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Completed Umineko. I know it's kinda predictable, but yeah, this is easily one of my favorite fictional experiences to date, no question about it. Absolutely brilliant. A 10/10, without question. There's a lot of impressive stuff in this story. First of all, it's-
probably the most thematically dense story I've ever experienced, the only story which could match it in terms of how much there is to think about its themes is Chimera Ant alone.
Characters are masterful. The cast is extremely human and is just full of characters that are severely flawed people, but remain sympathetic till the end because they're that well realized.
They're also extremely well integrated thematically into the story, pretty much every character has a role to play and adds something to the themes, a new perspective or a new topic to think about.
The series explores themes of perspective, truth and love in the most unique and innovative way I've ever seen. Ofc, Umineko is a mystery, so a huge part of the experience is to think about it, actively theorise and try to solve it, and it's honestly half the fun.
I love theorising and mindgames such as this in general, so I knew this was my kind of thing, but I gotta say. It is damn complex, and at several times I thought Ryukishi wouldn't be able to actually make it all work cause it seemed absolutely impossible.
But as each episode progressed, I found myself making sense of most things as I learned more and more. The story not only allowed me to solve it on my own, but managed to outwit me in several aspects in the end as well, and filled in the gaps that I've missed.
I have no idea how an actual person could think up all of this, but everything works, and it is absolutely brilliant. TOP 1 plotting for sure. TOP 1 premise as well, although it's not really apparent until around episode 2.
But even then, Umineko is a self recontextualising story, so even the very fundamental premise gets recontextualised throughout. After the final episode, you even have a completely new understanding of what the entire story is about. It's incredible.
Character Tier List (ordered inside tiers as well):
Easily Top 1 OST for me. Over 200 songs with just consistent bangers. zts is obviously my favorite artist, and I love his pipe organ music and when he plays around with the violin, but all tracks deserve a ton of praise. OST Tier List below:
Gonna run through the episodes now, rank and rate them, talk about them a bit. No spoilers, but I might hint at what characters gets the spotlight in each arc, so if that's too spoilery for you lol, well, there's your warning I guess.
#8. EP 1 Legend of the Golden Witch: Rough start, but picks up, and proves itself to be very compelling and very clever. Characters are solid but only with full context could I fully appreciate the amount of characterization that's present in this episode. Terrifying climax.
#7. EP 2 Turn of the Golden Witch: More of a drama of wits. Addictingly compelling. Most characters get more depth. Beatrice is an incredibly effective villain. A lot of lovely mindgames in this one. Emotional climax. This episode hits VERY different with full context.
#6. EP 3 Banquet of the Golden Witch: The thrilling mind games continue, while adding plenty of new elements, terrifying twists everywhere and plenty of character development for Beatrice and Eva. Crazy climax. This episode is just a ton of mind-screwing fun.
#5. EP 6 Dawn of the Golden Witch: Focused on the themes of starting over, redoing our past mistakes and realising what truly matters, this arc does wonders for many of the couples in the story. George is hilarious. Erika is still amazing. Uneven in quality at times though.
#4. EP 5: End of the Golden Witch: So much good character stuff. Battler at his best, Natsuhi is fantastic, and Erika is a wonderful deconstruction of the classic detective archetype. This episode truly shows that the series is a love letter to detective fiction. Peak climax.
#3. EP 4 Alliance of the Golden Witch: The thematic heart of the series. Emotional, thematically rich about themes of perspective & escapism, and fantastic character introspection with Ange and Maria. Kinda messy story structure though, and there are some lows, but SO MANY PEAKS.
#2. EP 7 Requiem of the Golden Witch: A fascinating reconstruction of the mystery genre and a fantastic character study of Beatrice. Tea Party is gut wrenching in all the right ways. Resonates with me very strongly thematically. Simply phenomenal.
1. EP 8 Twilight of the Golden Witch: The payoff to everything. I can see why it's a bit controversial, but I absolutely loved everything about it. The manga is the superior version for this though, by far even. It's the most special story I've ever experienced.
It's made me think like never before, have made me sob so hard that my body was almost aching. I've completely fallen in love with the cast, Battler, Beatrice and Ange especially, the former two having made it into my top 10 overall, maybe even higher. It's just breathtaking.
The greatest love story ever told. A story about mystery. A story about stories. And sends us off with a very important message to remember. Top 4 for now. Umineko will only rise with time.
Stuff usually does for me as I get to reflect on them and rewatching moments always hit much harder the second time. Hell, K-On S2 only got an 8.5 for me the first time and didn't even have me tear up, but after reflecting, and then rewatching, BAM, 10/10 and had me sobbing.
Umineko doesn't have that much higher it can reach, but I think it can climb to my top 3 and even beyond with time. I should mention that while only one arc is a full 10, the series is a 10 overall as well,
cause it's a story more than the sum of its parts but also thinking about it outside of when I was just consuming it, theorizing and stuff, adds a lot.
Now, for those wondering, you read the VN, not the manga. It cannot be a substitute, the type of story Umineko is only works the best as a visual novel, and the incredible OST and fantastic voice acting adds so much.
The manga is a fantastic supplement though, and the visuals add a lot. Really great manga adaptation. Only the manga for EP 8 is actually superior to the VN imo though.
Now, go read it for God's sake, experience this story. There's nothing like it.
