The show begins on a (literal) dark and stormy night, as Kinzo discusses both his health and his longing for Beatrice with Dr. If this all sounds a little too vague or fluffy, I’d like to provide an example from the opening scene that will hopefully illustrate what I mean. It’s almost designed to trigger vague and exaggerated impressions of the VN - impressions that are aging fast and, thus, prone to a certain lack of subtlety. I’ve become a member of the anime’s target demographic due to my shitty memory! What I mean is, the anime is constructed in a way that almost anticipates the viewers’ dwindling memories of the original. But in some ways, it’s good that my memories of the VN are beginning to fade.
You may think that this fact puts me at a distinct disadvantage - and, well, it does, if I want to get really granular with my criticism. In the interim, I’ve retained my memories of key plot events, but it’s not like I can remember every scene, line of dialogue, stylistic choice, etc. It’s been about eight months since I finished the visual novel. So without any more obnoxious delays, let’s dive into the first episode! I might as well write about something I enjoy. And besides, I have to write regularly or my writer’s muscle is gonna decay. I’m curious to see how these studios grapple with Ryukishi’s text - what characteristics they emphasize, what plot events they diminish or omit, etc. Thus, I’m choosing to watch these shows out of curiosity rather than hope. At the very least, I don’t think that it could ever hope to rival the original story. In short: no, I don’t think that this Umineko adaptation will be very good. How, exactly, could an anime adapt his dense and jargonistic tangents, or his hilariously long, hilariously strange metaphors? Rather than being mere tics, these stylistic choices are crucial to the Ryukishi Experience, forming a layer of gooey sediment that only serves to enhance the rich thematic undercurrent flowing underneath. Ryukishi’s idiosyncratic writing style takes these (already decent) surface elements, warps and bends them over a period of 100 hours, and fills them with strange and wonderful details that disappear the moment you remove the text.
Anyone who’s really sat with Ryukishi07’s stories for an extended period of time realizes that the visuals, the plot and any other surface elements are less important than the manner in which these surface elements are delivered. In my honest opinion, there is simply no way to ‘accurately’ or ‘faithfully’ adapt these stories into a purely visual medium. Please, friends, join me as we gawk at the 2009 half-finished Studio Deen joint, Umineko When They Cry!įirst of all, I should clarify my position on 07th Expansion adaptations in general, so you can better understand how I’m watching, appreciating, and criticizing these things. I’m planning to write about that show as it airs (along with the Deen adaptation and the original VN), but in the meantime I decided to revisit an earlier, sort of abandoned attempt at a 07th Expansion anime. If you’re reading this post right now, you’re probably aware of the fact that Higurashi When They Cry is getting another anime adaptation sometime in the near future.
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