Ryukishi07 megathread / griefing thread - Higurashi, Umineko, Ciconia, etc.

[John Titor]

I agree with Passione's art being better than DEEN's but the QUALITY is too much to ignore.

But for those who were around when Umineko was being released initally, what was it like?

Can't remember specifics but I remembered how fun it was to gather around and try to crack open the riddle. I'm still surprised that English speakers called it after four EPs.

 

[HexFag]

Can't remember specifics but I remembered how fun it was to gather around and try to crack open the riddle. I'm still surprised that English speakers called it after four EPs.

Yeah the mystery solving autism/theorizing is something I've kind of seen in Ciconia to some extent, but I can't imagine how people managed to call it by then. Were they ever able to solve the epitaph on their own?

 

[Kari Kamiya]

I think Gou's art is better on a technical scale

It's still DEEN quality. In the main thread I've recorded my thoughts on most episodes including showing off art composition. Passione quality is literally no different from DEEN quality, but the art-style looks kinda blocky to me, weird as it sounds. It's too reminiscent of the 2006 anime in terms of how like they colored hair, they just try to "hide" it with highlights, but when even the skin has the same colored highlights that are in the hair, everything looks like plastic building blocks.

These are still my "favorite" lazy attempts at them trying to be "ooh, spooky", and it's not all of them.

Spoiler

Throwing on a black layer as shadow filters is fucking lazy and kills the mood. I don't think I've ever seen a shot where they actually properly colored in shadows.

This right here would've made for a good scare had they not revealed her eyes post-credits in the first episode. But the glowy eyes have always looked retarded. I bet they made them glow because they either couldn't make the eyes look scary in this art-style or the director is just that inept at horror.

I hate they gave the characters noticeable chipmunk cheeks. It's honestly really distracting in a lot of shots.

Also the rim highlights makes the characters look oily, like ew. Every single shot has them with shiny skin.

Like with the shadow filters, the red-orange sunset glow looks like it was just a filter they threw on. So awful that I legit think the colorists miscolored Rika's bottom ribs because they couldn't fucking see a damn thing through all that pink melting into orange.

Spoiler: intestines

A perspective fail.

Tomitake really was hit the hardest with the new art-style, he looks awful. He's probably like in his 30s, but he looks ten years older every time they do a close-up shot on his face.

I wish I have the ability to show off what I'm talking about, but every time they cut to trees blowing in the wind, you can tell they just took the puppet tool to warp large select sections of the treetops back and forth. It's really bad.

If Passione fixes things up for the BD release, then that'll put them a step up over DEEN 'cause they didn't even do that, and even Outbreak didn't have the best quality in 2012. But as it stands, Ryukishi should've just gone back to DEEN and it would've looked the same except perhaps the cinematography would've looked better. The cinematography in Gou is just so boring.

 

[John Titor]

Yeah the mystery solving autism/theorizing is something I've kind of seen in Ciconia to some extent, but I can't imagine how people managed to call it by then. Were they ever able to solve the epitaph on their own?

Not entirely but they were able to deduce that it's making reference to a place in Taiwan. I believe that it was Ryukishi himself who confirmed Westerners figured it out first.

It's still DEEN quality. In the main thread I've recorded my thoughts on most episodes including showing off art composition. Passione quality is literally no different from DEEN quality, but the art-style looks kinda blocky to me, weird as it sounds. It's too reminiscent of the 2006 anime in terms of how like they colored hair, they just try to "hide" it with highlights, but when even the skin has the same colored highlights that are in the hair, everything looks like plastic building blocks.

These are still my "favorite" lazy attempts at them trying to be "ooh, spooky", and it's not all of them.

Spoiler

Throwing on a black layer as shadow filters is fucking lazy and kills the mood. I don't think I've ever seen a shot where they actually properly colored in shadows.
View attachment 1956617
View attachment 1956618
View attachment 1956619
View attachment 1956623
This right here would've made for a good scare had they not revealed her eyes post-credits in the first episode. But the glowy eyes have always looked retarded. I bet they made them glow because they either couldn't make the eyes look scary in this art-style or the director is just that inept at horror.

I hate they gave the characters noticeable chipmunk cheeks. It's honestly really distracting in a lot of shots.
View attachment 1956627
View attachment 1956632
View attachment 1956644

Also the rim highlights makes the characters look oily, like ew. Every single shot has them with shiny skin.
View attachment 1956629

Like with the shadow filters, the red-orange sunset glow looks like it was just a filter they threw on. So awful that I legit think the colorists miscolored Rika's bottom ribs because they couldn't fucking see a damn thing through all that pink melting into orange.

