When They Cry/...no Naku Koro ni - Ryukishi07 Appreciation Station

[blkmage]

So in the glorious land of game/non-anime news, we have that the EP5 patch has been released. Since I've been at Urbana all week, I won't be playing it until I get back. Also, since it is also Comiket 77, EP6, Dawn of the Golden Witch, has been released and I hear that, much like every episode before it, some absolutely insane stuff goes down, even at the very beginning.

[blkmage]

So I just finished EP5 today. No plot spoilers, but I will be talking about it.

It's really different from EP1-4. Basically, EP5 forces you to reexamine your position on a lot of stuff and it explores just what it is Umineko is. In fact, it has a lot to do with what's on the introduction webpage, with the stuff about mystery or fantasy, solvability, and the worst kind of people (you!). It's not an Answer arc in the sense that it'll give away all the answers (like Higurashi), but rather, it packs in a lot of information.

Sure can't wait for Witch Hunt to get going on EP6.

[Fish and Chips]

So because I'm an all-around cheap scoundrel (Eric, back me up on this) I've decided I won't pick up Chiru until all the episodes are out for mass consumption. Till then, I've been replaying the first four episodes in an attempt to solve the Rokkenjima murders my way, with copious notes, all of which will of course be shot to pieces by some small vein of logic from later episodes I'm sure.

Unfortunately, yesterday afternoon was spent mainly reformatting my hard drive, so I don't exactly have those notes on hand for sharing at this moment.

[blkmage]

Hey guys, it's almost Summer Comiket (C78!) so you know what that means.

New portrait. New OP. New trollan.

07th Expansion presents, Welcome to Rokkenjima "WHEN THEY CRY 4"
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru EP7: Requiem of the Golden Witch

In other news, translation of EP6 is done, so all they've got left is editing. I'd expect it to be out before C78.

Oh, and I guess even though the anime is done, feel free to continue bouncing insane theories around or linking awesome pixiv art and such. Feel free to do this even with Higurashi. Even though the anime is done, someone might have felt like picking up the game and checking it out. Tell us how it is.

Et cetera.

[Fish and Chips]

New portrait.

[spoiler]It's young Kinzo and Beatrice's mother.

Calling it now.[/spoiler]EDIT: Disregard this, I am an idiot.

[Atria35]

TBH, I've never played the gamed >.>" I never had the gamestation to do so. But I LOVE Higurashi! And man, if this ever comes out for the pc I will be so on top of it!

[blkmage]

TBH, I've never played the gamed >.>" I never had the gamestation to do so. But I LOVE Higurashi! And man, if this ever comes out for the pc I will be so on top of it!

You mean like this?

[Atria35]

^ Yes, Blkmage. Exactly like that. I want that so badly. But MAN is that expensive!!!

[Yamamaya]

There is one thing we can all agree on.

The final witch in EP8 will be named Ohto DESIRE

[blkmage]

^ Yes, Blkmage. Exactly like that. I want that so badly. But MAN is that expensive!!!

That's not the worst part. The worst part is that they're releasing the Answer arcs one at a time for $25 each.

[Atria35]

That's not the worst part. The worst part is that they're releasing the Answer arcs one at a time for $25 each.

*and somewhere, a puppy was kicked*

[blkmage]

Oh yeah, the English patch for Episode 6: Dawn of the Golden Witch is out. I just finished it. It continues on in the theme that was sort of set in Episode 5 and then, in typical Umineko fashion, goes insane.

[Yamamaya]

Hey guys, it's almost Summer Comiket (C78!) so you know what that means.

New portrait. New OP. New trollan.

07th Expansion presents, Welcome to Rokkenjima "WHEN THEY CRY 4"
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru EP7: Requiem of the Golden Witch

In other news, translation of EP6 is done, so all they've got left is editing. I'd expect it to be out before C78.

Oh, and I guess even though the anime is done, feel free to continue bouncing insane theories around or linking awesome pixiv art and such. Feel free to do this even with Higurashi. Even though the anime is done, someone might have felt like picking up the game and checking it out. Tell us how it is.

Et cetera.

I wonder who these new folks are. They certainly aren't lowly furniture or else they wouldn't be featured on the portrait.

Theories on who they are.
[SPOILER]1. Beatrice and Battler's love children. 2. Trollkastel's new pieces. 3.New unknown Ushiromyas.
4.Chick on the left is Jessica/Kanon's kid. Dude on the right is Shannon/George's kid.
5.Older Jessica and Kanon.
6.New witches
[/SPOILER]

[Yamamaya]

So in EP7

[SPOILER]The child Natushi supposedly killed is introduced as Lion and plays a role in the game.[/SPOILER]

[blkmage]

If you're in the US, you can purchase digital versions of the game now (and for reasonable prices, unlike Higurashi) that work with Witch Hunt's patches. I have yet to see whether or not they included Canada when they said the US (probably not) because I am at work right now and all our traffic gets routed through California.

http://witch-hunt.com/blog/2010/10/download_version_released.html

[Yamamaya]

If you're in the US, you can purchase digital versions of the game now (and for reasonable prices, unlike Higurashi) that work with Witch Hunt's patches. I have yet to see whether or not they included Canada when they said the US (probably not) because I am at work right now and all our traffic gets routed through California.

http://witch-hunt.com/blog/2010/10/download_version_released.html

Sweeetttt.

