OBJECTI-^H^H^H It's useless, all useless! [When The Seagulls Cry]

Introduction
Umineko No Naku Koro Ni, aka When The Seagulls Cry, is a visual novel with a story that falls somewhere between Phoenix Wright and And Then There Were None. It's also sort of a sequel to another series that some people may be more familiar with via its animated adaptaion, Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni, aka When The Cicadas Cry.

Both series are primarily the work of independent group 07th Expansion, which itself mainly consists of artist/writer Ryukishi07. For Seagulls, a large number of composers, such as the incomparable Akiko Shikata, have contributed quite a bit of original music for the soundtrack.

If you're at all familiar with the format of Cicadas, Seagulls is set up broadly in the same way. There are 8 games planned out in total, 5 of which have been released as of September 2009. The first four games are so-called "Question Arcs", in which key mysteries of the setting are raised. The last four games are the "Answer Arcs", in which the mysteries are solved.


Story
Spanning October 4 and 5 of year 1986, the Ushiromiya family is in the midst of arguing how best to divide the family patriarch's estate upon his imminent death. A typhoon strikes suddenly, trapping the family on their island, Rokkenjima, for those two days. People start dying strange and gruesome deaths in impossible situations as the Golden Witch Beatrice claims responsibility, all in accordance to a riddle. It's left to the skeptic of the family, Battler, to prove that no supernatural forces are at work in these murders.

If you didn't like my little summary, here's the official introduction to the series :P
http://witch-hunt.com/hist.html


Miscellanea
Sprinkled throughout updates, you'll see various Music links. The soundtrack adds a surprising amount to the atmosphere, so I do recommend you listen to the music as you read if you can. Also, from time-to-time, I'll have a video link for the more action-y bits that can't quite be conveyed well enough just through the text/pictures format. I'll make some occasional snide commentary, but I'm not very funny so take that as you will.

In any case, let's begin:





Episode 1
Legend of the Golden Witch
Welcome to Rokkenjima. The Golden Witch extends her heartfelt greetings. First, please put yourself at ease.

There is nothing too difficult to think about.
Accept entirely, silently, the events to happen.
That is all that is asked of you.

The difficulty is standard.
Shall we first take the easy road?




Music: 薔薇




The elderly physician lets out a sigh as he removes the stethoscope.

In the gloomy study where dust and an overly stench mingle, two elderly men can be seen.

The only thing I can see here is the lack of a good editor





"Liquor is my friend. No less of a friend than you, and my affair with it has been longer than yours and mine."

So said the man who had bared his chest for the stethoscope, as he tidied his clothes without a hint of shyness.


"............Kinzo-san. ...At first glance, your health appears fine because the medicine is working. However, if you keep drinking such strong spirits, the medicine will inevitably lose even its meaning. ...I will not press the point, but please, refrain from drinking."


"I thank you, if only for the sentiment behind your advice. My friend. .........Genji. Another glass. Since I am weak. So that Nanjo can save face."




After eyeing both the master who demanded the alcohol and the attending physician who forbade it, Genji, the old butler, silently gives a slight nod and obeys his master's orders faithfully.

Staring at him pouring spirits by the liquor cabinet, Nanjo, the attending physician, once more lets out a deep sigh...
The smell that fills the inside of the room.

...That sweet, poisonous aroma that melts the heart, and inexorably, the soul, is the aroma of that venomous green liquor the master loves and won't stop drinking.





I am deeply grateful that you have helped me be able to live a long life until today."


"I have done nothing. ......Because you never listen to my advice as your physician."


"Hahahaha... And when I tell you you're making the wrong move on the chessboard, you don't listen either, do you? So we are even."



"......Master."



Casting a contemptuous gaze upon Nanjo, whose face wears a resigned expression, Kinzo takes the glass Genji is holding.

...Upon seeing the venomous color filling the cup, there are probably very few people who would associate it with alcohol.




"Well now... I wonder how short I must make it for you to refrain from drinking."

Nanjo once again lets out a sigh.

Then, watching Kinzo swirling the glass, he finally speaks.

".........You don't have much time."
"...How little are you saying?"

"......Let us illustrate it with the chess game here. Your setup to checkmate me is impressive...but this game will probably not reach the point where you corner my king."




Before Nanjo's gaze, a heavy chess set is placed on the side table.

As far as can be inferred by the pieces, the game is, for the greater part, entering its final stage.

