Asking for a friend.
Nah, but really. Do you think it’s possible to understand Umineko in its entirety without the reading the manga?
I ask because I’ve read the visual novels a few times, but I never feel like I completely understand the tale. I’m working on collecting the manga just to show support.
Is the manga really needed, or is it just an additive and alternate way to experience Umineko?
It’s really hard, but definitely solvable. I think even with Question Arcs it’s solvable.
Manga is really good adaptation, and I agree that it is quite easier because you can actually see murders with your own eyes. But if you really want to solve it, I think you should not only just pay attention to murders and take narrative into consideration.
When I was rereading manga and novel there are so much foreshadowing, it’s literally hidden in the plain sight.
I think it’s worth giving Umineko a try as a novel, not only just the story, but the music is amazing too.
Umineko is definitely solvable in the VN, but I think the answer arcs, especially 6 and 7, are necessary. The manga does a much better job flat out explaining and tying everything into a neat little bow, but the VN is still solvable. I solved it, but not until I finished EP 7 and sat down and thought everything out. I mean, it was a little easier for me bc I had seen spoilers, but I hadn’t connected the pieces, and after finishing EP 7, I was able to connect everything, so yeah, the VN is solvable, it’s just that the manga actually gives you the answer straight up.
Yeah, Chiru gives a lot of insight into whydunnit.
you’re able to understand Umineko without it. It’s just that the whydunnit in the manga is a lot more emotionally impacting, especially ep 8
The visual novel and the manga seem necessary in different ways. The narration of the visual novel is important and packed full of hints sometimes (especially during EP 1 and 2), but the manga is good for when you need to take a quicker look at the details and not worry about too many little things. And, as some people have already said, the manga does a much better job at giving a clear, concise version of the culprit’s story. I’d definitely read the VN for EP 5 and maybe 6 though, as well as the question arcs (besides EP 1 perhaps).
To give a straight answer though: Like what some of the people above are saying, I was able to understand it using the VN. It’s just harder to come to a single conclusion.
Yes… Though I would recommend the manga to anyone. It’s hardly supplemental but it adds really thoughtful “fluff” to the story especially regarding ep 7 and ep 8. The manga lessens the time commitment you have to put in. You do not have to reread Chiru, but to “solve” Umineko you have to reread eps 1-4 imho.
I 100% agree. Rereading the question arcs is so helpful, because once you know what to look for you start seeing pieces of the answer EVERYWHERE. I second the manga recommendation, as it does a great job keeping the story intact and complete while streamlining some of the more tedious bits of the story (the first quarter of EP 1, some of Ange’s scenes in Alliance).
I think it’s totally possible to understand Umineko without the manga! But I will say that the manga adds more details into the “why dunnit” than the VN. That said, as the others above me have said, really the best way to “solve” Umineko is to go back and reread the question arcs after knowing the answer. Because then you are able to strip away the magic and see the answers for yourself. You’ll find yourself saying, “how did I not catch that?” over and over. I did, anyway!
I recommend rereading Umineko with the blog, Goats Rereading Seacats. Seriously, this blog is probably one of, if not the best analysis of Umineko I’ve come across thus far. It’s definitely for veterans though, as there are unmarked spoilers for all of Umineko all over the blog!
Ohhhh, I love Goats Rereading Seacats. I also recommend Kyuu Rereads Umineko as a good Umineko analysis blog.
[quote=“isofrag, post:1, topic:1509, full:true”]
Do you think it’s possible to understand Umineko in its entirety without the reading the manga?[/quote]
Do you think you can understand Umineko in its entirety even with the manga?
-cackle cackle cackle-
Sorry :kinslime: had to.
I haven’t finished reading neither yet, but from what I’ve already read of both of them, I feel like the VN tries to involve the audience too, and to make them think together with the characters. It’s more like getting the audience to try and be somewhat of a detective and handing them a challenge for them to solve, which I do find interesting, as it makes Umineko truly feel like a mystery that you must solve for yourself. rather than just read the VN and get the clear answers from it. It is subtle, from what I can tell, in its answers too, which makes it even more exciting to try to solve it. As for the manga, it is much more conspicuous with its answers and the foreshadowing and the questions it poses are worded in a more clear way. It also is more analytical with the plot, thus giving the readers a clearer view into the story and the visuals certainly do help. But either way, if you want to go ahead and read the manga, I definitely do recommend it, the answers it gives are clearer and have more analysis, then you can go back to the VN and from understanding so many things clearer from the manga, you’ll start noticing them in the VN, too.
EDIT: oops! I had to blur for a huge spoiler. Sorry to anyone whose read was impacted by this!!
Someone suggested I read the Twilight series of the manga since it adds a lot to the narrative. After finishing it, I really do think the manga is important in understanding the emotional aspects of Umineko. I’ve noticed some people choose to neglect the characters in favor of solving the mystery, but “the heart is at the center of every great mystery novel” (idk i heard that somewhere… very recently). For me, Twilight in the VN felt a bit plastic and the manga adds more emotional depth.
It also explains how the hell Sayo and Battler got to the submarine docks, a situation that really confused me in the VN. The manga also explains more about how the board game actually begins, connecting the end to the beginning. It’s really intelligent. I was super impressed.
EDIT
The approach to the stories are different. The VN is by far the best representation of Uminelo
In a way, the added clarity actually undermines one of the core questions Umineko asks its readers. “What does understanding mean in the first place?”
No matter how much or what type of information you have, there is no single absolute interpretation of that information, which is to say that there is no truth which can “bind” human beings for all time.
Whether you’re talking about Shakespeare or some kind of religious book, people are continuously reinterpreting them to be in line with and support their other beliefs, or in accordance with some new, allegedly scientific method.
Umineko tries to confront you with the philosophical problems that arise when you acknowledge that no matter where you stand, you can’t claim certainty or call any position truly objective in good faith. Even if there were such a thing as red truth, any piece of information can be re-contextualized to mean something different from what you believe it to mean. With the right definition of “person” and “death” any impossible-seeming murder can be orchestrated.
Still, there’s a reason why we distinguish between objective and subjective, right? There’s a difference between strong and weak reasoning and outright fallacies, right? Those are the kinds of questions you’re meant to find your own answers to.
The manga on the other hand relieves you of having to think by straight-up giving you a satisfactory explanation to all of your most pressing questions. All that’s asked of you is to believe what you’re being shown, and all of your doubts will be blown away.
People feel like they understand Umineko better after reading the Manga because it’s simple, when the VN went to such lengths to show that real understanding is never easy.
You can definitely understand it without the manga for sure, but the additional hints from the manga are a nice bonus though. What I did appreciate about the manga towards the end though is you get more closure on some issues that just weren’t resolved/addressed in the vn so it feels more complete as a story if that make sense 
You can understand it fully from the original Visual Novel, but it takes a lot of time and dedication towards it, plus careful reading of the content.
Thats hours and hours, weeks of reading. Its not something, that, if one wants to fully grasp, can be skimmed or read casually.
The manga itself is definitely for more casual readers (and much shorter and condensed) and also provides images in the manga format to visualize easier. This is why it seems easier to solve or understand the story, but its just as possible with the VN.
It’s not to say casual readers are not trying hard enough, but actually it takes time to process for anyone.
Its kind of like huge novel adaptions. The original novel itself is long and can be complicated / hard to grasp fully at first. But seeing a comic adaptation, its in a sense brought more to life because its scene by scene and more dialogue based.
The VN is also heavy with narration and text but the manga is not so much. Its more personal.
That’s what I feel at least