[Spoilers] To get someone into Umineko

07th Discussion
#1

…how much do you tell them about the story?

Just the fact that there’s an island and people get systematically murdered on it? How about the meta element, and Beatrice being a character? Do you typically keep that a secret or do you say it openly to represent the story better? What about what Umineko is thematically? Do you let them find it all out on their own or do you talk about the paths the story ends up treading later in Chiru?

As for myself, I keep everything from the end of Episode 1 onwards a secret. I do talk about how Umineko affected me personally, but I don’t reveal the actual setting of most of Umineko’s plot or the fact that Beatrice is a character in the story.

How about you?

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Experiences with Trying to Get People to Read Umineko
#2

As little information as needed to convince them. I usually kind of frame it as a complex murder mystery where they keep retelling the story with slight differences so you can figure out the truth. I kind of describe Higurshi similarly because I find both stories first arcs a bit dull and want people who aren’t hooked to push past to the greater stories.

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#3

Usually as little as I need to. Often I’m recommending it to people on /r/visualnovels questions thread or /r/vnsuggest so people already have stated what they are looking for, and I just pitch how Umineko fits the bill. I almost always mention it’s voice cast, it’s music, etc, the Umitweak patch, etc.

I usually pitch it as a mystery, but more. I sometimes mention fantasy or romance, but usually not. I avoid mentioning meta stuff, specifics of characters, and often even the basic plot you mentioned. Occasionally I mention how parts of the structure are inspired by “And then there were none”.

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#4

As the others have said, saying the least amount possible is best, but I’d say it’s best to tell them that it gets better after the first episode, as it’s more of an introductory episode. But yeah, after episode one stuff being a secret is best, but don’t reveal too much about it. I made that mistake and now one of my friends I tried to get into it didn’t find it interesting enough since he didn’t get past the first episode.

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#5

The problem with saying as little as possible is how long Umineko is.
Getting someone into such a long time investment as Umineko without them being interested in the first place is way too hard without spoilers. Not to mention people who are willing to read VNs are usually already into the anime medium with a waitlist long enough they’d never finish it.
My policy is that people being spoiled a bit is still way better than not knowing Umineko at all. I usually tell them the story up to the point where Maria reads the mail and add that people will die after that. Then try to point out without details how it is a battle between fantasy and mystery, hinting about the meta stuff in a way they’d definitely not figure anything out (like how you could interpret the story in either sides’ way). That should capture the beauty of umineko.

I usually also mention how much effort went into theorizing from the community and it still continues even though the series ended.

Also since reading the manga is many times faster I often try forcing the manga on hopeless people who refuse playing VNs. Originally I wanted to buy the manga in japanese but in the end I decided to get the english ones so I can land it to anyone interested in the series around me.

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#6

I agree with this. I do my best to only stick to plot points from the first arc, and then I talk kind of vaguely about the themes of the greater story - I mean a murder mystery that is also examining the nature of truth is appealing proposal for a lot of people - but I am not past dropping a few interesting plot points if I think it is necessary to sway them.

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#7

It took forever to get my two best friends to start reading Umineko, but I think that’s just because they had constant exposure and spoilers from me, and it’s practically required for my irl friendship to marathon the anime and laugh through it with me

In the end, having ahaha.wav as my text tone and the spoilers they had convined them, because they were incredulous that it could all fit together.

Still, I wish they’d been spoiled less, and that’s the ideal way to read it I think, but thats on me. Im enjoying their live commentary while they work through episode 1.

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#8

Telling stuff about the setting and the basics of the first EP would be a great place to start. The manga is also a great to ease into the story, though it also adds more to the story in the latter arcs so to experience the whole story.

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#9

I usually tell them there’s witches who are cool and a guy who cries and it’s a murder mystery. Unfortunately, though, a lot of them lose interest due to EP1 only having the murder mystery aspect until the end, even with my telling them “it gets less family drama and more fantasy later on.” One friend got interested through a lot of the full spoilers in Chiru. But most people I know really only want the witches since I on and off role play as Beatrice on tumblr (well an AU version).

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#10

Hmm, I think spoilers definitely shouldn’t be said for the most part, but like one of you has suggested, some should be said to get somebody into Umineko, especially cause the first few episodes have rather slow pacing and whilst it is interesting, it may be dull for some. For me, it’s completely fine if say, 50% of Episode 1 is spoiled. Of course, some will lose interest if they’re spoiled like that, but the events of Episode 1 set the basis for the story, so I think to spoil somebody with a few aspects about it is a requisite to get them into Umineko. Though I’m saying that just the main events of Episode 1 should be said rather than details, of course. And whilst you should keep our beloved Beato’s existence ambivalent, I think it’s better to assure somebody new to Umineko that she will appear at some point,cause her existence itself is one of the main plot points in Umineko, and that should keep somebody interested in the series. After Episode 1, you can just hint at things vaguely of course, like hint vaguely at some clues before they start each episode or something, but frankly, if somebody gets interested in Umineko I don’t think they’d want any spoilers.

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#11

I’ve convinced a few friends to play just through the soundtrack. It’s not even hyperbole to say it’s one of the greatest OSTs in all of gaming, and usually showing them goldenslaughterer, hope, or mirage coordinator is enough to get them to at least try it out (esp when you say that there are 200 tracks, with at least 50 on par with those)

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#12

I can’t speak as someone who has gotten anyone into Umineko simply because I never have, but I can tell you a bit about how my best friend got me into the series.