Spoiler: intestines

View attachment 1956637

A perspective fail.
View attachment 1956646
Tomitake really was hit the hardest with the new art-style, he looks awful. He's probably like in his 30s, but he looks ten years older every time they do a close-up shot on his face.

I wish I have the ability to show off what I'm talking about, but every time they cut to trees blowing in the wind, you can tell they just took the puppet tool to warp large select sections of the treetops back and forth. It's really bad.

If Passione fixes things up for the BD release, then that'll put them a step up over DEEN 'cause they didn't even do that, and even Outbreak didn't have the best quality in 2012. But as it stands, Ryukishi should've just gone back to DEEN and it would've looked the same except perhaps the cinematography would've looked better. The cinematography in Gou is just so boring.

Alright, I guess I can concede to some of these and I know what you mean by the trees. I was digging the first arc and liked that they did an original choreography for the ritual dance but I won't deny that the quality started diminishing afterwards with episode 15 being the worst offender. Akasaka's movement looked like it belonged in a comedy and Oishi bending backwards to shoot someone is more funnier than it should be.

 

[More AWS-8Q Than You]

Can't remember specifics but I remembered how fun it was to gather around and try to crack open the riddle. I'm still surprised that English speakers called it after four EPs.

I agree with Passione's art being better than DEEN's but the QUALITY is too much to ignore.

But for those who were around when Umineko was being released initally, what was it like?

Yeah, it was good times. Part of the reason why the English community got as pissed as they did, and something that people came in later didn't see, was the years spent trying to piece together the riddle. I'd compare it more to ME3, it's more likely Ryukishi never bothered to figure out exactly how the Island went down. GoT got salt because people thought A Song of Ice and Fire was about people potentially getting happy endings, not a bitter old man making evil win because good is dumb and always goes out of character and full retard at exactly the worst moment.

 

[Dom Cruise]

I watched the first season of Higurashi a while back, it was really cool, but getting into the rest of the franchise seems intimidating because there's so much of it.

Still, that first season is legendary.

 

[HexFag]

I watched the first season of Higurashi a while back, it was really cool, but getting into the rest of the franchise seems intimidating because there's so much of it.

Still, that first season is legendary.

Most of the When They Cry series as a whole are seperate, self-contained stories with only some references and callbacks for some.

 

[John Titor]

I watched the first season of Higurashi a while back, it was really cool, but getting into the rest of the franchise seems intimidating because there's so much of it.

Still, that first season is legendary.

Helpful primer:
* When They Cry 1 and 2 is Higurashi. For some reason, he counts both Question and Answer arcs as two separate titles.
* When They Cry 3 and 4 is Umineko. Knowledge of Higurashi is not necessary.
* Higanbana and Rose Gun Days are not part of the When They Cry series.
* Higurashi Rei is an OVA that complements the original series.
* There are side stories available as games on DS and manga. The PS2 one contained original scenarios and an alternate ending because the real one was not ready yet. Okay, I think I understand what you mean by so many now...

* Higurashi Kira is otaku pandering fanservice, not needed.
* Higurashi Outbreak is a movie and I'm not sure how canon it is, I personally didn't like it.
* Higurashi Hou takes off during and after Outbreak. I didn't play it and I'm not sure if it's the definitive version of the series but I don't like the summary I read.
* Higurashi Gou is the current anime right now. Opinions seem contentious but I did find the premise interesting.

 

[Erika Furudo]

Just recently rewatched the old Higurashi anime, I thought it held up pretty well (Disgusting DEEN visuals aside). Maybe it's just nostalgia talking, I watched the first season Higurashi in my teenage years, originally. I've attempted to get into the Visual Novel, but I can't get into it even with the enhanced Playstation illustrations and voice acting.

As for Umineko, I watched the anime back when it first came out. Once again, crap visuals aside, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I've tried recently to read the VN, but just like Higurashi's, I couldn't get into it.

Maybe something about the VN format doesn't appeal to me, might have an easier time reading the manga adaptions of each.

Also, obligatory:
View attachment 1947654

You can't read the manga. Umineko starts slow, but anyone going for the manga will miss out on the amazing soundtrack.

I could post tons of tracks, but the point is the manga would never give you the same atmosphere.

The anime was an abomination btw.

From what it sounds like, it really shouldn't. Lambdadelta was very clearly modelled on Takano, and it sounds like he's trying to shoehorn Satoko into that role? It sounds kinda dumb.


