hs minimum), read the manga adaptation. But, really, don't watch the anime adaptation if you are interested in Umineko. There are dialogues in the anime and some changes that make impossible to solve the mistery. Don't ruin your experience, read the novel or manga please. Also, there's only the first half of the story adapted.
Umineko no Naku Koro Ni is the best story written by Ryukishi07, this anime adaptation doesn't do justice to it.
If you came from Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, and you probably think "It's from the same studio and time period, how bad umineko adaptation can be? I mean, higurashi's one is good", here's your answer: Umineko i…
Read at the sourcehexashadow13
tl;dr: An anime that is literally just building up mysteries haphazardly without pushing towards solving any of them.
Umineko no Naku Koro ni is a series based on a series of visual novels that is set in the same universe as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. A lot of reviews seem to involve comparisons between the anime and visual novel from those that are already fans of the visual novel and seem to dislike the anime as a bad adaptation. This will definitely not be one of those as I simply have not read the visual novel and thus literally can’t make such a comparison. I will however have some brief comparisons to Higurashi, in that both series of visual novels as far as I can tell seem to follow the same structure, but at least in terms of the anime it worked much better in Higurashi than it di…
Read at the sourceSkyAngelReaper
The anime covers half of the visual novel, which are 4 episodes call "Questions Arcs".
if you are planning to watch only the anime, its okay, is entertaining, intriguing and it has a lot of cool ideas, but at certain point you will start to wonder what's exactly happening in this story.
There are some explanations, hints and answers that are only in the VN, so the anime has some flaws, lacks information in some points and in the end, the anime doesn't completely finish the story properly.
in my opinion, the anime is decent, i enjoyed the first and last episodes a lot, the middle is a bit hard to follow and understand, sadly the end is not the real end, so if you want to experience the full story you should take a look at the Visual Novel.
Read at the sourcesvale
I've had really mixed opinions about this anime. On one hand, I have the gift of hindsight and may not have experienced the same disappointment as those who watched the anime when it first aired, so I like to think of myself as slightly less biased. On the other hand, I did read the entire visual novel and thought it was one of the best literary experiences I have ever had. It's one of those works where I consider it to have changed me both as a person and as a writer from now on.
With the anime, I found that the change in media may have made it really hard for people to follow, especially for those who did not read the visual novel. Particularly the dialogue between Battler and Beatrice really suffered in this adaptation. While I sat at the edge of my seat trying to guess the truth behind…
Read at the sourceErika-21
Atrocious adaptation of the Umineko VN. DEEN has ruined another masterpiece. Again. Umineko would be their 3rd (?) victim, after Fate, Tsukihime, and Fruit Basket.
The poor execution ruined a perfectly amazing story. The mystery is literally unsolvable in this adaptation. The art is meh, it has its up and down. The design is decent, but the animation quality is uneven. The characters never had the chance to showcase and develop because the pacing of the adaptation is atrocious and the mystery is obscured. I was tearing my hair out throughout the show because of how badly they ruined a perfectly good VN.
The only good thing about this adaptation is the VA and the music. The OP is amazing, the ED is memey, KugiRie is amazing, Sayaka Ohara is absolutely amazing. I watched all of the episodes…
Read at the sourceSanaeK10
Full disclosure: This review spoils the entirety of Umineko Anime, and part of the Visual Novels. If you want my opinion on this, the VN is my second favourite ever VN and you should definitely read it. The anime is and has always been an incomplete adaptation and an inferior way to experience the series. And no, the manga is not an adequate way to experience the series.
The Umineko Anime is infamous within the fanbase for its low quality to the point of being regarded with non-existence. Given that it's by the same team who made the fairly decent Higurashi anime, I've decided to give this a watch to ascertain for myself why the anime is so derided by many and to see whether it's at all possible to make an anime out of Umineko at all.
What may surprise most people, especially those who…
Read at the sourceTasoittaja
-this review contains minor spoilers, read at your own risk-
To sum my experience after watching this anime, I was left somewhat unsatisfied. I feel like it's missing something but I don't know what.
Overall a solid anime with a different approach to a plot by giving multiple points of views and/or truths. Maybe the alternate outcomes and going through them was up to the watcher to decide what to believe at first. I probably kept too much in mind that Battler was also watching so I took any new info suspiciously at first. The ending in this anime, with lots of questionable events was bit unsatisfying, in my opinion. Maybe I became too reliant on the absolute truth and didn't want to rely on any assumptions anymore? I felt like I needed to really see the real truth after not relying on an…
Read at the sourceK2xSER
This doesn't exist. Please read the novel or manga instead.
