Interpreting Truth | Umineko Thematic Analysis
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- Опубліковано 22 чер 2022
- Umineko No Naku Koro Ni, a story that from its foundation is layered in deceit and fiction. Fantasy mingles with reality, brewing a soup of indistinct flavors. Leaving you to your own interpretation. How can you interpret such events, but more importantly, how should you?
- Ігри
When you get right down to it, the whole story of Umineko is a tragedy born of people’s disregard of the truth. Whether they hide, reject, or refuse to seek it, ignoring the truth and embracing lies has only led to this tragedy becoming worse and worse.
Words can’t describe how happy I am people still are talking about Umineko all these years later
Umineko is a treasure with lots to discuss! Even though I'm sure its not as active as it once was, I'm glad to see there is still a passionate community behind it!
"Facts are nothing but an outline for the truth, so when there are not enough to keep the truth on track, it can branch too many and be left equivocal. In the end, it is up to the individual to come with a conclusion. However, one important thing to keep in mind is the heart: While multiple truths can exist within facts, a vague and often obscure factor can often prove to be even more vital, that being the motive behind it all.
Just because you can tear down an illusion, it is best to keep in mind why it exist in the first place. Skewing facts to fit your negative prejudice can end up no greater than slander and, unbeknownst to you, can hurt those on the receiving end. Many things are not at all clear cut but do not be so narrowed on a singular truth when other more logical and fair truths exist.
Empathy should be a factor as a way to keep your truth from harming others, and maybe looking at it with the perspective of love can guide your thoughts in a more meaningful direction: As without love the truth cannot be seen."
First thing's first, this is incredible, there's a severe lack of Umineko content on this platform and you are fighting the good fight by putting more of this masterpiece out there.
Second, I have been permanently changed by Umineko, in a lot of ways, mostly good ways, and I very much want to replay it in the coming months despite only finishing it a year ago or so. But while there were scenes that altered my perception of reality or challenged my beliefs in the world, the scene that gave me the most chills overall was the scene with Ange on the rooftop. The first time you see it, you're still reeling from the fact that Witches can even be disproven in red - the battle you've been fighting up until now *can* be won. After that, the betrayal of Virgilia and Beatrice, and finally you're met with this new mystery character, Ange. Of course, by the end of the chapter, most people could probably guess she was the sister who couldn't make it, since she was mentioned earlier in chapter 3. So after all of the adrenaline you've had so far, you take a step back, and you look at this somber, epilogue-esque scene. End it off with a scene showing how cool Ange can be to actively just leap off a building to chase after the truth. Fantastic introduction that I've in no way done justice. Then, after you've spent the better part of 30 hours understanding most of the tricks and "magic" you've been seeing the entire game, you revisit that scene in chapter 7. "So," the game asks you, "if Witches aren't real, what does this scene tell you?" It's a rather unsettling realization and it's told while marinating in tragedy. While that scene in particular is phenomenal at doing what it's meant to, it's a rather understated scene in chapter 8 that really really gets me. It's a small little scene that I can't call to mind perfectly, I believe it's in the city of books with Ange and Bernkastel. Ange says something to the effect of, "I'm not even here right now, am I? I'm still on that skyscraper, with one foot in midair." There's a lot more to the scene itself but I really can't state enough how haunting it just feels to me, it makes everything we know about Ange, everything we see of her, everything she says and does, suddenly feel very fragile, transient even. She's already going down a bad path in the moment it happens, determined to open Eva's book and reveal an unhappy truth. It gives you the feeling that if one wrong step gets taken, the scene where she does fall to her death could easily become a truth.
I've gone on for long enough about why I love the skyscraper scene so much, so to end this off, thank you for this video, instantly subscribed, will check out the Ciconia video and the one on Gou/Sotsu after a bit, and I would absolutely love to see more Umineko content down the road. Have a good night.
That was an great brief analysis on one of the most memorable scenes in Umi! Reading it put into perspective how impactful it is to not only it's place in the narrative, but to Ange's character as well.
The method in which fantasy and reality mix can cause even a seemingly insubstantial scene to be rich in metaphor, that could easily reveal a truth about an event or character. Just thinking about the deeper meaning of some scenes makes the story that much better.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I love this series and want to spread all of it that I can.
