Umineko When They Cry
Producer : 7th extension
Genre : Visual Novel, Mystery / Fantasy
Well,
First, you’ll notice that this article is in english unlike all the stuff I have written in this blog before. The reason is quite simple : as I made a piano cover of one of the music from the Visual Novel I’ll be talking about, I wanted the related article to be readable for everyone. Also, Umineko hasn’t been translated in french yet, so I guess anyone who would want to read some opinion about it already have an advanced level in english.
Let’s get back to the point now. I’ll start with the feeling I had while reading the game, then I'll explain how I grasped the truth of the case and finally I will discuss the messages delivered by the plot. Of course, go ahead only if you don’t plan on reading Umineko / if you have already read it.
A journey to the truth, or is it ?
Umineko may not be a masterpiece, but it’s an experience on its own. I’d recommend it to anyone who‘s open-minded, already into some jewels Japan produced, and also willing to give a good chunk of his time to fully enjoy this story. It’s really worth it, especially because of the brilliant soundtrack, but you have to be warned.
Because to me, Umineko is a difficult VN to go through, the main reason being that the rhythm is confused. Diving into the architecture of the story, every chapter is a book, an entire one. I thought the first one would be some kind of introduction (which it kinda is, just one level above), but the story went complete. Not the whole story, of course, but the whole murdering one.
You’ll accept enduring some dull passages in this chapter, as deepening the relationships between the characters is extremely important in this kind of game (I learned that through the first ten hours of Steins;Gate), but when you reach the second chapter, all the way to the fifth one, these dull passages can be pretty painful. They all have their big moments, but you often have to go in quick-read mode because you simply don’t care about what happens, and Umineko has this major flaw of over-narrating everything. The stories depicted aren’t uninteresting though : the second chapter takes you in a fantasy style, third dealt with Beato’s false regrets and introduced a new « witch », EVA Beatrice. It was probably the best from the question arc. Fourth’s ending is good, yet, the whole Ange / Maria plot got quite boring, and wasn’t easy to appreciate. A lot of hint are hidden in these parts, but it's hard to always be searching for clues as simply enjoying the story being told is also a possibility.
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| At least she made the case a lot easier to solve ! |
Then you start the answer arc, because, frankly, you want to understand. It starts with the introduction of some new characters, which will make sure you have to go through yet another murdering plot, and it’s dull, again. I’d even say it was the worst, my guess is there was a need for the serie to have 8 chapters, so this one is just a filler. Finally, it’s when the sixth chapter starts that I reached the turning point you’ll have in any book : the turning point when reading is no longer forced, the turning point where the story caught you attention. And yeah, because of this, it was worth it.
This represents more than 60 hours of reading. God, the investment is huge. I’d say that 30% of this length was wortwhile, and 70% wasn’t far from a loss of time. 100% of the rest (40 hours) was sweet, rewarding me for being patient. Because it finally starts to offer some answers. Because the weird closed room in the beginning of the sixth is a real change of pace. But also because we’re slowly understanding what’s happening. Slowly is the word, you don’t have everything you want till the very end. But at least you’re being given the point, plus some hints to understand what happened in the previous chapters. You also have this fight between the three pairs of lovers, huge clue to the key of this story, fight that takes place because this is not three pairs, bur rather 3 claimants and one lover.
The seventh one is very welcomed, explaining the witch’s riddle and exposing the culprit, but the fact there was no true reveal left place to uncertainty. Yes, of course we’re able to easily guess what happened and why it happened, but I’ll get back to why it’s handled in a strange way in the next part.
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| Funny how this character becomes useless in the next chapter, but still saves the day. |
In the end, I had most of the
answers, and the chapter ends abruptly, leaving behind its trail a deadly tea
party. At that time, I was already sucked into the final. Red truth is
countered as we witnessed an happy ending, then Ange choses her exit door. I
liked the Trick one a lot, even if the Magic one is the way to go. We then have
the chance to witness Battler and Ange reunion, as it was foreshadowed for a
while since Battler never died during the games and because of the 7th’s
chapter tea party where we don’t know what he becomes. Plus obviously the
opening describing his meeting with Featherine.
That’s it for the reading, then, after some checking on the internet, I was able to see the clear truth behind all of this (it’s revealed in the manga apparently), and FINALLY it also allowed me to fully appreciate some scenes I didn’t totally understood before.
