Umineko: When They Cry: Difference between revisions

{{work}}

[[File:gloriousep8_9027.jpg|frame|Welcome to Rokkenjima.]]

 

 

 

While the arguments about the inheritance ensue, a typhoon traps all eighteen people on the island. The family then finds a mysterious letter from a person claiming to be Kinzo's alchemy councilor, the [[Witch Species|Golden Witch]], [[The Divine Comedy|Beatrice]]. Beatrice claims that she has been summoned by Kinzo to claim the inheritance, as the family has been deemed unworthy of it. [[Game Between Heirs|Unless someone solves the riddle of the epitaph on her portrait]] [[Race Against the Clock|before midnight on October 6th]] and becomes the family successor, Beatrice will claim everything that the family owns, including the ten tons of gold that Kinzo claims will be given to the successor.

 

 

The protagonist, Battler, then gets challenged by the Golden Witch, who claims that she killed everyone on the island. Were the murders committed by magic, or were they done by a human?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be wary of the terms used on the ''Umineko'' pages -- "Episode/EP" (with a capital "E") refers to a [[Story Arc]] of the novel, while "episode" refers to an episode of the DEEN anime.

A fan translation patch of the games may be found [http://witch-hunt.com/links.html here], acknowledged by Ryukishi07 himself. The patches require an original copy of the game, which may be found on the links page of the translation site.

----

* [[Actor Allusion]] - The anime's next episode previews are filled to the brim with these. We've got [[Rikiya Koyama|Jack Bauer]], [[Kikuko Inoue|a potentially millennia-old witch claiming she's 17]]...

* [[Adaptation Dye Job]] - Beatrice's dress (in the anime) and of course the eye colors of just about every character (Battler, Jessica, George, Shannon, Lambdadelta, Virgilia, etc...)

* [[All Just a Dream]] - {{spoiler|Maria murdering Rosa}}, [[Mind Screw|apparently.]]

* [[All There in the Manual]] - A number of TIPS were not shown in the game itself but released as side materials; these were generally short stories. Often they were humorous and not meant to be taken seriously, but some were plot relevant. ''Tsubasa'' collects most these short stories and presents them in a Visual Novel format.

* [[Altar the Speed]] - Part of Eva's plan to have George jump ahead in the succession was to rush a marriage to Hideyoshi. In spite of that, they're quite [[Happily Married]].

** "On that day, what happened?"

* [[Arranged Marriage]] - Kasumi was forced into this after Kyrie ran off with Rudolf, which is the reason she hates both Kyrie and Ange so much. Eva also tries to set up George with someone to get Shannon away from him. Also happened to Kinzo when he was chosen as the family head. {{spoiler|Similarly, Krauss and Natsuhi}}.

** [[Lampshaded]] in ''End of the Golden Witch''

** The blood pentacles (runes have nothing to do with this) actually are [[Shown Their Work|scanned straight from a copy of the ''Key of Solomon'']], and using the correct meanings to boot, so the inaccurate Hebrew is accurate occultism.

* [[Audience Monologue]] - Kumasawa does a few of these in the first arc to explain various issues among the residents of the Ushiromiya mansion.

* [[The Baby Trap]] - {{spoiler|Kyrie claims Asumu pulled one to steal Rudolf out from under her}}.

* [[Badass Adorable]] - Groups of cute young girls ''will'' mess you up: the Stakes, the Chiester Sisters, etc.

* [[Badass Family]] - The Ushiromiyas, hands down.

* [[Batman Gambit]] - Episode 3: {{spoiler|Beatrice coming out on top from her duel with Virgilia hinged on Virgilia healing Beatrice before realizing she was fatally wounded herself. [[Heel Face Mole|Of course, they were actually working together the whole time,]] so not really.}}

* [[Beat Still My Heart]] - EP 3 features {{spoiler|Eva-Beatrice trying to destroy Beatrice's, but failing miserably, with Beatrice's heart refusing to stop beating, because it would leave Kanon and Jessica at Eva-Beatrice's mercy}}.

* [[Be Careful What You Wish For]] - "The Witches' Tanabata" plays with this: {{spoiler|Beatrice [[Pull the Thread|pulls the thread]] on Maria's simple wish, gradually getting her to imagine her ideal world in greater and greater detail. Bernkastel, meanwhile, plays this terribly, horribly straight.}}

* [[Beat Them At Their Own Game]] - What Battler is trying to do. All the weapons he has to defend the [[Muggle]] possibility are supplied to him by the beings he is trying to deny.

* [[Beyond the Impossible]] - Everything that happens in one game usually gets this treatment in the next; heck, it also happens in the middle of the games themselves, from the awesomely epic magic shows to the badass BGM to the number of characters per game to the ridiculous and outrageous theories for the murders to the amount of memes generated per game. Special mention goes to Episode 5, in which the [[Holy Shit Quotient|HSQ]] reaches its peak, but [[Your Mileage May Vary|YMMV]].

* [[Big Damn Heroes]] - Ange's entrance. Also, in EP6, {{spoiler|Beatrice crashing the wedding}}.

** EP8 has multiple, surprisingly many pulled off by the {{spoiler|antagonists! (and some morally dubious members of the case) Erika saves little Ange from being eaten by goats and Lambda sets off a multi-colored words battle the likes of which have never been seen in game against Featherine}}. The main cast gets their share too fighting off hoards of goats.

* [[Big Fancy House]] - The Ushiromiya mansion, complete with servants and a secondary guest house, in case the main mansion wasn't big enough.

* [[Bittersweet Ending]] - The author intentionally gave you two ways to see this - either bittersweet or as a [[Downer Ending]]. Which one really depends on whether you take the mystery or fantasy explanations for what happened. Even with the fantasy stuff, though, it's pretty difficult to say it ends any better than bittersweetly. By the end, {{spoiler|almost everyone is still dead. Those who survived (Eva and Ange) still lived pretty miserable lives, although the ending gives Ange a chance to move on. You find out that Battler also survived, albeit amnesiac, traumatized, and crippled}}. It turns out that the series is about him {{spoiler|coming to terms with his past}}, so in that way, the story ends happily, but in that way only.