Thank you, you too!
no one cares
@@dinogt8477 thank you for speaking for all of humanity, I'll take that into account next time I care.
@@ShuraEssays np
I love how well constructed this is, and the lengths you take to impress upon the idea of taking a truth or fact and actively viewing it differently. You've truly highlighted one of the central themes well, and i really appreciate your effort dude. I got some friends who just started the vn recently, and i plan on using this video in the future for them. Wish there was more content creators out there with this level of analysis directed towards umi. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thank you so much! Umi's story, characters, and themes resonated with me on a level I didn't know was possible. And so, I thought it would this would be the best way to show my love for it.
Umineko is such a rich experience with many aspects that can be touched upon. I would like to do of these future!
I really appreciate your comment and hope your friends end up enjoying the VN!
I'm. So happy that peeps are discussing Umineko. It's so good and one of my favorite pieces of fiction.
It's one of my favorites as well! Love to see that the love for it is strong!
Incredible video, I can't believe it took me so long to find this. Beautifully put together and captures the themes of Umineko perfectly. I'm really glad to see people making Umineko video essays like this, hope to see more.
It truly is one of those stories that really make you think not just about your own life, but that of the people around you! I'm so glad to know you enjoyed this! For such a long journey it sure does leave its impact that.
Beautifully orated piece. This series is host to an onslaught of mentality shaping experiences around every corner. No matter how many years go by theres always something to take away from Umineko in real life
Been following since the Hollow Ataraxia vid and gotta say man you're killing it! Umineko is one of the greatest pieces of media i've consumed so this absolutely takes the cake
I really appreciate you sticking around for so long, it means a lot to me! Umineko has made a major impact on me, so I put all my efforts in this one!
Man, it's such a shame that probably the best Umineko video essay is chilling at 4k views, I hope that your channel blows up, really love your perspective on the heart of Umineko
I'm surprised and more than happy with the reception this video has! Given Umineko's nature, the discussion regarding its story, themes, and characters is very interesting. I'm glad I could give my two cents and see how it compares and contrasts with other's point of view.
I really appreciate your kind words, thank you so much!
I am sorry, i need to say this even though i haven't watched the whole video yet, THANK YOU FOR ACTUALLY TAKING THE CHARACTERS THAT ARE ALWAYS LOOKED DOWN UPON AND GIVING THEM AN IN DEPTH LOOK. Rosa has been quite the pain to hear people talk about because no one takes into account the human and external factors that can push someone to act like that. I do not excuse her for her behavior, but I cannot accept it when most people say she doesn't love Maria. She has a daughter that has a lot of habits that are considered immature for people, and while that is alright, it can break a parent to hear people talk about that stuff, and judging them as well by extension. She reacted badly to it, and it is inexcusable, but she obviously has been pushed to a weird place, and she has been looked down upon by a number of people, even in her family. Same for Eva, who as a woman as well basically would lose her rights to her name just because of family etiquette, and she tried her best to not lose it. The women in this story while sometimes strange have very realistic ways of coping even if they are maladaptive. And that's what i love about this story. It feels realistic despite all the fictional factors that play into it, and people just hating characters for that is so weird to me cause I find it really refreshing to see how they have written maladaptive coping mechanisms so well, and I want to see more of that in the future
Also for the Rosa part, I want to reference the scenes where she was running away with Maria, and the way she corrected herself from "holding her future and her daughter" to "my daughter is my future". It was how it really hit me that she loved Maria, even if she had to think through it just a bit.
How Umineko handles its characters is why I love it so much. Yes, people may do atrocious, things some people would describe as inhumane, but regardless of whether it's justified or not, there are reasons that led up to those actions. And like you brought up, Rosa and Eva are near perfect examples of people brought to the brink and eventually crumbled due to many social and familial troubles. For me, Kinzo is a hugely misunderstood. While he is debatably the one who holds the most 'sin', sparking everything that happens in the story and being a major factor into the sibling's ruthless relationship, his character is more than a simple "psycho" who doesn't deserve forgiveness. Years of being nothing more than a puppet for people you don't care for will really mess with one's head. Just like everyone else in the story, he is a byproduct of his enviornment. Umineko strikes a really good balance of acknowledging actions that should be reprimanded, but why they should still be treated humanely. It's just finding how far one will empathize and how important it is to understand why people act like that.