The only thing worthwhile in this adaptation is the music, and you can just listen to that without subjecting yourself to Studio Deen's mistakes.The character songs are worth looking up if nothing else, though the OP/ED hit like a truck if you've read the VN. But the worst thing about all this is that Deen rushed through key parts of the story and characters that almost completely ruins it for anyone trying to solve the mystery. And this isn't even mentioning the AWFUL animation.
One of the greatest stories of all time did not deserve this treatment
Read at the sourcejohnbradshaw
So what crafts a compelling mystery? Is it the horrendous crime that's committed? Is it the brilliant mind game between the detective and the criminal? Is it how charming and shocking the story's twist might be? Or is it the impactful ending that have you surprised? If you're looking for any of these I mentioned, turn your back now, it's not too late because Umineko no Naku Koro ni or When Seagulf cry portrayed none of those.
DEEN is not a bad studio despite lots of people don't like its art style and the low-quality production values which many of their projects possess. I had a great time with many DEEN's anime like Konosuba, The tales of Melodies/Memories and of course, When They Cry. When They Cry showed that DEEN is capable of handling a mystery. It was an interesting anime that kee…
Read at the sourceWindadepts
The Synopsis doesn't really help much so just a heads up it's 4 episodes with roughly 5 eps each covering each episode ( so it's like 4 "games" covered ). Knowing this I can start the review.
Does magic exist? You won't even know anyway from watching this.
This is what I would call the Demo edition of Umineko; You don't need to spend money ( not much if you getting it legally ) and you don't even need to spend 100+ hours on it. This is what you get for how little effort you decide to put into it; an unfinished/resolved mystery with plot points that make 0 sense, very little character development and mediocre fight scenes.
Story: The idea of the story is interesting however the anime executes this rather poorly. When I was watching this I felt like it was like splicing " clips ", kind o…
Read at the sourceLainDarko
One word to describe Umineko: Unfocused.
"Inconsistent" might be another appropriate adjective for this massive disappointment. It lacks any kind of direction in every possible aspect.
There are numerous themes constantly fighting for center stage, every single one of them lacking the subtlety and thought necessary for such an ambitious endeavor to work. It's like watching a toddler try to jam together the pieces of five different puzzles. For one arc, the focus is entirely placed on ideas of greed and money's control over people. Yet another arc tries to explore how pain in one person breeds their cruelty to others. Umineko is incapable of choosing a main theme and it results in a big pile of half-baked philosophies that don't fit together as seamlessly as they should.
There are far too…
Read at the sourceUnlawfulVagabond
The only the way to watch this show is to watch it with a friend, one who you can enjoy suffering with. This is a trial that can only be completed by those with iron resolve, or really bad taste. Each arc felt like a different anime and the characters and motivations were so under explained that it felt like a different anime every arc. I came into this expecting a murder mystery, I got...a comedy? I still don't know. In the end this anime got me to want to buy the game so ten atta ten.
Story: The story left a lot to be desired, it was all over the place and went nowhere. Don't expect a decent ending either because everything just follows the status quo. Battler trying to explain events made it feel like the show was trying hard to be serious but came off as comedic because of how bad it…
Read at the sourceEvan512
I watched this anime within a week and its all fresh in my mind. For those of you guys who are still confused about the story, you are not alone and i may summarized it a bit better(spoilers). I have not read any light novel and just watched the anime so I am not so bookworm biased on this.
My summary(SPOILER BUT ITS WORTH UNDERSTANDING):
The setting takes place at an isolated island where the whole family meets up from such a rare occasion in the years that they were apart. The grandfather was known to be the wealthiest man because he held a contract with the witch by the name of Beatrice.
The grandfather was mad with black magic and sorcery that there was rumors that Beatrice may had been his dead mistress, her soul was caged on the island from his greed, she was inherited the power o…
Read at the sourceKyubey2016
sorry for my bad english (don t kill me please)
i was saw in the past this show for alot recomendations,and i was really dissapoinment and i only put thing who i remember,
first,many of the characters are annoying,easy forgotteable,the unique character only see looking good is "bernkastel "
the sound/music....mhhh....i dont remember so much, the operning its a boring wannabe- orchestra,nothing special,beatrice probably makes you ears bleeding when she starts laughing
story ??? repetitive,and uninspired,people going to a mansion in a island and later unknown things happen and kills the all characters and later gets a sorpresive reebot and sitll alive i think....
i dont recomend this to anything,try to watch another anime....
Read at the source
