Off the coast of Tokyo, along the Izu archipelago, lies a quaint island measuring ten kilometers across—Rokkenjima, private land, sole property of alcoholic curmudgeon Kinzo Ushiromiya.

Kinzo has four children, who each in turn have children of their own. Every year, the branch families reconnect on Rokkenjima for a family meeting. Despite the forecasted typhoon, for all intents and purposes, it’s business as usual—save for a returning guest.

Kinzo has his foot in the grave. If he had a choice, he’d scatter his fortune to the winds. He doesn’t care to pen a will. There’s just one person he has to see again while he still breathes—the one who haunts Rokkenjima, the Golden Witch, Beatrice.

Battler, eighteen, has been estranged from the Ushiromiyas for six years, due to the circumstances surrounding his father Rudolf’s prompt remarriage after widowing. After the death of his maternal grandparents, Battler decides to bury the hatchet and attend the next family reunion. Unbeknownst to him, there may be unburied ones lying in wait.

Does Beatrice ‘exist’? Did she grant Kinzo his fortune? What’s with the morbid riddle under her portrait in the hall? Are there really ten tons of gold somewhere on Rokkenjima? Why do the servants keep calling themselves ‘furniture’? Is Battler intelligent? Who needs the most therapy? Is there a correct way to read stories? Does true love only exist in the next world? Is magic real? One could say… it’s a mystery…

On October 4th, 1986, Rokkenjima had a population of eighteen. But when the seagulls cried…

Umineko no Naku Koro ni (lit. When the Seagulls Cry) is the second serialization under doujin circle 07th Expansion’s When They Cry banner—serialized visual novels penned by Ryukishi07. Besides Umineko, he is also known for Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, the prior entrant in the series, as well as his most recent work, Silent Hill f.

Serialized after the conclusion of Higurashi, Umineko was written between and released in episodic chunks for each Comiket, from Comiket 72 (August 2007) to Comiket 79 (December 2010).

As with Higurashi, Umineko is organized into two blocks of four episodes, respectively localized as Questions and Answers arcs.

There are three generally agreed upon ways to best experience Umineko:

  • The official Steam port: Questions Arc, Answers Arc
    • Both entries are 40% off on steam until October 6th.
    • Comes with the Original and MangaGamer sprite sets.
    • With this version, it is recommended to also install 07th-Mod, which adds voice acting (Japanese), PS3 sprites/backgrounds as additional visual options, and general QoL.
  • The fan port of the PS3 release: Umineko Project
    • This has the PS3 sprites (only) and voice acting built in, as well as animations that are not present in 07th-Mod.
    • the password is 035646750436634546568555050
  • The manga adaptation, which you can find online at various Sites[1]
    • If you can stomach long VNs, I’d recommend the VN. If not, the manga is generally regarded to be the next best way to experience the story.

My personal recommendation is to use Umineko Project (since you can get it for free with just some setup)—though, if you want to read with the Original/MangaGamer sprites, MangaGamer CGs, and/or Original backgrounds, use the Steam release.

Spriteset comparison (open dropdown)

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  1. not on mangadex, got DMCA’d in the recent sweep. The site I used for my reread was WeebCentral, though be wary and use an adblocker at the very least. ↩︎