Worth playing if I watched the anime?

[Grimm Carrolls]

Just as a disclaimer, I played through the Umineko VN and thought it was the best VN I ever read, and I've read quite a few.
I also tried to watch the anime of Umineko but holy hell was it was god awful. I feel bad for anyone who ruined the plot watching that gutter trash.

I seem to remember the Higurashi anime being alright though, although I found the fight on the rooftop cringeworthy as HELL. Am I getting a longer rehash of the anime with this game?

[fllthdcrb]

Originally posted by Zakkuri:

I seem to remember the Higurashi anime being alright though

Yeah, see, that's a typical opinion of people who have only seen the anime. Whereas if you've seen the VN, you can recognize that it's not a very good adaptation. Maybe not the worst, but it certainly doesn't do justice to the story. How could they when they compressed (for example) this arc that takes ~10–20 hours reading time into less than 2? It doesn't help that you lose Keiichi's inner thoughts. They also cut out some crucial scenes over the first season, which they had to fill in for the second, so that's great. And they screwed up the question/answer structure* by shoving the first two answer arcs into the already overcrowded first season along with the question arcs; that just doesn't make sense to me.

* The first four arcs are the "question arcs", which present the mysteries of the series and challenge you to try to figure out what happened, in the tradition of murder mystery novels, before the "answer arcs" (the latter four) give you the information to know what the answers actually are.

To be fair, the second season did a better job, no doubt due to the higher budget. You can see that even in the better-quality animation. But the first season misunderstands what the story is really about by emphasizing the horror aspect so much that the more important themes were shortchanged.

So, is the VN worth your time? Yes. I definitely believe so. There's so much more depth to it. Be sure to read all of the TIPS, as well as the All-Cast Review Sessions (for the question arcs) and Staff Rooms (for the answer arcs) for maximum depth (and entertainment).

[DustyBlue]

I watched the anime back in the day, and am currently LOVING the visual novel, to a degree I didn't think possible. COMPLETELY different experience, way more impact. Fitting whole arcs into just a handful of 20 minute chunks does not translate all the FEELINGS I'm feeling reading through it this way. It's a journey, and the anime was like cliff notes, and also gives away too many things too soon. Pacing is everything, and this is a mystery story, after all. Another thing that can't really get across is the first-person perspective. Watching a TV show is always a sort of third-person perspective. In the visual novel, you really get into the thoughts and the psychology of each character in-depth.

[sotaponi]

Originally posted by DustyBlue:

I watched the anime back in the day, and am currently LOVING the visual novel, to a degree I didn't think possible. COMPLETELY different experience, way more impact. Fitting whole arcs into just a handful of 20 minute chunks does not translate all the FEELINGS I'm feeling reading through it this way. It's a journey, and the anime was like cliff notes, and also gives away too many things too soon. Pacing is everything, and this is a mystery story, after all. Another thing that can't really get across is the first-person perspective. Watching a TV show is always a sort of third-person perspective. In the visual novel, you really get into the thoughts and the psychology of each character in-depth.

Funny how my experience differs entirely, having picked up the Japanese PS3 version (Sui) a few years ago. I watched the anime as late teen and felt the plot twists, arcs and nippaaaa to be really engaging. Now, ~10 years later, I tried playing the VN and... aside of getting through all the routes being a PITA, it's... just not fun. It doesn't appeal to me whatsoever. Just as example, I last stopped reading when Keiichi was at Angel Mort and started having a lovey-dovey affair with Shion. And damn... reading this teenage romance, that isn't even appealing for a teenage romance... is so damn boring and drawn out. Granted how maybe it's because I already know the story as a whole. Whereas this segment, which is a bit casual and slice-of-lifey by intent, isn't written in an engaging enough fashion that I would be interested in reading through it all, only to advance the story of which I already know how it will play out. And I also read a review on amazon.co.jp, stating how "the game/story never ends." Which was considered a positive facette for this person in question, I suppose. But then I already know how it will all play out. And somehow it doesn't appeal to me. "I just don't care about your romance and there are better ways of spending my time even if I won't spend it any better" is what I feel like. I am not that interested in every single nuance. (And the game is over 200-300 hours long IIRC, maybe even longer depending on your reading speed)

Maybe I should just continue reading and maybe it will pick up steam a little bit down the line. Or maybe I'm just too old now or IDK. It's just too long and everything. Maybe too detailed. Even if I have nothing better to do, when reading it, I get the feeling that I am wasting my time. (Which might just be a psychological thing. So playing a round of counter-strike isn't a waste of time. Because it's just one game. And then you close it. Not much time lost there. Even if you ultimately end up playing 1000 games. This VN here, however, just doesn't end. And yeah... it's probably a psychological thing in this regard, as well.)