The black rook and bishop are deeply cutting into the enemy lines.

The white king has already been castled and cornered, and it is clear even for untrained eyes that the game's conclusion is set in stone and will rapidly come about.

Nanjo had made a move with the chess pieces each time he came to give a medical examination.

And now he declares, making his move, that Kinzo will probably fall into his eternal sleep sooner than the conclusion of the game will come around.

...These words are less the words of a physician's than they are the words of an old friend.

"......What's this talk of a will, Nanjo? Handwritten instructions to the vultures on how to devour and scatter my corpse?"


"No, not at all. ......A will is something where you leave your intentions behind. It does not only exist to split up the inheritance."


"Hoh. ......What would I write about apart from the division of the inheritance?"


"............Your regrets. Your unfinished matters. What you want to be inherited, ......what you want to convey. ......Anything is fine."




What drivel. I, Ushiromiya Kinzo, have not one thing I want to tell or leave behind!! I was born with nothing. And I will die with nothing! I don't want to leave anything to my foolish sons!! Even if I were to die today, even if I were to die now! I fear nothing, so why shouldn't I accept this fate!! I built everything. My fortune! My prestige! Everything!! Those were built together with me, and will be gone with me. I will leave nothing behind!! Nothing!!

I give not a damn about what happens after that! I want no tomb, no coffin!! That's the contract between the witch and me! When I die, I will part with everything! It's the promise I made in the beginning, and that's why nothing can be left. I cannot leave a thing!!"

End Music



............But still, I am reluctant. I will leave nothing, but there is one single thing I cannot leave as I die..."

".........You would do well to write it down. Of course, it would be good if you could finish it as you still live. However, if that fails to come about, the ones you leave behind will take over. If it were me, I am certain that I would leave something so that those regrets can be settled. ......That would be a will."

As Nanjo tries to gently pat Kinzo's shoulder, a suddenly enraged Kinzo bats away his hand.

"It's useless, useless, useless!!

It must be while I live, because if I die, my soul will be instantly devoured by the demon of the contract, will be erased, will disappear, for all time! I won't have peace in the world beyond death! That's why everything must be done while I'm alive!! That's why I have no need for a testament or any such thing!! If I had time to write such things......, if I had time!!

...I want to see it. I want to see it one more time! I want to see Beatrice's smiling face one more time!! Oh, Beatrice, why have you rejected me like this up until now!? Right now, I'll give back everything you gave me, I'll part with everything!! So, just once more, show me your smile...

Beatrice, I beg of you, for the love of God, you must be listening, you're that kind of woman! I beg of you, show yourself to me!! You're here, aren't you?! You're listening, invisible, and even now you're mocking me from somewhere in this room, aren't you?! Please, appear before me one more time, and smile at me!! You can scold me if you wish, you can snatch away my life with your hands!! I don't want to die alone like this!! Until I see your smile once more with my own eyes, I absolutely cannot die!! Aah, Beatrice, Beatrice!! I offer you this life of mine, I offer it up to you!! For the love of God, Beatriiiiiiiiiiiice!!!"


Video: Umineko No Naku Koro Ni OP

Music: 夏の扉


It's freaky how we can get there in only twenty minutes..."


I'm the only one scratching my head, marveling at progress.

Before, it was by boat.

In the past, we'd been forced to sway and rock the whole half-day trip to reach Niijima. Times sure have gotten handier.

However, I've never gotten on such a tiny plane. I've already flown in a huge jumbo jet, but it's my first experience in such a small one.

...I wonder if it'll shake.

They say that smaller boats shake more, so I guess it's probably the same for an airplane.
...Aaah, just spare me.





"Owaa, G, George-aniki, is that you?!


Heheh, don't scare me like that, you just shaved 3 years off my life. Wait, what do you mean shake?


Ihihihi, I never really wondered or even dreamed about whether a plane'll shake, or whether it'll crash, y'know?"


"Sorry, sorry. It's not like when you were small. It's been six years since then. You're not a kid anymore. Hahahahahah."


"Tch, so you can smoke and drink? No interest in smoking, but I'd like to try booze, heeheehee! If you got your Dad's genes, you should be able to drink like a fish, huh?"


"In my case, I mostly have to drink for my job, rather than drinking because I like it. Doing business in Japan without drinking is difficult work."


"Ihihihi! That's right! That's why I usually don't miss a lesson review~!"