Ouch, that scene that scene in EP2 both warms and hurts my heart everytime I think about it. It's such a touching scene!
Very nice video and well edited. The question with empathy or trying to understand others is "Where does it end?", as in what behavior is morally acceptable enough to view a person as human and deserving of understanding. Typical example for this point is Hitler. Something to keep in mind. Anyway, thanks for the video.
Thank you!
That is an interesting point. There are some actions that probably aren't deserving of it depending on how far the moral line is crossed. It certainly isn't a black and white case.
Nice work, very well thought out and presented. Just ran into this video as I've been revisiting Umineko again myself. I still hold the theory that the entire Umineko series exists in Ange's mind, as the tries to work out a very traumatic event that clearly defined her (the Rokkenjima massacre). With this mindset certain things start making sense in my view (e.g. the entire fight in EP8, between Bern and Lambda, being indeed the representation of her despair vs the certainty that Battler would come back... only for Featherine to rip Lambda apart, which can be seen as a representation of her certainty / hope being utterly destroyed when Ange reads Eva's diary and realized Battler would never come back to her). Totally unprovable interpretation of course, but it's still fun to theorize after all these years.
Anyway, thanks for your video, I really enjoyed it! Gonna check out some of your other videos ;)
Side note: i found it funny that on Last Note of the Golden Witch, Piece said: "To summarize, Ange's brain can call up virtual personalities at will, like parallel thought processing". It aligns very well with my view of Umineko, and well, just cracked me up :D
As it long as it has heart, its a valid interpretation! And your's is an interesting one at thatI I can see some truth in it, and the fact we can piece all these ideas together is what makes Umineko such a fun ride, being one of the many reasons it sticks with us for so long. A couple months ago I made a video of one of the many ways to interpret the finale of Alliance from the perspective of Tohya. This VN offers so much and love to see just how different people can view the same scenes!
Thank you so much! Im glad!
I just finished Umineko recently and stumbled upon this video, you really clear a lot of the stuff I didn’t understand and in fact, enhanced the story to me by explaining them. Thank you so much for taking your time to edit and make this video 💙 Higurashi & Umineko are seriously masterpiece in terms of writing and storytelling, my personal fav gems that didn’t get their chance to shine bright in public eyes. (Also would recommend Danganronpa, but that was more goofy and playful mystery)
I'm really glad that this video could help! It's a rich story so it was enjoyable to break it down and uncover what each aspect of it could mean. Thank you for taking your time to watch it and share your thoughts, I appreciate it!
Both Higurashi and Umineko are so unique in their premise and the execution was near flawless. A bit sad that VNs overall are a bit niche, so not many people will experience these stories to their fullest.
Danganronpa is another one I wanted to get into, I have a lot on my list, but I'll get to it!
@@NeNeiSan brooo I don’t want to overhype Danganronpa so it makes your expectations too high but it’s a really goofy and funny take on the mystery genre, and you actually have to press WASD to walk around finding clues, collect evidence, talk to characters etc then finally, solve the mystery and find out who the murderer is (with a lot of weird/annoying minigames LOL). Anyway, hope to see more videos from you ^_^
Oooh, I haven't looked into it too much so I didn't know there was gameplay elements like that. Sounds pretty interesting, I'm sure I'll enjoy it!
Thanks a lot, I hope you will enjoy them!
this video is perfect,i have no other words than idk man its just all that I always thought about that in umineko in a video and its perfect i mean your work is perfect aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Loving the precise dating involved in the story.
You put a lot of effort into the visual editing damn! I really like it.
It took me a forever to put everything together, but I'm glad to know it was worth it! Thank you!
Incredible video!!!! It's so well made, great job. It's so cool to see analysis on Umineko that's so well presented and put together.
Thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
What I find intresting about some of the real world representations of fantasy characters is how they can be multiple things, depending on if you have love or not.