As one of the mystery fags, in my case it was more that he spent all kinds of time bring up all kinds of rules and then just shrugs it off with a "Doesn't matter, no one knows." Which is technically true, but massively unsatisfying. Unless he figured the real mystery was over who the Golden Witch really was, but no one really gave a shit and the weirder the culprit got, the less shits I gave.

Also, by not opening the box, he never has to explain how the culprit actually did anything which is awfully convenient.

Yeah the fact he bring us Knox and Wright then ignores them with his answers is BS. Personally I cope by not viewing Umineko as a murder mystery, instead I view it as a kind of gothic novel.

When it comes to R07 related shitposts Flo Perfecto is probably the best channel when it comes to it. His stuff is mainly Seacats related, but he does make a genuine effort to have his viewers read his other works such as Higanbana and Rose Guns Days. His editing is also pretty good for these short shitposts. kxshima also makes some good videos, but he has like 5 of them and they're all Seacats related again. His editing is top notch, though.

The guy who made the Umineko version of Steamed Hams is a fucking god and prophet.

Some of my personal favorites from Flo:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=KDihLqsVUVshttps://youtube.com/watch?v=-cwIHLml0y4https://youtube.com/watch?v=WwEi0R9FMaAhttps://youtube.com/watch?v=UIG4-iW8UwM

That channel is fucking great. But there is a definite uptick in Umineko meme vids, I think it's due to Gou, or maybe just word of mouth continuing to spread Umineko and now people who make fun content are fans, who knows.

I watched the first season of Higurashi a while back, it was really cool, but getting into the rest of the franchise seems intimidating because there's so much of it.

Still, that first season is legendary.

Higurashi has a few references in Umineko and is spoiled at the start, but it isn't necessary. If you don't know where to find the VN's (the best way to expereince the story) then some people uploaded entire playthroughs on youtube with no commentary. It helps that everything can be broken down into individual arcs, so while people do say Umineko is long as fuck (it is), you can just view it as a bunch of books in a series. While some episodes are better than others, I think all of them are pretty enjoyable in a stand alone format.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Higurashi Hou takes off during and after Outbreak. I didn't play it and I'm not sure if it's the definitive version of the series but I don't like the summary I read.

I thought Hou was just a complete collection of the entire sound novel to date with upgraded graphics?

 

[Return of the Freaker]

I thought Hou was just a complete collection of the entire sound novel to date with upgraded graphics?

No, it included a new arc called Kamikashimashi-hen that takes place after Outbreak and introduces new characters.

 

[John Titor]

I thought Hou was just a complete collection of the entire sound novel to date with upgraded graphics?

No, it included a new arc called Kamikashimashi-hen that takes place after Outbreak and introduces new characters.

I didn't take a closer look into what it is but I do know it contains new scenarios. It even has the Higurashi 'pilot'.

You can't read the manga. Umineko starts slow, but anyone going for the manga will miss out on the amazing soundtrack.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wJwfgttZ60I could post tons of tracks, but the point is the manga would never give you the same atmosphere.

The anime was an abomination btw.


Yeah the fact he bring us Knox and Wright then ignores them with his answers is BS. Personally I cope by not viewing Umineko as a murder mystery, instead I view it as a kind of gothic novel.


That channel is fucking great. But there is a definite uptick in Umineko meme vids, I think it's due to Gou, or maybe just word of mouth continuing to spread Umineko and now people who make fun content are fans, who knows.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZpBFRbG6E44

Higurashi has a few references in Umineko and is spoiled at the start, but it isn't necessary. If you don't know where to find the VN's (the best way to expereince the story) then some people uploaded entire playthroughs on youtube with no commentary. It helps that everything can be broken down into individual arcs, so while people do say Umineko is long as fuck (it is), you can just view it as a bunch of books in a series. While some episodes are better than others, I think all of them are pretty enjoyable in a stand alone format.

I agree, the soundtrack is an absolute banger.

 

[Return of the Freaker]

I didn't take a closer look into what it is but I do know it contains new scenarios. It even has the Higurashi 'pilot'.

I personally consider it non canon because it has a really stupid revelation about the new characters and hanyuu that effectively makes it a gag arc.

Edit: Forgot about Hinamizawa Bus Stop. I wonder just how crazy different Higurashi would be if Ryukishi kept his original scenario.

 

[More AWS-8Q Than You]

Yeah the fact he bring us Knox and Wright then ignores them with his answers is BS. Personally I cope by not viewing Umineko as a murder mystery, instead I view it as a kind of gothic novel.

