Open Letters to Rokkenjima

Rokkenjima Talk
#1

As a goodbye present to the great website that is Rokkenjima, I decided that we could all write open letters to the website and post them here! Feel free to write one of your own and post it!

Dear Rokkenjima,

I was first introduced to you when I googled the phrase “Umineko live-action movie” and found a thread on the subject on this very forum. It’s been my life dream for a few years to successfully adapt Umineko into a film or TV series, so finding a thread all about it made me very ecstatic. I quickly signed up, ignoring the welcome thread and the rules, so of course my post was flagged for spoilers. I forgot all about the forum, because I didn’t feel like getting attached to another one after my beloved Ghibli Tavern (shoutout to the Ghibli Tavern because we only have like 8 regular members and you should join if you love Studio Ghibli!). But, lo and behold, I’m perusing Youtube one day for Umineko analysis videos and what do I find but a video titled “Umineko Tea Party Podcast 1: Legend of the Golden Witch”. It was this video that reintroduced me to Rokkenjima, along with @Aspirety , @Rabla , @NotKyon , and @Seraphitic . I revisted the forum, posted a little, and…disappeared again. That is, until late July, when I introduced my good friend @AMF to this forum, and she began posting a lot, and so I began posting a lot.
I posted in a bunch of different topics, but my first real investment into Rokkenjima was when I gained witch rank and got Discord just for Rokkenjima. I started doing voice calls, and I got to know several of you very well, especially @SleepingPliskin . I really enjoyed getting to know all of you and hearing your voices!
My next big Rokkenjima event was Mafia Game VI, which I spectated but did not participate in. I remember coming home from cross-country practice every day and immediately checking the thread for updates. I loved analyzing all of the posts and trying to reason out who the witches were. That said, @Usagi crushed all of you, haha. So, naturally, I volunteered to participate in the next mafia game.
Cirno Roulette was a fun, breezy break from the chaos of the mafia games. I managed to place 7th, and I get to flex some creative writing! A jolly good time.
Mafia Game VII was a ride. It kept me up late on school nights, and I did poorly on several quizzes because I was checking the mafia threads instead of studying, oops. It was a real treat to be able to debate with all of you, but the absolutely highlight for me was when I discerned @VyseGolbez ‘s strategy and basically forced him to forfeit. It felt good knowing I had helped the human side win.
The Higanbana Bookclub introduced me to a 07th Expansion work that I had barely even heard of beforehand. Higanbana was an interesting read with a lot to unpack, and I was even selected to be on the first podcast with Aspirety, @MagusVerborum , and @MrDent ! I remember feeling so proud of myself that now I was the one IN the podcast instead of the one listening to it. My mom was proud, too, and she listened to the podcast with me, even though she didn’t enjoy Aspi’s cursing, haha.
The Umineko and Higanbana chess games were very enjoyable! I’m not very skilled at chess, but it was still fun to play. Shoutout to @edit_anon for organizing those!
When Umineko Chiru was announced on Steam, the forum blew up like a firework. I participated in the Rokkenjima Festival of Mayhem to celebrate the announcement, and Team Goldenslaughterers (@farispie , @Hovlane , @Bernkastelle , and I) ended up winning! I was so hyped throughout the entire festival, and winning the whole thing was the cherry on top of the cake. It’s still my forum title, actually!
I also participated in the Umineko 4koma contest! My 4koma wasn’t very good, and I didn’t win, but it was still fun to read everyone else’s comics.
The celebration was closed out with Rokkenjima’s Umineko Launch Party, which was super-duper fun! I remember playing Quiplash that night, and I came in 2nd. What a great time.
I don’t remember exactly when, but at some time around late 2017, I gained the voyager ranking, and I was ecstatic. I know, it seems silly to get excited over a ranking, but it really did mean a lot to me when I got it.
I kind of disappeared a little during December, but I came back just in time for the Episode 6 podcast, which I did along with Aspirety, MagusVerborum, Seraphitic, and Rokkenjima legend @Jokrono . We had a lot of great discussion, and even had some humor as Aspi defrosted chicken and I found out what was inside of my stress ball.
I have a lot of fond memories of this place, even ones that I didn’t talk about like the Describe Umineko in 50 Words thread, the Pokemon thread, all of the different ships, personality tests, d&d alignment tests, and the post yourself thread. All these little things add up to a place that I’ll never forget. For over three years, I craved a place where I could discuss Umineko and Higurashi with people, and Rokkenjima gave that to me. And for that, I’ll always be indebted to this place.
Thank you, Rokkenjima, and all the people who made it what it was. It’s been fun, and I’m sad to see you go.
Love,
FlareNetworkC

22 Likes
#2

I’m not good at writing letters, so please allow me to use this space to do a simple post of appreciation for Rokkenjima and the wonderful people I met here.