* [[Blood From the Mouth]] - In episode 14 of the anime, Beatrice doesn't so much cough up blood as she ''[[Nausea Fuel|foams red from the mouth]]''.

* [[Book Ends]] - In the sound novel, the OP for EP 1 plays in the credits of the Trick Ending in EP 8.

* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]] - The first tea party has the characters musing about how surprised they were about the "fact" that the story's a fantasy, rather than a mystery.

'''Shannon:'''".........That's right. If we had actually tried to solve the riddle, I'm sure things would have ended differently." }}

* [[Break the Haughty]] - {{spoiler|Bernkastel/Erika's whole scheme in End of the Golden Witch leads to this against Beatrice.}}

* [[The Can Kicked Him]] - In the first arc, {{spoiler|Hideyoshi's corpse is found in the shower with the water still running}}.

* [[Cassandra Truth]] - Maria keeps trying to warn everyone about Beatrice, but no one believes her.

* [[Cat Smile]] - Maria, when Rosa gives her Sakutaro for her birthday.

** And about half of Dlanor's expressions.

** Both Kyrie's and Battler's: "Turn the chessboard around."

** Erika Furudo: "Simply by X, this level of reasoning is possible for Furudo Erika. What do you think, everyone?" and [[Gratuitous English|"<Good!>"]]

** Gaap's: "But only if he's hot!"

** Maria's: "Uu- Beatrice exists."

** Willard H. Wright was first mentioned off-handedly a TIPS from Episode 5, as the head of the SSVD, "Wizard-Hunting Wright".

* [[Chess Motifs]]

* [[The Chessmaster]] - The repeated invocation of a chess board by, oh, everyone regarding this plot. As of this writing, the only ones who seem capable of applying for the trope are the witches, although Battler seems like something of a chessmaster-in-training.

** {{spoiler|1=As of EP5, Battler becomes the Endless Sorcerer, with approval by Lambdadelta. This means that he is now the game master, like Beatrice in the previous episodes. He has also gained the ability to use the Golden Truth.}}

* [[Closed Circle]]

* [[Clothing Damage]] - Lucifer in the anime. Nice big ole straight line, right across the chest. [[Gainaxing|Said chest jiggles heavily.]]

* [[Compressed Adaptation]] - The anime is a victim of this, but special mention goes to the fourth arc, which cuts out the entire fourth game after {{spoiler|Jessica and George accidentally kill each other}}. This was the trade-off for what many saw as too much time given to the 1998 and metaworld sequences.

* [[Conspicuous CG]] - The butterflies in the anime.

* [[Contrived Coincidence]] - As stated on the character sheet, Erika is a detective prodigy who just ''happens'' to shipwreck on an island with a soon-to-be murder mystery.

* [[Cosmic Chess Game]]

* [[Creepy Cathedral]] - Kinzo had a special chapel built near the mansion, where the first twilight of the second arc takes place. Happy Halloween for Maria indeed.

* [[Creepy Twins]] - Furfur and Zepar.

* [[Crossover]] - The ''Umineko No Naku Koro Ni X'' manga is a rather comical and energetic crossover with ''Higurashi'', plopping the Ushiromiya manor within spitting distance of Hinamizawa. So, if you ever want to see Rena mowing their lawn, Rudolf hanging out with the Stakes in Angel Mort, or Battler perplexed by the whole deal, this is it.

* [[Curb Stomp Battle]] - Something like this: In Episode 5, {{spoiler|Bernkastel introduces [[Canon Sue]] and new furniture to kill Beatrice, further her own plans, and royally screw with the status quo. Eventually, Battler and Beato's furniture decide that they are having none of this. [[Rivals Team Up|Epic smackdown ensues]].}}

** An even bigger one in Episode 8: {{spoiler|Lambdadelta challenges Featherine to a battle. Featherine doesn't even bother explaining HOW she wins, she just decrees it so, then promises to go back and write an impressive fight-scene later.}}

* [[Curtain Camouflage]] - Jessica in Banquet

* [[Cuteness Proximity]] - The Stakes. {{spoiler|Sakutaro}}. Result: [[The Glomp|glompage]] and a lot of [[Squee]].

* [[Dark Reprise]] - [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAupQUUglkU goldenslaughterer] is already a pretty dark BGM to begin with, since it plays during the more cruel deaths, but it gets a darker and more intense remix as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euezX9D3aDE the_executioner] in EP7, which plays during the fight between Will and {{spoiler|Bernkastel}}.

* [[Dark World]] - This is what the Meta-World mechanic of ''Ougon Musoukyoku'' does, turning the localitations into a [[Magic Versus Science|more fantastic and macabre]] version of itself, [[The Night That Never Ends|enveloped in night]].

* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] - {{spoiler|Beatrice. See [[Easily Forgiven]] below.}}

** In EP5, {{spoiler|Erika. She's fully aware that as a detective, people die wherever she goes.}}

* [[Death Is Cheap]] - Because of the [[Groundhog Day Loop]], the fact that furniture apparently can be recreated without much difficulty, {{spoiler|even if their very existence has been denied,}} and the powers of any with with the Endless title to kill and resurrect someone infinitely.

* [[Deconstruction]] - Blatantly one of the mystery genre.

** [[Don't Explain the Joke|It's funny because]] Lucifer represents the [[Seven Deadly Sins|sin]] of [[Pride]].

* [[Department of Redundancy Department]] - Rather common in the sound novels.

* [[Deus Ex Machina]] - {{spoiler|The gold truth. It appears rather conveniently.}}

** {{spoiler|Well, Beatrice was acting when she trolled Battler to keep him on the path towards the truth, which meant when she was being nice she was acting like a troll who was acting like Beatrice.}} [[Xanatos Roulette|She's that]] [[Magnificent Bastard|kind of]] [[The Chessmaster|girl]].

