Umineko no Naku Koro ni, or When the Seagulls Cry, is a mystery-fantasy visual novel series by writer Ryukishi07. While I praise its story for being engaging with its layers of mystery and intense courtroom-esque debates, moving with its emotional moments, and having compelling characters, that will not be the focus of today. In this analysis I would like to present the themes, or overarching ideas, found in Umineko no Naku Koro ni and what we can infer about them. In other words, I am trying to figure out the "heart" of Umineko- what Ryukishi07 is saying to us through this fantastic story.
Spoilers for the Umineko no Naku Koro ni VN and Manga.
Hunger for the Truth is not always beneficial
Humans are endlessly curious by nature- we seek to understand how the world around us works through science, or how past events played out to form the world today through history. This is even true in the fact that the mystery genre in storytelling exists- it shows people are drawn to things that challenge them to figure out the truth.
Hunger for the truth can turn us into cold, uncaring individuals.
This is symbolized by Erika, and how her "intellectual rapist" attitude
causes her to destroy every magic in Umineko, even if its not
necessary. In Episode 5, she rips apart Beatrice's candy magic performed
for Maria. Maria doesn't need the illusion of Beatrice to be destroyed
if it made her happy. Similarly in the real world, it is not necessary
to tell kids that Santa Claus doesn't exist. It's more important to
recognize that this tale brings them joy and encourages them to be good
children.
While figuring out the truth can give us a sense of achievement and pride, sometimes it will only bring us despair. This idea is portrayed in the character of Ange, who loses all her family members on those fateful days in Rokkenjima 1986. Even if she finds out what went down, it will do no good for her- none of her family will come back as stated by Lamdadelta. But with nothing to lose and a life that she hates living, she takes up Bernkastel's offer to discover the truth, hoping that it will give her closure. At this point, all her family members could've been a happy functioning family that were tragically killed by the bomb just like Battler portrays in his game in Episode 8, but Ange would rather pick a hard truth than a soft fantasy. So she unlocks the Eva's diary, uncovering the truth and ultimately couldn't accept it- entering into despair, and falling to her death (in one of the possible endings).
In the real world, there are some things that would be better off not finding out. Would uncovering that there is no God be a moment of great pride? Or would it be one of despair, knowing that there is no afterlife and that we came into being by pure coincidence? Are all things worth investigating, even if the answer may only bring despair?
Love is required to seek the Truth
"Without love, the truth cannot be seen"
This quote echoes throughout the series, and I believe this has two applications. "Love", in the sense of being able to empathize with others, and in the sense that everything we believe in is not fully certain hence a level of faith is required.
Empathy, or "love", is required when we seek the truth. This is emphasized whenever Battler uses his "chessboard thinking"- where he must imagine things from the perspective of the culprit. On a grander scale, this is the key to figuring out the meaning of Beatrice's games. She wants Battler to realize the reason why all the "magic" has human solutions is because it was done by a human, Sayo, and she wants him to think about what brought her to do this- the "sin" Battler committed.
Ange is another example of how lack of empathy clouds pursuit of the truth. Before reading Eva's diary, she had already decided that Eva was the culprit. The fact that Eva was the only survivor caused Ange to resent her, and her cruel but well meaning approach to raising Ange like she did for George didn't help either. Even to her deathbed, Eva cared for Ange, choosing to hold back the truth of Rokkenjima so Ange won't have to know her parents were murderers. But Ange would never even consider her perspective, because in her heart it was decided that she was the culprit.
This has numerous applications in the real world. When we're jealous of someone else's success, we should consider hard they may have worked to get there, rather than just predetermining that they obtained their success through a rich family background or illegal means.
Faith, or "love", is required to believe the truth. An analogy brought up to demonstrate this in Umineko is that of the relationship between the author and reader of a mystery novel, and this idea is further expanded upon in the article by Ryukishi 07 called "Anti-Fantasy vs Anti-Mystery". In short, the reader must trust that the story the author has made has provided sufficient clues to solve the mystery. This is because it is impossible to prove the reader knows everything in the story- there could always be a new piece of evidence "X" that has not been discovered which overturns any current solution the reader may have. The possibility of a new piece of evidence "X" cannot be disproven because of the devil's proof- there is no evidence that it doesn't exist so it can still exist. If the reader does not trust that the evidence provided is sufficient for belief in a logical solution, they will not engage in reading the story because they won't be able to believe any solution they may come to.
