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''Umineko no {{color|red|NNa}}ku Koro Ni'' (''When the Seagulls {{color|red|C}}ry'') is a [[Kinetic Novel|kinetic]] [[Visual Novel|sound novel]] that takes place in 1986, on the island of Rokkenjima. The rich Ushiromiya family is gathering in order to discuss what will happen to patriarch Kinzo's inheritance, since he has been ill in recent days.
 
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.
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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?
 
Similar to [[Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Visual Novel)|its predecessor]], ''Umineko no {{color|red|NNa}}ku Koro Ni'' consists of several arcs with the same scenario repeating for mysterious reasons. This time, the plot focuses on the murders that occur on the island and trying to figure out [[Fair Play Who Dunnit|who kills everyone, how they all died, and why they were all killed.]] The first four arcs are the Question Arcs, where the puzzles are presented to the reader. Instead of outright Answer Arcs, the last four arcs are the [[Fan Nickname|Core Arcs]], which provide the reader several hints on how to solve the murders, but without outright giving away the answer.
 
Part of the ''[[When They Cry (Visual Novel)|When They Cry]]'' series, which also includes ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Visual Novel)|Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni]]''.
 
The series currently consists of a [[Visual Novel|sound novel]], a manga, and an anime. The sound novel is 8 Episodes in length, along with two fandiscs, ''Umineko no {{color|red|NNa}}ku Koro ni: {{color|gold|TTsubasa}}'' (''When The Seagulls {{color|red|C}}ry: {{color|gold|WWings}}'') and ''Umineko no {{color|red|NNa}}ku Koro ni: {{color|aqua|HHane}}'' (''When The Seagulls Cry: {{color|aqua|FFeathers}}'') containing extra short stories called TIPS that don't fit into the main story. Each Episode is adapted into a manga, with the first four Episodes completed so far and the last four (and ''Tsubasa'') still ongoing publication. In addition, the anime adaptation by [[Studio DEEN]] spans 26 episodes, but only covers the first four arcs.
 
The entire novel has also been ported to the [[PS 3]] for a remake, complete with voice acting, remade sprites and CGs. The first four novels were released as ''Umineko no {{color|red|NNa}}ku Koro ni ~ Rondo of Witches and Reason'', and the last four novels were released as ''Umineko no {{color|red|NNa}}ku Koro ni {{red|Chiru}} ~ Nocturne of Truth and Illusions''.
 