* [[Distant Finale]]: Episode 8's Hidden Tea Party. Decades later, {{spoiler|Ange becomes a famous author under the alias "Yukari Kotobuki". Having become famous, she attracts the attention of Tohya Hachijo, who turns out to be two people, one of which was Battler, who lost his memories and regained them. Ange and Tohya meet, but Tohya couldn't associate himself with his identity as "Battler". In the end, Ange invites Ikuko and Tohya to the reopening of the Fukuin House to let Tohya come to terms with his past.}}

* [[Doorstopper]] - The entire novel (all eight episodes) clocks at around 6 MB as a text file. Compare [[War and Peace]], which is around 3 MB.

* [[Double Entendre]] - The entire {{spoiler|wedding scene}} in EP6, particularly when {{spoiler|Erika tries to forcibly put a too small wedding ring on Battler's finger after ''lubing the ring and his finger up with saliva'' and insists that she will shove it into "the deepest part."}}

** Or Asmodeus and Satan's...er, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlEXR90m5sA choice words when confronting Kanon.]

* [[Drink Order]] - [[Spot of Tea|Tea]]. Tea tea tea tea tea tea tea. Everyone drinks tea. Especially Beato, Lambda, and Bern (They are called "tea parties," after all, right?) But Bern usually specifies that she wants umeboshi (sour, pickled plum) tea.

** {{spoiler|Apparently Yasu's motivation for becoming Beatrice, specifically, the first taste of magic by being possessed by Gaap.}}

* [[Duct Tape for Everything]]

* {{spoiler|[[Enemy Without]]: Bernkastel to Rika Furude. To summarize, she's representative of all the Rikas who died in June 1983. Released from Rika's subconsciousness after surviving.}}

* [[Epiphanic Prison]] - The meta-world, at least in theory.

** {{spoiler|1=Every single time the phone rings in EP5, it's for Natsuhi, and a man claiming to be her son from 19 years ago gives her strange orders and taunts her mercilessly.}}

* [[Evolving Credits]] - The witch portrait changes each arc (default-Beatrice, then [[Zettai Ryouiki]]-Beatrice, then {{spoiler|Eva-Beatrice}}); the fourth arc simply shows all three portraits in reverse order. Starting in the third arc they also added 15 new characters to the opening and changed the positioning of four others to reflect their relationship. By the fifth arc, {{spoiler|Erika}} now has a portrait in the opening, and by the seventh, all of the previous portraits {{spoiler|plus Battler's and Wright and Lion's}} are seen.

* [[Extreme Doormat]] - Kanon verges on this with his whole "furniture" ideology, but it's subverted-ish in the end of "Turn of the Golden Witch," {{spoiler|when he admits he's in love with Jessica}}.

* [[Faceless Goons]] - The goat-headed butlers.

** Played in multiple episodes where it is shown that the goat heads are actually wearing "masks." {{spoiler|1=EP2 shows Bern taking off a goat head; EP4 had Goat-kun which, as mentioned above, reflects on his life; and EP6 has the entire Ushiromiya family taking off goat heads during Beato and Battler's wedding}}.

** In Episode 5 a new character is introduced {{spoiler|whose name is Ronald A. Knox backwards, who gives the possibility that the Knox rules are true in the game, scolds the reader for getting distracted from the mystery by the fantasy elements and outright states that the author wants the reader to solve it on their own}}. Beatrice herself actually states that {{spoiler|the novels follow the Knox decalogue}} as early as EP2 when she and Battler are arguing over hidden doors; most people don't notice this the first time around.

** The anime drops this entirely, in favor of best visual presentation probably. The first arc doesn't even provide enough evidence to solve it as a mystery, and later arcs are reboots in which circumstances change, previous pasts are revealed in ways that couldn't be known to most the characters, and even characters differ without demonstrating development. Also, the on-screen deaths become more and more ostentatious in the use of magic.

* [[Fan Nickname]]:

** Trolls Trolling Trolls Trolling Trolls. Nickname for the series due to the huge amount of [[Troll|Trolls]] in the cast

* [[Fan Service]] - The game has the Stakes, the anime has...pretty much every other female.

* [[Fashionable Asymmetry]] - The Ushiromiya crest is a one-winged eagle, so it's only to be expected.

* [[A Fate Worse Than Death]] - Thanks to Endless magic, people can be killed over and over again in new and interesting ways. This pales in comparison to {{spoiler|the closed room Battler gets trapped in}} in EP6.

** "This sort of thoughtfulness was just like [[Abusive Parents|Rosa Oba-san]]. [[Blatant Lies|She wasn't the kind of person who would forget or break a promise]]."

* [[For Want of a Nail]] - EP7 presents an alternate 1986: {{spoiler|Natsuhi accepts the baby that Kinzo asked her to adopt. Because of this, the epitaph does not exist, and there are no mentions of Beatrice as a witch or a ghost in the mansion.}}

* [[Freudian Excuse]] - Rosa often uses this to rationalize her <s>[[Memetic Mutation|Mother of the Year]]</s> harsh treatment towards Maria. Her's own parents and siblings showed little mercy towards her when she was growing up, so she believes holding back on Maria would be "spoiling" her.

** Even that might not always help - if the [[Fanon]] theory about EP6 is true, EP2's Red Truth that {{spoiler|Kanon died in this room!}} can ''only'' be true metaphorically.

* [[Gag Boobs]] - Virtually every female over the (apparent) age of 13 is noticeably... "blessed". Especially true of the Ushiromiya clan, which leads to...

** It also appears in the game ''Ougon Musoukyoku''. Shannon's boobs jiggle ''every time'' she performs a special attack.

* [[Gambit Pileup]] - Most non-magical explanations for the murders in any given arc require multiple murderers, often working at cross-purposes, and different ones for each arc.

* [[Genre Busting]] - Fantasy? Mystery? One with elements of the other? {{spoiler|Nope! Try "romance with fantastical mystery Jungian-psychological elements".}}

* [[Genre Shift]] - Or so Beatrice would ''like'' you to think as she piles more and more fantastic elements into the murder mystery.

* [[Geodesic Cast]] - With the exception of Maria's branch, most of the cousins' families work kind of like this - one mother, one father, and one child. It gets more confusing later, with the introduction of Ange.

