Umineko

is a Japanese dōjin soft visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion. Its first episode debuted at Comiket 72 for Windows in August 2007. The story focuses on a group of eighteen people on a secluded island for a period of two days, and the mysterious murders that befall them. Readers are challenged to discern whether the murders were committed by a human or some other, supernatural source, as well as the method and motive behind them. The eight main ''Umineko'' games are split into two sets of four, which are considered the third and fourth titles in the ''When They Cry'' series, preceded by the two sets of ''Higurashi When They Cry'' games and followed by ''Ciconia When They Cry''.

The games—either in portions or in full—have been ported or remastered several times, including by Taito for select FOMA phones; by Alchemist for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and Xbox 360; by Oizumi for pachinko machines; by MangaGamer for Steam and GOG.com; and by Entergram for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.

Square Enix, Ichijinsha, Kadokawa Shoten, and ASCII Media Works all published various manga adaptations of the series. It was adapted into an anime television series, which aired from July to December 2009. A series of novels written by Ryukishi07 are published by Kodansha Box. A fighting game based on the franchise, '' Umineko: Golden Fantasia'', was released by 07th Expansion in December 2010. Since April 2022, ''Umineko'' has been adapted into an ongoing series of stage plays produced by Shingidan Mumei Classics, with the sixth episode to premiere in September 2025.

Gameplay

''Umineko When They Cry'' is a murder mystery visual novel, and as such conveys its story primarily through text-based narration and dialogue supplemented by visual and audio elements such as character sprites, background music, and sound effects. It is described as a "sound novel" by 07th Expansion, due to the game's greater focus on creating atmosphere through audio elements rather than visual aspects. The original releases contain no voice acting for the characters. ''Umineko'' is almost entirely linear and contains no interactive gameplay elements, with the exception of small portions of its final entry, ''Twilight of the Golden Witch''. Besides advancing text, players may also access the Tips Mode, allowing them to read various supplementary information regarding the characters and story. Each episode also contains two epilogues which are successively unlocked, which are continuations of the main story that often contain important plot points.

Despite the lack of interactive gameplay elements, ''Umineko'' is framed as a game between the author and the reader, with difficulty ratings given in the descriptions for each episode. This refers to the difficulty of the mysteries in each episode, which the reader is intended to actively try to solve. Several story elements are introduced through the course of the story to aid readers in solving the mystery along with the story's protagonist.

Synopsis

Plot

The story begins on October 4, 1986 at , a private island where the wealthy Ushiromiya family have gathered to discuss the division of assets belonging to the ailing family head, Kinzo. Returning after a six-year absence, Kinzo's grandson Battler becomes reacquainted with the legend of the "Golden Witch" Beatrice, who supposedly gave Kinzo ten tons of gold to restore his financially crippled family in the past. Beside her portrait is a riddle-like epitaph, which is believed to grant the rumored gold and the succession of the headship to the solver. A typhoon traps the eighteen people on the island, and occult-like murders occur in accordance with the epitaph, often in ways that seem impossible for a human.

At the end of the first episode, the witch Beatrice seemingly kills everyone. In the credits it's revealed that story up this point was just a retelling of a message bottle found up years after massacre happened. Refusing to acknowledge the existence of magic, Battler is seemingly sent to the parallel dimension of Purgatorio, from which events on Rokkenjima can be seen as a "game board". There he meets Beatrice and faces her in the games of logic, tasked to explain murders with human tricks.

Subsequent episodes show events on Rokkenjima arranged in various different ways each time, while Battler discusses them with Beatrice and other magical entities in Purgatorio. Battler uses various logical weapons to oppose Beatrice, such as red text, in which only truth can be written, or blue text, which is considered true until refuted by red. The story also shows the real world 12 years later, where the only survivor is Eva Ushiromiya, Battler's aunt. Eva adopts Battler's sister, Ange, who did not attend the conference due to illness. Ange, who has a hateful relationship with Eva and is bullied by her classmates, refuses to accept the death of her family and tries to reach the truth on her own. Over the course of the story, Battler and Ange come to understand magic as an adornment of reality with fantasy, used by several individuals as a coping mechanism for their harsh life situations.

As the story goes on, Battler at first is filled with hatred for Beatrice, but then trying to understand her true motives, he teams up with her and opposes Erika Furudo, a new character put on the "game board" by the witches Bernkastel and Lambdadelta, and who serves as the detective, which leads him to become a "game master" and create his own episode.

