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Never really had a problem with the length, but I've always been the kind of reader that can handle a plot that builds up slowly over a long period. It helps that once things do start to get intense (and having watched the anime/being familiar with Higurashi, I had every reason to believe that they would), the story tends to escalate VERY quickly. It also taps into a number of plot devices, character archetypes, etc. that I tend to enjoy, chief among them being deviously twisted characters (such as Beatrice and Erika) that are nonetheless compelling and interesting.
Combine that with logical puzzles that can seem both overwhelming and fascinatingly challenging, a convoluted web of familial politics, snippets of real world magical lore, and one alluring unanswered question after another, and I could almost be led to believe that Umineko was tailor-made for me.
I've been an advocate of Umineko for years now, and it inspired a love for classic mystery novels that has given me many hours of enjoyment above and beyond the time I've spent with the games themselves. I even wrote an essay on the matter for a college writing class.
Suffice it to say, I love this series a great deal.
Honestly though? I've never properly read the VN until Steams' releases. I was like 12 - penniless, and really dumb with computers so I could never pirate it. I heavily relied on walkthroughs/LP's on youtube posting bits and pieces of it, the anime (sadly enough), summaries and theories online, and the manga - where none of the episodes were finished. I don't think I've ever sat down and properly read the visual novel's Episodes 5 and 6 yet. I kinda wish I learned about Umineko much later, where more proper storytelling was available by then. I would've liked to take on the witch's riddles, but I always felt like I was unable to do so since I didn't have all the pieces in front on me. (Taken, I remember Ryukishi did say that the anime was solvable but eh...)
Also, it made my first proper read through Episode 1 even more excrutiating considering that I know the general events of it, so I was nearly driven up a wall for its slow pace before the murders started!
I think Umineko really shaped my hobby for puzzles/riddles/mysteries, even if I still don't consider myself an expert. But with how convoluted the word plays being thrown in the game were like, I tend to have an easier time now whenever I'm up against something like that anywhere else. ^q^
I also related to bits and pieces of the family members - the expectations of your parents to succeed, having to live a different version of yourself around different people, child abuse, being bullied, having to play by myself, and how painful it can be to be lonely. I think it also shaped my views to looking at the bright side of things and being less Black-and-White, though I do wish Umineko didn't paint things a bit too romanticized. (Like what even with making Rosa looking like Best Mother Ever for wanting to get away from Maria for a bit because she couldn't hold back the urge to beat the crap out of her more if she looked at her any longer. I'm exaggerating a bit but that's still so...??)
Though I'll just say that Beatrice is my favorite character for reasons. c':
So, eventually I wanted to know more about the series. I checked wikipedia and youtube walktoughs, but it made Umineko look incredibly confusing, so I forgot it for a while and kept playing the music. I eventually returned, and found out it was from the same creators as Higurashi. I have never seen Higurashi, but I have heard that its absurdly violent so it caught my attention, but it seemed to lack certain elegegance so I planned to get Umineko first.
One particular thing which caught my attention when reading/playing this was Battlers atheistic worldview which I also believe in. He was not the stereotypical selfish, and arrogant type of atheist, but cool character with solid reasoning and values. Those charasteristics made Battler of my favorite protagonist, not just in anime, but in all fictional media.
When the Game of twisted logic started, (is that its actual name?) as much I wanted to see all sorts of magic finally shown, I also wanted to figure out the murders, without using theories of magic or withches. With that I eventually started to think about why I was so interested in things like this. Not the magic, but the gruesome murders, even REAL LIFE MURDERS.
For example Jack the Ripper, infamous serial killer, back in his day, or Adolf Hitler, probably most nefarious dicatator of all time and murderer of millions innocents, and now they are in all media from movies, to magazines. Of course we know that they are not people which we should admire, but that does not make them less popular or interesting, but exact opposite.
In the episode 4 Ange meets one of the so called witch hunters who unlike Ange, tries so solve the event with occult witch theories just for fun, while Ange only wants to know happened to her family. Treating the horrible event which ruined her life as mere hobby is disgusting, but I cannot guarantee that would have not done the same with logical theories. That made me guestion myself and my morality as human being, not respecting the dead, or the people who still suffer from these kinds of horrbile events. Like my several history magazines about crimes of nazies, a book about serial killers and my Youtube subcriptions of two channels covering these topics. While Im not not going to stop those hobbies, it makes me feel great shame, when Im only sating my curiosity and forgetting to think about the victims. If I ever forget that, I can only take good look at the mirror and replay Umineko.
Fiction is fiction and reality is reality. With that little speech I take my leave. Thank you for reading.
Everytime settings are (seems) good so i start using my brain... only to be disappointed with the silly "rabbit in the hat" explainations & unrealistic revelations leaving me with a "oh yeah...and i was supposed to guess/understand that ?" or plain "What the F**K !?".
I finished Question arcs and really disagreed with the path Umineko was going so i spoiled myself deep and well and ... i don't regret it; at the very least the official conclusions (official culprit and such) are beyond ridiculous IMO and the more i think about this VN in every angles i can the more everything seems silly ( especially the characters reactions ... Talk about smart ). Which is why i part with it now, after all, one of the main "teachings" is that there is as much truths as there are ppl (and i definitely agree with it, as a conclusion of my own life experiences), so i have mine and take my leave with it.
