Introduce Yourself!

[Aspirety]

New members can use this topic to introduce themselves, and current members may welcome them. Let’s all get to know each other!

Here’s some prompts for your introduction:

• Where in the world do you live?
• What 07th Expansion series’ have you read/watched? Which was your first, and which is your favourite?
• How did you find Rokkenjima?
• What are some of your interests outside of 07th Expansion?

BONUS OPTIONAL QUESTION:

• Tell us something interesting about yourself, something about our website that interested you, or something funny.

[Aspirety]

To get the ball rolling, I guess I’ll introduce myself!
Hey everyone, I’m Aspirety, founder of Rokkenjima! I’m a 24yo guy from Australia, currently an arts student a fast food cashier in the time I’m not busy working on my websites! I recently finished my Bachelor of Psychological Science, but am now looking at pursuing a career in translation work. This year I’ll be studying Japanese at university!

What will immediately become apparent here is my bias toward Umineko over all other 07th works. I’ve watched the Higurashi anime and read some of the VN, but as of yet it hasn’t managed to capture my adoration quite as much as Umineko has. Even today, after all these years, I still consider it my favourite work of fiction. I’ve spent quite some time gushing about it over on my blog, if anybody is interested in my mildly insane ramblings.

Outside of 07th Expansion, I’m a big fan of Japanese media in general. My main fandoms come down to Nintendo, Key and 07th Expansion. I love Key so much that I even made a website about it! Though most of you here probably already know about that, ehe.

I’m really excited to be able to finally achieve my dream of founding a community dedicated to intelligent discussion of 07th Expansion’s works. Ryukishi’s stories have an unbelievable amount of depth to them, and the more I’ve found myself discussing his works with others, the more I’ve found myself enjoying them. To all of you who share that pleasure, Rokkenjima exists to please you.

I hope to make friends with all of you! Let’s work hard to make Rokkenjima the biggest and best community for English-speaking 07th Expansion fans in the world!

[Karifean]

Hello everyone, I’m Karifean. I’m 19 years old, I live in Austria and at the moment I’m studying Computer Science.

I stumbled upon 07th Expansion roughly two years ago thanks to the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni anime series which I took quite a liking to. Once I started getting more into visual novels I ended up reading Higurashi and Higurashi Kai, followed by Umineko and Umineko Chiru. And just a few months ago I also read Rose Guns Days. I haven’t read Higanbana, anything Higurashi outside of the core 8 episodes, and I’ve never watched the Umineko anime (although I think people will forgive me on that point).

My favorite work of 07th Expansion is definitely Umineko which I learned to appreciate more and more as I spent more time reflecting and thinking back on it until it eventually ended up at its current status of my favorite work of fiction bar none. Besides just having my favorite story, characters and music of any VN, it also had a big effect on my ways of thinking and viewing people and the world as a whole.

Outside of 07th Expansion, I’m also a big fan of Key and Final Fantasy. I watch a lot of anime and I spent much of the previous year reading a lot of different visual novels to get a more firm grasp on the medium as a whole and what it has to offer, and I still have a pretty long To Read List even now! I’m still constrained to translated works as I can’t read a lot of Japanese yet but I’m learning.

Looking forward to having interesting discussions with all of you!

[RedKey]

Hello, RedKey here. I’m 24 and I hail from Italy. Since the red key is one of Dlanor’s weapons, I think you can easily guess my favorite 07th work and character from my nickname and icon ahah, especially since I discovered she was going to be voiced by my favorite seiyuu.

It’s been a long time since I first got in touch with Ryukishi07’s Higurashi, and I’m currently reading Higurashi Sui on ps3 and soon enough (I hope) Hotarubi and Iwaihime, though I still need to finish reading Rose Guns Days.
I also took part in the Italian Umineko patch and English Umineko Hane patch with Ars Magica (and I’m sorry the Tsubasa full English patch project is currently on hold) - I’m majoring in Japanese language and culture and I’m comfortable with translating Japanese, so feel free to ask if you need help reading something!

[technololigy]

Hi, I followed @Aspirety here from Kazamatsuri.

I manage the whole technical side of the two sites, so if something isn’t quite right here, poke me!