In episode 7, Bernkastel summons detective Willard H. Right to solve truth about Beatrice's identity. He deduces that she is Kinzo's illegitimate child, playing the roles of two servants, Shannon and Kanon. The child was born after Kinzo raped his secret daughter of his long-dead mistress. Kinzo handed the child to his son's wife, Natsuhi, who had been unable to get pregnant for a long time. This creates a point of divergence between the world to which Willard was summoned and where the child grew up as Lion Ushiromiya, and the world where Natsuhi, unable to accept the baby, throws it off a cliff. In the latter world, which has been the setting for the previous games, Genji, the head servant, and Nanjo, the family doctor, unbeknownst to the Ushiromiyas, save the baby's life, at the cost of injury making it infertile.

The child grows up known as Yasu in an orphanage funded by Kinzo and begins working for the Ushiromiya family at the age of nine, but is ostracized by the older servants. Yasu finds solace in creating imaginary friends and different personas through "magic". They also begin a relationship with Battler in their youth due to a shared love of mystery novels, but eventually suppress their feelings during his absence and begin a relationship with Battler's cousins, George and Jessica as Shannon and Kanon.

Sometime during this period, Yasu solves the mystery of the epitaph and takes possession of legendary gold and a massive number of explosives, both remnants of World War II military base. Yasu also learns of their connection to Kinzo and realizes that relationships with any of the cousins would be incest. They write possible murder mystery scenarios and put them in bottles which they then throw into the sea. These scenarios form the basis of the first two games. Each of Yasu's plans end up with blowing up the mansion, thus creating the perfect crime.

On the actual family conference of 1986, the epitaph is solved by the adults of the family, and as such, Yasu's plan does not take place. However, an argument breaks out over the possession of the gold, and Battler's parents, Rudolf and Kyrie, carry out a massacre of the family. Eva survives after killing Rudolf and Kyrie in self-defense; Yasu and Battler also survive, but Yasu commits suicide by drowning at sea. Battler, who attempts to rescue Yasu, suffers brain damage and loses his identity as Battler, retaining only fragmented memories. He takes on a new identity named Toya Hachijo, and his attempts to piece together the truth of the incident, represented by his battles with Beatrice in Purgatorio, lead him to pen the tales of previous arcs. In the finale, Ange manages to learn the truth about her parents through Eva's hidden diary, abandoning her own identity and lives a quiet life under a new name, finally meeting Toya many years later.

Story arcs

Umineko no Naku Koro ni

consists of the first four arcs of the series. They are referred to as the Question Arcs and introduce the world of the story and its mysteries. Each arc contains all the previous ones.

;''Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch'' (2007)
:The chapter introduces the player to the main setting for the series as the Ushiromiya family gather on the island of Rokkenjima for their annual family conference. The player is familiarized with the island's 18 residents (consisting of the Ushiromiya family and servants) as well as the legend of the Golden Witch, Beatrice. As the story progresses, people on the island are murdered, and the family is taunted by letters that claim to be from the witch Beatrice, who takes responsibility for the murders and intends to take back everything of the Ushiromiya family.
;''Episode 2: Turn of the Golden Witch'' (2007)
:The chapter introduces the "meta-world", where Battler is locked into a battle of twisted logic with the witch Beatrice as the murders on the island repeat in a different way. Beatrice also arrives on the island as its 19th resident, and fantastical elements are introduced into the story. The chapter also focuses on George and Jessica's relationships with the Ushiromiya family servants, Shannon and Kanon.
;''Episode 3: Banquet of the Golden Witch'' (2008)
:The third chapter continues the repeating murders, with a special focus on Eva Ushiromiya, Kinzo's first daughter. Unlike the first two chapters, the adults of the Ushiromiya family make a serious attempt to solve the riddle of the epitaph. Eva succeeds in this task and finds the gold, but a witch persona of Eva continues to carry out the murders in Beatrice's name.
;''Episode 4: Alliance of the Golden Witch'' (2008)
:The chapter introduces Battler's sister Ange as a secondary protagonist, who survived the Rokkenjima massacre due to being absent and was taken in by the only survivor of the incident, Eva. It has a shifting focus of events, showing readers Ange's life in the aftermath of the incident and exploring her relationship with Maria and magic through Maria's diary. The Ange of 1998 sets out on a journey to uncover the truth of Rokkenjima, while the events on the Beatrice's gameboard repeat for the fourth time.

Chiru

tells the second half of the story, delving deeper into the core of the mystery while providing more clues towards the truth of Rokkenjima. Each arc in this series contains all of the previous ''Chiru'' arcs.