Of course this is about the PS3/vita version. I have no idea to what degree the Steam version differs. But it has the same number of arcs I think. And the sprite pack for Steam is also based on the PS3/vita version. So...

[mecha_yota]

WARNING!!! ONIKAKUSHI SPOILERS BELOW!!!

I've decided to rewatch anime while I'm re-reading chapters. My thoughts're based on Onikakushi episodes.

1) Pace. Everything is so fast. There are a lot of scenes missing. Someone will say it's good, we don't need so many scenes, where Keiichi and his friends are doing their club activity. But in reality, these scenes help you to understand the characters, they make you care about them. You see their interactions, you feel this strong bond between them, so you understand, why Keiichi was so sad in the end. It's more like you are part of this group, as well. In anime, I didn't really care about others, because I didn't feel this bond. Also, the traits of the characters weren't really shown properly. They didn't even show Satoko's traps, c'mon!

2) Fear. The first chapter scared me really hard. Why? The atmosphere, slow pace, panic, anticipation. When Watanagashi finally happened I was already in love with these characters. And when everything suddenly started to fall apart I (just like Keiichi) couldn't believe it was really happening. Fear in VN is created through rejection, doubt, hope that all of this is just a dream. The more you know, the more you think that everything is true. Firstly, Keiichi tried to deny everything. Every day he was arguing with himself more and more until he finally snapped. In anime pace is so fast, no fear can be born. The creepy parts of anime are laughs and scary faces. It's like jumpscare - yeah, you were scared, but that's it. But in VN it's more like there will be something bad, but you don't know what and when it'll happen. And you're scared of anticipation.

3) Spoiler in the beginning. Keiichi is killing girls with the bat - so, you already know what to expect by the end of the story. Yeah, same was in VN, but there we didn't even know what was happening. Just some strange noises and somebody, who is speaking about someone, dear to them. We don't know it's Keiichi until the story takes a turning point and we're finally starting to understand, especially, when he takes the baseball bat.

4) And finally, Keiichi. We don't really understand what's going on in Keiichi's head during anime. In VN we see his thoughts, his fear, his denial, his anger. You're really starting to believe everything is bad and think he's doing everything right. Anime had none of it.

Again, that was only for Onikakushi chapters. I remember they've cut a lot of important stuff in the latest chapters as well.

So, to sum it up, you definitely should read it. It's far better than anime.

[Grimm Carrolls]

Originally posted by mecha_yota:

WARNING!!! ONIKAKUSHI SPOILERS BELOW!!!

I've decided to rewatch anime while I'm re-reading chapters. My thoughts're based on Onikakushi episodes.

1) Pace. Everything is so fast. There are a lot of scenes missing. Someone will say it's good, we don't need so many scenes, where Keiichi and his friends are doing their club activity. But in reality, these scenes help you to understand the characters, they make you care about them. You see their interactions, you feel this strong bond between them, so you understand, why Keiichi was so sad in the end. It's more like you are part of this group, as well. In anime, I didn't really care about others, because I didn't feel this bond. Also, the traits of the characters weren't really shown properly. They didn't even show Satoko's traps, c'mon!

2) Fear. The first chapter scared me really hard. Why? The atmosphere, slow pace, panic, anticipation. When Watanagashi finally happened I was already in love with these characters. And when everything suddenly started to fall apart I (just like Keiichi) couldn't believe it was really happening. Fear in VN is created through rejection, doubt, hope that everything is just a dream. The more you know, the more you think that everything is true. Firstly, Keiichi tried to deny everything. Every day he was arguing with himself more and more until he finally snapped. In anime everything is so fast, no fear can be born. The creepy parts of anime are laughs and scary faces. It's like jumpscare - yeah, you were scared, but that's it. But in VN it's more like there will be something bad, but you don't know what and when it'll happen. And you're scared of anticipation.

