So I finished Umineko!
Jun. 6th, 2026 11:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrMy initial review.
Overall, I really liked it!
It continued to be a sprawling, layered, long-winded but fascinating mess to the end. But some of my favourite characters and perspectives showed up quite late, and made me look back a more positively on some earlier sections of the story, so my opinion of it now is higher than it was in my last review, if still kinda mixed.
The ending made me cry in a cathartic way, and I am left with a bunch of fun chewy thoughts about stories in general and possible fanfic in particular.
Hella content warnings though, I had to stop at one point because it was skirting very close to triggering me, and then spoiled myself for the next little bit of plot to see if it was going to get Too Dark (which it didn't)
Parental abuse, suicide, rape, incest, sympathetic portrayal of fascists, gore, torture, sexy immortal young girls (real young girls are not sexualised but do get joke flirted with), major character death, probably other things.
It's definitely a really interesting take on murder mysteries as a genre, and a thorough exploration of why people create fictional narratives in general, including in their personal lives. It repeatedly asks questions like: Why do people like stories? What about murder mysteries in particular? Is this story a murder mystery, just because it has murders and mysteries? What does it tell us about the narrative, characters, author, and readers if it is? What does it tell us if it isn't? What about if things are ambiguous or both true and untrue? What even is truth?
But it also very explicitly wants you to care first and foremost about the characters and their feelings more than any single Truth. Which I did!
It uses mystery and ambiguity as a storytelling device, a reward for solving the puzzle of what's going on is to better understand the characters and events you have already read about. The game generally explains major truths eventually for anyone who didn't figure them out, but before that I often experienced a period of "wtf is even HAPPENING" which was sometimes satisfying in the end and sometimes just annoying.
There's self indulgent lashings of slice-of-life, repetition, cheesy dialogue, romance, humour, horror, repetition, family melodrama, shonen anime ridiculousness, repetition, and logic puzzles. Every time something felt jarringly out of place I later looked back and went "Oh wait that was part of the Broader Themes", but I still think it could have been less long windedly self indulgent. Also the female character designs could stand to be 80% less horny, especially since other than that it's not a very sexual game. (I was about to say it's not horny but then remembered all the technically non-sexual scenes of mean girls torturing people)
It explores some big questions about philosophy and relationships, and while I strongly disagree with some of the specific conclusions it comes to in the end, I really liked the approach it took, which encourages you to think things through for yourself and open your mind to other people's experiences and perspectives, even when they're contradictory with your own. Sometimes the author's contrariness and irritation with his more annoying fans comes through in ways which undermine this moral a little haha.
I stopped taking notes at a certain point once I felt like I had a grasp on the core details and just wanted to get to the end, but it continued to surprise me and make me think to the end. Most of my original theories ended up being hilariously wrong but I'm still glad I sat down and worked them out, the game really rewards doing that sort of thing, and also deliberately encourages you to have your own headcanons which might not match the author's intentions/"Truth". Which is good because I think some of my ideas are better >.>
In the end, it's a lot less rigid and conventional about gender and sexuality than it seemed at first. While overall still fairly heteronormative there's canon queerness and gender ambiguity which is handled moderately well, considering.
The handling of child abuse, suicide, and trauma is thoughtful and compassionate, but while I'm theoretically down for "everyone is the protagonist of their own story with their own overlapping versions of truth, we can condemn people's actions while having compassion for the situation which made them act that way, focussing on hating the people you've decided are the Villains is not only unfair to them but harmful to you" it all leans a bit too much towards "people who commit abuse have feelings too" for my comfort. Like, they do! But I was discussing it with a friend, and we agreed that what it's missing is an acknowledgement that you can recognise the sympathetic reasons behind why a family member etc hurt you and still decide you're better off away from them. On the plus side this leaves space for a more compassionate depiction of Bad Trauma Responses than stories which divide the world neatly into Abusers and Innocent Victims.
Also, it's not pro fascist exactly, but thinks the only interesting part of WW2 was how stressful it was for Japanese soldiers, including when the people they invaded tried to kill them For Some Reason.
I think I appreciated the game a lot more than to experiencing it via Jokrono's playthrough, they are very silly in parts but still took it seriously when it mattered, and the combo of joking through boring parts and discussing the more interesting parts added a lot to my experience. While sometimes Unfortunate they made a moderate attempt to be decent about the Gender Stuff. I skipped any recaps which looked like they'd have spoilers, idk if I'll go back and listen now.
ALSO did I mention that it's LONG. Like if you think this post is long winded, you have no idea. But I got to the end eventually, just like you with this post ;)
Overall, I really liked it!
