Yeah, the ability of Higurashi to make the reader uncomfortable is something I’ve been noticing. It does it very well.
You’re actually the first person on here I’ve seen from America besides myself, but I haven’t read this whole thread yet. I’m from Virginia.
Glad you’re enjoying it, Ep 8 is a bit of a base breaker so not everyone likes it.
While Umineko is my favourite of the two series I really enjoy Higurashi, especially the suspence horror elements that Umineko dropped after Ep 1 (for understandable reasons but still). The one downside with it is that the soundtrack is noticably lacking compared to Umineko, especially in the early episodes which were made before Dai joined 07th Expansion, but it’s gets better after chapter 4.
@CounterShadowform
Welcome to Rokkenjima! Hope you’ll enjoy your stay here with us and join in on the discussions.
Since you’re reading both Higurashi and Umineko I thought I would ask what you think of them so far? And which of those two series do you like the most?
And that’s from a western perspective, imagine how it is for the Japanese considering how some of the reveals goes against the importance of purity in Shintoism. This means that some things that are just uncomfortable or disgusting here are downright Religious horror there.
I just finished Umineko chapter 3 earlier, so I’ll reply to this before continuing any further in case any of the ideas on which my opinions are based get disproved or complicated in chapter 4.
I like Higurashi and Umineko for somewhat different reasons, so I find it hard to directly compare them. Higurashi is partly something I admire for being creatively cruel with its characters while maintaining a story and mystery intricately linked to their suffering. I’ve been spoiled before on part of Higurashi, and while I do regret encountering it at the wrong time and it definitely isn’t something I’d want to be the one to reveal to someone, that spoiler doesn’t actually dissolve the whole mystery. As a result, I respect Higurashi even more for being deep enough in secrets to stand up to such a blow.
While Umineko does also have its share of brutality, it doesn’t seem to focus on using that to disturb readers. It instead seems to be trying to ask philosophical questions about truth, logic, narrative, and maybe also experience.
I suppose that if I had to choose, I’d say I like Higurashi a bit better at least for now, for its style of creating mystery and for introducing me to the series; however, Umineko is still rich, from my current vantage point at the end of Ep. 3, in mysteries and meta-mysteries, and I feel like I could easily encounter something that changes my preference.
I personally believe at this point, based on what I’ve seen of it, that all of When They Cry can be thought of as a single “unit” in some way, but I have extremely little idea at this point of just what way that is. I suppose that my main “goal” in experiencing these works is to eventually work out not only the meanings of the mysteries, but also the connections between them, and see what kind of beauty the series as a whole presents.
oh oh! @CounterShadowform please share your thoughts in the Tatarigoroshi topic! We need more perspectives so we can continue the Tea Party Podcasts.
Hello fellow witch hunters! I’m Hippo, I’m 16 and from the United States. I’ve watched both seasons of the Higurashi anime and read the question arcs of the Umineko sound novel. I found Rokkenjima when the buzz about When They Cry 5 was going about Twitter. Outside of 07th Expansion stuff I guess I’m just a fairly average anime fan. When Chiru comes to steam I look forward to theorizing with everyone here!
First of, welcome!
I’d say don’t just wait for Chiru to start theorizing, but jump into the fray with the Episode 4 Spoiler-Free Discussion Topic. While the amount of replies in that topic particular may seem daunting, we certainly haven’t answered every lingering question yet, so there’s a good chance that you can bring something new to the table. Besides, it’ll probably still take a few months until Chiru comes out. Either way, I’m also looking forward to theorizing with you, and I wish you a nice stay here.
Hello, everyone. I’m a 24 years old person from Finland who decided to refer to himself as midsummer on a whim. I found this site by chance when googling “rokkenjima massacre” for whatever reason, and had a look. ghagler’s first gameboard was underway, and I followed the progression of the game, making my own theories and enjoying the back-and-forth between the witch and the challengers. Since then, I checked this place out occasionally, but I didn’t feel like making an account until I found out that ghagler had posted a second gameboard. Since I felt like participating, and it seemed like the trust level limit on participating in that particular subforum had been lifted, I decided to make an account and give ghagler’s mystery a shot.
