higurashi no naku koro ni: meakashi-hen drama cd cover re-draw.

Review: Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru

Visual Novel (Sound Novel) (PC) Also known as: Umineko: When They Cry - Answer Arcs, When They Cry  Consumed in English

Welcome back to Rokkenjima. The fourth entry in the When They Cry series picks up directly where the third left off. This part concludes the mystery of Umineko, however there’s so much more to this than just that. Chiru is hard to discuss, but I’ll do my best. Let’s Rock.

PLOT: 

(Mild Spoilers for the first half below)

After the ending of the 4th game, the witch can’t continue to run the games. However the voyager witches haven’t had their fill of entertainment. The games continue with new pieces and ploys to dig into the truth of Beatrice’s game board. Battler finds himself stuck between his quest for the truth and the malice of these voyager witches as the answers begin to come to light. 

(Spoilers end here)

The story continues up to its end, but due to the nature of Umineko it’s hard to talk about what happens. What does happen though, is quite intense and intriguing. There are some slower parts that’ll come off as obvious to the more perceptive reader, but all in all I have more positives to say than negatives. As far as whether the answers themselves are satisfying, that’s up to the reader. Umineko Chiru is an ambitious project, and it’s ambitions will surely not be for everyone, however I believe people willing to listen to what it has to say will surely find a lot to love. I personally found myself disagreeing with many of the themes and ideas but I much enjoyed the way they played out. While some episodes are rougher than others, all of them were packed with absolutely amazing moments readers won’t be quick to forget. The ending is an interesting discussion, but I did find it to be both fitting and emotionally satisfying. I did catch myself crying in the 8th episode for good reason. There’s a lot to chew on and talk about, but I’m afraid I can’t do so without ruining the experience.

9/10, Aside from slow moments I found this to be intriguing and engaging from beginning to end.

CHARACTERS: Let’s first talk about returning characters. With our main character Battler, he continues to develop through his arc and has become a fully developed character by the end. His arc is well-done, but the answers he comes to may be disagreeable to some. As for “Beatrice” we finally get to the bottom of that mystery, quite the interesting one indeed. As for the other humans on the island, while they don’t take drastic departures, I do feel by the end everyone has had their moment to shine as we truly get to understand them as people. As for new characters, there’s a few of note. First of all is the character of Erika. Erika will come off as distasteful for many, but she has quite the presence and a fantastic dynamic with other characters. The character of Dlanor was also a welcome addition. A personal favorite would have to be Willard, who has one of the strongest debuts in the series and is amazing throughout his debut episode, though his presence falls off later. The character of Lion is quite popular, especially considering the dynamic with Will, but I never found Lion memorable or impactful myself. Hachijo Tohya was a character who I didn’t like at first but grew to like more over time, especially for her role in the last episode.

9/10, this was very close to being a 10 but I have a few spoilerific nitpicks.

VISUALS: I don’t have much to say that wasn’t said in the review of the first part of Umineko. As for new sprites I found them very hit and miss. Erika and Will’s sprites were quite nice (in both arts honestly). However there were some sprites that felt like really poorly done repurposings of other sprites. In general the entirely new sprites much outweighed the occasional misses. Ryukishi has improved as an artist. As far as background goes I’d say this fourth entry of When They Cry has the best backgrounds in the whole series, especially with some “new” locations looking absolutely phenomenal. Any remaining complaints would be some costume changes that were described but not shown.

7/10, When They Cry at some of it’s best.

SOUND: I don’t think there’s much to say that I haven’t already said. Umineko sounds amazing, the songs in this half have more vocals as it draws towards the end. This second half has two opening songs (5-6 and 7-8) respectively and both of those I found to be amazing even if they are totally different. When They Cry soundwork is and will always be quite the treat.

9/10, It’s WTC what else do I need to say.

FINAL SCORE: 9/10

Thus we close the curtain on the latest and greatest entry in the When They Cry series. The story presented here isn’t a simple one, and it’s one that requires patience, but it’s quite the tale and a hard to forget one. Episode 8 debuted back in 2010, and here we are 9 years later on the brink of Episode 1 of When They Cry 5, let’s hope the series can continue as glorious if not better than it’s last entry.