In the real world, there's no 100% guarantee that what we know is true. Sure, the laws of physics have been tested numerously, to an extent we can have a 99.99% certainty, but there's always the chance new evidence can turnover what we know. Essentially, it means what we know can never be concrete, so it requires a degree of faith to believe in the truth.
Magic and Escapism
Much of the "magic" in Umineko can really just be chalked up to imagination that acts as an escape mechanism from harsh reality. For example, Maria imagines that her stuffed toy Sakutoro becomes a real boy that plays with her and that Rosa is being possessed by the black witch so she can avoid being lonely and keep thinking her mother really loves her. Sayo imagines that Beatrice is just playing tricks on her when she loses things to excuse her own mistakes and imagines herself as Beatrice in order to fight the feeling of being powerless.
While imagination helps to stabilize the psyches of Maria and Sayo, they easily crumble apart when other people refute these fantasies. That's why Maria always breaks into a tantrum when Rosa denies her imagination, or why part of the reason Sayo wants to kill everyone on the island is that no one can deny her illusion. Imagination is not a sufficient coping mechanism when facing the truth.
Dealing with the Truth
"By denying all illusion and just continuing to stare at the bare reality, I will just end up choking. But just turning your back on a cruel reality and living in an illusion is no different than dying either..." -Ange
So in the end, how should one deal with harsh truths? We know that continually "staring at it"- forever keeping your mind focused on it, letting it dominate your thoughts and how you live your life does not help. We know that pretending it never happened, "living an illusion", leaves you vulnerable like Maria and Sayo.
"To mourn the things I learnt or make the best of them that is up to me now. The real meaning lies in how I live my life right?" -Ange
Ange accepts the truth, but doesn't let that dictate her. She holds on to what she believes to be true, something unshakeable- the trust that her family were better people than what tragically happened on Rokkenjima and that they want her to live her life. This is her truth, that is founded on trust and faith, that does not conflict with the truth of Rokkenjima- hence why it cannot be destroyed by Bernkastel's red truths.
Accept the truth, but don't let it dictate you. Hold on to your truth.
Conclusion
Just like Battler must understand the "heart" of Beatrice's games, I believe Ryukishi07 wants us to understand the "heart" of the story he has crafted for us. Umineko truly is a work that transcends the mystery genre into something much greater through its "heart", and I hope this analysis has revealed some of it to you.
-GaryMuffuginOak
Spoilers for the Umineko no Naku Koro ni VN and Manga.
Hunger for the Truth is not always beneficial
Humans are endlessly curious by nature- we seek to understand how the world around us works through science, or how past events played out to form the world today through history. This is even true in the fact that the mystery genre in storytelling exists- it shows people are drawn to things that challenge them to figure out the truth.
Hunger for the truth can turn us into cold, uncaring individuals.
This is symbolized by Erika, and how her "intellectual rapist" attitude
causes her to destroy every magic in Umineko, even if its not
necessary. In Episode 5, she rips apart Beatrice's candy magic performed
for Maria. Maria doesn't need the illusion of Beatrice to be destroyed
if it made her happy. Similarly in the real world, it is not necessary
to tell kids that Santa Claus doesn't exist. It's more important to
recognize that this tale brings them joy and encourages them to be good
children.While figuring out the truth can give us a sense of achievement and pride, sometimes it will only bring us despair. This idea is portrayed in the character of Ange, who loses all her family members on those fateful days in Rokkenjima 1986. Even if she finds out what went down, it will do no good for her- none of her family will come back as stated by Lamdadelta. But with nothing to lose and a life that she hates living, she takes up Bernkastel's offer to discover the truth, hoping that it will give her closure. At this point, all her family members could've been a happy functioning family that were tragically killed by the bomb just like Battler portrays in his game in Episode 8, but Ange would rather pick a hard truth than a soft fantasy. So she unlocks the Eva's diary, uncovering the truth and ultimately couldn't accept it- entering into despair, and falling to her death (in one of the possible endings).
In the real world, there are some things that would be better off not finding out. Would uncovering that there is no God be a moment of great pride? Or would it be one of despair, knowing that there is no afterlife and that we came into being by pure coincidence? Are all things worth investigating, even if the answer may only bring despair?
Love is required to seek the Truth
This quote echoes throughout the series, and I believe this has two applications. "Love", in the sense of being able to empathize with others, and in the sense that everything we believe in is not fully certain hence a level of faith is required.
