This topic is specifically reserved for people who are reading Umineko for the first time along with the Steam releases! I’d like you to share your expectations for the rest of the series, barring any spoilers you may have unfortunately come across. I think it would be cool to share expectations here and compare them later on. How do you expect the rest of the story to unfold?
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I’m a veteran reading with some friends which are new to Umineko.
About my own expectations regarding this updated translation, not a spoiler or anything, just something they mentioned a while back:
The “new” solution for the epitaph (an enigma that can be solved by non-japanese readers as well) is something I’m really looking forward to (especially considering they said Ryukishi himself is supervising it iirc).
Other than that, I’m wondering if they will ever apply the CGs that are inside the “.arc” files in the first Steam release (which include Chiru’s CGs, all of them with the Pachinko art, and looking pretty good to be honest).
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A new solution to the epitaph? After all the work I put in on that one I’d be very interested to see what’s changed. I didn’t find my zero-understanding of Japanese to be a barrier.
As for my expectations, I’m still not quite at the end of episode 4 yet, so I don’t know what the premise for the introduction to e5 is, but I’m starting to expect that these repeated games can’t continue forever, and it might be time to focus on the conflicts we’re seeing in Purgatory instead. I’m also expecting for the actual game boards to vary further and further from what we’ve had so far. I’d better run and hide from this thread before I get the end of ep4 spoiled for me 
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I expect that my most recent Ep 4 theory is very close to the truth, if not spot on. I also expect that (ep 4 spoiler tagged because I saw Jokrono in the thread) Battler will realize his sin and repent for that, perhaps even somewhat forgive Beatrice because he understands her. The latter of this prediction is admittedly based on the knowledge I have about the initial reception of the ending to Umineko, dunno how much that counts as a spoiler.
(ep 5 spoiler just in case, let me know if I don’t need to tag this) I also expect to personally dislike that one character introduced in ep 5 that’s apparently very popular among old time fans.
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Whoops, guess I wasn’t clear enough,
let’s try that again…
I don’t remember hearing anything about the epitaph being changed, but that’s not what I want to discuss here anyway.
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Oh, sorry. I really should pay more attention to the posts haha
But just to close the topic and get out of the thread, now that I re-read the topic, it wasn’t that they made the epitaph more solvable; it’s more like they were trying to do so and it became an alternative “cooler” translation of it (doesn’t change the fact I’m still looking very forward to it):
Aaaand here I go, won’t derail the thread any longer! Will lurk it though <3
But that epitaph is already available in the current release 
whispers and flies away
I mean, we’re yet to see how they’ll present the solution for it in EP7.
At least I couldn’t solve it alternatively so far (but maybe there isn’t a way to alternatively solve it and I’m just especulating). In each case, hype still there!
So back on topic… What are our newcomers expecting from the remainder of the story? Try to keep outside info out of it and base it purely on what you understand based on the question arcs.
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I dont expect much except for good characters, everything to spiral further out of control, more mysteries, and of course magic.
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I’ve grown to expect a lot of things from Umineko:
- Something about fragments and time loops
- Happy fun times before everybody dies (as is tradition for WTC)
- Character arcs that end up feeling ultimately pointless because said characters die
- RED TRUTH
- Battler being a complete idiot and emotional wreck until Ryukishi feels like giving him a crowning moment of awesome
- Beatrice being the enjoyably hammy villain she is until she regrettably becomes sentimental
- Two loli witches bantering to themselves about mysterious witch stuff (´•ω•｀♥)
- An amazing seven-to-ten-minute-long EDM song from zts
- Loads and loads of characters with kooky fashion sense that you either love or hate (Sakutarou FTW
) - Did I mention everyone dying at the end?
Now what I ultimately expect from the Answer arcs isn’t any different, for better or worse. What I would want to see is a greater focus on Battler and Beatrice and their chess game. The episodes seem to have drifted away from that focus over time (Episode 4 being the biggest offender with the massive, awkwardly-paced Ange arc) and honestly, it only makes me yearn for more of their over-the-top debates. Ryukishi can invent every mystical contrivance he can come up with to justify murder by magic; as long as I get my belligerent sexual tension between Battler and Beatrice, I’ll read anything he puts out. 
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The idea that my experience of Umineko is at this moment technically completely solvable is very odd to me. And its not like its just “all the clues are there if you look close enough”; there was a clear tonal shift at the end of Episode 4. So I guess my main anticipation is, why do we need four more episodes to tell this story?
Based on what Ive heard, the Answer Arcs are much more character driven? Which honestly really excites me. Dont get me wrong, the mystery in and of itself is great, but its the characters that get me really invested. Ive also heard that most people figure out the answer to the main mystery by the end of Episode 6? Which again begs the question, why do we need two more episodes to wrap the story up after that?
Anyways, I guess what Im really looking forward to is seeing how such a huge story is wrapped up. Are we actually going to be eventually given answers for most things? What will be left to interpretation? What is magic, and witches, and the meta, and voyagers, and who the fuck is Beatrice?
I think Episode 4 clued us in that there’s a whole lot more going on here than we might have originally thought, and I think Im going to be satisfied whether the story continues to expand in the same way it has, or it takes as drastic a shift as from Episode 1 to 2. Either way I cant wait.
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