Reading Umineko no Naku Koro ni is was one of the most vivid media experience I have ever had.

Sucked in by listening to some of the criminally good BGM beforehand, and knowing nothing else, I went in totally blind about what to expect. Through the course of the game and my interaction with other content online I was exposed to spoilers that only bugged me slightly. Technically, even knowing who the culprit is, opens up more questions than anything else.

There are only words of praise I can give to every single layer that makes up this visual novel.

The characters are some of the best I have ever seen, and until the end you struggle with them, laugh with them, and cry with them. Even some of the biggest douches have motivations behind their actions, and have made life experiences which turned them into who they are. That's pretty much the best way to describe the entirety of the cast: as human.
Their complex personalities evolve beyond the initial stereotypes you might see them as, at first. By the end, this really felt like something that has actually happened, and that is pretty much the greatest praise you could give the writer, I believe.

The only think I disliked where a handful of scenes throghout the entirety of the 130+ hours I had spent reading.
I don't know if it is the original writing or only the English translation, but very often scenes drag out for too long, and more often than not, the same words keep being used, so it feels really repetitive. A handful of times I also sighed of frustration, because a scene would just not end, after hammering its message in for the tenth time by now.

But in the end, it is worth it. These few moments in the novel's entirety are nothing.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni is one of the most best stories ever written. It's hard to follow, convoluted, it does not give a damn about the conventions of story telling nowadays, and just does its own thing.

You are doing yourself a massive disservice by not reading it, as there is not anything like it.


-- Thank you for reading, <have a nice day>! --

Reading Umineko no Naku Koro ni is was one of the most vivid media experience I have ever had. Sucked in by listening to some of the criminally good BGM beforehand, and knowing nothing else, I went in totally blind about what to expect. Through the course of the game and my interaction with other content online I was exposed to spoilers that only bugged me slightly. Technically, even knowing who the culprit is, opens up more questions than anything else. There are only words of praise I can give to every single layer that makes up this visual novel. The characters are some of the best I have ever seen, and until the end you struggle with them, laugh with them, and cry with them. Even some of the biggest douches have motivations behind their actions, and have made life experiences which turned them into who they are. That's pretty much the best way to describe the entirety of the cast: as human. Their complex personalities evolve beyond the initial stereotypes you might see them as, at first. By the end, this really felt like something that has actually happened, and that is pretty much the greatest praise you could give the writer, I believe. The only think I disliked where a handful of scenes throghout the entirety of the 130+ hours I had spent reading. I don't know if it is the original writing or only the English translation, but very often scenes drag out for too long, and more often than not, the same words keep being used, so it feels really repetitive. A handful of times I also sighed of frustration, because a scene would just not end, after hammering its message in for the tenth time by now. But in the end, it is worth it. These few moments in the novel's entirety are nothing. Umineko no Naku Koro ni is one of the most best stories ever written. It's hard to follow, convoluted, it does not give a damn about the conventions of story telling nowadays, and just does its own thing. You are doing yourself a massive disservice by not reading it, as there is not anything like it. -- Thank you for reading, <have a nice day>! --