If you are erika, then the seven stakes and the chiesters are the real stakes and the guns, but if you understand sayo you can see that they are also her past fellow servants (the stakes) and marias bunny toys
Great video! Keep up the good work. It's a pleasure to see a well constructed not biased and well thought video about Umineko. It's such a masterpiece that deserve all the love. Videos like this give me hope in humanity.
Thank you very much! It truly is a work like no other!
Great video. I can tell you put a lot of effort into editing it.
as always a great video, with a amazing depiction of Umineko🙌
Amazing analysis. Really happy that people are continuing to read this masterpiece and even coming to terms with their personal interpretations of the central messages. God bless this video.
Thank you! It's a rich story and I'm glad to make any contribution towards discussing this wonderful work! I love to see that the fanbase is still so passionate about it!
Nanjo isn’t Gaap. Gaap is the personification of Sayo’s clumsy tendency to lose things.
That is true, especially before the Incident. The interpretation of Nanjo=Gaap comes from a few points.
1: Any time a death could be faked death while being "confirmed" by Nanjo, the magical side shows Gaap teleporting the bodies elsewhere.
2: It also fits with the theory of how Beatrice's friend's/acquaintances are all those who know the truth behind Sayo's upbringing. In that instance, it could be interpreted: Ronove=Genji, Kumasawa=Virgillia, but then both Nanjo(aware of Sayo's childhood) and Gaap (friend of Beatrice) are left out.
3: During Maria's flashback in Requiem, one of her meetings with Beatrice was when Gaap was given her name along with a new role as demon.
In the end, it's a rich story with many ways to interpret it.
Lovely
This is a very interesting video for me to watch from my perspective most media I interact with is through peoples reviews of that media I rarely ever consume a piece of media by myself so my perspective on that piece of media is heavily skewed by the reviewer another interesting thing is that I like to go on versus Battle boards where people discuss which characters from different fictional franchises would win in a fight and that's where I heard of umineko my first impression of the story was me being mind blown of the character's power but now after watching this video it definitely changed my perspective of the story I don't know how though all I know is that my perspective is changed but not into what it has been changed into knowing me I may or may not keep thinking about this story and coming to a conclusion it's entirely possible that my mind will be occupied by other topics or maybe it won't be and I will think about this story more anyway I'm just rambling on at this point I'm more writing this comment for myself rather than who's ever reading it I hope you enjoyed reading my rambling thoughts and I'm sorry for my writing I'm not very good with punctuations.
Seeing new perspectives on how people look at media and judge based on that is very interesting, especially when it comes to Umineko. I appreciate your comment and am glad to know that the video helped you look at the story differently! Thank you!
@@NeNeiSan I'm glad I watched this video because it's really interesting seeing how versus Battle debaters see this because the characters are so strong a lot of people will seem to think that the characters are just strong for the sake of being strong and seemingly just made to beat other characters which makes sense from their perspective because power scalers how they analyze stories from a power scalers perspective is there trying to see how strong a character is so they can use them for versus battles and when you take a perspective like that it really changes how you interact with media every time a new episode of a TV show comes out it's a chance to make your favorite character stronger so you can use them to beat other characters in fiction instead of just being entertaining new piece of content it becomes almost like a science of some sort which I find very interesting even though most debates are very boring often ending with one-sided fights and very short explanations for why one character wins but they can also be very interesting when you have two characters that have a variety of abilities and are almost evenly matched stat wise but that comes very rarely which makes going through versus Battle boards like trying to find gold in a mine looking for an interesting debate in the sea of boring one-sided fights.
@@izzymosley1970 I see. I'm not big on the Versus Debates, but I do get the appeal behind it. I'm surprised to see Umineko is a part of all that! Thanks for the explanation and detail!
@@NeNeiSan well it makes sense why this series is used a lot and versus debates and that's because it has strong characters and a big cosmology so one very interesting thing that happens in umineko debates to see which character will win the versus Battle since the cosmology is so big instead of comparing stats in terms of numbers to see how much damage an attack did they instead compare the sizes of each series cosmology to see which character is stronger which often leads to the term "my Infinity is bigger than your Infinity" which on the surface seems like a nonsensical statement but in power scaling and some forms of math you can have bigger and smaller infinities so it makes sense kind of one big thing about these high scale versus battles is that you really get to have two characters actually fighting evenly it's mostly always a one-sided fight for whoever has the bigger cosmology which is kind of boring because I like it when I get to imagine two characters fighting but it's also enjoyable to get into the nitty gritty details to try and figure out which character has the bigger cosmology to see who will win the fight.