It really is. The funny thing is that Higurashi is a thriller, but it's a better mystery than the one that's supposed to be a mystery. Umineko is a hell of a fun ride, Ryukishi's stupid need to be transgressive aside.

That channel is fucking great. But there is a definite uptick in Umineko meme vids, I think it's due to Gou, or maybe just word of mouth continuing to spread Umineko and now people who make fun content are fans, who knows.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZpBFRbG6E44

I think the best way to put it, especially with how it's used to build tension and such, is that Umineko's soundtrack doesn't bang. It fucks.

Seriously though, no Worldend Dominator and Rosa Musou? That song plus reading that bit of Ep2 at 3 in the morning? The anime and manga can never reproduce that.

 

[HexFag]

New Preview images dropped.

Spoiler: Gou Episode 22 Preview Images

More not-Featherine and one of Takano. Some people are theorizing that this Takano isn't actually Takano and resembles Vier Dreissig from Ciconia.

While the evidence is apparent, I think this is a bit of a stretch. But I wouldn't put it past Gou to do something like this. Also, did Okonogi always look this messed up? I think I may have gotten used to Ciconia's much cooler Okonogi and I forgot how apparent his nose is in Higurashi.

Something interesting that I found about Gou was this one theory that is pretty comprehensive and encapsulates the entire WTC universe as a whole and ties the whole series back to Dante's Divine Comedy. I'm gonna leave it here for posterity and for those who are interested in reading it. This one has spoilers for the entire WTC series galore. Be warned that it's a lot.

Spoiler: Massive Theory

Main Document

Attachment 1

Attachment 2

Attachment 3

Ouroboros Theory

Original Post

https://twitter.com/cottondrift2/status/1366831583077007360

 

[Kari Kamiya]

More not-Featherine and one of Takano. Some people are theorizing that this Takano isn't actually Takano and resembles Vier Dreissig from Ciconia.

That'll be retarded tbh, just smashing all of WTC together for no apparent reason would really make Gou more pointless and out-of-place in the canon.

But yeah, Okonogi was always kind of an ugly bastard.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

Only thing I managed to appreciate Higurashi for was the endless shitposting material that you regularly used to see on Internet forums back in the 00’s:




Of course it also helps that the visual novels are still pretty good for its time. I used to play the intro music for When They Cry a lot, as well as both the intro and outro for No Naku Koro Ni. That one improved a lot of what the first season brought to the table.

Plus, I can’t forget this famous scene that’s been around for almost decades on the Internet:

Spoiler: Ni-pah~

Either way, I still have yet to watch the rebooted 2020 version. I’m not sure how good it will be since there were scenes of Satoko being so insecure of being a background character to Rika and her new friends while adjusting to high school that she had a chandelier fall on them and (maybe) kill her and Satoko so they can be together in hell the afterlife. They tried to play it as a dream sequence, too. Still, I’ll get around to watching it soon.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

New Preview images dropped.

Spoiler: Gou Episode 22 Preview Images

View attachment 1963991View attachment 1963992
View attachment 1963993View attachment 1963995
More not-Featherine and one of Takano. Some people are theorizing that this Takano isn't actually Takano and resembles Vier Dreissig from Ciconia.
View attachment 1963997
While the evidence is apparent, I think this is a bit of a stretch. But I wouldn't put it past Gou to do something like this. Also, did Okonogi always look this messed up? I think I may have gotten used to Ciconia's much cooler Okonogi and I forgot how apparent his nose is in Higurashi.

Something interesting that I found about Gou was this one theory that is pretty comprehensive and encapsulates the entire WTC universe as a whole and ties the whole series back to Dante's Divine Comedy. I'm gonna leave it here for posterity and for those who are interested in reading it. This one has spoilers for the entire WTC series galore. Be warned that it's a lot.

Spoiler: Massive Theory

Main Document
View attachment 1964010

Attachment 1
View attachment 1964013

Attachment 2
View attachment 1964015

Attachment 3
View attachment 1964017

Ouroboros Theory
View attachment 1964022

Original Post

https://twitter.com/cottondrift2/status/1366831583077007360

The whole expanded universe shit is cancer (in both senses of the word), but especially in When They Cry. It doesn't add anything to either of the previous works, which are very much concluded as well as they can be. Ciconia is a cluster fuck enough to not need even more complications before we know what the actual plot will be, and if it is major then it means you need to read 100+ hours of material to understand what's happening.

 

[Secret Asshole]

Gou is absolute fucking trash and I dropped that shit right quick. I don't know how anyone likes it when literally half of it is a basic retread of the DEEN original with some dumb shit minor changes. Then the other half is some alternative universe diarreha which I have no interest in. The short amount I watched it for was a colossal waste of fucking time.

