Umineko no Naku Koro ni
| Umineko no Naku Koro ni | |
|---|---|
| Original title | う み ね こ の な く 頃 に |
| developer | 07th expansion |
| First title | Legend of the golden witch (2007) |
| Last title | Twilight of the golden witch (2010) |
| Platform (s) | Windows |
| Genre (s) | Dōjin - sound novel |
Umineko no Naku Koro ni ( Japanese うみねこのなく頃に, German "When the seagulls cry"), subtitles: When They Cry 3 is a Dojin - Sound Novel series, by 07th Expansion was created. The first game in the series, Legend of the golden witch , was released on Comiket 72 on August 17, 2007 for the PC . It is the third title in a series of games whose predecessors were Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai .
At the center of the sound novel is a group of 18 people who are hoping to distribute the family inheritance on a desert island . However, within two days, most of them mysteriously perish or disappear without a trace. The aim of the game is to find out the cause of the murders and to clarify whether they are of human or supernatural origin, since legend has it that the legacy and wealth of the family (10 tons of gold) were created by a witch.
The game series was adapted through several other media that build on the rough framework of the game. This includes four manga series and an anime television series.
Game mechanics
Umineko no Naku Koro ni is described by 07th Expansion as a " sound novel ". This designation is correct in that the game consists almost entirely of written dialogues and the visual representation of what is happening is in the background. Instead, games of this kind try to cast a spell on the reader with the help of the plot, atmospheric music and suitable sound effects . The graphics of the original games in the series are very simple and had no speech output for the characters.
The term "game" is misleading in that, unlike other products in this genre, there are no interactive elements whatsoever. The plot is completely linear, but additional background information is provided in a TIPS mode. These notes can be called up via the in-game menu and are automatically completed as the action progresses. Some of them contain valuable knowledge that helps to solve the secrets of the game, or they just give further descriptions of the characters, which may be interesting to read but do not help the player any further. The real goal of the game is to find a combination of questions and answers so that the real killer of each chapter is exposed and ultimately led to a scenario in which all participants survive. This concept is comparable to that of the predecessor Higurashi no Naku Koro ni , in which an almost identical initial situation continues to develop differently and the true background only emerges step by step.
As a “bonus system”, several additional dialogues are provided in the game, which are activated after successfully completing a chapter or scenario. If the player has completed all scenarios in full, a Music Box section appears in the main menu , which enables the player to play every single background music used in the game, regardless of the current game scene.
action
The main plot of the game takes place in 1986 within a small time window of two days from October 4th to 5th on a small, remote island called Rokkenjima ( 六 軒 島 ) of the Izu Islands . This is where Kinzo, the head of the rich Ushiromiya family, lives. As his death seems near, eight of the family members gather at an annual meeting to discuss how to divide the inheritance. They are joined by three other family members and five servants. As the first deliberations begin, a typhoon looms , preventing them from leaving the island, while strangest things happen at the same time and one after the other dies.
The protagonist Battler Ushiromiya, from whose perspective the plot is described, is the son of Rudolf, who in turn is the second son of Kinzo. Battler has not attended the meeting for six years, as he grew up with his maternal grandparents after the death of his mother Asumu and also took their last names. When his grandparents died, he moved in with his father, his second wife Kyrie and his half-sister Ange. On the island he is first confronted with an old legend about the witch Beatrice who is said to live in the forests of Rokkenjima. In the entrance hall he comes across a portrait of the witch that Kinzo had made, along with an epitaph . On this the rumor is recorded that Beatrice Kinzo is said to have left 10 tons of gold when the Ushiromiya family was about to end due to the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923. At the same time whoever solves the mystery of the witch's writing should receive the gold and become the head of the family.
Six of the guests are murdered relatively early in the game. If the witch's riddle cannot be solved, then more of the 18 characters present at the beginning gradually die under mysterious circumstances, according to the prediction of the epitaph, until Beatrice is awakened. In this case, Battler is the only survivor who, however, does not believe in witches or magic and consequently cannot open the gate to the "golden land". Beatrice then abducts the protagonist into a parallel world called Purgatorio , which gives an overview of events on Rokkenjima. At this point, both of them are caught in a game of different views. Battler tries to explain the events with worldly means, while Beatrice tries to connect this with magic. Various arguments are taken up again and again, including Probatio diabolica , Schrödinger's cat or the locked room . If Beatrice can convince Battler to believe in witches and magical abilities, Battler has lost the game.