I’ve read through the entriety of Umineko, and I liked it a lot. Now that the first four Episodes are in Steam, I plan on rereading them eventually with the new translation, but I’m not in a particular hurry since I have too many other things in my backlog already. My familiarity with Higurashi is limited to the anime, which I rather enjoyed.
I have to admit that my primary interest when it comes to this site is the gameboards people have posted - I even have some interested in preparing one of my own. I am very intrigued about the idea of discussing a new When They Cry VN as it is released, however. Until then, I might not be an amazingly active member, but I hope I can contribute something of value every now and then, perhaps.
Glad to hear it @midsummer! While I expect things to be quiet around here for a while, I hope the Gameboards give our community a bit of activity in the meantime. Hope you have lots of fun participating in and hosting your own gameboards! I’m hoping to see some more ambitious ones posted soon.
Hi, I’m 21 years old and from Canada. So far I’ve read the visual novels for Umineko and Higurashi chapters 1-5 (reading chapter 6 now). I read the Higanabana manga and plan to read the visual novel after Higurashi. Umineko is one of if not my all time favourite piece of fiction. I found this site just looking for somewhere to find fans of 07th Expansion. Other things about me uh I really love different mediums of fiction, and want to find more amazing mystery stories. I look forward to hopefully talking with some of you.
We have a lot of people that go by ‘bern’ or similar here, this may get confusing quick ^^;;
Nonetheless, welcome to the community! It’s pretty quiet at the moment but we hope you enjoy it. Make use of the forum, post in some of our topics, and be sure to join our Discord! In no time you’ll have the Witch rank and the community will open up to you.
Good point, I’ve noticed that even among the small groups of friends I could find on other sites Bernkastel seems to be a popular name choice. Changed mine slightly to make myself stand out a little more and have it a little less confusing. Been enjoying the forum so far, a lot to read and get used to though. I’ll check out the discord too! Thanks.
Alternatively: Berniekastel.
The witch of affordable college education.
We need to get Wall Street out of our Gameboards!
No, what we need is Trumpkastel.
Need to keep those illegal witches from crossing our southern border, so we need to build that wall.
Dammit I lost that amazing Bernkastel Sanders fanart ;;
I found this on google, if it counts!
goddammit this isnt a shitposting thread guys
hi guys edit: oh god the newbie avi was furry whos idea was this
Hello! My name is Vix, and I’m a 23-year-old recent college graduate living in New Jersey, USA. As I was scrolling through reading the replies in this thread, it really struck me how many different people from different parts of the world are represented here! I think that’s nearly as exciting as finding a really well-moderated forum for one of my favorite VN series.
I had a roommate in college who loved Higurashi, so when I was asking around for new games to play they eagerly recommended it to me. I read it and I loved it. I loved the close-knit group of Keiichi n Co, and how the story grew and unfolded and called back to itself in really interesting, gripping ways. About a year later I dug into the Umineko VN, and while I liked it it DID take me like six months to read, off and on, so I didn’t find it AS gripping. I’m rereading Higurashi with the steam release right now, and plan to do so with Umineko as well. My favorite sprite sets for both are the PS3 versions.
I found Rokkenjima yesterday, by searching ‘higurashi discord server’. I’ve been looking for new, small-medium servers to join, and it directed me to make an account on here and so I did and then I went to sleep and then I woke up and now I’m writing this post and - well, you know.
Other than 07th expansion, I love VNs in general (both from japan and the really nice english-based indie crop that’s flourishing on steam, like ebi-hime and Love Conquers All games) as well as other puzzle games, walking simulators, point and clicks, hidden object games, exploration games, RPGS, JRPGs etc. I’m a proud achievement whore and I’m working toward raising my steam percentage as high as it can go! I’m tsupertsundere on there, too, so feel free to friend me. I love reading books and have three cats and a dog.
Bonus Question: Why did the cowboy get a dachshund?
Because he wanted to get a long little doggy. ( c; )