Let me explain. I don't hate Umineko. And I like Episode 7.

This review contains full Umineko VN spoilers and some minor manga expectations.

My issue with Umineko, especially Chiru and episode 8, isn't the less direct episode 7 reveal — I actually prefer the VN's approach to the manga's by far (where I think the Yasu Confessions chapter goes against her wishes in episode 7 and is worse for Umineko as a whole, despite being interesting on its own), and I actually like episode 7 quite a bit. I didn't like how in the manga Ryukishi basically changed the approach he was so insistent on with the VN and basically made a cheat sheet, as well as some other things, that made Umineko basically yet another mystery to me, losing part of what made it special despite my many issues with it. Some people aren't aware of this, but Umineko actually caused an outrage in Japan after finishing, mostly due to feeling like they were looked down upon (such as by the in-story goats and Erika) and not revealing the culprit directly. I think he got too much hate for this, and if anything, I completely disagree with the latter being an issue at all. One thing I really respect about Umineko to this day, especially in episode 7, is letting the reader connect the dots themself and make their conclusions, which made it unique. I also don't like how the manga basically made the episode 7 tea party 100% canon, making some of my issues, that I discuss later on, an even bigger deal for me.

My issue isn't Ange's escapism itself either, but more so the execution. This is a bit of a personal issue, so I don't think Umineko is "objectively bad" or anything, but long story short, I had a bit of a similar (but not exactly the same) experience as Ange as far as "not knowing" the real truth of a matter was and it being basically impossible to find it out, only having to rely on a "catbox" of contradicting accounts. It was bad enough to make myself closed off for years, so in that way I can relate to Ange. What I don't like though is that Ryukishi presents extremes of either her killing herself or basically revolving her life around baseless optimism, rather than a more realistic middle ground that someone would pick. I don't really get the idea of "the two extremes making the themes more beautiful", either. I've also been told that the magic ending is more "balanced", but Ange still ends up completely changing her way of life in any case, whether it be pursuing the mystery at the cost of having anything else in her life in the trick ending, or writing books and doing charity work due to the tragedy that happened in the magic ending. If we link that back to what I went through, my personal choice was that once I realised finding out "the truth" was impossible, I would move on by starting from square one in another place as my own person. I would remember the lessons taught and grieve for the people that I lost, but I would become my own person in a place where no one knew me. Of course, that also isn't the sole way to develop as a person if you have bad things happen to you, but I find it more believable. Ange basically written into a corner by Ryukishi where everything in her life sucks and it also felt forced because he really wanted these extremes to come up. I likely find this to be more of an issue than the average reader precisely due to how relatable the concept was to me.

Besides my own life experience, I also take issue with the way Ryukishi sees mysteries and himself as a mystery writer. For one, I'll point out that Ryukishi sees Higurashi and Umineko as works for different audiences. He considered Umineko to be a thinking man's media, so to speak, and not Higurashi, which is unfortunate to hear considering how much heart and soul he poured into it. Following up on this, it is weird how he limits himself to only referencing classical Western mystery novels and Japanese honkaku (rather than shinhonkaku), while also giving off the impression that he thinks he's the first one to ever do what he did. Other works have explored similar ideas to "without love it cannot be seen". Ryukishi is not the first one and I do not like how he acts like he figured out the mystery medium, while he purposefully limits himself to just classics, even going as far as being inspired by and mentioning Agatha Christie, even though she was pretty subversive and experimental herself even at the time. By the way, the first source I linked in this paragraph also confirms that he was, in fact, at least partially, looking down on some "loveless" readers through the goats, which I am not a fan of.

And speaking of "without love it cannot be seen", the way this idea is handled is really weird to me, especially in episode 8. For example, you have the Ushiromiya family basically get called "equally guilty" for causing the disaster, even though comparing Jessica, who did literally nothing wrong, or Maria to someone like Kyrie and Rudolf (who for example tortured Jessica to death, or enjoying killing children) is absolutely insane. And then you have the speech that Kyrie told Eva about how "she would be evil in different what-if circumstances", which with episode 8 and overall meta context is crazy. "Sure, Eva, I was the one who tortured and killed those people, but what if YOU were the one was the culprit?". Overall, I am a believer in "sympathise, don't empathise" in such situations, which some of those other shinhonkaku explore. Being told to feel equally sorry for Kyrie and Maria is just bizarre to me.

Other complaints I had included annoying gimmick characters like Sakutarou, repetition at the start of episodes 1-6 (though it got better after episode 3) and an almost fetishization of murder that a lot of mystery has the decency to be above, at least with innocent victims (like Eva-Beatrice throwing people up and down and up and down again). I also don't care about most episodes besides 1, 7, and maybe 3. 5 had some cool moments but was whatever and I thought 6 was underwhelming. Additionally, the console sprites (I am not a fan of the original WTC sprites outside of Ciconia) are quite mediocre, especially considering WTC's popularity. It's insane to me that WTC, as influential as it is, cannot get sprites with a better art style.

On the plus side, the music is incredible. Definitely top 3 OSTs of all time.

Finally, despite what I said, I have great respect for Ryukishi. He was a social worker (and it shows in Higurashi and Umineko), and he definitely was committed to his vision (before he got an unjust amount of hate for Umineko, and for the wrong things too, in my opinion). I just think that he does not know what he's talking about when it comes to some types of trauma like Ange's and the mystery genre. Again, I don't think Umineko is "objectively" bad, and I do admit I have a bit of bias, but as someone who has been on both sides of the fence (I once had it at a 10), I've had various perspectives on it, and I think that, despite now thinking mostly negatively about it, I will continue thinking about it from time to time in years to come.