* [[Geometric Magic]] - The blood runes.

* [[Gilded Cage]] - Kuwadorian.

* [[Glove Slap]] - In EP6, {{spoiler|Beatrice throws a white glove at Erika}}, challenging her to a duel. Refusing would forever mark her a coward in the eyes of the entire magical community.

* [[Go Mad From the Isolation]] - What happens to people who get trapped in a logic error. Specifically, {{spoiler|Lambdadelta and especially Bernkastel.}} Doesn't make up for the horrible things she's done, but you still sympathize with her, considering {{spoiler|Bernkastel's logic error wasn't even her own fault - she was only a piece in that game. Her master, the player, created the logic error, then abandoned the game, leaving a piece that knows nothing with the task of solving the error to escape. The fact that, after hundreds of years, she was able to do so is why she became the Witch of Miracles.}}

* [[Gold Fever]] - All four siblings to some extent, but particularly strongly with Eva. EP7 shows how {{spoiler|the Japanese and Italian forces on the island wiped each other out over the massive load of gold; the siblings then repeat this in the tea party}}.

* [[Good Witch Versus Bad Witch]]

* [[Gorgeous Period Dress]] - Just about all of the witches in the series wear these.

* [[Gratuitous English]] - There are a bunch of cases. Please don't list them here, or this will get too long.

* [[Gratuitous Greek]] - Lambdadelta (ΛΔ) as well as the firing sequence of the Chiesters.

* [[Gratuitous Italian]] - The opening song. Averted in the case of [[Meaningful Name|Virgilia]] and [[Memetic Mutation|BEATORRICHEE'S]] [[Divine Comedy|names,]] which are often [[Did Not Do the Research|mistaken]] for horrible [[Gratuitous English]].

* [[Groundhog Day Loop]] - Only magical/meta-characters ({{spoiler|and "furniture"}}) are aware of this, though, and each arc is actually a different world.

* [[Happily Married]] - Oddly enough, the most stable couple (the wife's problems come from elsewhere) is Eva and Hideyoshi. {{spoiler|And when [[Morality Chain|Hideyoshi kicks it]], Eva completely SNAPS and goes madder than she already is.}} In EP6, {{spoiler|Battler and Beatrice as well}}.

** In Episode 4, {{spoiler|Beatrice is impaled by giant blue spikes when she can´t (or won´t) deny Battler's theories.}}

** In Episode 5, we have Dlanor manifesting the power of Knox's Decalogue in red swords, culminating in {{spoiler|Dlanor denying Battler's theories and impaling him a gigantic sword. [[Our Hero Is Dead|What happens]] [[He's Back|afterward must be]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|seen to be believed]].}}

* [[Heel Face Revolving Door]] - Some of the witches enjoy going through this, notably Beatrice and arguably {{spoiler|[[Wild Card|Lambdadelta.]]}}

* [[Heir Club for Men]] - Eva was almost pushed out of the line of succession because when she married Hideyoshi, she should have lost her name. However, she convinced Kinzo to adopt Hideyoshi as an Ushiromiya, allowing herself to retain her position (Rosa retains hers because [[Disappeared Dad|no one even knows who she married]]). This is also a reason, along with George's older age, that Eva thinks he should be ahead on the succession.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]] - Several. For example, {{spoiler|Jessica throwing herself in front of Kanon to block one of the stakes}} in EP2, {{spoiler|Ange revealing her name to snap some sense into Battler}} in EP4, and {{spoiler|Kanon trading places with Battler in the closed room}} in EP6.

** {{spoiler|[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Lam]][[Tear Jerker|bda]][[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|delta]] towards the end of Episode 8.}}

* [[Hit Me Dammit|Hit Me, Dammit!]] - [[Chivalrous Pervert|Battler's]] reaction when Shannon almost ''does'' let her feel him up on the basis that [[Extreme Doormat|she's not supposed to refuse any request from a guest]].

'''Jessica:''' Why the hell are you ''thanking'' me? }}

* [[Hope Spot]] - Pretty much everyone who faces off with the killer gets one.

* [[Hostile Show Takeover]] - Played for '''[[Deconstruction|drama]]''' in EP 5.

** And for laughs in the preview for episode 17 of the anime where {{spoiler|Eva-Beatrice tries to rename the show to ''[[Magical Girl]] Pretty [[Fan Nickname|Evatrice]]''}}.

* [[Hot Shounen Mom]] - Although all the aunts are noticeably attractive, Rosa probably fits the description best. But it's subverted pretty early on, when it's revealed [[Abusive Parents|what a facade it is.]]

** As standard Ryu07. All young moms have to be hot.

* [[A House Divided]] - Particularly strong in the first arc.

* [[How We Got Here]] - The very first scene in EP5 is the last scene on that world's gameboard. {{spoiler|This was the first scene for meta-Battler, as well, before the Bern and Lambda rewound the story for him.}} EP6 does this as well, starting with {{spoiler|Battler's [[A Fate Worse Than Death|horrific defeat]] and a closed room prison}} that is revisited multiple times before it finally makes sense.

* [[Human Chess]] - Deliberately invoked by pretty much the whole plot.

* [[Human Sacrifice]]

* [[I Kiss Your Foot]] - Kanon does this to Beatrice so Shannon ''might'' not be chosen as a sacrifice in episode 2.

* [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]] - All the anime episode titles are taken from chess terminology.

** Also, all of the episodes of the visual novel are named "_____ of the Golden Witch".

* [[I'm a Humanitarian]] - Characters occasionally get ripped to shreds and eaten by the goat people. {{spoiler|Rosa gets force-fed parts from her siblings ''and'' her daughter}} at the end of the second arc; [[Crosses the Line Twice]] in the anime when {{spoiler|Maria's severed head starts talking and happily tries to shove itself down her throat}}.

* [[Imaginary Friend]] - Sakutaro is given this treatment, although he's actually a stuffed animal.