I read the Higurashi manga for the first two parts way back and read some of the Onikakushi VN, but the whole setting made me uncomfortable to the point where it kinda killed my enjoyment of the story and the mystery itself…

Umineko has been on my backlog since forever, but it took Aspi suddenly asking me to help make a Ryukishi sister site to Kaza a while back for me to actually get around to reading it. Halfway through Episode 2 at the moment and absolutely loving it~

I’m a bit shy and may not post that much, but I’ll probably be reading a lot ^^

[HeliosAlpha]

Let’s see, HeliosAlpha (21), Swedish. I dabble in translation, though I haven’t read anything by Ryuukishi in Japanese unless you count the Lucia scenario from Rewrite Harvest Festa which I’m not even sure he worked on. Currently, I’ve read Umineko once and should start Watanagashi-hen, but other stuff is in the way. While not my personal favorite, Umineko is the most intricately beautiful thing I’ve ever read. In general, I prefer to play with my cats rather than eating them. Once in a blue moon, however, I might partake in such activities as well. I have a habit of becoming deeply engrossed in voice acting. Finally, as you might imagine, I’m also quite fond of making silly references.

-My best regards to all present and future goats.

[Pepe]

Hi everybody! Pepe here from, uh… Well technically I live in Japan now as I am currently pursuing my master’s degree over here.

I guess you could call me just a casual fan of 07th expansion as I am sure many of the other members on here are more dedicated fans than I am. So far I have read all 8 episodes of Umineko and I constantly regret the fact that I pretty much breezed through each episode without taking time to understand them. As such, I feel that I ended up not appreciating the story as much as I could have…

I have also recently finished reading Higurashi chapter 1 thanks to the steam release and I absolutely loved it. Never have I experienced the kind of writing that made you feel the same amount of unnerving tension as Keiichi had felt as the story progressed. I really need to get started on chapter 2 but have been preoccupied with reading other VNs ^^;

So, while it is a bit early to say that I consider Higurashi my favorite, I can at least say with confidence that I enjoyed chapter 1 of Higurashi more than any other chapter of Umineko (this statement will probably get me killed sooner or later).

I found Rokkenjima because Aspirety dragged me along invited me to partake in this forum, since I know him pretty well from Kazamatsuri. Naturally that means I am a pretty big Key fan, but aside from that, I’m really interested in Japanese arcade music games. If you know what BEMANI is, I think we’ll get along just fine~

Interesting thing about myself is that internet people call me buff despite me not being actually buff, and I have absolutely horrible long-term memory that should never be trusted. That aside I look forward to discussing with you guys, especially as Higurashi is being released on steam~

[kyuketsukimiyu]

Hello everyone!
I was introduced to 07th Expansion when I sat in on the final episode the Onikakushi arc of the Higurashi anime. When the first episode of Watanagashi then started up and everyone who had…err…not done so well in that first episode was smiling and happy I was confused and intrigued and basically ended up marathoning the whole show that week. I consider the When They Cry series as a whole one of my top favorites (please don’t make me pick between Higurashi and Umineko)

I look forward to discussing things with everyone

[NotKyon]

Howdy everyone! It’s nice to see some familiar (and not so familiar!) faces here.

I’m NotKyon (real name shrouded in mystery! Except it’s not) with the mysterious age of 24 from California, USA. I do various programming contracts… and don’t recommend it. Meanwhile I’m also trying to learn Japanese, and write short stories and music. Oh, I’m also a Key fan and am present (even if only dimly so at the moment) on Kazamatsuri as well.

My first exposure to 07th Expansion was the Umineko anime. However, I never finished watching the series. Around six episodes in I learned there was a VN. After about twelve episodes in Aspi suggested I just read the VN, so I have it on hold… Even from what I’ve seen so far I’d rate it highly, and the anime version isn’t considered as good as the original work so… I have no doubts!

I just finished reading Higurashi ch.1 Onikakushi (and have the page open to buy Watanagashi, heh) and am pretty interested in following this all the way through. That would have to be my favorite 07th expansion work so far…

To borrow Pepe’s words, I guess at the moment I’d just be “a casual fan of 07th expansion.” Anyhow, I hope to have fun and interesting discussions on these works with all of you!

[quote=“Aspirety, post:1, topic:64”]
How did you find Rokkenjima?
[/quote]Secret esper powers. (Or maybe a certain someone mentioned it to me in the shadows.)