;'' Episode 5: End of the Golden Witch'' (2009)
: This chapter introduces a new game master in the form of the witch Lambdadelta. Another witch, Bernkastel, takes primary control of the human side in the game. She introduces a new visitor to the island in the form of the detective Erika Furudo, who approaches the murders from a "mystery" perspective, unlike Battler who had taken an "anti-fantasy" stance. The chapter also has a focus on Natsuhi, who receives threatening phone calls from a "Man from 19 Years Ago".
;'' Episode 6: Dawn of the Golden Witch'' (2009)
: Having become the new game master, Battler Ushiromiya is tasked in this chapter with creating his gameboard as a way of demonstrating his understanding of Beatrice's game. Like Turn of the Golden Witch, Battler's game has a focus on the lovers, and also introduces a reborn Beatrice who struggles to discover the person she once was.
;'' Episode 7: Requiem of the Golden Witch'' (2010)
: This chapter presents an alternate reality where Battler does not come to Rokkenjima, the Golden Witch does not exist, and a mysterious child is now the designated successor to the Ushiromiya family. The protagonist is Willard H. Wright, who is tasked by Bernkastel to uncover the truth behind Beatrice. The chapter delves into the past experiences of several characters, including Kinzo and the person who would become Beatrice.
;'' Episode 8: Twilight of the Golden Witch'' (2010)
: The final chapter focuses on Ange Ushiromiya, who in her quest to discover the truth behind the events of the Rokkenjima incident is given the chance to go to Rokkenjima as a six-year-old by Battler. Unlike the previous chapters, this chapter has features that require direct interaction from the player, allowing the player to unlock extra scenes as well as make the choice between two endings.

Tsubasa

(2010) is a compilation of short stories written by Ryukishi07 outside of the games, released on December 31, 2010 alongside ''Twilight of the Golden Witch''. Several of the stories are humorous in tone, but the more serious ones are considered canon.

Hane

(2011) consists of two additional short stories written by Ryukishi07: ''Jessica and the Killer Electric Fan'' and ''Forgery no.XXX''. It was released on December 31, 2011 alongside ''Golden Fantasia Cross''.

Saku

(2019) is a collection of all previous official visual novel content for the series along with two additional scenarios. It was released on October 4, 2019.

;
:An additional scenario that goes over the creation of the Beatrice's games, from the execution of the human solution to the adornment with fantasy. It was previously released in text form in the interview book ''Answer to the Golden Witch 2'' (2011), and is recreated here in the visual novel format.

;''Episode 9: Last Note of the Golden Witch''
:A new episode featuring a new character whose title is .

Production

Development

''Umineko When They Cry'' is the second visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion, the first being '' Higurashi no Naku Koro ni''. The scenario writer for the series is Ryukishi07, who also drew all of the character illustrations. Game direction was handled by Ryukishi07's younger brother Yatazakura, and the overall management of the series was handled by BT until his death in July 2009. Image and text processing was headed by Jika, who took over BT's position of overall management. Background images and photography were provided by Yatazakura, Zekozakura, Mali., and All Season Kisetsu no Irodori. The games were designed using the game engine NScripter. The music of ''Umineko'' was provided by various music artists including both professionals and ''dōjin'' artists, and Dai, the composer of most of the music found in the answer arcs of ''Higurashi'', also had a hand in the project as the music director. The word ''umineko'' is the name of a kind of seagull known as a Black-tailed gull. ''Naku'' means , specifically referring to those sounds made by non-human organisms. According to the original creator, Ryukishi07, the red character Na (な) in the logo is an official part of the title.

Release history

The first game of the ''Umineko When They Cry'' visual novel series, titled ''Legend of the Golden Witch'', was first released on August 17, 2007 at Comiket 72. The second game ''Turn of the Golden Witch'' was released on December 31, 2007 at Comiket 73, and the third game ''Banquet of the Golden Witch'' was released on August 16, 2008 at Comiket 74. The fourth game ''Alliance of the Golden Witch'' was released on December 29, 2008 at Comiket 75. The first game in the ''Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru'' series, entitled ''End of the Golden Witch'', was first released on August 15, 2009 at Comiket 76. The sixth game ''Dawn of the Golden Witch'' was released on December 30, 2009 at Comiket 77. The seventh game ''Requiem of the Golden Witch'' was released at Comiket 78 on August 14, 2010. The eighth game ''Twilight of the Golden Witch'' was released at Comiket 79 on December 31, 2010. A fan disc titled ''Umineko no Naku Koro ni Tsubasa'' was released the same day as ''Twilight''. A second fan disc titled ''Umineko no Naku Koro ni Hane'' was released at Comiket 81 on December 31, 2011. MangaGamer released the Windows games on Steam and GOG.com in two parts, Question and Answer arcs, respectively. The release features original Ryūkishi07 sprites as well as new sprites based on Kei Natsumi's art from the manga.