It seemed like they wanted to do a remake and then they were like 'lol lets make it alt universe shit with all of these visual novels'.

Honestly, I do not. give. a. fuck. About Umeko or Ciconia. Couldn't give any less of a shit. That 'theory' is also ascribing something complicated to something being done by a retard. The Divine Comedy is a singular work about one person's trip through literal hell. It isn't a 'time loop', it has nothing to do with 'alternate universes', it is extraordinarily straightforward and attempting to tie it somehow to this makes me laugh.

Its like the fucking retarded 'ring theory' for the Star Wars prequels.

The Inferno imagery is EXTREMELY EXTREMELY common among writers from literally every culture on Earth and this person is mistaking inspiration for story. The Divine Comedy is highly influential. So the author taking themes from it and imagery is only natural. The guy writing the fucktarded theory sees a bad story and somehow wants to compensate because he really likes it and they start making baseless assumptions by seeing inspiration as plot and that its FUCKING BRILLIANT or this thing that was super planned.

No, it wasn't. I guarantee they were going to do a remake and then decided to do something retarded, so it has nothing to do with something that was planned. If you need something as retarded as this to explain something, chances are, no, its not the answer.

'When they Cry' Seasons 1 and 2 are a fully completed work. To undo that is the pinnacle of idiocy. Taking a fully complete and realized narrative and then just undoing it and redoing it for some fucking reason doesn't make you a genius, you're more of a fucking idiot when you do that. Because I have NEVER seen it work. EVER.

Its always just milking the popularity of a franchise or an author thinking they're smarter than they are. I have absolutely no interest in Gou and seriously couldn't give less of a shit about it. It may as well not even exist to me tbh, because I don't consider it anything but a very poor attempt at a rewrite and combining an author's previous works which I have no interest in.

 

[Erika Furudo]

Gou is absolute fucking trash and I dropped that shit right quick. I don't know how anyone likes it when literally half of it is a basic retread of the DEEN original with some dumb shit minor changes. Then the other half is some alternative universe diarreha which I have no interest in. The short amount I watched it for was a colossal waste of fucking time.

It seemed like they wanted to do a remake and then they were like 'lol lets make it alt universe shit with all of these visual novels'.

Honestly, I do not. give. a. fuck. About Umeko or Ciconia. Couldn't give any less of a shit. That 'theory' is also ascribing something complicated to something being done by a retard. The Divine Comedy is a singular work about one person's trip through literal hell. It isn't a 'time loop', it has nothing to do with 'alternate universes', it is extraordinarily straightforward and attempting to tie it somehow to this makes me laugh.

Its like the fucking retarded 'ring theory' for the Star Wars prequels.

The Inferno imagery is EXTREMELY EXTREMELY common among writers from literally every culture on Earth and this person is mistaking inspiration for story. The Divine Comedy is highly influential. So the author taking themes from it and imagery is only natural. The guy writing the fucktarded theory sees a bad story and somehow wants to compensate because he really likes it and they start making baseless assumptions by seeing inspiration as plot and that its FUCKING BRILLIANT or this thing that was super planned.

No, it wasn't. I guarantee they were going to do a remake and then decided to do something retarded, so it has nothing to do with something that was planned. If you need something as retarded as this to explain something, chances are, no, its not the answer.

'When they Cry' Seasons 1 and 2 are a fully completed work. To undo that is the pinnacle of idiocy. Taking a fully complete and realized narrative and then just undoing it and redoing it for some fucking reason doesn't make you a genius, you're more of a fucking idiot when you do that. Because I have NEVER seen it work. EVER.

Its always just milking the popularity of a franchise or an author thinking they're smarter than they are. I have absolutely no interest in Gou and seriously couldn't give less of a shit about it. It may as well not even exist to me tbh, because I don't consider it anything but a very poor attempt at a rewrite and combining an author's previous works which I have no interest in.

Yeah I never saw the point in ANY Higurashi after the first 8 chapters. Yet new content keeps being made. Higurashi may have a few issues, but it still cleared up all the loose ends. I have no idea why anyone would want more than that. I'm not really a fan of the multiple universe stuff. Higu was fine, and Umineko was fine becuase it was all established as part of the story. Adding stuff now is just pointless and risks fucking things up.

I haven't wathced Gou, but it seems most fans dislike it. It gives me JK Rowling vibes, wher ethe fans just want the author to stop.


Also I started Higanbana. Is there any mystery here? Because I don't really want to spend hours reading about bullying and molestaton.