I actually began reading because I wanted to better understand my best friend and a character from the series that she is connected to. I wanted to be able to talk with her about her interests without getting so confused. She told me a bit about Umineko and I honestly wasn’t interested in it at all. But, like I said, I wanted to better understand her and the character she feels so close to. So I began reading. And after a while, I fell in love with it myself.

Sometimes all it takes is a desire to understand someone and be able to talk to them freely about what interests them. At least, that’s what did it for me.

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#13

This is more of a vent topic, as I feel fairly frustrated with my mostly unsuccessful attempts to get people to read Umineko. So I would like to hear everyone else’s successes, failures and experiences. Allow me to start with my own

8 Friends that I regularly game with
Tried to sell Umineko over Vent once
1 took the bullet (in exchange I promised to read the VN he wanted to discuss). He loved it

My best friend
Tried to convince by phone multiple times
Read EP1 then rage quited

2 Work friends
Found out they “read” as a hobby. Bought them the Question Arc for their birthdays
Haven’t got to dinner in EP1 after 3 months in reality. Egging them on every other week right now…
(Started my third re-read around that time hoping to discuss with them. EP6 now… with super slow 20h per novel speed)

Best Friend’s Wife
Work in progress, might need a little more persuasion

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#14

I got two people to read it. One is still in game 1 and the other is in the middle of game 2. I’m content right now.

#15

I have never gotten any of my IRL friends to read it, but I did manage to get two of my online friends to read it. One of them pretty much got into VNs because of me, and is currently on episode 6. The other just finished recently, and loved it so much, her twitter account is now Umineko themed. The latter friend is now reading the manga.

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#16

I’ve managed to get someone of my family into Umineko (and Higurashi as well), but I have to act as a translator for now. We’re going sooo slowly that it’s kind of discouraging, I think it’s been almost a year now and we’ve managed to stop at the end of the first day of EP2. This is also due to the fact that it isn’t easy to really get some hours together without any distraction in order to concentrate on the story, and so there are always huge gaps between each reading session. So, even though I can tell they’ve taken an interest in the story, I think it’s best if we stop reading together at the end of EP2 and they’ll see for themselves if they have the motivation to keep on reading, because I think it’s essential to have it in order to really immerse yourself into the story (especially for a story like Umineko I mean). Still, we’ve got some interesting discussions reading together and I like the experience, but due to context I’d prefer they can really dive into the story without such breaks, even if that means doing it alone. And, no matter what they may believe, I know the language barrier can be easily overcome, the only thing they lack is confidence. The rest will naturally follow.

That’s an interesting topic and it makes me really wonder about what I should do. I guess I’ll have to talk more about this with this person even though I’ve already tried to a little.

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#17

My circle of friends consists of mostly very busy people who enjoy working on their own thing or just get easily distracted. And if I have friends who are not busy, they either are very squeamish about gore or horror shenanigans or they really can’t get into VNs. So most of my attempts probably come off as annoying.

I did manage to get one friend into Umineko. I sold him with the mention of how fantastic the music was. And he likes music a lot in general. He finished reading and every time Umineko is mentioned we just gush about it and cry. And shitpost, of course.

There’s also my boyfriend, who has only finished reading EP1. Though he has been very busy with his studies so it’s been impossible for him to continue reading. Granted, I did spoil him most of Umineko, but considering how dense it is, he still gets really immersed into the characters and keeps forgetting who the culprit is, haha.

There’s also this one friend I really REALLY wish could read Umineko, because for one, similarities about the characters and this person, for two, he writes his own characters so well, especially assholes that I just end up caring about and relating to, and I would love love LOVE for him to see the characters in Umineko at their full splendor. He has seen the anime, and surprisingly he liked it and the idea and all, 'cept for the final after credits scene of course. But maaan he has like a million projects and I don’t think he’ll ever have the time to ever read umineko fully. Nor the VN, or the manga. Man he would have loved the manga because the expressions are amazing…
If only umineko had a good anime… then most of my friends could multitask by working and keeping the anime on a second screen or something.

#18

I’ve gotten most of my friends to read Umineko, including @smileypers0n. Now, that said, I also regularly shilled it when I was the president of my school’s anime club, and for every person I got into it, there’s probably a couple dozen who never thought about it again after Club. (Still, I know I introduced it to at least six people who I know are know full-fledged fans now, three of them having cosplayed characters.)

I also got my stepmother to read the manga, which she seemed to enjoy- except she stopped at Episode 3. I think the volumes just got too big for her to consider reading. This isn’t the only time the manga has scared someone away- I have a friend who I got to read all of the Higurashi and the Rose Guns Days manga, but who’s borrowed the first volume of the Umineko manga for almost three months, and hadn’t read a bit of it. (Even though it’s honestly such a quick read.)

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#19

I’ve considered making my stepdad read it after he read the first scene of EP 3 over my shoulder and turned Virgilia saying “…the vase…” into a family meme. I made my sister and an ex-friend read the first volume of the manga, and I’ve made my other friend read all the way up to halfway through EP 5 in the manga. I constantly rave about it to basically everyone I know, but no one ever seems interested, and if they do, they don’t know where or how to read it. What a shame :frowning:

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#20

The friends I have aren’t interested in this sort of thing. Hell, most of them aren’t readers at all. For those that are, I try to subtly probe them by asking questions about their tastes, so I can somehow bring this up in a way that will appeal to them. Sadly, I’ve been met with nothing but failure… Doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying though.

I’ve been wearing out my brother for years at this point. What started as a resounding no, has now morphed into “I would rather be doing other stuff, although Umineko doesn’t seem bad.”. Baby steps.

Someday I will get somebody into it, and I will treasure that day for the rest of my life.

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