It continued to be a sprawling, layered, long-winded but fascinating mess to the end. But some of my favourite characters and perspectives showed up quite late, and made me look back a more positively on some earlier sections of the story, so my opinion of it now is higher than it was in my last review, if still kinda mixed.
The ending made me cry in a cathartic way, and I am left with a bunch of fun chewy thoughts about stories in general and possible fanfic in particular.
Hella content warnings though, I had to stop at one point because it was skirting very close to triggering me, and then spoiled myself for the next little bit of plot to see if it was going to get Too Dark (which it didn't)
Content notes for the game, which are both possibly triggering themselves and also spoilery
Parental abuse, suicide, rape, incest, sympathetic portrayal of fascists, gore, torture, sexy immortal young girls (real young girls are not sexualised but do get joke flirted with), major character death, probably other things.
It's definitely a really interesting take on murder mysteries as a genre, and a thorough exploration of why people create fictional narratives in general, including in their personal lives. It repeatedly asks questions like: Why do people like stories? What about murder mysteries in particular? Is this story a murder mystery, just because it has murders and mysteries? What does it tell us about the narrative, characters, author, and readers if it is? What does it tell us if it isn't? What about if things are ambiguous or both true and untrue? What even is truth?
But it also very explicitly wants you to care first and foremost about the characters and their feelings more than any single Truth. Which I did!
It uses mystery and ambiguity as a storytelling device, a reward for solving the puzzle of what's going on is to better understand the characters and events you have already read about. The game generally explains major truths eventually for anyone who didn't figure them out, but before that I often experienced a period of "wtf is even HAPPENING" which was sometimes satisfying in the end and sometimes just annoying.
There's self indulgent lashings of slice-of-life, repetition, cheesy dialogue, romance, humour, horror, repetition, family melodrama, shonen anime ridiculousness, repetition, and logic puzzles. Every time something felt jarringly out of place I later looked back and went "Oh wait that was part of the Broader Themes", but I still think it could have been less long windedly self indulgent. Also the female character designs could stand to be 80% less horny, especially since other than that it's not a very sexual game. (I was about to say it's not horny but then remembered all the technically non-sexual scenes of mean girls torturing people)
It explores some big questions about philosophy and relationships, and while I strongly disagree with some of the specific conclusions it comes to in the end, I really liked the approach it took, which encourages you to think things through for yourself and open your mind to other people's experiences and perspectives, even when they're contradictory with your own. Sometimes the author's contrariness and irritation with his more annoying fans comes through in ways which undermine this moral a little haha.
I stopped taking notes at a certain point once I felt like I had a grasp on the core details and just wanted to get to the end, but it continued to surprise me and make me think to the end. Most of my original theories ended up being hilariously wrong but I'm still glad I sat down and worked them out, the game really rewards doing that sort of thing, and also deliberately encourages you to have your own headcanons which might not match the author's intentions/"Truth". Which is good because I think some of my ideas are better >.>
In the end, it's a lot less rigid and conventional about gender and sexuality than it seemed at first. While overall still fairly heteronormative there's canon queerness and gender ambiguity which is handled moderately well, considering.
The handling of child abuse, suicide, and trauma is thoughtful and compassionate, but while I'm theoretically down for "everyone is the protagonist of their own story with their own overlapping versions of truth, we can condemn people's actions while having compassion for the situation which made them act that way, focussing on hating the people you've decided are the Villains is not only unfair to them but harmful to you" it all leans a bit too much towards "people who commit abuse have feelings too" for my comfort. Like, they do! But I was discussing it with a friend, and we agreed that what it's missing is an acknowledgement that you can recognise the sympathetic reasons behind why a family member etc hurt you and still decide you're better off away from them. On the plus side this leaves space for a more compassionate depiction of Bad Trauma Responses than stories which divide the world neatly into Abusers and Innocent Victims.
Also, it's not pro fascist exactly, but thinks the only interesting part of WW2 was how stressful it was for Japanese soldiers, including when the people they invaded tried to kill them For Some Reason.
I think I appreciated the game a lot more than to experiencing it via Jokrono's playthrough, they are very silly in parts but still took it seriously when it mattered, and the combo of joking through boring parts and discussing the more interesting parts added a lot to my experience. While sometimes Unfortunate they made a moderate attempt to be decent about the Gender Stuff. I skipped any recaps which looked like they'd have spoilers, idk if I'll go back and listen now.
ALSO did I mention that it's LONG. Like if you think this post is long winded, you have no idea. But I got to the end eventually, just like you with this post ;)