Thoughts about how the reveal is brought (or not)
1 127 000 words read apparently. Gosh that’s something.
Now, I’m very bad at guessing anything when I watch / read a story, I like to say it’s because the plot twist hits even bigger if you didn’t spent time uncovering it. I have a different point of view from the writer here : I like the « prestige » part of the mystery genre. In real life, I will find satisfaction in being right, but when the medium is not a person, but a book or a screen, there’s nothing to prove. And being honest, understanding all the things that were left unanswered before in a big finale is thrilling. I know it may not be the most common attitude towards mystery (one of my best friend always tries to guess what will happen, and I’ve seen that my father always wanna understand everything even if the movie just started), but I read and I watch movie to dream. There’s a trust between a writer and the reader, Umineko tackled this, and I believe that the way the writer wants to take me by is the most enjoyable one. Also, I say this as someone really into maths and philosophy, and overall into imagination, so it’s not that I don’t care about the truth, it’s just that sometimes you just wanna enjoy the journey without bothering to think about all its details.
It also helps to deal with a lot of shit in life. You don’t need to understand everything, and the reason I tell this is because it’s the main « philosophical » subject of Umineko. But it shows the great difference between « The truth doesn’t matter » and « Seeking for the truth isn’t that important ».
Knowing this, some choices made in the game left me bewildered. And this is where Umineko shows it’s a game, not a book : the writer wants the reader to understand what happened by himself. Chapter 6 clearly shows this, with this battle between the pair of lovers and the fact only one pair can win ; there’s a huge hint here. There’s also this whole weird lines about furniture (which disturbed me since the beginning of episode 1 : why the fuck are these people not calling themselves humans ? The answer is now crystal clear). We also get this mystery about the missing Kanon’s corpse in the 2nd episode… Then the 7th one finally shows mercy… but doesn’t sell the whole thing, even if I admit it was like someone yelling at me that Beatrice is Kanon is Shannon. But there’s this tiny bit of uncertainty left in the end that sounds weird. It sounds weird because we have been deceived the whole time, and the fact we're 99.99% sure of what the truth is isn't enough in my opinion. Not in a game that treat about certainty and miracles.
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| A duel so Yasu can decide who she really is. That's what it was all about. |
I just wasn’t entirely convinced, because this wasn’t a true reveal, and also because I had no way to put any theory into practice : there wasn’t this moment of epiphany when everything suddenly makes sense, the game just blatantly told me who Beatrice really is. Yeah, I get it. Of course, linking the previous events in the episode lead the reader to realize that both are the same, and therefore, to understand how the mystery unravels. But I was too busy thinking about how the fuck it could be Shannon as she was missing half of her face in episode 1 : couldn’t see there was no red truth at the moment certifying her death. So to me if felt that the game made me accept the fact Shannon and Kanon were the same person, but closed abruptely thereafter, opening on a new plot (the real one, where she’s not the killer) instead of going back on at least one of the previous case to lead to this epiphany the mystery genre should cherish. The writer tell his reader to re-read the first 4 chapters so they can understand, ok, but it’s not like I want to spend 50 more hours on it !
There’s the whole thing about the truth, I’ll get back to this, but still : you foreshadow the solution to a crime, then suddenly start giving a whole deluge of clues to the reader (chapter 6 and 7), so he can understand but yet you leave him with the final exposure left undone ? That's like forgetting the drop after all the build-up ! So this isn’t mystery in the end, indeed. And I admit I was a little dissapointed by that. The cost wasn’t even high, the whole thing about the truth would still work very well, and you’ll make sure the reader would be able to recreate the previous murders, and understand everything as he adds the key new information you just gave him. As a proof I’m not completely dumb, the manga adaptation ADDED this revelation in the seventh chapter, when Willard exposes every blue truth that are veiled in the VN. The cost ? Nothing really. The reward : a complete piece. I think the issue would be solved by sparing us some of the chapters so we can focus on the real plot. Even a recap of the main red truths (maybe following the form of Bernkastel’s game, with only the key points ?) would have been enough… You can’t force us to read a book that long twice !
Or maybe this was all planned and the truth isn't even the one that everyone thinks it is, some wrote about this, but I'm ok with what the game proposed honestly. It has issues, but it connects most dots.