** In EP5, {{spoiler|Beato and Kinzo's phantom can be thought of as imaginary friends to Natsuhi.}}

** A recurring theme in the story is how the creation of one or more of these is actually a perfectly healthy way of coping with psychological stress. Maria's case especially is discussed in detail by Ange in EP4, and aside from Eva and {{spoiler|Natsuhi}}, this is eventually revealed to be how {{spoiler|Yasu, the real Beatrice, dealt with [[Ambiguous Gender|his/her]] orphan's ordeal and the injuries to his/her body.}}.

* [[Impossibly Cool Clothes]] - All of the Ushiromiyas have utterly impeccable fashion sense, as do the witches and demons. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that the former are [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job|all fabulously wealthy]], while the latter [[A Wizard Did It|have magic]].

** This looks rather strange in some flashbacks. Victorian dresses of the Ushiromiyas next to the T-shirts of pedestrians?

* [[Karma Houdini]] - The third arc casts {{spoiler|Eva as one responsible for most of the deaths, and she shoots Battler when he confronts her over this}}. Then in the [[Bad Future]] we learn that the subsequent police investigation {{spoiler|cleared her completely, leaving her with the entire family fortune. She is still considered the villain by the general public, though, and spends the rest of her life in torment.}}

** According to the Tanabata side story, {{spoiler|Eva ''was'' willing to care for and love little Ange as her own daughter, but Bernkastel poisoned their relationship for her own amusement.}}

* [[Kick the Dog]] - When {{spoiler|Rosa tears up Sakutaro}}.

** {{spoiler|Bernkastel}} has a lot of them. In the VN, there are ''multiple troll sprites'' for this character.

** {{spoiler|Bern and Lambda as well.}}

** Not to mention Ange's [[Girl Posse|classmates]].

** {{spoiler|Everyone except Eva, Ange, and Battler. Eva and Battler die later anyway, so it's technically everyone except Ange.}}

* [[Lamarck Was Right]] - Being a descendent of Kinzo evidently allows you to be able to use magic. Made even more odd by Beatrice's admission that Kinzo himself was never very talented.

** Descendants of Kinzo almost universally inherit the key elements of his 'magic', pure blind determination and an idiot's understanding of chance and probability. This clan of human lemmings would be marked for mass extinction in the real world, and indeed are, in the world of Umineko.

** This goes even further. Apparently, Kinzo(and thus, Battler) are not only untalented in magic, but have a supernatural resistance to it. And yet....

* [[Lampshade Hanging]] - In Episode 3 of the sound novels, Beatrice puts a massive lampshade on {{spoiler|her own [[Tsundere]] behavior in that arc, even mentioning anime and dating sims.}}

** In-story, there's Beatrice, Erika and Kinzo.

* [[Laser Blade]] - Kanon's and the Stakes' swords are very elaborate versions.

* {{spoiler|[[Last Stand]]}} - EP8. {{spoiler|Ange-Beatrice crashes the afterparty, summons Eva-Beatrice, who in turn summons an infinite horde of goats that begin devouring the game board, forcing the fantasy characters to fight for their lives until the Golden Land opens up.}}

* [[Law of Inverse Fertility]] - Partially fed into issues between Natsuhi (unable to conceive for 12 years) and Eva (who gives birth earlier and thinks her son should be the heir).

* [[Legacy Immortality]] - Battler's hypothesis as to how [[Exact Words|the figure known as Kinzo Ushiromiya]] could take so much hands-on action in the fourth game {{spoiler|despite dying before the start of any game}} is that {{spoiler|someone took on his name and that the rest of the family acknowledged this}}.

* [[Legions of Hell]] - Beatrice's furniture.

* [[Light Is Not Good]] - The main antagonist, Beatrice, is nicknamed "The Golden Witch" and is said to appear as [[Butterfly of Death and Rebirth|a flock of golden butterflies]]. So what does she do the every arc? Oh, only sadistically kill off the entire cast.

* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] - Starts off with the Ushiromiya family, their servants, and Kinzo's physician for a total of eighteen people [[Closed Circle|trapped on an island during a storm]] and goes up from there as Beatrice starts bringing in more of her associates (justifying it as the magical world gaining influence over the game). All the new witches, demons, servants, and [[Bad Future]] characters bring the count to about 40.

* [[Locked Room Mystery]] - [[Invoked Trope|Invoked]] many times and taken by some characters as evidence that murders were committed by the Golden Witch rather than by a human.

* [[Limited Wardrobe]] - With Kanon and Shannon exempted, most of the characters in the VN are only ever seen in one outfit, even in flashbacks, when it is also noted that these are their formal clothes that they're wearing for the family conference. The anime largely averts this trope in the flashbacks, but it still keeps them in the same outfits through multiple days, even though, logically, everyone should have known that they would be staying more than one day and packed a change of clothes.

* [[Lonely Piano Piece]] - "Fortitude" is the most common one, although "Wingless" and "Umarete Kite Kurete Arigatou" ("Thank you for being born") also deserve a mention.

** A good part of the music could be considered for this. Dai is really fond of using pianos.

* [[The Lost Woods]] - The rest of Rokkenjima besides the main mansion is uncultivated forest, and Kinzo's favorite legend involves telling his children that the witch Beatrice lives within the woods, so it's a very dangerous place. {{spoiler|He isn't lying, since Rosa stumbles across her hidden mansion after running blindly into the forest.}}

* [[Lotus Eater Machine]] - Beatrice creates her own perfect world with just her and Maria. Also, the Golden Land in the first arc functions this way.

** Also Natsuhi. Kumasawa actually says in regard to her, "They always say that the most frightening bears are those that have children." {{spoiler|It doesn't work, though.}}

* [[Man Behind the Man]] - The third tea party has {{spoiler|Lambdadelta state that she gave Beatrice her powers in order to create a board to beat Bernkastel in}}. Made even odder by the {{spoiler|apparent alliance of Bernkastel and Lamdadelta against Beatrice}} in the fourth tea party.

* [[Meaningful Funeral]] - {{spoiler|To Beatrice in ''Requiem''.}} Of course, {{spoiler|Bernkastel}} finds a way to ruin it...