Empathy, or "love", is required when we seek the truth. This is emphasized whenever Battler uses his "chessboard thinking"- where he must imagine things from the perspective of the culprit. On a grander scale, this is the key to figuring out the meaning of Beatrice's games. She wants Battler to realize the reason why all the "magic" has human solutions is because it was done by a human, Sayo, and she wants him to think about what brought her to do this- the "sin" Battler committed.Ange is another example of how lack of empathy clouds pursuit of the truth. Before reading Eva's diary, she had already decided that Eva was the culprit. The fact that Eva was the only survivor caused Ange to resent her, and her cruel but well meaning approach to raising Ange like she did for George didn't help either. Even to her deathbed, Eva cared for Ange, choosing to hold back the truth of Rokkenjima so Ange won't have to know her parents were murderers. But Ange would never even consider her perspective, because in her heart it was decided that she was the culprit.
This has numerous applications in the real world. When we're jealous of someone else's success, we should consider hard they may have worked to get there, rather than just predetermining that they obtained their success through a rich family background or illegal means.
Faith, or "love", is required to believe the truth. An analogy brought up to demonstrate this in Umineko is that of the relationship between the author and reader of a mystery novel, and this idea is further expanded upon in the article by Ryukishi 07 called "Anti-Fantasy vs Anti-Mystery". In short, the reader must trust that the story the author has made has provided sufficient clues to solve the mystery. This is because it is impossible to prove the reader knows everything in the story- there could always be a new piece of evidence "X" that has not been discovered which overturns any current solution the reader may have. The possibility of a new piece of evidence "X" cannot be disproven because of the devil's proof- there is no evidence that it doesn't exist so it can still exist. If the reader does not trust that the evidence provided is sufficient for belief in a logical solution, they will not engage in reading the story because they won't be able to believe any solution they may come to.
In the real world, there's no 100% guarantee that what we know is true. Sure, the laws of physics have been tested numerously, to an extent we can have a 99.99% certainty, but there's always the chance new evidence can turnover what we know. Essentially, it means what we know can never be concrete, so it requires a degree of faith to believe in the truth.
Magic and Escapism
Much of the "magic" in Umineko can really just be chalked up to imagination that acts as an escape mechanism from harsh reality. For example, Maria imagines that her stuffed toy Sakutoro becomes a real boy that plays with her and that Rosa is being possessed by the black witch so she can avoid being lonely and keep thinking her mother really loves her. Sayo imagines that Beatrice is just playing tricks on her when she loses things to excuse her own mistakes and imagines herself as Beatrice in order to fight the feeling of being powerless. While imagination helps to stabilize the psyches of Maria and Sayo, they easily crumble apart when other people refute these fantasies. That's why Maria always breaks into a tantrum when Rosa denies her imagination, or why part of the reason Sayo wants to kill everyone on the island is that no one can deny her illusion. Imagination is not a sufficient coping mechanism when facing the truth.
Dealing with the Truth
"By denying all illusion and just continuing to stare at the bare reality, I will just end up choking. But just turning your back on a cruel reality and living in an illusion is no different than dying either..." -Ange
So in the end, how should one deal with harsh truths? We know that continually "staring at it"- forever keeping your mind focused on it, letting it dominate your thoughts and how you live your life does not help. We know that pretending it never happened, "living an illusion", leaves you vulnerable like Maria and Sayo.
"To mourn the things I learnt or make the best of them that is up to me now. The real meaning lies in how I live my life right?" -Ange
Ange accepts the truth, but doesn't let that dictate her. She holds on to what she believes to be true, something unshakeable- the trust that her family were better people than what tragically happened on Rokkenjima and that they want her to live her life. This is her truth, that is founded on trust and faith, that does not conflict with the truth of Rokkenjima- hence why it cannot be destroyed by Bernkastel's red truths.
Accept the truth, but don't let it dictate you. Hold on to your truth.
Conclusion
Just like Battler must understand the "heart" of Beatrice's games, I believe Ryukishi07 wants us to understand the "heart" of the story he has crafted for us. Umineko truly is a work that transcends the mystery genre into something much greater through its "heart", and I hope this analysis has revealed some of it to you.
 |
| Ryukishi07 |
The Heart of Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Reviewed by GaryMuffuginOak
on
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Rating:
Reviewed by GaryMuffuginOak
on
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Rating:
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