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| Wasn't that convinced by that catchy phrase, love is seriously messed up in this game. |
Anyway, understanding the reason justifying many
scenes was still very satisfying, but I find it weird that I wanted to end the game
so I could seek for answers on the internet, which I did avidly. Some would
say I haven’t grasped what the author was trying to say, but I’d reply he kinda
broke the contract : he needed to present the answer. The piece of
litterature needs to show that everything was doable in my opinion. Hopefully,
Internet does exist, so you can check everything (the 7th chapter Willard’s
reveal by the manga is enough honestly), but the fact it was necessary to do it
is the same thought process that lead me to dislike Tenet. A piece should be
enough on it’s own, and must avoid AT ALL COST leaving unanswered questions at the
end of the first viewing/reading. Of course you might want to experiment it
once more to enjoy the knowledge you acquired (Shutter Island is still my
favourite example proving this), but the first time should be a complete
experience on its own. Looking at Internet for answers was a fast-forward way
to re-read Umineko, I wouldn’t have had precise answer to all crimes, but at
least I would have been able to see how Yasu’s secret explains a lot of things.
I’m still thinking about reading the manga as a faster way to have this new point of view for the reading. But yeah, when you tell the story of a murder, you have to provide the answer, and not the possibility of an answer in my opinion. It's frustrating as a reader not to have a definite answer because the writer is like a thief not giving you what he should have given. The more I read opinions on the internet, the more I see why in most mystery novel, the whole scene is reconstructed : because, in this genre, this is the main source of satisfaction for the reader. There's some irony in saying truth doesn't matter when you write something that mainly depends on its truth. There's also some laziness (or maybe cowardice ?) in leaving the solution to reader's imagination. You have to bear responsibility for what you wrote. If the manga didn't come out, this would have been an issue in my opinion.
Why it was such an unique Experience
That’s enough ranting. There’s some other flaws, the fact it’s probably too long and the weird outfit worn by the illusions, but it’s linked to the medium in my opinion. This also leads me to think this would have been an insanely good book.
But we wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the epic soundtrack. It’s amazing, and it’s why Visual Novels is attractive. Emotion is deeply enhanced, and the themes are really enjoyable. I could also talk about the variety of the instruments used, giving a baroque feel to a lot of the songs, also because of the organism and the harpsichord. Answer arc had also these electronic-orchestra themes for epic battles that fitted suprisingly well the plot. Everyone that played the VN will agree on this point.
Character developement is great, but it’s not a surprise if we see the time given to everyone of them. Not talking about Yasu, the relationship between Georges and Shannon is well written while the one with Jessica and Kanon a bit meh. The Beato Battler thing is well brought, and didn’t fall some obvious traps I feared. The secondary characters are also very intersting, whether it’s the illusions or the humans. I think the relationship that really was the most enjoyable to follow was the one between Bernkaster and Lambdadelta. The final battle between these two also had to happen, and gave both some depth, way more than episode 5 that took it too slow. Overall, everyone had a complex personnality, also liked Ange’s one even if her story is way over developped.
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| These two made a hell of a show. Proof that fantasy carried the mystery part in my opinion. |
Now, to be honest, Yasu's character is the weirdest of all. The motivations are far from being enough in my opinion, and the "love" he feels towards the three cousins is almost nonsensical. Well, the three combined are, and I think this is why I couldn't see the truth of Shannon and Kanon being the same person. It's weird she loves two persons at the same moment (Jessica and Georges), and while the game told that without love it cannot be seen, well, I'd rather say that with love, with true love, Kanon and Shannon being the same person is totally fucked up. Shannon being Beatrice makes sense (you escape one love with another one), but Kanon is something else. Of course this is the truth, you take it or not, but still. I'm not even talking about the fact noone noticed Kanon and Shannon were the same person, but hey, it's probably very logical.
Anyway, now about the story, it's… once you understood it, it’s deep. Because aside from Bern & Lambda, everything is connected to reality. Most pieces are inspired from Sayo’s reality, completed by Maria’s one, the whole game is based on Battler recovering his memory, the first two games are obviously unrelated to the true ending but are still children of Yasu’s mind while the other two must bo some forgeries. This leads me to treat imagination as the main theme from Umineko. After all, Imagination takes birth in reality, and this thing about vessels is like everything inspiring any writer for his story. The game gave a name to what gives birth to imagination. The first chapters are also a game of imagination when we see how far Battler goes to solve the riddles (to a ridiculous extent most of the time, but still). Finally, the game seems to say that magic exists as long as you believe, or as long as you're able to imagine it. This is a nice perspective. It also presents imagination as a way to run away from the reality, as Sayo and Maria do. Finally, it's what gives cat boxes its endless power, because our imagination is infinite, and therefore, as long as you don't open the door, anything can hide behind it.