** Also, Maria's name is one that is a common translation of Mary - a reference to the woman from the New Testament who gave birth to Jesus Christ. In the fourth arc, one of the TIPS speculates that {{spoiler|Maria is one of the Creator witches, who can create something where there was previously nothing}}.

** The significance of Maria's name is further explored in EP7, and Maria even says that if she had been born a boy, she would have been named Emmanuel, one of the names for Jesus, meaning "God is with us" in Hebrew.

* [[Mercy Kill]] - {{spoiler|Ange did one to Eva}} near the end of the fourth arc. Also, {{spoiler|Beato gave one to Maria and Rosa}} in the third arc.

* [[Mind Control Eyes]] - In EP6, {{spoiler|Jessica takes on these, though they're really just an indication of how she's hardening her heart}}.

* [[Mind Screw]] - Ryuukishi07 is a master of this.

* [[Mood Whiplash]] - A pretty strong element all throughout the series.

* [[Mooks]] - All the goats, who are also [[Faceless Goons]]

* [[Multigenerational Household]] - The main house.

** Remove the color tints and special effects at the end of EP4 and you get {{spoiler|Battler trying to speak but choking halfway. How Narm.}}

** ''Dawn'' has a particularly interesting case and even lampshades it. Erika picks a fight with Maria over the fact that Maria claims Beatrice made candy appear from an empty cup. It escalates to the point where {{spoiler|Maria and Erika have a Truth battle to determine whether or not this candy trick was an act of magic.}} It's a [[Wizard Duel]] meets {{spoiler|bickering over candy with a 9 year old}}.

* [[Mythology Gag]] - 34 sympathizes with Eva's "unfortunate childhood a bit".

** Maria's letter to whoever discovers the bodies at the end of EP1 is nearly identical to the one Keiichi wrote in ''Higurashi'''s ''Onikakushi-hen''.

* [[Never Trust a Trailer]] - The anime's next-episode trailers are full of blatant lies and out-of-character behavior. They're hilarious. {{spoiler|Except the last one.}}

** The trailer before the release of the first game opened with the words "No Knox, No Dine, [[Clueless Mystery|No Fair]]". {{spoiler|Episodes 5 and 7 introduce incarnations of the Knox and Van Dine rules respectively.}}

* [[No Body Left Behind]] - The Stakes are some of the few characters NOT to leave gruesome corpses. Unless they're the ones doing the killing, but that's another matter...

* [[Occult Detective]] - The Witch Hunters in Episode 4.

* [[Of Corpse He's Alive]] - {{spoiler|Kinzo. for a YEAR; you've gotta give Natsuhi credit}}.

* [[Official Couple]] - ''Tons''. George/Shannon, Jessica/Kanon, Rudolf/Kyrie, Eva/Hideyoshi, Krauss/Natsuhi, {{spoiler|Beatrice/Battler, Lambdadelta/Bernkastel.}}

* [[Ominous Latin Chanting|Ominous Italian Chanting]] - The anime's opening.

** The openings as well. It's gotten to the point where Akiko Shikata created a new version of the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NjZZWxq4hU VN's original opening entirely in Italian.]

** In EP5 {{spoiler|the gold was found and a murder occured anyway. Furthermore, while the game ended before everyone died, the author implied in an interview that more people die anyways.}}

** Not to mention EP7: {{spoiler|Everyone works together to find the gold... and promptly turn on each other.}}

* [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]] - Lambdadelta toward Bernkastel. Beato toward Battler and vice versa.

* [[Ontological Mystery]] - {{spoiler|1=How part of EP6 is played out.}}

* {{spoiler|[[Our Hero Is Dead]]}} - Towards the end of EP5. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] later ensues.

* [[Our Homunculi Are Different]] - Beato's explanation of 1967 Beatrice's existence is that Kinzo created a homunculus of her and trapped her soul in it.

** Red text has appeared in the anime as the visual gaining a red tint with the significant sentence being both said aloud and zooming around the scene in white font with butterflies circling it.

* {{spoiler|[[Parental Incest]] - Kinzo fathered a child with the daughter he had with the original Beatrice.}}

** The Anime's depiction of {{spoiler|the meta-world}} may qualify for this as well.

* [[Pater Familicide]] - Essentially, Kinzo's plan is this plus spouses and grandkids. {{spoiler|Subverted, since Kinzo's dead before it all happens.}}.

* [[Pensieve Flashback]] - Ange with Maria's diary.

** The anime adaptation also uses this for the the meta-scenes.

* [[Pixellation]] - It's used a few different times in the anime, although it's removed on the DVDs.

* [[Posthumous Character]] - Asumu {{spoiler|as well as Kinzo and Beatrice}}. On the magical side, we have Chiester 556.

* [[Post Modernism]] - And ''how''. The series uses so many tropes from the [[Metafiction Demanded This Index|Metafiction Index]] that the truth loops around itself and reality becomes unstable. Between deep discussions of what consists mysteries, implications that some of the narrative is untrustable, lampshades of [[Invoked Trope|Invoked Tropes]], and the entirety of the Meta-World, the viewer is left to [[Wild Mass Guessing|guess wildly about]] [[Epileptic Trees|what is going on]].

* [[The Power of Legacy]] - An ongoing theme throughout the series and is pretty much the point of the ending theme "Ricordando il Pasato" ("Remembering the Past")

* [[Psychic Powers]] - {{spoiler|How some believe Ange is able to "talk" with pre-Rokkenjima Maria through Maria's diary.}}

* [[Psychological Thriller]]

** Luck Ganriki has [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyzV_zgmT50&fmt=18 Organ Short #600 Million in C Minor]

* [[Recursive Canon]] - {{spoiler|1=Revealed to be the case in EP8.}}

* [[Redheaded Hero]] - Battler and Ange later on.

* [[Relationship Upgrade]] - {{spoiler|Jessica and Kanon}} in EP6.

** In EP6 this concept is weaponized to {{spoiler|force Battler to make a Logic Error}}

* [[Rivals Team Up]] - In VN Episode 5, {{spoiler|Battler, Ronove, Virgilia, Gaap, and the Seven Sisters of Purgatory all band together to give Erika and the Eiserne Jungefrau (particularly Dlanor) [[Curb Stomp Battle|a serious beatdown]].}}

** In EP 8, {{spoiler|Will and Dlanor team up to fight the goats.}}

* [[Room Full of Crazy]] - Kinzo's room.