Taito released a version of ''Legend of the Golden Witch'' playable on certain mobile phones on March 31, 2009. The game is playable on FOMA 900 and i703 phones, using BREW as a runtime environment. A remake for the PlayStation 3, subtitled , was released by Alchemist on December 16, 2010. The release covers the original four games, and its features include a full HD rendition, all of the original soundtracks from the PC games, and full voice acting. ''Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru'' was similarly remade for the PlayStation 3, subtitled and released by Alchemist on December 15, 2011. Both remakes were to be ported to the PlayStation Portable under the title , each to be released as two separate games. ''Rondo'' was split into ''Portable 1'' (which covers ''Legend'' and ''Turn'') and ''Portable 2'' (which covers ''Banquet'' and ''Alliance''), released on October 20 and November 17, 2011, respectively. ''Nocturne'' was to be split into ''Portable 3'' (which was to cover ''End'' and ''Dawn''), and ''Portable 4'' (which was to cover ''Requiem'' and ''Twilight''), but both games never came out. A dōjin 2D fighting game produced by 07th Expansion titled '' Golden Fantasia'' was released on December 31, 2010 at Comiket 79. An append disc, titled ''Golden Fantasia Cross'', was released at Comiket 81 in December 2011. In addition, an Xbox 360 port of the original game developed by Alchemist was released on October 6, 2011 under the title ''Golden Fantasia X''.

On November 3, 2018, developer Catbox Creative announced they would be launching a Kickstarter campaign for an updated version called ''Umineko When They Cry: Gold Edition'', with an English dub. In the following weeks, they announced delays to launching the campaign before the project was quietly canceled.

A compilation of all previous official visual novel content for the series along with two additional scenarios titled ''Umineko no Naku Koro ni Saku'' ( ''When the Seagulls Cry Bloom'') was released on October 4, 2019 for Windows. A port of ''Saku'' for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, subtitled was released on January 28, 2021.

Adaptations

Manga

A manga version of ''Legend of the Golden Witch'' drawn by Kei Natsumi began serialization in the January 2008 issue of Square Enix's '' Gangan Powered'', which was later transferred to the debut May 2009 issue of '' Gangan Joker'' after ''Gangan Powered'' was discontinued, and continued until the September 2009 issue. An adaptation of ''Turn of the Golden Witch'' drawn by Jirō Suzuki began serialization in the August 2008 issue of Square Enix's '' GFantasy''. The manga adaptation of ''Banquet of the Golden Witch'' began serialization in the October 2009 issue of '' Gangan Joker'' and is illustrated by Kei Natsumi. Sōichirō draws the adaptation of ''Alliance of the Golden Witch'', which began serialization in Square Enix's Internet-based magazine '' Gangan Online'' on October 1, 2009. The first bound volume for ''Legend of the Golden Witch'' was released in Japan on June 21, 2008 under Square Enix's Gangan Comics imprint. Yen Press licensed the various ''Umineko'' manga published by Square Enix for release in North America. Notably, the manga adaptation includes certain departures from the original visual novel narrative, such as solutions to the gameboard mysteries previously only alluded to with riddles. In an interview with APGNation, Ryukishi07 confirmed the portrayed solutions as canonical. The manga adaptation of ''Twilight of the Golden Witch'' features the original arc ''Confession of the Golden Witch'' delving into the culprit's backstory beyond the scope revealed in ''Requiem of the Golden Witch''.

A four-panel comic strip entitled and illustrated by Makoto Fugetsu was serialized in Ichijinsha's ''Manga Palette Lite'' magazine between March 1, 2008 and March 2, 2009. A single bound volume for ''Umineko Biyori'' was released on June 22, 2009. A cross-over manga drawn by Yuki Hiiro and featuring characters from '' Higurashi no Naku Koro ni'' titled ''Umineko no Naku Koro ni EpisodeX Rokkenjima of Higurashi crying'' was serialized in ASCII Media Works's '' Dengeki G's Festival! Comic'' magazine between January 26, 2009 and February 23, 2011. Two volumes of ''EpisodeX'' were released, the first on February 26, 2010 and the second on April 27, 2011 under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comics imprint. The manga's story takes place roughly during the start of Episode 4's game.

Drama CDs

Frontier Works began to produce a set of drama CDs for ''Umineko'' starting with the first volume released on June 24, 2009. The second volume, followed on July 23, 2009. The voice cast is the same as the anime.