Plot sections
The game is divided into several action sections, which show what is happening from different perspectives and increasingly deal with the backgrounds of individual characters.
Umineko no Naku Koro Ni
- Legend of the Golden Witch
- From Battler's point of view, the events and the initial situation of Umineko no Naku Koro ni are introduced. This section has a bad ending , as all Ushiromiya family members are either killed or disappear without a trace.
- Turn of the Golden Witch
- Despite the almost identical structure of the plot as in the first section, Shannon's past is discussed in detail this time and more supernatural phenomena come to the fore. The relationships Jessica / Kanon, Shannon / George and Maria / Rosa are also dealt with in greater detail. The narrative perspective changes frequently and sometimes a narrator appears who gives the impression of being a neutral, omniscient narrator .
- Banquet of the Golden Witch
- Several new characters are introduced, which include Virgilia, Ronove, and the Chiesters. This time the focus is on Eva's and Beatrice's past.
- Alliance of the Golden Witch
- This time the focus is on Ange, Battler's half-sister, and her life twelve years after the incidents on Rokkenjima. Also this time numerous new characters are introduced, which include Chiester 00, Gaap and other people.
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru
The Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru ( う み ね こ の な く 頃 に 散 ) games tell the second part of the story, which begins to drill more and more into the core of the mystery. These games are not simply the solutions to the first four sections, but rather tell the story further. They are intended to provide readers with some pointers for solving the first four sections.
- End of the Golden Witch
- In contrast to the previous games, the roles of the game participants are taken over by Lambdadelta and Bernkastel, because Beatrice no longer has the strength to fight and Battler only acts as a spectator. This time the focus is on Kinzo, Natsuhi and an unexpected guest. The aim of this chapter is to get a completely different insight and a new perspective on the story of the Golden Witch.
- Dawn of the Golden Witch
- In this chapter Battler is crowned the new Game Master because he has solved all the riddles of the murders in the previous chapter “ End of the Golden Witch ”. Now he has to assert himself with his self-created game against Erika and Bernkastel. In the meantime he tries to get the deceased Beatrice back with his new power, but what comes out are two new Beatrices who differ from the old Beatrice in character or in memories. In addition, new characters are introduced, such as Zepar, Furfur and a new witch named Featherine Augustus Aurora, who contacted Ange Ushiromiya in 1998 as a framework story.
- Requiem of the Golden Witch
- This game is fundamentally different from the others because the two main characters are replaced by Lion Ushiromiya and Willard H. Wright, who together on behalf of Bernkastel have to fathom the motives and past of the story in order to solve the puzzles once and for all. In the entire main game, none of those present on Rokkenjima are killed. This world comes about because something has changed in the past and therefore Lion does not die and therefore no legend of Beatrice exists. Another new character is Clair Vaux Bernardus, who serves as a placeholder for Beatrice's true identity to tell her story.
- Twilight of the Golden Witch
- As in episode 4 Alliance of the golden Witch, Ange Ushiromiya is the focus of the plot. After all the backgrounds have been revealed in episode 7, Ange hopes to finally find out the only truth of the series of murders in order to finally find peace for herself.
Origin and publications
The first game of the series Umineko no Naku Koro ni with the title Legend of the golden witch was offered on August 17, 2007 on Comiket 72 . This was followed by three more parts up to Comiket 75 on December 29, 2008. A sequel to the series has been announced and will be titled End of the golden witch .
| title | Publication date | Comiket |
|---|---|---|
| Legend of the golden witch | 17th August 2007 | Comiket 72 |
| Turn of the golden witch | December 31, 2007 | Comiket 73 |
| Banquet of the golden witch | August 16, 2008 | Comiket 74 |
| Alliance of the golden witch | December 29, 2008 | Comiket 75 |
| End of the golden witch | August 15, 2009 | Comiket 76 |
| Dawn of the golden witch | December 30, 2009 | Comiket 77 |
| Requiem of the golden witch | August 14, 2010 | Comiket 78 |
| Twilight of the golden witch | December 31, 2010 | Comiket 79 |
The video game developer Taito published the first part Legend of the golden witch in a version adapted for mobile phones on March 31, 2009. Mobile phones were supported by FOMA 900 or i703. BREW was used as the runtime environment to port the game .