After a long time I’ve finally been able to accept this place is coming to an end, so I thought I should leave behind an appreciation post to engrave all my fun memories here. I’d like tag a few people I met through this forum and, while I’d love to tag everyone I’ve talked to, that would be impossible, but everyone I met here was truly a special and wonderful friend to me.

First, I’d like to say thanks to @smileypers0n, you were the first one to greet me here, like you always do in the “Introduce Yourself” section, your kindness is very appreciated and it was what made me feel Rokkenjima truly was the place I’ve been looking for, thank you for always being so kind and welcoming, that’s something we rarely get to see nowadays. It was also really fun to participate on the Festival of Mayhem with you, I hope to hear you sing again someday.

@Aspirety, our awesome Game Master, since I joined this place you’ve been working really hard to keep it alive and running, thank you a lot for creating Rokenjima, it truly saved my life when I needed it most. My very first post in a discussion thread had a non-blurred spoiler, and, instead of simply flagging it and forgetting the matter, you were nice enough to PM me and warn me about it, very few people would do that, and the dedication you’ve always shown makes me admire you a lot, unfortunately I haven’t been here long enough to know you better, but I hope this is not a farewell for us.

@Arietta, thanks to you I found a way to open up in the discord server and start talking to everyone, it was fun playing with you and I hope we can play more fun games together with everyone else.

@Luadog and @farispie, you two were probably the first people I actually got close to in here, all that time we spent together playing with gameboards and discussing theories are precious memories I hold, thank you for making my stay in Rokkenjima so enjoyable.

@danpmss and @edit_anon thank you for the lovely chess gameboards, they were all really fun to play, it was nice playing chess with everyone around here, thanks for the opportunity.

@Jokrono and @MagusVerborum it was really nice listening to you play Umineko, your funny voices are the best indeed! Your participation in the tea parties also made it incredibly lively, thanks for all the laughs.

@King_Titanite_XV, @NotKyon and @Kennidy, it was fun to be a team with you all in the Festival of Mayhem, I hope you had as much fun as I did, I hope we can play together again someday.

@Lishy it was really nice meeting you, thanks for accepting me as a reader for your story, I can’t wait for you to finish it! I’m glad Rokkenjima allowed me to meet you.

@Bernkastelle thanks for the lovely sketch and the incredible game, your knowledge amazes me a lot, I wish we get more chances to talk in the future, I’m glad I got to meet you.

Well, I suppose that’s it, I apologise to those I didn’t tag here, it doesn’t mean you’re not special but I couldn’t really make this list go on forever. Thanks to Rokkenjima I had lots of fun, met many great people, and was able to discuss lots of things with everyone. Even if this place will stay frozen in time, I pray that someday we can post in here again, that’s why I’ll keep betting on a miracle.

As a departure message, I’ll leave this song, which I find very fitting:

For that day, for that place, thank you for everything, Rokkenjima, all staff people, and all forum members.
Love you all.

14 Likes
#3

Everyone is kinda chill and cool here, and that’s nice.

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#4

Umineko was my life back when it was being released. Found Rokkenjima later on, but real life bothered me way too much to get back into Umineko. :frowning_face: Wish I had been here sooner.

Anyway, I’ll be reading the memories that you all left here, so thanks everyone. :grin:

Or rather, “thanks for all people”!

10 Likes
#5

Sorry for not finishing the posts I had in time. There was a good reason I couldn’t do it so.
But I promise I’ll do it later even if somewhere else.

Particularly the one I hold up the progress of a certain thread because of it.

See you all in other internet fragments <3

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#6

Dear People of Rokkenjima,

There’s so much I have to thank you for. Since I joined this forum (I believe it was on the day it launched, or a couple days later), I’ve found a supportive and friendly environment that’s unique to this place.

From gameboards to Higurashi discussion threads, Rokkenjima is special in my memories thanks to the appreciation we all have for 07th Expansion’s work. I’m going to miss this place, even though I believe that we’ll stay together as a community.