"Tha, that's not good, Battler-kun, aren't you still a minor? Drinking carries the possibility of having a bad effect on the growth of minors..., um, never mind."


"If this is as tall as I get, I'd say that's eno~ugh! Actually, if I shortened a bit instead, it'd be easier to find clothes!"
I puff my chest out.

Until I got my growth spurt, my height was just above average for my class. But, faster than you could say it, I got even bigger, and now I'm over 1m 80cm (5ft 11in).

I guess that's also thanks to the nonstop muscle training I did, and the suspicious drugs for reinforcing muscle strength I ordered.
I shot 10cm over George-aniki, and I never dreamed that someday I'd be able look down at people.

.......Aah, I guess my relatives are all gonna go "Battler-chan, you got so big!"
...Ergh, it's so freakin' embarrassing, I just want everyone to let go of it already.

In any case, my name is Battler, ...which is a pretty, um, incredible name.

I've got big doubts about my parents' taste.
There's no one who can read it right the first time.

Most people read it "Sento-kun".

Too bad, you lose!



Can you read it? My last name is 'Ushiromiya'. That part's alright.

The problem is my first name.

.........戦人 is read as "Battler"



Incredible. Also incredible are the parents who stuck that name on me, and the public official who accepted it. ...They are all at the top of my must-kill list.

He's 5 years older than me, so he's probably turning 23 this year.
Since the Ushiromiya cousins consist of two boys and two girls, he was always Aniki when we played together.

And because of those memories, I still call him that today.




I mean, they do say 'Leave a boy fer three days and expect an interestin' change', and I do declare, they're sure right!"


"It must be in his blood, I suppose. Rudolf wasn't that tall until around his high school years, no? Perhaps you grow taller in the end if your growth spurt is late."


"Nah, nothing like that. For a man, the body goes with the guts!"


"Thass right! Battler-kun's got it! Men compete with their guts! Ya must never forget yer constant discipline. And, if ya wait vigilantly fer yer chance, ya'll make it blossom with a bang!



Me, I never imagin'd that I'd've been able ter become the company president I am today... Yeah, to think that I started out penniless and ruined...!"



He's my Dad's older sister's husband.
In other words, we're not blood-related.

He's very sociable and nice to kids, and since he even gives me some allowance, he's the best uncle ever.

Is that flashy and suspicious Kansai dialect real? Because he's actually from Kanto.

But anyhow, in the business world, impressions are super important, and with different people he speaks differently, as if acting to impress 'em.
......And of course, in front of real Kansai people he gets all embarrassed and switches back to standard Japanese.

...I don't really get it, but he sure is an interesting character.





"That's not true, hihihi! But isn't it nice, though? I think that as a man, having tales of valor to tell is awesome. Because someone like me doesn't have anything like that to tell."


"Oh, reeaally? Someone like Battler-kun, whose looks could most likely make loads of girls cry...I'd think you have some, riight?"


"I, I, I, you, you, you're joking, right!

There's no way any weird stories like that have happened! Actually, I kinda want to be introduced to some instead~!"


"Oh, but you must have some stories. ...*giggle*, you must tell them to your aunt later. Because George has absolutely none of those kind of stories. Ufufufu..."




She's my Dad's older sister.
Together with Hideyoshi oji-san, they're a funny couple that has been teasing me since long ago.

Because of that, when I was small, they were kinda hard to deal with.

...No, I'm confirming that even now, they ARE hard to deal with.

Ah well, George-aniki's family's interesting and fun, and they seem to get along fine, after all.

......Damn, big difference from my family.

"Huh? I think I saw him going to the restroom just now. He's not back yet? Hey, maybe he dropped dead, namunamunamu."


"You shouldn't talk like that about your own father. Aah, but that man always does take a long time in the bathroom, doesn't he."


"Yeah, the old bastard's always been that way. I wish he'd stop going to the can with a magazine. I wonder what magazines he takes and what he does with them? Ihihi!"





"Hihihi! Oooh, I'll have to hear all about that later~! Dad'll have his balls in an iron grip and won't even let out a squeak."


"You know what happens if you don't get a proper grip, right?"


"Not really, no. The reins of the old bastard are in your hands alone, Kyrie-san. As his son, I give 'em over gladly."


"Heh, leave it to me. Isn't it my speciality?"




Hearing a bit of our banter, you can understand she's not my real mother.
She's what you'd call a stepmother.

My real mom died six years ago.
After her passing, my father remarried with Kyrie-san.