An English version was initially offered illegally and free of charge by the fan project “The Witch Hunt”. Translation patches are now available for all eight action sections and the translation project is officially supported by 07th Expansion.
music
The original music for the game was made by various musicians. These included both professional and dojin artists. Dai, the composer of the previous Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai , took over the management of the music production. The theme music for the game Umineko no Naku Koro ni ( う み ね こ の な く 頃 に ) was composed and sung by Akiko Shikata . The title was first offered as a single on Comiket 74 August 15, 2008. It was later published by Frontier Works on August 29, 2008.
The title Occultics no Majo ( オ カ ル テ ィ ク ス の 魔女 , Okarutikusu no Majo ) formed the opening credits of Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru and was interpreted by Ayumu from Volume Two .
On August 26, 2009, a soundtrack for the chapter Legend of the golden witch , which bears the name Essence, is to appear.
Adaptations
Manga
The games were adapted from several mangas . An initial publication as a manga series, drawn by Kei Natsumi and including the Legend of the golden witch section , was published by Square Enix in the Gangan Powered manga magazine . The first chapter of the still ongoing series was printed in the January 2008 issue, which had been in stores since December 22, 2007. The previously published chapters have been combined into 3 Tankōbon issues that have been published since June 21, 2008.
- Umineko no Naku Koro ni Episode 1: Legend of the golden witch 1 (June 21, 2008, ISBN 978-4-7575-2309-8 )
- Umineko no Naku Koro ni Episode 1: Legend of the golden witch 2 (December 22, 2008, ISBN 978-4-7575-2445-3 )
- Umineko no Naku Koro ni Episode 1: Legend of the golden witch 3 (June 22, 2009, ISBN 978-4-7575-2589-4 )
An adaptation of Turn of the golden witch was drawn by Jirō Suzuki and also published by Square Enix. However, the manga appeared in the magazine GFantasy and has been running there since July 18, 2008. A first publication as Tankōbon took place on June 21, 2008.
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Umineko no Naku Koro ni Episode 2: Turn of the golden witch 1 (June 21, 2008, ISBN 978-4-7575-2590-0 ):
A Yonkoma with the title Umineko Biyori - Rokkenjima e Yōkoso !! (う み ね こ び よ り. ～ 六 軒 島 へ よ う こ そ !! ~ ) was illustrated by Makoto Fugetsu and was published from March 1, 2008 to March 2, 2009 within Ichijinsha's Manga Palette Lite magazine. A summary of the strips took the form of a tankōbon, which was published on June 22, 2009.
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Umineko Biyori - Rokkenjima e Yōkoso !! (June 22, 2009, ISBN 978-4-7580-8048-4 )
Another manga Umineko Dōri no Peru-san (う み ね こ 通 り の ペ ル さ ん ) was drawn by Satoshi Shinkyo and was published from November 2008 through the May 2009 edition of the magazine Comp Ace printed that by Kadokawa Shoten published.
The manga Umineko no Naku Koro ni EpisodeX Rokkenjima of Higurashi crying drawn by Yuki Hiiro is a mixture of characters from Umineko no Naku Koro ni and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and has been featured in Dengeki G's Festival! Magazine since January 26, 2009 ! Comic published by ASCII Media Works .
Radio play series
On June 24, 2009, Frontier Works began releasing a series of radio plays spoken by the same seiyū as in the adaptation as anime.
- Kogane no Kakeratachi (黄金 の カ ケ ラ た ち , June 24, 2009)
- Kogane Chō no Miru Yume (黄金 蝶 の 見 る 夢 は , July 23, 2009)
Novel series
Kōdansha Box began implementing the game as a novel series written by 07th Expansion . The first publication, which appeared on July 1, 2009, dealt with the content of the first half of the chapter Legend of the golden witch . A second publication is planned for August 2009, which will be followed by further publications.
- Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Episode 1: Legend of the golden witch ( jō ) (う み ね こ の な く 頃 に 〜 〜Episode1〜 Legend of the golden witch (上) , July 1, 2009, ISBN 978-4-06-283719-4 )
Anime
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Umineko no Naku Koro ni う み ね こ の な く 頃 に |
 | |
| Country of production |
 Japan
|
| original language | Japanese |
| year | 2009 |
| length | 24 minutes |
| Episodes | 26 (December 17, 2009) in 1 season |
| genre | Horror , fantasy , mystery , drama |
| idea | 07th expansion |
| First broadcast | July 1, 2009 - December 24, 2009 on Chiba TV |
Directed by Chiaki Kon , Studio Deen , commissioned by Frontier Works , adapted the computer game as an anime television series with the eponymous title Umineko no Naku Koro ni . Junichi Higashi took over the artistic direction, while Yoko Kikuchi, as character designer, was guided by the rough template of 07th Expansion. While Studio Deen took over the management of the production, certain subtasks were outsourced to other companies. Umidori created the 3D animations used in some scenes. As with many other productions, Studio Easter created the background images for the individual locations in the usual role. The creation of the keyframe animation was outsourced to several studios. These included Anime R, Hebarki, Studio Create, and Studio Liberty.
In Japan, the 26-part series was first broadcast by Chiba TV since July 1, 2009. Other channels such as AT-X , KBS , Sun TV , TV Aichi , TV Kanagawa and TV Saitama also started broadcasting the series a few days later.
The opening credits of the series were underlaid with the title Katayoku no Tori ( 片 翼 の 鳥 ), sung by Akiko Shikata . The end credits music was sung by Jimang , who interpreted the title La Divina Tragedia: Makyoku ( la divina tragedia ~ 魔 曲 ~ ). Since both the opening and closing credits have an approximate length of one and a half minutes, the titles have been shortened accordingly. It was announced that both tracks would be released as single on August 19 and September 16, 2009 in full length.
synchronization
| role | Japanese speakers ( seiyū ) |
|---|---|
| Battler Ushiromiya | Daisuke Ono |
| Jessica Ushiromiya | Marina Inoue |
| Beatrice | Sayaka Ohara |
| Maria Ushiromiya | Yui Horie |
| George Ushiromiya | Kenichi Suzumura |
| Bernkastel | Yukari Tamura |
| Lambda delta | Fuyuka Ōura |
| Ange Ushiromiya | Rina Sato |
Web links
- 07th Expansion Official Website for the Game Series (Japanese)
- Official website of Studio Deen to anime (Japanese)
- Anime News Network about the anime (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ う み ね こ ド ッ ト TV─TV ア ニ メ 「う み ね こ の の な く 頃 に」 公式 サ イ ト . Studio Deen , accessed July 5, 2009 (Japanese).
- ↑ 推理 は 可能 か 不可能 か ―― 『う み ね こ の な く 頃 に』 i ア プ リ で 登場 . ASCII Media Works , March 31, 2009, accessed July 5, 2009 (Japanese).
- ^ Witch Hunt Translation Project - Ryukishi07's Letter. 07th Expansion, accessed December 7, 2009 .
- ↑ う み ね こ ド ッ ト TV─TV ア ニ メ 「う み ね こ の の な く 頃 に」 公式 サ イ ト . Studio Deen , accessed August 2, 2009 (Japanese).
- ↑ 作家 名 別 出版物 一 覧 「な」 . (No longer available online.) Square Enix , archived from the original on March 28, 2007 ; Retrieved July 5, 2009 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ う み ね こ の な く 頃 に Episode 2 : Turn of the golden witch 1. Square Enix , accessed July 5, 2009 (Japanese).
- ↑ コ ン プ エ ー ス 2008 年 11 月 号 . (No longer available online.) Kadokawa Shoten , archived from the original on December 8, 2012 ; Retrieved July 5, 2009 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ 電 撃 G's Festival! COMIC Vol.5. MANGAOH CLUB Inc., accessed July 5, 2009 (Japanese).
- ↑ う み ね こ ド ッ ト TV─TV ア ニ メ 「う み ね こ の の な く 頃 に」 公式 サ イ ト . Studio Deen , accessed August 1, 2009 (Japanese).
- ↑ う み ね こ の な く 頃 に. (No longer available online.) Kōdansha Box , archived from the original on July 15, 2009 ; Retrieved August 1, 2009 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