I guess even though there’s so much to say, there is a concise way to put it.
I’m indescribably happy that I’ve been a part of this community with so many wonderful people.

In the meantime, I can say one thing…
[color=gold]My time in Rokkenjima was magic.[/color]

Riposa in pace, dolce amore, in pace…
Funyarinpa

10 Likes
#7

I know my time here was short, but this community was pretty damn welcoming.

The gameboards were pretty fun to think about and the community events that i joined in… those were pretty fun times to be had with.

Thank you for everything, Rokkenjima.
rest in peace, evermore.

7 Likes
#8

So this is it huh. I’ve never been particularly good at goodbyes, but that shouldn’t stop me from trying. I discovered Rokkenjima when WTC5 was announced, and while I did not join right away, I never forgot that it existed. That was quite a while ago now, and I can firmly say I enjoyed my time talking here a lot. I enjoyed having a place to post my When They Cry art (though I could improve on the quality part!) and it think the discussion really improved my experience with Chiru. Especially @Jokrono 's theories were really fun to read. It’s still hard to believe I was able to be a part of a podcast. I’ve always wanted to be on one so that was one of my dreams come true. If I have one regret with the end here it’s that I didn’t talk Higurashi. The anime is one of my favorites, so the whole time Rokkenjima has been around I’ve been meaning to finally dig into the VN and talk about it. Enough about regrets though, I’ll miss this place, this is the first forum I’ve ever really used, and I can say the experience has been a positive one. Thank you @Aspirety for making this such a fun place to talk. See you all in another fragment.

6 Likes
#9

Ehehe, been a long time since I’ve posted here despite pretty much coming here daily. I was mainly active around the Episode 4 tea party, and like the scum that I am, I finished the rest of Umineko on my own. But I have really appreciated my time here. Discussing Episode 4 was a lot of fun, and I like looking back on my theories at that point in time. I also remember listening intently on the podcasts for each episode, and very eagerly awaiting the one for Episode 4 while we were all discussing it. I’ve made quite a few friends from here, and they’ve kept me company on Discord, which I’m especially thankful for since before I was quite lonely on the internet after a previous group I was a part of disbanded. This place despite me not being one of the more active members, still left an impact on me, and I have plenty of great memories of it, and for that I’ll be eternally grateful. Thanks Aspirety for making this community, because I can’t imagine my time on the internet being nearly as fun if you didn’t.

5 Likes
#10

Ah, so here we are.

I was happy to find this place after being in a dark place. Of course I was skeptical at first since it had been years since I properly used a forum - my last time being Animesuki and Serebii forums.

While I had some trouble meshing in to this community, I’m glad to have been here from the beginning and provided you with news from the 07th world with @Aspirety.

One of my regrets was not talking more. The discord made it pretty intimidating at times and since I JUST recently put discord on my phone, it was hard to keep up with all the conversations since what are timezones am I right?

Thank you everyone. The memories of being with you all, especially with the farewell party, will forever be in my heart.

May we meet again. :joyful::crying:

8 Likes
#11

I reached out to @pictoshark to leave some thoughts here.

“Rokkenjima is dead” was always something of a running joke during my time on the site, especially when it wasn’t and the site was actually seeing activity. Kinda weird to think that now…

Hm, sorta started that off on the wrong foot, huh?

The me who joined Rokkenjima in 2016 was an entirely different person from who I am now. And a big part of why that’s the case is because of all the people I met on Rokkenjima.

I’ve come to accept a lot of things I once hated about myself, made some amazing friends (lost just as many too) and the aftereffects of my time here have also began one of the most important journeys of my life.

I’m not going to pretend I’m not at least a little bitter about how I was banned but that doesn’t get rid of the good, even if it makes it a little harder to enjoy the podcasts as I watch them back (something I do embarassingly often).

To all the users who made up the community while I was a part of it, thanks. A good chunk of you probably saved my life, even if it wasn’t obvious to you. I hope we meet again.

From,

Ashley “pictoshark” Elsewhere

8 Likes
#12

Hey this was a cool place, shoutout to every single member of the community who made this fragment exist, if only for a short time in the endless sea of this world. It was an absolute pleasure to experience it with you all, and I hope to see you around :ryukishi:

7 Likes
#13

This place, especially Tea Parties and Magus/Jokrono’s Walkthrough, have filled me with such love and appreciation for 07’s works which I haven’t had for any piece of fiction for a long time. Thank you for that.