It's understandable for someone my age.
Even now, I can't call his second wife 'Mom'.

And on the other hand, I guess she doesn't want to call 'son' her husband's gigantic kid, to whom she's not blood-related.

We don't act like brats to each other.
We wouldn't gain anything by fighting.

So for the same reason, we just don't play at being family either.

That being the case, she's more like an older girl from the neighborhood to me, and by comparison, I guess we've gotten pretty close.

Instead of feeling bad about it by forcing ourselves, we gain a degree of comfort from treating each other in a simpler way.

Since Kyrie-san's also an unusually frank person, we make it work well somehow.





"Hmm~? Battler."


"Whaddya want, Dad?





...Owowowowww! Don't pinch my ear, my ear!"

"Oooooooooooow, oooooooooow! Dammit, that hurts, ya old bastard! You can stretch my ear all you want, I'm not gonna be able to fly ya know, it huuuuuurts~~!!"





"Are you kidding, go have someone from a host club say it to you, if you want it that badly! Oooow, leeet meee goooo!!"


......This old bastard is my Dad. I think I'm tall enough, but Dad's about the same height.

Eva oba-san, seeing my height, seems to agree that I get it from my Dad.

By the way, I didn't get just my height from him. My terrible name too.




Ahaha..., I'm sure he resents Grandfather pretty strongly for giving him that name.

But that's no reason to slap me with that bizarre naming tradition.





"Hey, Rudooolf? Isn't that child abuse?"
"Ouch, that hurts, Aneki..."

This scene is a perfect example of how a mischievous younger brother always gets punished by his older sister, no matter how hulking he is.





"My, I'm sorry. I should leave you a piece to pull on.


Rudolf? Be sure to get lots and lots of punishment afterwards from Kyrie-san, alright?"





Hideyoshi nii-san, I'd like to thank you very much for picking her up. If it wasn't for your leniency, she'd still be unsold in the store. As her younger brother, I apologize."


"...Hmm~?! Who's 'unsold'?"

Eva oba-san takes 2, 3 steps back and, as charming as ever, she unleashes a high spinning backwards kick, stopping it a centimeter from Dad's nose.

She started out with Tai-chi-chuan, maybe for her figure, and then got interested in the Chinese martial arts. After that, she went through karate, tae-kwon-do, capoeira, ...and what is it she's learning now, again?

...Well anyway, they say a woman's weapons are in her lower body, and that's literally true for Eva.

Not so long ago, my partner messed up during an exhibition and got scared out of his skin, you see?"


"...Haaa, no, that's alright. I'm also sorry about her funny walk."
Dad, not batting an eyelid, shrugs and smiles bitterly at Hideyoshi oji-san.





"My my, are you saying you'll soon make a brother for George-kun? George-kun is already a fine adult, and soon he'll leave home, so it might be nice to have another child."


"Hey, Kyrie, think about the troubles a new kid would bring. For a kid born from my evil Aneki, George-kun grew up without a problem.


What an awesome kid. Share some of that with my dumbass son, would you."


"It's nothing of the sort. There was nothing wrong with the way Eva nee-san raised George-kun, so he turned out as a good and gentle kid. Isn't that right, Nee-san."





Ah, but more importantly, how's your little Ange-chan? I heard she was vomiting?"


"Yah, thass right! I was expectin' I could see her face, after so long. Is she alright?"


"She always catches a cold when the seasons change. She's very frail... The truth is that I wanted to bring her, but my family will take care of her this time."


"A wise move, isn't it? She'll get better faster by not bathing in the rotten air at the head house. A child's sickness is more important than an adult's convenience, right?"


"I myself know of some great medicine fer vomitin' colds! When we get back home, I'll send some ter you right away, so use it!"


"Thank you very much, Hideyoshi nii-san. You always help me out..."




For now, I'm just happy that Eva oba-san properly avenged me on Dad's pinching my ear.

I will never, ever be able to get over the art for this game.

I really like the premise, though, so that just makes it even more unfortunate.

I sort of treat it the same way I treat Achewood's art, but yea, it's rather unfortunate.

Man, I did not appreciate just how much better the animes art is.

Now I do! But I'm still interested in seeing where this is going.