There’s also a huge load of themes that were tackled during these 100 hours of reading, you just don’t grasp all of them at first :
Insecurity about one’s body, definition of love without the physical part of it, definition of love without any chance of giving birth, the horrible psychological effect of incest, bullying, rejection because of one’s difference, whether they are physical or because of how you’re being treated or because of your family. Then the whole topic of split personality, gender identification, I’d even say meaning of a genre, whether it’s Mystery/Fantasy or Male/Female/Other… Finally, illusions and truth, what’s the best ? Truth isn’t always necessary it would seem. There’s also the whole trauma about the truth breaking illusions, the scene between Maria and Erika shows it very well. So the adulthood passage when reality replace magic, and the fact one you know something you can't deny it anymore. Illusions also bear a cost, the cost that they have to unfold. Illusions cost was the massacre of Rokkenjima.
Or is it ?
It’s also fun to point out that the truth tells us it’s Kyrie and Rudolf who went berserk after Eva « slipped » and killed Natsuhi. The truth behind the riddle killed them, money killed them and was the real bad guy of the whole serie. There’s nothing about the main Rokkenjima’s illusion here. Then, we also know that what Yasu has done is beyond forgiveness, whatever the game told us. Just put yourself in Jessica’s or George’s shoes, who were clearly abused. Yeah, grief caused Yasu to go that way, but it doesn’t forgive everything, her end, deep in the (blue) ocean is the sign that it needed a punishment somehow. Battler understood, way better than I did honestly, he even kept on trusting her, but he was away for six years. He was driven by remorse, because of this deadly promise he made before, that lured Shannon into believing in love. And this killed her, while she wanted to bring everyone in her grave.
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| This woman is insane. Sumadera's women are all insane anyway. But a mystery often need some cold-blooded killer. |
Knowing the truth behind Yasu’s identity would be devastating for the characters, they were killed but at least they were preserved from knowing their love was… can’t say artificial but rather impossible (which is why a miracle needed to happen) ? I really think it’s not something they wanted to know. Again, Ange is crushed by the weight of the truth, because she knows who the culprits are despite believing for so long Eva was responsible. She understood how bad she treated her aunt, who had an awful position and still chose to raise the daughter of the people who killed everyone on the island. We should still remember she is the reason the fuse was lit, but there’s more forgiveness to grant her than Yasu in my opinion.
Once the illusions are erased, what’s left is dark. Very dark. A father having sex with his daughter, a child is born, then thrown of a cliff by his adoptive mother, which causes him to be infertile and deformed. The child has to grow as an honored servant, but not knowing why, thus he’s bullied by his comrades. The family he serves is corrupted by money, not even able to take care of themselves without relying on the inheritance. They lie to each other, some even hide their father’s death for two years. Then they get to kill each other in front of a mountain of gold which represent more money than you could possibly dream of. They kill their brothers and sisters children, and want to hide the crime in a big explosion. All of this is fueled by the desire of killing the child felt, because he was also ready (the crime he didn’t commit in the end still required a lot of preparation, between the letters, the guns, and the messages in the bottle). The child, who created three personality, creating some fucked-up love with all of the siblings, planning to kill them anyway, all because of a promise made by a 12 years old kid.
WOW.
No wonder truth is not a good thing to learn. We should rather stick with the 8th game halloween party ! Illusions are great after all. And yet, you can’t understand this before everything is revealed, that’s what Ange discovered. Has her life improved ? Well, it changed a lot. The « Trick » end shows she kept on walking in the dark path her family carved, while the « Magic » one finaly offers some relief.
Anyway, whatever the side-effect of the truth are, you always want to know it. This is why you shouldn’t be seeking it at all cost, because the discovery could as well finish you. Some truth are better left unknown. BUT while this is true for the pieces, we, as the readers, were here to learn what happened. And the tale is also how you should understand the truth, and not always wait for it to be served to you in a silver plate. I agree for this in life in general, but there are some time when we don’t really wanna seek, and are just here to enjoy a good story well told.
Ok that was a long review. Two pages less than Steins;Gate though, I’m making some progress ! Thanks if you read it, partially or totally, as it was very fun to write about this great game. I’m going to dive into Higurashi now ! Take care.
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