3) Spoiler in the beginning. Keiichi is killing girls with the bat - so, you already know what to expect by the end of the story. Yeah, same was in VN, but there we didn't even know what was happening. Just some strange noises and somebody, who is speaking about someone, dear to them. We don't know it's Keiichi until the story takes a turning point and we're finally starting to understand, especially, when he takes the baseball bat.

4) And finally, Keiichi. We don't really understand what's going on in Keiichi's head during anime. In VN we see his thoughts, his fear, his denial, his anger. You're really starting to believe everything is bad and think he's doing everything right. Anime had none of it.

Again, that was only for Onikakushi chapters. I remember they've cut a lot of important stuff in the latest chapters as well.

So, to sum it up, you definitely should read it. It's far better than anime.

Everything but 1. sounds pretty good. Are those scenes where characters are interacting Slice of Life? Watching character hang out and not really push any type of plot doesn't really do it for me.
There are exceptions, obviously. Grisaia and Majikoi, for example, managed to really sucker me in, but those were exceptionally well written.

[mecha_yota]

Originally posted by Zakkuri:

Originally posted by mecha_yota:

WARNING!!! ONIKAKUSHI SPOILERS BELOW!!!

I've decided to rewatch anime while I'm re-reading chapters. My thoughts're based on Onikakushi episodes.

1) Pace. Everything is so fast. There are a lot of scenes missing. Someone will say it's good, we don't need so many scenes, where Keiichi and his friends are doing their club activity. But in reality, these scenes help you to understand the characters, they make you care about them. You see their interactions, you feel this strong bond between them, so you understand, why Keiichi was so sad in the end. It's more like you are part of this group, as well. In anime, I didn't really care about others, because I didn't feel this bond. Also, the traits of the characters weren't really shown properly. They didn't even show Satoko's traps, c'mon!

2) Fear. The first chapter scared me really hard. Why? The atmosphere, slow pace, panic, anticipation. When Watanagashi finally happened I was already in love with these characters. And when everything suddenly started to fall apart I (just like Keiichi) couldn't believe it was really happening. Fear in VN is created through rejection, doubt, hope that everything is just a dream. The more you know, the more you think that everything is true. Firstly, Keiichi tried to deny everything. Every day he was arguing with himself more and more until he finally snapped. In anime everything is so fast, no fear can be born. The creepy parts of anime are laughs and scary faces. It's like jumpscare - yeah, you were scared, but that's it. But in VN it's more like there will be something bad, but you don't know what and when it'll happen. And you're scared of anticipation.

3) Spoiler in the beginning. Keiichi is killing girls with the bat - so, you already know what to expect by the end of the story. Yeah, same was in VN, but there we didn't even know what was happening. Just some strange noises and somebody, who is speaking about someone, dear to them. We don't know it's Keiichi until the story takes a turning point and we're finally starting to understand, especially, when he takes the baseball bat.

4) And finally, Keiichi. We don't really understand what's going on in Keiichi's head during anime. In VN we see his thoughts, his fear, his denial, his anger. You're really starting to believe everything is bad and think he's doing everything right. Anime had none of it.

Again, that was only for Onikakushi chapters. I remember they've cut a lot of important stuff in the latest chapters as well.

So, to sum it up, you definitely should read it. It's far better than anime.

Everything but 1. sounds pretty good. Are those scenes where characters are interacting Slice of Life? Watching character hang out and not really push any type of plot doesn't really do it for me.
There are exceptions, obviously. Grisaia and Majikoi, for example, managed to really sucker me in, but those were exceptionally well written.

Yeah, they're playing games, tease each other, interact with one another. I understand that not everyone is a fan of such things. As for me, it helped to create a bond with characters and care about them. It can be different for others. Like I said I didn't really care about characters in anime, because there were fewer things that could make me care.

[mecha_yota]

But I dunno, they were good. For example, they're just playing cards and Keiichi is losing. So he's trying to win. And the whole game is shown as something epic. It's like you see some kind of cool battle or smth like that.