How did you learn about Umineko?

[Bern: ~Witch of Chaos~]

Considering a large majority of us here are excited for Umineko finally getting a Western release here in some way, I thought I might as well bring this discussion up. How did you learn about Umineko?

To me, I learned about it through sites like Gamefaqs and MyAnimeList and due to me adoring Higurashi to death I was kind of nervous about jumping into Umineko. I decided to take a look at the first Arc on a Youtube walkthrough(Since the computer I had at the time was bad and even though it could Visual novels I didn't want to risk it) and realized I was liking it a lot. I went through the music and enjoyed it a lot. Went through the manga and enjoyed it a lot. Only thing I didn't enjoy was the anime but that was to be expected. Eventually I decided to use Bernkastel as my avatar on various social media sites and due to people calling me "Bern" (Mainly because I didn't have an actual Internet name people could call me) and me attracting a lot of Umineko fans that way, I let it happen. After all that I realized Umineko is a thing that stayed with me for a long time.


Yeah, that is my personal story how I found Umineko. How did you people find Umineko in the first place?

[Replicator]

My story is simple^^
Higurashi Anime -> Umineko Anime
"Oh look, they release it on Steam...might as well."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Veltharis]

A coworker of mine recommended the Higurashi manga to me several years ago, when Yen Press was first releasing them. I hadn't had any real exposure to the series before, but it caught my interest immediately. Eventually, I ran into the "They haven't released the next volume yet!" wall and started branching out, looking into the Higurashi anime and, almost incidentally, hearing about Umineko. Since Higurashi intrigued me so much, I decided to give the Umineko anime, which was pretty much brand new at the time, a watch.

While many people disparage the Umineko anime (not without reason, mind you), I found it a fascinating gateway into the series proper. After it was over, I stumbled across The Witch Hunt's fan-translation patch, scrounged together a chunk of my fairly modest paycheck on a whim, and imported the original games. The rest is history.

Suffice it to say, I love this series a great deal. Furthermore, it sparked an interest in classic mystery novels that has given me countless hours of enjoyment over the past 5+ years, above and beyond the time I've spent with the game itself. If locked room mysteries are intriguing to you, look into the works of John Dickson Carr, and if you want to jump right into the deep end, find a copy of Carr's "The Hollow Man" (titled "The Three Coffins" for U.S. release). You won't be disappointed.

[Shiki Byakko]

I knew about umineko since the first novel was announced. I watched Higurashi's anime and kind of liked, so I went to 07th expansion's site, and saw the umineko anouncement.
At first I thought it was going to be boring, because it seemed like a classic murder mystery novel, and even I thought that it seemed kind of like a "And then there where none" knock-off, so I wasn't really interested at the time.

About a year and a little bit latter I remember they announced the anime, so I just tought I would just take a look at it. At first the anime didn't really impresed me, but after the first arc was done, I just couldn't wait for the anime, and I knew the anime was probably cutting tips for the mystery, so I just bought the original novel, and started to binge read from ep 1 to 4.
After that, I waited every 6 months for the release of a new episode of the novel, and it became my favorite novel of all time.

[Squigzeh]

Someone linked me to a Higurashi laugh collection on youtube about 6 or 7 years ago, I thought it was frightening. About a year or two ago I had just finished reading Tsukihime visual novel and was looking for something new and the name Higurashi popped up so I read that. Loved it so much I immediately needed more so I went into Umineko on the grounds of 'it also has no naku koro ni' in it's name.

After that I watched both VN's anime adaptations was mildly disappointed with Uminkeos then I wandered off to read the manga and that's where I am at now.

[Kalm]

Much like the person above, the laugh collection was my first contact with the franchise.

I eventually ended up trying a couple of episodes with my sister, but after the second episode we both decided that we weren't ready to watch the show. (We were like 12, so no surprise there).
Some years later, we gave it another go, this time finishing the whole thing. We liked it. Afterwards I gave Umineko's anime a whirl by myself (I quit at episode 20-something as I realized that the anime wasn't going to tell the whole story, on top of all the quality, or lack thereof).
I continued Higurashi by buying and reading the english licensed manga, all of it. I bought a couple of volumes of Umineko as well, but I stopped at the first volume of EP 2 since I started to have problems with the art (although I do acknowledge that it was a way better adaptation than the anime).
I read EP 1 and slightly into EP 2 alongside the manga, for the sake of comparison more or less. I decided that I'd stick with VN, but the series remained on my backlog for quite some time.
It wasn't until I started my service as a conscript that I touched the series again. I brought my laptop with me for the sparse free time that we had. It wasn't powerful enough to run proper games, but visual novels worked a-ok. I played through the entirety of Fate/Stay Night and EP's 2 to 7 of Umineko during the nine months I spend there. I'm currently working my way through EP 8, with the ever-increasing feeling that it'll soon be over.