In addition, a PC fighting game in the vein of ''[[Melty Blood (Video Game)|Melty Blood]]'' has been released, entitled ''Ougon Musoukyoku'' (''The Golden Fantasia''), featuring ten of the characters from the novels. An Xbox 360 port, ''Ougon Musoukyoku X'', has also been released, featuring the ten characters, plus three more added to the roster. And an expansion to the PC version, ''Ougon Musoukyoku CROSS'', has also been released, featuring all the characters from the original and the Xbox port, plus three more characters, and three others set to be added as updates.
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* [[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.
* [[Begging the Question]] - Accepting the {{color|red|rred}} text as only speaking the truth requires you believe that both that Beatrice is being honest and that the red text speaks only the truth when statements like {{color|red|TThe red text speaks only the truth!}} come up. {{spoiler|Well, at least that's the case until we see Battler attempt to use the red to say something that turns out to be untrue.}} That said, it does happen to be true: Anything said in red is at worst misleading.
* [[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}}.
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** As well as [[Four Girl Ensemble]].
* [[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.
* [[From a Certain Point of View]] - Anything said in {{color|red| Red}} needs ''careful'' attention paid to its [[Exact Words]].
** 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...
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** {{spoiler|Bern and Lambda as well.}}
** Not to mention Ange's [[Girl Posse|classmates]].
* [[Killed Off for Real]] - The following is said in {{color|gold| gold text}}: {{spoiler|"I guarantee that this corpse is Kinzo Ushiromiya's corpse!"}}
** {{spoiler|Everyone except Eva, Ange, and Battler. Eva and Battler die later anyway, so it's technically everyone except Ange.}}
* [[Kill Em All]] - "When the seagulls cried, no one had been left alive."
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** 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.}}
* [[Language of Truth]] - {{color|red|AAnything spoken in red text is true. If it isn't true, it can't be spoken in red text and may be subject to [[Unreliable Narrator|Unreliable Narration]].}} ({{spoiler|And if you actually try to state an untruth in red text, you will come to ''physical harm''}}.) For whatever reason, this doesn't stop people from throwing around red statements frivolously (Beatrice cackles on two separate occasions in red, and a few characters deliver death threats in red, as if there were doubt about it or something). In EP5, {{spoiler|''Gold Text'' is introduced out of nowhere, which is sometimes somehow ''better'' than Red Text}}.
* [[Large Ham]]: A special one goes out to Jimang, the guy who sang the show's ending theme. It's so over-the-top that it's nearly impossible to see something involving the show without "[[Memetic Mutation|OH DESIRE]]." See the [[Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (Visual Novel)/Characters|character sheet]] for in-show examples.
** In-story, there's Beatrice, Erika and Kinzo.
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* [[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.
* [[Logical Fallacies]] - When Battler accuses Eva of lying in red her response is to say {{color|red| "The red only tells the truth."}} and to accuse Battler of insulting Beato's honor. This is intentional given that "Anti-Mystery vs. Anti-Fantasy" points out that the red truth relies on you trusting Beato. Furthermore, actual evidence supporting the validity of the red truth is presented later on.
* [[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.
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* [[Multigenerational Household]] - The main house.
* [[Multiple Endings]] - There's the usual ''[[When They Cry (Visual Novel)|When They Cry]]'' stuff with the multiple endings playing into a larger ending, but the last arc itself can also end multiple ways.
* [[Mundane Made Awesome]] - It's kinda hard to remember with all of the sound effects and shiny slashes that when characters use {{color|red|rred text}}, {{color|blue|bblue text}}, and {{color|yellow|ggold text}}, they're really only rebutting each other's arguments. It's like the most [[Power Glows|shiny]] debate club competition EVAR.
** 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}}.
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* {{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.
* [[Painting the Fourth Wall]] - The aforementioned {{color|red|rred truth}} and Battler's {{color|blue|bblue truth}}. Battler has to state his hypotheses for mysteries in blue text during Episode 4 of the VN. As if that wasn't enough, Episode 5 {{color|gold|iintroduces a new color}}.
** 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.
* [[Paper Thin Disguise]] - {{spoiler|1=Erika Furudo in EP5. I totally have no clue who [[Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Visual Novel)|she]] is.}}
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* [[Wham Line]]:
** Episode 6:
{{quote| '''Dlanor''': {{color|red|KKyrie Ushiromiya cannot save you.}}}}
** Episode 7:
{{quote| '''Bernkastel''': {{color|red|TThis game}} {{spoiler|[[Language of Truth|will not have a happy ending]]}}.}}
* [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic]] - Rosa's daughter, Maria. One of the kanji in her name is essentially a cross, {{spoiler|she's known as the Witch of Origins (who, according to the visual novel, "[[Does This Remind You of Anything|holds the motherly magical power to give birth to 1 from the sea of zero]]"),}} and is usually the first one to know exactly what's going to happen before everybody else.
* [[Which Me]] - There are about ''twelve'' different versions and variations of the Beatrices. Eleven if {{spoiler|Shannon and Kanon are separate people}}, but that's still one hell of a lot. Some of them have their own names ({{spoiler|Ange}}-Beatrice is usually known simply as {{spoiler|"Ange"}}, unless some distinction between 1998 and meta-1986 needs to be made), some have last names that are applicable (Beatrice Castiglioni), and some of them simply have fan-created names, because otherwise, you wouldn't be able to figure out who someone was referring to (Moetrice, suit![or sometimes, piece!]Beatrice, Beatroll, etc.).
* [[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.
* [[Who Dunnit to Me]] - {{color|red|"Battler Ushiromiya, at this time, I will kill you. And right now, there is no one on the island other than you. The only one alive on this island is you. Nothing outside the island can interfere in any way. And of course, I am not you. However, I am here now and will kill you."}}
* [[Who Dunnit to Me]] - {{color|red|"}}
* [[Why Couldn't You Be Different]] - Rosa toward Maria.
* [[Wife Husbandry]] - {{spoiler|Kinzo to Beatrice Ushiromiya/Beatrice II. [[Parental Incest|Yes, the one he fathered]].}}
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