@@izzymosley1970 I don't get why some people are so fixated on the powerlevels of the characters of Umineko. It's almost as if they missed the whole point of the story completely or they didn't read it at all and just thought the characters were strong based off what they've heard. The heart of umineko's story was never about the powerlevels of characters and its just disappointing to see that its a discussion so frequently brought up amongst some parts of the community.
gooood，i like your understanding
Amazing analysis! Wish i had a video like this when i finished reading umineko 12 years ago.
Thank you, I'm glad it was helpful!
great
This is a masterpiece.
this video is a masterpiece
Umineko.
this video was very much worth the wait 🙏great job.
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Really Great Video. I never interpreted the witches that way.
It is a really cool way of thinking about them.
Thank you! I'm glad you were able to find something interesting!
Hello, leaving a comment because this video is really well made and articulated + you are still making videos to this day so I'm leaving a subscribe too. Thank you and good luck with content!
Hello Martin, Thank you very much! I appreciate the support and am glad you enjoy the videos!
Amazing video bro, this helps me appreciate Umineko much more
Thank you, I'm glad to hear that!
Wonderful video, It almost made me cry lol
what a fantastic video!
Thank you!
Really enjoyed your analysis of Umineko.
Thank you, I'm glad!
Wonderful ❤
Thank you so much!
It's not the kind of video one watches only once.
@@eminkokonozi9780 That makes me happy to hear! I'm glad you enjoy it!
Great video!
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
are Tsubasa, Hane, and Saku important? I was gonna watch but worried about these expansions
I wouldn't say they are "must-reads" to understand the story, as most of the chapters are simple fun/zany scenarios. However, there are some amazing character moments that make it worth checking out in my opinion.
For the video, I only briefly reference a chapter in Saku, its not a spoiler and you also don't have to have read those to follow!
@@NeNeiSanThank you, it was a beautiful video and I'm glad I watched it all.
@@PinClockFuntime I'm glad, that means a lot. Thank you for the kind word!
*A Blurry Incident*
0:00 October 6th, 1986 0:10 The Rokkenjima Incident
0:23 A Blurry Understanding of What Actually Happened.
0:41 Lack of Physical Evidence muddles The Truth.
1:03 In The End, No One Knows
1:17 Questions without Answers.
1:24 Unclear Illusions.
1:42 The Truth is far from revealed.
*Angie Ushiromiya*
2:36 Love, Empathy and Personal Belief.
2:47 Knowing The Heart can close and open doors
3:01 Angie is grieving over her family's supposed deaths.
3:32 The Golden Shield of Ignorance allows Angie Ushiromiya to believe her family is actually alive!
3:56 Merging Reality With Fiction.
*Maria Ushiromiya, 9 year-old girl*
4:04 Maria Ushiromiya was an Eccentric Girl.
4:28 Maria Ushiromiya lived in delusions of grandeur.
4:51 Escapism into Happiness.
5:07 Escapism to deal with Life Circumstances.
5:41 Becoming.
6:32 Transferring Pain, but not Eliminating Pain For Good
6:44 Darkness.
*Kinzo*
7:18 Kinzo's Coping with Sins. Coping with The Death of His Beloved.
8:14 Kinzo's Repentance led him to a Clear Conscious, although he fell back into Despair after the death of 2 of his offspring.
*Angie*
8:53 Angie copes with loneliness.
_Without Empathy_
9:33 It seems...
9:59 Voiding of Why. 10:10 Why someone became who one was.
10:24 Natsuhi
10:36 Kraus
10:46 Eva
11:05 Rosa -Despicable on The Outside +Loving on The Inside.
11:35 Kinzo. - Living a Life he himself Hated. - Neglected others out of a desire to feel better.
12:18 The Humanity behind these people's actions were disregarded.
*Forgetting Truth*
12:46 "1 Ignorant Truth Influences Another until they all become jumbled into an incoherent mess."