Novels

Kodansha Box released novelizations of the visual novel arcs, written by Ryukishi07 himself and illustrated by Tomohi, in two volume sets, beginning with ''Legend of the Golden Witch'' released on July 1, 2009 for volume one and August 4, 2009 for volume two. Fifteen volumes were released in total, with the last released on September 30, 2018, novelizing the last arc in one volume.

Anime

A 26-episode anime adaptation based on the visual novel series aired in Japan between July 2 and December 24, 2009 on Chiba TV, and aired on additional stations at later times. The anime is produced by the animation studio Studio Deen and directed by Chiaki Kon, with Toshifumi Kawase handling series scripts and Yoko Kikuchi designing the characters based on Ryūkishi07's original concepts. The opening theme of the anime is by Akiko Shikata, and the ending theme is by Jimang from Sound Horizon. The singles for both songs were released on August 19 and September 16, 2009, respectively. The anime is licensed by NIS America for release in North America and was released in two Blu-ray Disc compilation volumes in December 2012.

Internet radio show

An Internet radio show titled ''Umineko no Naku Koro ni Episode R: Radio of the Golden Witch'' aired ten episodes between August 26, 2009 and January 13, 2010. Produced by Animate TV, the show was hosted by Sayaka Ohara (the voice of Beatrice in the anime adaptation) and featured numerous guests who were also voice actors from the anime such as Daisuke Ono (Battler) and Marina Inoue (Jessica). A special episode was later aired on April 28, 2010 featuring Rina Satō (Ange) and Ryukishi07 as guests. Two CD compilation volumes containing two CDs each were released on December 23, 2009 and January 27, 2010 compiling the ten main episodes.

Stage play

Since April 2022, the theatre troupe Shingidan Mumei Classics has produced stage play adaptations of the first five episodes, under the name ''Umineko no Naku Koro ni: Stage of the Golden Witch'' (うみねこのなく頃に ～Stage of the golden Witch～).as an official collaboration project with 07th Expansion. Sayaka Ohara reprised her role as Beatrice for the performance of Episode 1. An adaptation of the sixth episode, ''Dawn of the Golden Witch'', is slated for September 2025.

Music

The visual novels have three opening theme songs. The four games of ''Umineko When They Cry'' use the opening theme , composed and performed by Akiko Shikata, which was released at Comiket 74 on August 15, 2008, and for public release on August 29, 2008 by Frontier Works. The first two games of ''Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru'' (''End'' and ''Dawn'') use the opening theme sung by Ayumu from Zwei. The single for "Occultics no Majo" was released on November 26, 2009 by Geneon. The last two ''Chiru'' games (''Requiem'' and ''Twilight'') use the opening theme sung by Nei Kino. The PlayStation 3 versions use different opening themes. ''Majo to Suiri no Rondo'' uses , sung by Kokomi. ''Shinjitsu to Gensō no Nocturne'' uses , sung by Ayumu from Zwei.

At the end of each game, there are two ending themes: one played after the completion of the main game (or, in some episodes, after the Tea Party) when the cast of characters is shown and another played after finishing the "????" epilogue when the staff credits are shown. In ''Legend of the Golden Witch'', "Bring the Fate" composed by Hironori Doi is the first ending theme and composed by -45 is used for the staff credits. ''Turn'' uses composed by U2 Akiyama for the first ending theme and sung by Kazumi Kimura for the staff credits. The first ending theme of ''Banquet'' is "Dread of the Grave (Rhythm ver.)" composed by SB Yune and the staff credits theme is "Active Pain" performed by Zakuro Motoki. The first ending theme for ''Alliance'' is "Discode" sung by Kanae Sakura and "Rōgoku Strip" is again used for the staff credits.

''Ends first ending theme is composed by -45 and the staff credits theme is performed by Rekka Katakiri. ''Dawn'' uses "Birth of New Witch" sung by Zakuro Motoki as the first ending theme and sung by Nei Kino for the staff credits. The first ending theme for ''Requiem'' is "The Executioner" composed by Zts and the staff credits theme is sung by Kanae Sakura. ''Twilight'' has three ending themes, and differs depending on the ending chosen. For the trick ending, the theme used is "Umineko no Naku Koro ni" by Akiko Shikata. For the magic ending, the first ending theme is , also composed and performed by Akiko Shikata. The staff credits theme is "Engage of Marionette" composed by Dai. An original soundtrack for ''Legend of the Golden Witch'' titled ''Essence'' was released on August 26, 2009.

Notes

References

External links

*
''Umineko no Naku Koro ni Saku: Nekobako to Musō no Kōkyōkyoku'' official website (Entergram)

''Umineko no Naku Koro ni'' game portal site



Witch Hunt Translation Project
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