It’s sad to see this place closing it’s doors. I was hoping to have a very fun time here discussing WTC5 :wahaha:

Anyway, Rokkenjima has left a beautiful legacy in the form of podcasts and some incredibly fun threads (shoutout to @selkie and a “Ryu07’s Character Design Origins” thread!), and I am grateful for that.

10 Likes
#14

So it has come to the beginning of the end in its very final stages. Late as i am i will share some of my thoughts, mainly positive. Can’t think of anything bad when there wasn’t any to begin with.
The discord discussions were one of the most fun experiences I have had for any fandom communities i used to be a part of in a while. Even after some of the established restriction for those inactive on the forums i still flaked back here to check out on things regarding news and whatnot. All the people shined and showed hope through their efforts in contributing or even just lurking like i did most of the time. Take care and all the best to your future endeavors in life. :handshake:

2 Likes
#15

Just wanted to pop into here to say thanks to everyone who made Rokkenjima worth comming to. Thanks to @Aspirety for making this community even if it did not work out. I had a great time here with countless memories I will not forget made with pepole in this community

Fight, Oh! Mii Nipah!

6 Likes
#16

I haven’t been long on Rokkenjima, but it was my starting point to meet other WTC fans like me! So I’ll be looking forward to meeting special WTC fans in other places!

All I can say is goodbye, Rokkenjima.
image

4 Likes
#17

I’m delivering a message on @Usagi’s behalf since she couldn’t make it in time. She wanted to convey that she’s grateful that Umineko had this community so that it could experience a second wind for the Steam release they worked on.

1 Like
#18

As for me, I’ll just restate what I said in the other thread.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who gave a little bit of themselves to Rokkenjima in the hopes of making it a better place. To those of you who contributed to the discussions, submitted art, organised events and gameboards, and worked towards making your fellow forumers happy. I may be the conductor, but you guys are the orchestra; it’s through your efforts that Rokkenjima became such a wonderful place for everyone. It’s been a bumpy ride, and not all of it was lovely, but the few precious moments we were able to create together are something I’ll treasure forever.

My heartfelt thanks in particular to all the staff who joined me on this journey.

To @technololigy who thanklessly dedicated herself to keeping the hardware and software running smoothly at all times.

To @kyuketsukimiyu for accepting all my crazy demands for all the website themes and logos, and keeping her cool during the great theme war.

To @epika for keeping on top of all the latest 07th News, thank you for giving the 07th Expansion fandom another chance.

To @Karifean; we had many disagreements to the end, and sometimes I felt like we couldn’t work together, but you always stuck by me in the end. We’ve been through a lot, but I thank you for all you gave for Rokkenjima.

And to all the other mods who came and went, especially @U4ea, who I genuinely felt understood my vision more than any other moderato. I’m sorry that things didn’t work out in the end.

And special thanks to @Usagi. I know your relationship with Rokkenjima over the years has been rocky at best, but you were the one who understood my plight more than any other. It’s thanks to your support that I’ve found the courage to stand here today, and do what I need to do.

I don’t know what will happen from here on out. I know for many of us, Rokkenjima was a small place we could call home. Maybe it was an ephemeral dream, but we all shared in that feeling. Now that this place is closing, it’s time for all of us to seek out a new home for ourselves. For me, it’s a new chapter in my life’s journey. I don’t know where I’m headed yet, but I know that I need to spend an appropriate amount of time reflecting on my own life and where I want to go. This is a journey to find my own fulfillment and happiness. In distancing myself from my bonds and burdens, I hope to find new insight on what truly matters to me.

If anybody wants to follow me on my journey, you can find me on Twitter. Maybe a time will come in the future where we can all meet again in one place; I can’t say for sure. But for now, we must all continue moving forward. I thank you all for your support; I wouldn’t have been able to make this step without all of your incredible kindness.

Just remember, this isn’t goodbye. The bonds we’ve made in this community won’t suddenly disappear. We will all share the time we’ve spent here as precious memories, and those will keep us all connected no matter where our journies take us. This isn’t goodbye, it’s just the end of the festival we enjoyed together. I have no doubt we’ll all continue to meet each other in the future.

Hasta la vista!

3 Likes
#19
#20