* {{spoiler|[[Rogue Protagonist]]}} - Actually, it's more of a {{spoiler|Rogue ''Narrator''}}.

* [[Rube Goldberg Hates Your Guts]] - A few of the Battler's theories to solve the murders involve this trope.

* [[Sadistic Choice]] - Episode 4. {{spoiler|In order to gain two, sacrifice one: Your life. Your loved one's life. Everyone else's lives.}} Amusingly, everyone shown indicates one of the choices, then goes on to [[Take a Third Option|Take a Fourth Option]] anyways.

** The entire plot is a sort of variation. Battler must accept magic's existence or blame one of his close relatives. As Beatrice gleefully points out ''several'' times. He has big qualms with both.

* [[Say My Name]] - All the time. (Beeeeeeeeeeaaatriiiiiiiiiiice!)

* [[Scare Chord]] - A [[Hell Is That Noise|rather terrifying]] one.

* [[Scenery Porn]] - ''Ougon Musou Kyoku'' has most possibly the most detailed and beautiful battle backgrounds EVER, especially the Meta World ones.

** Catbox is also used as a metaphor for {{spoiler|what really happened on Rokkenjima. The only one said to be able to open it is Eva, since she was present. She however chose not do so for the sake of Ange.}}

* [[Science Destroys Magic]] - This is the witch's defense for why they don't use magic openly: People don't believe in it anymore which undermines its effectiveness. The validity of the argument is intentionally ambiguous.

* {{spoiler|[[Shaggy Dog Story]] - Though the phrase is never used, some characters discuss whether the story itself should be this in Ep8. Whether the story itself '''was''' this is a frequent bone of contention for the fandom.}}

* [[Shameful Strip]] - After {{spoiler|Battler surrenders to Beatrice}} in the second arc, he is stripped completely except for a chain around his neck that Beatrice uses as a leash.

* [[Simple Score of Sadness]] - "Moon" and "Fortitude".

* [[Slasher Smile]] - Everyone who is involved with the murders of family ({{spoiler|Eva, Eva-Beatrice, Kinzo/"Goldsmith"}} come to mind) has one.

** In the manga, Dlanor "GREAT EQUALIZER IS THE DEATH" Knox gains a [[Slasher Smile]] [http://www.mangareader.net/umineko-no-naku-koro-ni-chiru-episode-5-end-of-the-golden-witch/15/42 here.]

** Just about everyone could have used some therapy as well, but apparently, [[There Are No Therapists]].

* [[So Happy Together]] - In the first arc, George proposes to Shannon in a gazebo with all sorts of pretty music playing in the background. {{spoiler|Guess who's one of the people found dead the next morning, with the engagement ring on her finger}}?

* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]] - Episode 3. People getting killed with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1r6OniHVww this music in the background.]

** That's nothing compared to {{spoiler|Eva-Beatrice's}} theme song: It's even called [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J5LF2Udf20 Happiness of Marionette]. So when does this play? Whenever the villain of this arc is contemplating how she'll torture people, of course!

* [[Split Personality]] - {{spoiler|Eva and Eva-Beatrice}}.

** Also something of a [[Literal Split Personality]] and possibly an [[Enemy Without]].

** It's implied that {{spoiler|three other characters are really the same person}}.

* [[Spoiler Opening]] - In each arc the opening animations change, most notably the portrait. The second animation set shows {{spoiler|Beatrice's Human Form}}, and the third set shows {{spoiler|Eva-Beatrice, Virgilia, and the Siestas}}. The fourth one shows all three portraits, {{spoiler|another Siesta, and Maria's witch outfit.}}

* [[Spoiler Title]] - ''End'' and ''Requiem''.

* [[Spooky Painting]] - Beatrice's portrait.

** Also, Krauss repeatedly shuts Natsuhi up. Unfortunately this isn't to his benefit, since she basically runs the house and has much more common sense than he does while he squanders their money on poorly thought-out business ventures.

* [[Stealth Pun]] - Why is Leviathan's hair an odd shade of green? [[Fridge Brilliance|She's green with Envy.]]

* [[Summon Magic]] - Just about all furniture requires this.

* [[Switched At Birth]] - {{spoiler|Battler is <s>implied to be</s> Kyrie's son}}.

* [[Take Up My Sword]] - In EP5, Battler {{spoiler|becomes the Endless Sorcerer after Beatrice is killed by Erika}}

* [[Taking the Bullet]] - In the third arc, {{spoiler|Belphegor does this to protect Eva-Beatrice}}.

** In the second arc, {{spoiler|Jessica takes a Stake for Kanon. It doesn't really accomplish much, since Beato has 6 more.}}

** Played straight later in the novels, Battler's debate with Beato at the end of the fourth arc and the trial at the end of the fifth arc last a minute each.

* [[Tangled Family Tree]] - And ''how''. It's revealed in EP7 that {{spoiler|Kinzo had a daughter with Beatrice I, and then had ''another'' daughter/son [[Parental Incest|with that daughter]]. Said second daughter/son is in a relationship with at least two of Kinzo's grandchildren. Gender ambiguity actually being a plot point here. You do the math.}}

* [[Tempting Fate]] - "Unless messing up sets off {{spoiler|a trap that blows up the island}}, of course." You just ''had'' to say it, {{spoiler|Beato.}}

* [[Time Travel]] - Ange is an interesting case. It is not clear when or where the Meta-World is, but Battler and Beatrice's fight takes place in 1986; Ange lives in 1998 and with Bernkastel's assistance reaches the Meta-World. One way of explaining this is that since {{spoiler|Episodes 1 and 2 (sans Meta-World sequences) were found as message bottles after 1986, all Ange is doing is metaphorically going back to 1986 and trying to find out what really happened. In such a case, this probably counts as a subversion}}.

