/jp/ - Otaku Culture

*Sniff*, Ah, Umineko. Pure Ideology. You see, it frames itself as a mystery, but this is a trick from the get go.

You see, the default murder mystery thinking invokes a grudge. In other words, we put a negative light on the characters actions. Every secret must be exposed, every action scrutinized.

But Baseline Umineko, through Beato's facial expressions, music, etc, makes us think "wait, there might be more to this." And this is where, *sniff*, in my opinion, the true frustration begins.

After episode 4 and 5, the average reader has been shown, repeatedly, that Beatrice is cruel and pretends to be nice just to become even more cruel. Yet, episode 5 has a lovely song and a lovely scene where Battler rises from the dead and Beatrice - the woman who anyone with a brain would distrust - becomes a Saint.

We must not forget that Umineko was released as a serial. So, while it may seem ridiculous for all these people to have theories, *sniff*, that is PRECISELY what the Visual Novels release was designed to do.

But then the answer arc presents people trying to figure out the mystery as evil, heartless - indeed, resorting to fairy tale like prose to insult the detective - saying "That mean nasty Erika was at it again!"

Well, anyways, this all culminates in an "official" answer that the crime was facilitated by a DID meido. The happy ending is the family the DID meido fighting off a bunch of literal strawmen - here meant to represent the audience - with the same family she supposedly killed!

The VN is full of contradictions. Only red statements are true(itself a tautology), but don't ignore the white, except of course, when you should. Oh, and don't ignore the heart - yet the more and more one looks, the more and more the heart seems to be one of darkness.

It should be blatantly obvious that ANY reader of Umineko, casual or otherwise, should walk away from the experience feeling so to speak somewhat disappointed. Even if they have a thick skin and do not so much relate so to speak to the Goats, or enjoyed the music, or the experience, it all doesn't add up.

The work can be recontextualized - and of course it will - but in general, Umineko is frustrating. It can ask the reader "Why do you care so much about this story?", but the reader is more than free to retort "Why on earth would you write such a story?"