13:03 Angie Ushiromiya forgot the Truth of who her family really was.
14:06 "Humans obviously aren't perfect."
14:26 Empathy alters perception.
15:03 Thought matters.
15:34 The Unseen Hardship of Every Person. With Love, Humanity Can Be Seen.
*Transcendent Point-of-View*
16:03 Transcendence, Meta-Perspective.
17:09 The POV of The Reader/The Audience/The Player.
18:26 The Gameboard Story.
18:54 Multi-Layered Narrative.
*Angie's Story*
19:43 Angie's Story.
20:07 - Confusion? - Metaphor? - True Story?
20:28 RECURRING Scene: Jump or No Jump?
21:32 Ch 7 & Ch8: Angie's Distress!
22:07 Ch 8 Conclusion: Angie's Acceptance of The Past.
23:03 "And those are only a few of many possibilities regarding this 1 instance, when 1998 and The Meta-Realm merged."
*Simultaneous Events*
23:13 All 3 Settings take place SIMULTANEOUSLY.
24:10
24:44 Innocent Sayings taken in a different light.
*The Foundation For The Entire Story*
24:53
25:53 Toya.
26:50 Requiem.
27:19 "Funerals aren't for the dead."
*The Meta-World Guests*
27:46 Beatrice's Group.
28:56 The Furniture.
29:12 The Clerky.
29:26 Burn Castell and Lambda Delta.
32:12 Edika Fuduro.
*Multiple Interpretations, Many Branches, Different Understandings*
33:52 Multiple Ways to Interpret The Truth.
34:30 Witches and Magic, Unclear Events.
35:04 Filtering.
35:34 Individual Choice and The Heart.
36:04 Skewing The Facts.
36:37 "Without Love, The Truth cannot be seen."
28:15 I think you forgor the chef
Oh, I didn't see an open role for him. Though due to the story's nature, could be attributed to a witch with some thought.
@@NeNeiSan I don't think Gohda have a “meta-person”, really. It only fits Nanjo, Kumasawa and Genji because they grew with Sayo. Gohda only knew Shannon and Kanon.
Not to knock you, love the content, but I do want to air something with the fandom that makes me slightly uncomfortable. We probably shouldn't be calling Sayo "Yasu" because she hated that name. I know it's not 1:1 at all but the proximity it has towards trans deadnames given the context really doesn't help here. Even with that aside though, why would you call someone (even a fictional character) by a name they wouldn't use for themself? Idk. It's really weird, to me at least.
I do see and completely agree from where you are coming from. It is my mistake. When I was first writing the script, I had thought the name "Sayo" was only carried alongside "Shannon", and had only later figured out that her name was Sayo Yasuda, and not just Yasuda. Thinking that "Yasu" made the most sense to refer to the origin. I should have done something different as it does feel insincere . Thank you for bringing it up.
why people keep calling Sayo a trans? doesn't she have dissociative identity disorder? isn't it disrespectful to trans people to compare them with a mentally ill character?
@@nauangarcia2251 No, she does not have DID. She made up personas and characters in her head.
Yes, she is trans. She is the "man from 19 years ago", the baby Natsuhi knew as male. Without even getting into the manga which outright confirms it.
@@NeNeiSan Not your fault really, I think even Ryukishi somewhat endorsed it in an interview once where he said he chose it as a name people could refer to the culprit as without spoiling online. My memory might be faulty on that. Either way, it's a widespread fandom thing, like how people think Shannon and Kanon are western names which was never the intention.
@@dappershinx9234 when you search the definition of DID you get into a page saying that it's a reaction to trauma where the person affected creates one or more personalities to help avoiding bad memories, and there's also a part about how the various identities controls their behaviors at different times
that's exactly why both Shannon and Kanon were created, to help overcoming Sayo's trauma, and they're also considered different people living in the same body throughout the entire series, the thing about each personality controlling the body at different times is the key for a lot of mysteries regarding the culprit
Stop defending Kinzo ? He’s a psyco period
I never defended his actions, just that there were circumstances that led him to them. He's simply like everyone else in the story, a product of his enviornment.
Most brain dead umineko fan 💀