I didn’t think that Umineko cartoon was all that bad
Having never seen nor read any of Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, I had very little interest in Umineko no Naku Koro Ni when it was set to hit Japanese airwaves. However, while I was in Japan, a friend of mine insisted that we catch the show’s premier on TV, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a spin. Two cours later, despite the animalistic moaning of fanboys, I found the Umineko TV series to be quite good. Perhaps it’s because I have not yet partaken of the original visual novel, but I found the TV show to be a not-bad way to spend 24 minutes each week.
Before listening to a review of Higurashi, all I knew about the show was that it was a series of stories featuring recurring characters in which the continuity was reset each time. I just assumed all of these stories were standalone, but apparently they all have something to do with one-another. This being something of trademark for Ryukishi07, a similar thing is done in Umineko, and it happens to be one of the things I find the most fascinating about the series.
The way in which the story moves from a simple murder mystery into a Death Note style battle of wits between people who can walk between different thinly defined realms of existence while privy to the details of alternate continuities is really neat. The politics between the witches isn’t really focused on too much, but their interactions add another layer of intrigue to the story. The entire thing is underscored by unclear definitions of what’s real and what’s not, which serves to make things all the more exciting. All of this mixed together with some nice plot twists here and there makes for something of a satisfying viewing experience.
Fans of the novel complain about the show’s direction, putting forth that it doesn’t communicate the “feel” of the novel well at all, but I love it. I think the over-the-top handling of every ridiculous plot twist is part of what makes the show so entertaining. It’s kind of like Code Geass, I guess.
Umineko does suffer visually, but the novel does as well. For the anime, the character designs are actually drawn by a professional, but they just look generic. The actual animation really isn’t that bad, but it doesn’t stand out either–it’s simply average. It doesn’t really effect things much, except for the laughable fight scenes. The only real notably bad part about the show’s animation is how awful the colouring is. It really is just hideous.
One area in which the show does suffer in is characterization. The characters are merely meant to push along the narrative, and don’t leave much of an impression beyond the fact that some of them have nice tits. I suppose this is one area in which the novel is a lot better, since people seem to be quite attached to some of these characters, and I don’t understand why from just watching the anime.
I don’t see myself sitting down to watch this again, but it’s a good page turner for what it’s worth. If inspired I may pick up the visual novel, but I prefer sitting down and looking at moving pictures to sitting down and clicking through text on a screen.
Ok, I’ll bite. Imagine if Kara no Kyoukai or Clannad had the same average and bland animation, and were simply ‘entertaining’ with random unnecessary enlarged breasts. Would the fan outcry seem silly there too? Those two shows really shined because of their devotion to the source, with creative directing of additions and cuts to the adaptation. That was the type of adaptation that fans were hoping for with Umineko. Not an average ‘page-turner.’
Please do try out the visual novel. You will be glad that you did. At the least, you will definitely understand the rage against the anime.
I understand, but I just think it’s silly. For what it’s worth, I just wanted to chime in with a different point of view. It entertained me, that’s all.
Soooo, when are you going to watch all of Higurashi?
Ironically, it was watching the anime that got me in to reading the visual novel and realizing what the show failed in conveying.
Okay… so maybe it wasn’t totally terrible for people not familiar with the source but I still think objectively that DEEN could have improved the animation quality and story flow a lot better even working with the constraints of a 24-minute, 2-cour show.
May contain spoilers? I don’t reference any specific shit but some comments about style may imply spoilers…meh…who cares. -_-
I was one of those weirdos who watched Higurashi without reading the novel. Loved season one, was kind of lukewarm on season two. Not having read the source material I considered the first season standing on its own to be quite brilliant, a visceral experience that drags you along whether you want to be there or not, aided by the extreme contrast between the art style and the content. That and the nagging feeling that everything that was on the face of it pretty much unconnected was somehow connected, but there was no real explanation that consistently held water, there simply was the undeniable fact that bad things kept happening to good people, over and over and over, which of course was kind of forced to watch. No explanation, no sugar coating, it was one of those shows that grabbed you by the intestines and forced you to feel something, even if that feeling was one of revulsion, desperation or utter and complete hopelessness. It was unlike anything I had watched, and I wanted more. Lots more.
Season 2 gave it all rhyme and reason, but did so in such a sudden way that took almost all the mystery and suspense out of the narrative which was part of what made the first season great by allowing it to wrench your emotions around like a little rag-doll. Suffice to say, this left me feeling undeniably flat. Yes it resolved but ultimately at the cost of what I felt was the first season’s strength.
CUT TO UMINEKO: Again, have not read the source material, so I was flying with nothing but Higurashi under my belt. Was a fan of the first five episodes or so…it almost seemed to be getting back into that S1 Higurashi groove. Then shit got meta. That kind of bugged me, actually it bugged me a lot. Nerdrage hit the Twitter for a good day or so, but I kept watching, and slowly started liking it again. Over the next few episodes the tone started to change, as well as the narrative style; it shifted focus from the board and its pieces (ala Higurashi) to the players and their strategies, which suited the show much better from my perspective as it was kind of required to make the show something different. To me it seemed like it stopped trying to be the first season of Higurashi with all kind of inappropriate self referential commentary and just went batshit insane, ditching mystery in favor of seemingly definite rhyme and reason and just making everything else go off the deep end. And frankly, I began to really enjoy it. It wasn’t S1 Higurashi, but it was something radically different and quite enjoyable.
Obviously I can’t speak to the content that either of these were based off of…probably should get on that at some point. >_>
Well, the thing with the Umineko anime is that it just does a very poorly job in every single area. Most of the flaws could be summarized in that it lacks movement, mood and emotion. The mystery also gets cut down for a bit (with EP4 suffering the most from this, leaving almost nothing to work with in the human-side). There are some embarrassing mistakes in both animation and script that should be pretty noticeable even if you aren’t familiar with the original source.
If you liked the anime, I guess there’s nothing wrong with it. As for my personal opinion, I think the series was just never meant to be experienced in animated form. If you ever have the chance to try out the VNs, go for it.
I’m a HUGE fan of the Higurashi anime. After trying out the Umineko anime and finding it disappointingly short of the greatness Higurashi had, I said to hell with it and tried the Visual Novel. Basically, I would’ve been agreeing with this statement of yours if I hadn’t tried Umineko VN.
“I prefer sitting down and looking at moving pictures to sitting down and clicking through text on a screen.”
Of course, that wont be coming out of my mouth anymore, or rather, typed out with my fingers.
Even though I played and enjoyed the original SN, I still really enjoyed the Umineko anime, until the last arc or so that is.
They cut so much and threw in so much ange it got ridiculous, I couldn’t find any interest in the show anymore.