[quote=“Aspirety, post:1, topic:64”]
Tell us something interesting about yourself, something about our website that interested you, or something funny.
[/quote]Something interesting: (Alright NotKyon, you can do it. All of your hard work was for this moment! Surely in these past 22 (“24”), 24 years of your life you’ve gained something that can be considered interesting! What is it, man? Think! Say it!) I uh… . . . also like rhythm games…

Something about the site: It’s not about the content, but rather about the name, as I have yet to come across “Rokkenjima” yet (which I’m guessing is a city/town in one of the 07th expansion works)… So I’m looking forward to seeing the name pop up in one of the VNs, so I can pin it down!

Something funny: So I was visiting this older lady’s house, and noticed she had a pretty nice looking piano over there. Naturally, my first response was to play it. After seeking permission to, I sat down and began playing it. That’s when it hit me. Those jarring and creepy sound waves could only be caused by one thing! This piano was out of tune. So after some discussion I finally asked, “Why don’t you have someone come out and tune this piano?” She said, “Well, I have very high standards you see.” (I didn’t “C” actually. I couldn’t find a single one in tune. Regardless, I urged her to continue.) “Oh, what might those be?” “The tuner must be very versatile, since that would show how skillful he is.” “Uh huh,” I pretended to follow along. “None of the tuners I called over were able to meet my level of standards, unfortunately.” “Why’s that? Surely they’d be able to tune a piano.” “Why yes, they could do that just fine. However, that’s not good enough. Sure, they can tune a piano, but they can’t tuna fish.”

… c:

(Also, that never actually happened. I lied. I’m sorry.)

[Bowiie]

Yahallo I’m Bowiie hailing from grand southeast US. I was initiated into the 07th world by pure accident and sheer happenstance. Years ago I was real big into Shonen Jump and I would buy every issue that came out, so one day I go to the store to check for the new Shonen Jump, and I see this new magazine there called Yen Plus, which looked interesting so I picked it up. Inside there was a blurb from the editor talking about one of the stories that was running in Yen Plus at the time which just so happened to be Higurashi. He was talking about how it was one of the first series that had ever illicited a true sense of fear in him, not from some big scary monster but from the idea of not being able to trust those you trust the most, and I was hooked. When I bought the first volume of Higurashi and saw where they did the coolest thing I’ve seen a manga do I became a Higurashi nut. I now own every Higurashi and Umineko manga volume that has been released in English so suffice to say I swallowed the hook. Other than that I’ve read the first volume of Rose Gun Days which I really enjoyed and definetly want to read more of it.

I got here because Aspi knew I was an 07th nut case, so I feel right at home. Higurashi is possibly my favorite anything as far as the anime medium is concerned and its largely due to the way in which I consumed it. Its much harder to do now that they are all out but if you can stretch reading Higurashi volume by volume over the course of about 2 years I recommend it, because you will drive yourself nuts thinking about what is happening while waiting on the next volume. As far as Umineko I still haven’t seen the end of that story, I know about it up until Chiru but I’m still in the dark after that so I’m treading VERY carefully around the Umineko threads here.

[tanasinn]

Hi everyone! I’m Conor, I’m 20 years old and I live in Ireland.

I got into 07th Expansion a few years ago, and the When They Cry series is my favourite work of fiction. I love both Higurashi and Umineko and consider them two parts of the same story, but if I had to pick a favourite out of the two it would be Higurashi for the brilliant atmosphere surrounding its central mystery. I’m somewhat well-known on twitter for recommending people read Higurashi before Umineko or the Higurashi anime, since I think it’s the best experience (Umineko references it a LOT) but hey, whatever you prefer. I adore Umineko’s depth and could talk about it for hours, but I haven’t read Higanbana or RGD… yet!

I found Rokkenjima thanks to @uppfinnarn, who was the one to spark my interest in visual novels to begin with.

Outside of 07th’s stuff, I enjoy BEMANI, Touhou Project, JJBA, and other VNS (like Little Busters!, Ever17 and Saya no Uta). Right now I am studying games development at university! It’s very fun and I’m learning a lot, but it takes up most of my time.

I’m very glad to be here, and look forward to meeting everyone!