* [[Title Drop]] - Over and over again by Battler. "When the seagulls cry" refers to when the typhoon is over and everything's safe. It's also used at the very end to give the body count. Er... perhaps "survivor count" might be a better description.

** In EP 2, there's {{spoiler|Shannon. In the first arc she seems to be a generic shy [[Moe]] [[Meido]] archetype who becomes cannon fodder early on. Cue the second arc when she stands up to the witch who's supposedly killing everyone and basically tells her that because she gets enjoyment from seeing them squirm, she's not going to react to give her the satisfaction. Not to mention the [[Barrier Warrior|barrier powers]]...}}

** Battler, who was level grinding throughout the entire series so far, and boy does it show in the later ones.

** {{spoiler|In Beato and Battler's case, this is subverted massively in Episode 3, but appears to be true in Episode 4 anyway.}}.

** {{spoiler|1=Battler even talks about it in EP5.}}

* [[Umbrella of Togetherness]] - George and Shannon do this in the first arc when the typhoon hits.

* [[Understatement]] - Episode 22's title in the anime, "Problem Child". In regards to ''Maria''. For some context, that's the one where she {{spoiler|kills her mother over and over and over. Hard not to cheer for her though, considering that Rosa is the [[Memetic Mutation|BEST MOM EVER]].}}

* [[Unexpected Successor]] - Kinzo, actually. The Ushiromiya family used to be very powerful, and Kinzo was a member of "a branch of the branch family." Then, an earthquake took out just about everything, and it was up to Kinzo to restore the family to its former glory.

** Not even that. The elders of the family were still alive and intended to use Kinzo as a figurehead, and he even knew that they were going to make a puppet out of him. Somewhere along the lines, he decided to take matters into his own hands, presumably with the help {{spoiler|of Beatrice I}}.

* [[Unexplained Recovery]] - What happens when {{spoiler|a new game begins}} after the last, in which {{spoiler|[[Everybody Dies]]. Or at least a majority of the cast.}}

* [[Unreliable Narrator]] - A key part of the plot. It's explicitly stated that anything not in red text is liable to be false. What is in red text? [[Mind Screw|...Not very much...]]

** Episode 5 {{spoiler|spells out what can and can't be taken as reliable - For episodes 1-4, only scenes that piece Battler narrates, For episode 5, only scenes that Erika narrates (which are very few)}}.

* {{spoiler|[[Villain Based Franchise]]}} - Subverted in that {{spoiler|Bernkastel wasn't a villain in [[Higurashi]]}}.

* [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]] - The original [[V Ns]] allow you to "execute" characters to see how they died.

* [[Wasted Song]] - ''Ougon Musoukyoku'' uses songs directly taken out of the game, like goldenslaughterer or haze and worldend dominator, which usually last for about at ''least'' five minutes, on a game where the average match doesn't lasts more that 3 minutes, which means you won't hear all of the song unless you deliberately pause the game.

* [[Weirdness Censor]] - In the anime, almost no attention is drawn to Maria's [[Creepy Child|cackling, odd foreknowledge, and general sociopathy]] by other characters (the biggest example is probably the [[Mood Whiplash]] above). In the manga, Battler reacts with proper dread at her mysterious statements most of the time, and while he tries to laugh it off in the visual novels, he ''does'' find it troubling.

* [[Well Done Daughter Girl]] - Natsuhi has this to Kinzo, her father-in-law, as she loves him very much and desperately wants his approval. {{spoiler|And she wants it so bad that she is driven to psychosis after he dies, imagining his ghost is praising and reassuring her. Bernkastel later makes a point of [[For the Evulz|telling her in the red that he never thought she was good enough.]]}}

** Episode 6:

** Episode 7:

* [[White Magic]] - According to Virgilia, this was initially the purpose of Endless Magic. However, the magic itself can be used for either this or [[Black Magic]] depending upon the intentions of the user.

* [[Wife Husbandry]] - {{spoiler|Kinzo to Beatrice Ushiromiya/Beatrice II. [[Parental Incest|Yes, the one he fathered]].}}

* [[Wimpification]] - Good lord, Battler gets this a lot in both fandoms on either side of the ocean.

* [[Witch Species]] - The fourth arc's TIPS describes three different types described in ascending power: Witches, who can possess immense power in one world that is considered to be its dominion; Voyagers, who can travel freely in between the different fragments; and Creators, who can "create a one in a world of nothingness."

** [[The Fair Folk]] - The concept of witches used here actually has more in common with a lot of the older stereotypes of fairies than witches.

* [[Worthy Opponent]] - Battler and Beatrice refer to each other as this constantly.

* [[Wrestler in All of Us]] - In the fighting game, Ange with her DABURU JAAMAN

* [[Wrong Genre Savvy]] - Battler doesn't believe in the supernatural and tries to find mundane explanations for everything bizarre happening on the island. Oddly enough, Beatrice seems amused by his denial and traps him in a time loop, challenging him to find a mundane explanation each time. [[Mind Screw|Or something]]. {{spoiler|1=He eventually realizes by EP5 that he must change his priorities, and becomes one of ''the'' most appropriately [[Genre Savvy]] characters in the series}}.

* [[Xanatos Gambit]]

* [[Xanatos Roulette]] - Episode 3, where Beatrice's strategy hinges upon {{spoiler|Eva-Beatrice}}, Battler, and Eva all taking a very specific set of actions.

* [[You Are Worth Hell]] - {{spoiler|The fantasy ending of the series has Battler declare this for Beatrice}}.

* [[You Bastard]] - In the Tanabata side story, {{spoiler|Bern addresses the reader several times during her section, repeatedly asking, implying, and outright stating that they prefer seeing the sort of twisted 'wish-granting' she indulges in.}}

* [[Your Mind Makes It Real]] - Pretty strongly implied in every arc after the first as a sort of extension of the [[Literary Agent Hypothesis]] with a touch of [[The Treachery of Images]] tossed in for good measure. Did you notice that this is labelled "[[Mind Screw]]"?

* [[Zettai Ryouiki]] - Beatrice in her suit and Ange in particular.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Anime]]

[[Category:Manga]]

[[Category:Fantasy Anime and Manga]]