Such is the fate of indie games when none of the people on the team have any real artistic talent, or the time/devotion to better develop what talent they have. I try not to hold it against anybody. They try, at least, and if I wanted to make a game all by myself there would certainly be aspects of it that I couldn't do very well. I'm usually just impressed that one person (or in some cases a small handful of people) working independently can make things that appeal so strongly to such a large audience. It always makes me curious to find out what the creators did right to make their works so popular in the first place.

Of course, I'm not an artist, so bad art doesn't really get to me in the way I would expect it to get to someone who actually knows something about art.

Anyway, I'm interested in seeing how this game plays out. I know of Higurashi and Umineko, but my knowledge comes only from research that I've done to learn about how the stories are structured and how crazy they are. I've never actually read either of the games, nor watched the Higurashi anime series, and I've only seen maybe three or four episodes of the Umineko series.

That didn't stop me from saving hilarious internet images related to them though.

It's not so much the art for me as it is the editing (or lack of it) done for the translation. A lot of the writing reads amateurishly at times, like the person translating it went for a literal reading of the text instead something more professional. It's a bit of a barrier to get over, honestly.

That said, the art design is a little... off. The faces, they burns us.

Still! The story looks pretty interesting though, and the bit at the beginning with the will has me sold.

Technical issue: the 'music' links currently (1pm 9/3/09) are dead, dead, dead. Did they work for anyone else yet? I'm going to hold off reading the rest of the intro till they're working since you said they add a good bit to the LP.

They're working fine for me.

Didn't work for me, either. Could it be browser-related? I'm using Firefox 3.5.2.

Might be a font issue or something. Can you read the track names or do you just see a bunch of gibberish? Also, is your Flash updated?

Anyways, I didn't realize just how silly and relevant this forum's 15 image-per-post limit was until I actually started this. As it stands, I'll end up having a higher post count in here than everyone else combined, so unless anyone has any objections, I'll be hosting the actual updates on a separate site. So here's today's.

Also, this is as good a time as any to explain the TIPS system, since we're at the end of the first "chapter". Basically, TIPS are bits of information that are given to you outside of the actual narrative. The most obvious one in Umineko takes the form of an omnipresent relationship chart that shows you the status of the characters that have been introduced, but other important stuff pops up from time to time. I'll indicate these in a mass post at the end of each relevant update.

Whenever I see a visual novel LP, I wonder what it would be like to LP a normal novel.

You could even make it a video LP -- just read it aloud and insert snarky comments and compare Moby Dick with the latest 4chan memes.

That would be terrific only if they got the MST3K guys to do the snark. I would listen to that all day.

Today's poison. I'd like to some feedback on what you all think of the length, as it's one of the shorter parts (~4500 words) of the first episode. Basically as things stand, I have about 20 updates prepared that comprise the entirety of this episode, but if this one is already considered to be too long, I can easily split those down into shorter segments.

the character designs are rather... distinctive. They look like a mashup of the potato head style (Ranma 1/2, KOR, etc) of the 80's and the more angled look (Tenchi Muyo, Slayers, etc) of the 90's. As for the story so far?

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Anybody complaining that I was too literal when I translated FF6, I'm going to point them to this game from now on. Seriously, I know pedants who are less demanding about accuracy than this.

Alas, it takes two-four hours, depending on how quickly you read, before things start to pick up - they cram a lot of background which has yet to have any real pay-off right up front.

To be really truthful, though, things don't really, really get good until the last hour or so of the games first "episode", which is quite some way off.

-edit- Also, I should probably point out that, contrary to popular belief, Ryukishi07 has stated that Umineko isn't going to have "answer" arcs in the same way as Higurashi.

I probably should have mentioned that earlier myself. This entire chapter is more about setting up the premise and characters than anything else. It's one of the things I like and dislike about the adaptation, in that it gets past this chapter to the good stuff in just 5 episodes, but it had to sacrifice a lot of characterization and atmosphere to do so.

I figured that out after finishing Episode 5, heh. The ending was, uh, interesting to say the least.

Anyways, I've been rather busy the last few weeks studying for professional exams, which I just finished up a couple of days ago. I'll start posting updates again either tonight or tomorrow.

Aaaand, finally back in business.

So we get an introduction to couple more of the servant staff. The scene in the rose garden has basically two things of interest: the introduction of Maria's rose, an object which is to become a bit of a recurring element, and also the first time the term "furniture" is used in this context. In more general terms, the elements of interaction between Kanon, and, well, pretty much everyone else are what make this scene stand out to me.

Also, random trivia: the guesthouse you see in the background is this.