[Pepe]

I enjoy BEMANI

If you know what BEMANI is, I think we’ll get along just fine~

Yup, we’re gonna get along just fine Welcome~ and it’s good to see more people on here with Higurashi avatars

[Bowiie]

and other VNS (like Little Busters!, Ever17 and Saya no Uta)

I loved Little Busters and Ever 17 (when Pepe finally convinced me to finish it) been meaning to get around to Saya no Uta for a good while but haven’t done it yet.

[quote=“Pepe, post:13, topic:64”]
and it’s good to see more people on here with Higurashi avatars
[/quote]The Higurashi rep is real~

[Bonecuss]

Hello! As most of you will know, I’m Bonecuss, an existing member from Kazamatsuri.
I got into VNs through Katawa Shoujo and through that eventually got really into Key, and I’ve delved into a few other VNs too.
Here’s my Twitter!
I’ve definitely had interest in the 07th Expansion games (Definitely influenced by @Aspirety’s passion for it!), but I haven’t actually completed any of the games. Felt this forum’s release was a good opportunity to start!
Looking forward to reading Higurashi Ch. 1 in the Tea Party with everyone, it’ll definitely be a way to motivate me to read all these works!

[Skyzzed]

Ey, I’m Skyzzed, more or less member of Kaza, from germany and I’m studying physics

I’ve read all of Higurashi and Umineko and love both of them, so I’m obviously looking forward to Hotarubi

Other than that I enjoy VNs like all Key-things, MajiKoi, Grisaia, Fate, etc. and I watch a lot of anime, currently waiting for the spring season to start while watching Planetes and Ergo Proxy and rewatching Hidamari Sketch and Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

Here’s my twitter, looking forward to spending some time on here

[BobTheBlox45]

Hello, my name is Martin and I am a 20 year old film major living in the US.

I have read Higurashi, Umineko, Higanbana, and Rose Gun Days. My first series was Higurashi but, of course, my favorite is Umineko. My favorite character is Bernkastel because I find her extremely relatable (It also helps that Lambdadelta is waifu).

I am also a member of Kazamatsuri and heard of this through them. I am currently obsessed over Umineko and I was getting rather bored not having anyone to discuss it with.

My other interests are film, anime, and especially visual novels. Can’t really think about anything else to say but it is nice to meet you all!

[Shads]

Howdie! Another person from Sweden right here. Going by Shads (though I sometimes use other nicks in other places as well). So, let’s see…

I’ve played both Higurashi and Umineko, the later being my fav VN/work of fiction of all time.

Found the website through my awesomesauce pal Karifean. You know… the guy up there with the Black Battler avatar. Second person who posted in this thread. Yeah, him. ;D

My my main interests outside of 07th Expansion are: VNs in general, anime in general, video games in general (mostly RPGs though). I’m a big fan of Touhou (I’m a part of the swedish community “Touhou Sweden”), Pokemon, Super Smash Bros Melee and… beer (I brew my own).

Uh yeah… that’s what I can think of at this very moment.

…I also like using smilies such as: “=O”, “=P” and “;D” pretty much all the time. So uh, yeah, be prepared for that.

[emiyakotomine1]

So I’m Amr/Emiyakotomine, I’m 16 turning 17 and I live in Pakistan for now at least. I discovered 7th Expansion a few months ago when a friend recommended Umineko to me. I read all 8 episodes and now I’m truly in love with this story and everything it represents mystery side, fantasy side or a mix of both. I’m not too big a fan of the manga because of all the ambiguity it ruins but I can understand why people do like it. Yasu’s my favorite fictional character as of now and I have yet to touch Higurashi though I plan to soon. I hope to have a great time here and hope I can be buddies with all of you.

[ctom42]

Hey, ctom42 here. Anyone who frequents /r/visualnovels or it’s discord will probably know me as the Umineko guy. I see a few familiar faces here already.

I’m 24 years old (25 in a few days) and live in MA, USA. I was introduced to 07th Expansion through the Higurashi anime and then the Umineko anime. I have since read Umineko, Higanbana, and Rose Gun Days, and I plan to go back and read Higurashi once the steam games are all released.

As anyone who has interacted with me can contest I never tire of discussing Umineko, so hopefully this will grow into a very active community to keep discussion fresh. I’m also always up for a Rose Gun Days or Higanbana discussion, and even Higurashi ones though I’m less informed having only seen the anime.