Still, feeling pretty good about discovering Umineko. It made me read The Murder of Roger Acroyd, and various other Christie's novels (except And Then There Were None, since I had already read it in high school. Should probably give it a re-read now). It also managed to inspire the writer in me, from which I am very grateful.

[M.Drekinn]

many many years ago, I came in contact with the Higurashi Anime and I wached that to death.

After that, in some parts of the internet I heard about another work from the writers of Higurashi. Well, I wached the anime of Umineko and got disappointed because of the open end. Heavily addicted of the story, I pirated the VN(I know i'ts bad, please don't judge me). Since then, it's my favorite VN of all time.

And now I can get my legally paid version soon :-D

Edit: It's funny, but I found the manga not as hooked as the anime ;-)

[oh no it's jo]

When the anime originally aired. I was like "Oh? The same people that did Higurashi? Hm, I'll try it out." And I loved it. And then I saw all the people ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about it and season 2 never happened so I read the VN and manga and love the series even more than Higurashi. c:

[Josef]

The fighting game, I never played this VN version of the series, I'll be getting this because Beatrice is best grill but I hope they release the fighitng game in the future cause it was pretty good.

[Nakey Snakey]

I got added to a random skype chat and a few people were sperging out about it so I figured I'd see what the fuss was about. No regrets.

[koinzell]

Messaggio originale di Replicator:

My story is simple^^
Higurashi Anime -> Umineko Anime
"Oh look, they release it on Steam...might as well."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

this but i'v read the manga first before the annoucment of the Umineko Anime
never really got to finish the manga story
i did see trailers for the JP ver of the episode 7 game.

[Avalanche_Rick]

Oh wow, I don't remember. All I remember was it was summer of 2009, I finished my freshman year of high school and all I remember was seeing a similar title as Higurashi. This was weeks before the Anime started airing. It was very different but I did enjoy the anime.

I remember seeing some Japanese fan made Higurashi videos that referenced the series and I ether A.) read a comment that said Umineko is a sequel or B.) I probably did some research on it. I can't remember which.

These are the very trailers I saw many years ago
https://youtu.be/0Z6D_sCHq0I
https://youtu.be/FX38EeGV_Ic
https://youtu.be/EeI6fiXOtKs

[Nebam]

Been a fan of 07th expansion for years and the VN's for years, and I think I had gotten into the series as a whole through the anime thanks to some review I saw on MAL. I'll admit that I had intially went into the series without supporting the series, if you know what I mean, but I had binge read through both Higurashi and Umineko at that time, though it took a while for Umineko since it was still in the process of being translated. Adimittedly though, I've yet to purchase or even start RGD, so maybe I'm not as big a fan of 07th as others lol. Someday.

[Maelstrom]

The music.
Two instances:
First - I asked for soundtrack suggestions because I was bored and got it recommended to me.
Second - I arranging music on Ninsheetmusic and someone requested a song from it.

Note: I only played the first ep as the free demo, but am planning on finally playing it now.

[Peach☆]

A friend tricked me into watching the Higurashi anime by telling me it wasn't scary, but I got hooked anyway and later found the really detailed theory discussions on AnimeSuki which lead to reading Umineko

[sii_kei]

Back in 2007, I started watching Higurashi (season 2 wasn't even out yet at that time). Sometime after Higurashi Kai, I was searching on youtube for related videos and stumbled upon Umineko's alternative opening (the one that listed all the characters on the island). The description said it was "the new Higurashi".

I was curious about it and after some search, I discovered the Animesuki Umineko forums. I played Umineko (a pirated version) with the Witch Hunt translation and original artwork, eagerly awaiting each new patch about every half year and reading theories late at night for oh so many nights. It was the best story I had experienced and I quickly started uploading Umineko tracks on Youtube. However, I was very disappointed by the anime... which made me write this review on MyAnimeList that apparently made many people check the VN or manga as well, ha.

(As a side note, Umineko also made me read Agatha Christie's "And then there were none" and that's how I discovered my favorite literary genre. My obsession with mystery novels started because of Umineko. And I've been writing one myself for about a year...)

So all in all, been a fan of 07th Expansion for more than 9 years and I played Rose Guns Days as well and loved it... However, I still haven't played Higanbana. Maybe some day it'll be on Steam too - who knows? In the meantime, I can't wait to replay Umineko!