All this being said i did enjoy using my brain to resolve murders. I've been on both bully and billied side IRL so i can tell it was fairly accurate but more than anything i was really surprised on how pure and somehow right Umineko can be with "magic", its relation to risk, love, metaphor and imagination definitely deserves a standing ovation. I'll keep the "beautiful magic"-like explaination in my magic pocket, who knows ? Maybe it will bring back someone smile someday.
Disappointing mystery-wise but definitely holds good life teachings.
An exemple of overweighted background : "your mother is not your mother Luke", completely irrelevant and unneeded IMO.
Overshadowed background : despite being a small island (sorry but 10km around is nothing), no one but Rosa (and not on purpose) ever found the Kuwadorian ? despite Kinzo disappearing quite a lot (and their mother suspecting him cheating) none of the other siblings ever thought "hey lets go explore the small island we live (are imprisonned) in !" not even the wolf-taming enthousiast Rudolf or the tomboyish Eva and Jessica ? Am i also to swallow that for years a certain someone played played Kanon, Shannon and Beatrice and no one notices (despite 1 having 3+ personalities ridiculous already) ? Servants and Nanjo aside ; George, Jessica ? No ? No one ? And nothing betrays (no beard, no voice, no strange height ... no ? we talk about a 19yo male), how convenient everything is.
Characters reactions are realistic ? Really ? Everyone quickly agrees that everyone is suspect but no one checks something as simple as simple as someone's death ? dunno, maybe the doctor is dirty^^. The cousins talked a lot about the epitaph just hours ago but no one notices before more deads what this is about ? => I <= definitely wouldn't swallow the "lets check nothing and leave everything to the police" behavior, cuz obviously more deads will arise and i sure wouldn't want to be one of them. Most of the time, everyone choses the "lets build a fortress" tactic but then no one complains when 1 or a group of ppl want to leave for dubious reasons ? Food you say ? Ppl are being killed : 24~48h without eating is no big deal at all. A wild letter strangely appears, casting discord and suspicion ? No one smells the obvious provocation ? This is not how the fortress tactic is supposed to work ! Another one ? (3rd game) After an amazing display of her sharpness and smart mind, our dear Kyrie, having exposed Hideyoshi to be a liar (and i wonder why someone in this situation would be lying, don't you?) decides to keep it for herself but dear husband and go for a silly 2v2(+?); really, talking is out of question right ? That's a general thing : no one talks, NEVER. And i could keep up...
And Umineko isn't that fair actually : in the very first game/arc, for by the end of the 4th we are confirmed Kinzo's death from the very beginning, it becomes obvious that you've already been shown ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, not the best way to promote theories and reasonning. The good way to start everything would've been to show only the truth and if it's not the truth then don't show it at all. reader is not supposed to know that metaphor and lies will actually and actively be shown.
Ryukishi is way too much actively supporting his scripts, asking readers to swallow everything even the most unlikely. Just because "it is explained" doesn't mean it's valid IMO . That doesn't mean Umineko is ♥♥♥♥, far from it (many mystery novels rely on ppl not acting properly), but i don't think it is so much of the one-in-a-century masterpiece i were told (well, it actually is : again, when it talks about "magic" the proper way).
(sry if i made mistakes btw, english isn't my natural language)
On Kuwadorian, none of the siblings were allowed to go into the forest by Kinzo. Rudolf and Eva can't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ take down a wolf, let alone a pack of them, in their childhood days. I don't recall the reason why Rosa went there, but I think it was because she accidentally went into the forest and got lost. On Yasu, she had the servants covering for her, and naturally I would imagine that it's usually because only one of the two is on duty at most times. Sometimes, they're both on duty, but since Genji knows about their secret, and he makes most of the shifts iirc, then he makes it so they're not on duty most of the time. As for not getting any more masculine characteristics, I would imagine that it's because she got a lot less male hormones due to her genitals being destroyed in the accident (as, if my biology isn't completely failing me, male hormones come from the testicles, which would certainly have had to have been destroyed for her to think she was a girl).
On character interactions, yes. They're not detectives, they don't have the tools or the knowhow to investigate murder, regardless of if its their own family or not. It's said at some point in one of the early arcs, they can wait for the typhoon to pass and let the police sort it out. They just need to survive until the typhoon passes. That's their only concern if they don't listen to the letter and try to solve the epitaph. Most of the deaths are obvious to most people at a glance regardless. Food is a solid reason to want to go out, and they sent with them half the guns. And since they ALL ended up dead anyway, not just the one without the guns, then that's no issue. As for the letter, when the later letters show up, they're paranoid as hell, of course they're gonna jump at shadows and point the finger. Also, Ep 3 with Kyrie was a 2v1. It was Rudolf and Kyrie vs Hideyoshi. Even if Eva was there, it would just be because she followed along after them, nothing they could have known about.
As for Kinzo being dead, you can totally figure that out before 4. It's entirely fair. You can't figure everything out prior to 4 regardless (well, the motive, primarily), but that doesn't make it unfair. There's only so much they can put in a single Episode. As someone who knows people who has solved it, it's perfectly fair. 1-4 are called the Question Arcs for a reason.
What do you mean "when it talks about magic the proper way"? There is no "proper way" to talk about magic
When characters like Ange chooses to keep on believing and acting "because they find something healing that way or whatever reason" despite being perfectly aware this is delusion.
But yeah "the proper way" wasn't the good way to say it.