I'll probably download Ep 1-4 since I've already read 5-6. LolDeen most certainly gave me an incomplete picture of Ep 1-4.

Looks about $32.18 in US dollars. Not too shabby at all.

[blkmage]

Guys, guys, I think this is the answer to the mystery.

[SPOILER]They all murdered each other because Umineko is actually a fighting game.[/SPOILER]

Also, EP8 portrait and other related images.

[Fish and Chips]

Well Blkmage, that's cool and all, but I totally thought you were going to be linking this, so I don't know.

EDIT: SNIPER NO SNIPING.

[Yamamaya]

An Umineko fighting game eh? This could be good. I've always wanted to win fighting games using nothing but logic lazer beams.

[Sapphire225]

I watched Higurashi already several times, but I heard that Umineko is MUCH scarier and more violent. In fact, the Japanese television stations had to censor several of the material and it still came off scarier than Higurashi. Brr... Still, I want to watch it (although i'll probably lose several nights of sleep)

[blkmage]

The first half of EP8 has been translated and released as a partial patch.

[Atria35]

I've been collecting the manga. I think it will be one of the longest titles I own. Scratch that- it's already one of the longest titles I own. I suspect it will be rivaling 20th CBs in legnth.

And I love every bit of it.

[Maokun]

Um, I'm pretty new to the whole thing, but I got the interactive story app for the iPhone. How does it fit in the picture? Should I try any other media first? Any thoughts? Thanks!

[blkmage]

I haven't played any of the Higurashi visual novels myself. The visual novels are the source material, so going through that should be fine, but keep in mind that there are eight parts to it. Since the visual novels were translated and offered outside of Japan as little as a year or two ago, most people experienced Higurashi as the anime.

Umineko is a completely different beast, in that the visual novels are PC only (well, unless you buy and read the PS3 port) and most die-hard Umineko fans are visual novel readers. The anime is a pretty poor adaptation of the visual novels, largely because of the increased complexity of the story over Higurashi.

If you're not used to visual novels, they tend to be extremely wordy and almost all of them take their time and go to great lengths to set up the story. But if you make it through the introductory stuff, the actual meat of the story is almost guaranteed to be presented much better than in the anime format.

Also, the sprites in Higurashi and Umineko are pretty awful.

[Maokun]

I haven't played any of the Higurashi visual novels myself. The visual novels are the source material, so going through that should be fine, but keep in mind that there are eight parts to it. Since the visual novels were translated and offered outside of Japan as little as a year or two ago, most people experienced Higurashi as the anime.

Umineko is a completely different beast, in that the visual novels are PC only (well, unless you buy and read the PS3 port) and most die-hard Umineko fans are visual novel readers. The anime is a pretty poor adaptation of the visual novels, largely because of the increased complexity of the story over Higurashi.

Thanks, I'll go ahead, then.

If you're not used to visual novels, they tend to be extremely wordy and almost all of them take their time and go to great lengths to set up the story. But if you make it through the introductory stuff, the actual meat of the story is almost guaranteed to be presented much better than in the anime format.

Yeah, I do need this encouragement, as it's been extremely slow so far. It doesn't help that the introduction is like 10 min long before you are given the chance to save, nor that the app doesn't support multitasking. (It closes if you switch to another app.) Things are better since I found how to speed up the apparition of the text, though.

Also, the sprites in Higurashi and Umineko are pretty awful.

Ugh, yeah.

[blkmage]

In related news, things that will never get licensed: everything that is discussed in this thread. On the one hand, it sucks that they basically licensed half a show. On the other hand, it means that they're at least smart enough to never touch the Umineko anime (READ THE VISUAL NOVELS).

[Atria35]

I...I...
FFFFFFFFF-

*headdesk* I bought three of the individual dvds, and then the series boxset when it came out! When it was really expensive! *sigh* Ah, well. At least I have the manga...

[blkmage]

Clearly, you didn't buy enough (☞ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞

[blkmage]

Looks like 07th Expansion's C80 release is going to be Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni. It's been serialized as a manga for a bit now, but don't you worry, Ryukishi07 will be drawing those sprites you know and love.

Marie is trapped in a horrible situation. She's being constantly tormented by her classmates and regularly molested by her teacher. With nowhere else to turn, she finds herself asking for supernatural help from one of the seven demons of the seven mysteries of her school. All she desires is the death of her cruel classmates and teacher. How far will Marie be willing to go in order to achieve the murders that would free her from her living hell?

It looks like Ryukishi's adding some shading to those sprites.

The opening movie is nice, as usual. It's composed by dai, so Higanbana will hopefully have the same kind of awesome music that Umineko did.


Also, it looks like Witch Hunt is slowing down and we might not get EP8 before C80. Oh well, them's the breaks.