Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Episode 1

Umineko no Naku Koro ni

When Seagulls cry

Sinopsis:

Umineko no Naku Koro ni takes place primarily in the year 1986 on a small, secluded island named Rokkenjima (六軒島^?) owned and lived on by Kinzou, the head of the wealthy Ushiromiya family. Kinzo is near death, and eight of his family members arrive on the island for the annual family conference, where the adults plan to discuss how Kinzo's assets will be divided once he is dead. Also on the island are three family members who live there, five of Kinzo's servants, and his personal physician. After the eight family members arrive, a typhoon traps them on the island, and shortly after, strange things start to happen and people start dying.

Summary:

Episode 01.- Opening.

The show starts with a stormy night and Kinzou getting informed by his physician that he only has 3 months to live. Kinzou calls out to an unknown woman by the name of Beatrice and telling her that he will give back everything that she has given given him.

The next day Kinzou's family members are seen sailing to his island, named Rokken, as they are going to attend the anual Ushiromiya family reunion. Battler, our main character and a happy-go-lucky pervert, jumps out of the boat as it seems he prefers to be on solid ground than water, he presents us the rest of his family that were traveling on the boat with him.

[George Ushiromiya: Battler's cousin, the smart one of the bunch, he has a gentle demeanor.

Maria Ushiromiya: The youngest cousin, cute and creepy at the same time.

Rosa Ushiromiya: Maria's mother, she looks way too young to be an aunt! XD

Hideyoshi and Eva Ushiromiya: Eva is the sister of Battler's father, Hideyoshi is her husband.

Rudolf Ushiromiya and Kirie: Battler's parents.]

They are greeted at the deck by Battler's cousin Jessica, which Battler hasn't seen in six year and is very impressed by her "growth", and as well by granny Chiyo (a servant of the family) and Toshirou (another servant). Maria notices that somethingis missing at the cliff near the deck, Jessica tells her that the old shrine that was located it there got destroy by lightining. They make their way to the mansion.

[Jessica Ushiromiya: Battler's 18 year old cousin, Battler wants to squeeze her boobs....she is not amused.

Chiyo Kumasawa: An old woman, servant of the family.

Toushirou Goudai: A male servant.]

Once they get to the mansion, they are "greeted" by Kanon (another, young male, servant) and once inside they meet Shanon (another, young female, servant).

Meanwhile Klaus, Genji and Kinzou's physician are outisde of his door trying to get him out of the room with no success.

[Kanon: A serious looking, quiet boy, servant of the family. He thinks of himself as furniture for their employers.

Shanon: A cute and shy female servant, quite voluptous, a fact that Battler doesn't mind.

Klaus Ushiromiya: The eldest of the Ushiromiya siblings and the heir of the family.

Kinzou Ushiromiya: The man that has 3 months to live, Battler's grandfather.

Genji Runoue: Another, older looking male, servant.]

On the entrance of the mansion, Butler and his cousins are looking a a giant painting on one of the walls, a painting of a woman called Beatrice the witch, which was ordered by Kinzou himself.

During dinner, Battler explains to us that the Ushiromiya was a wealthy family thanks to their spinning mills back in the late 1800 and early 1900, but that they lost many family members and wealth after the Great Kanto earthquake on 1923. Kinzou was the one that had the task to bring to his family their previous glory, and has been successful (by unknown means) for the last 20 years.

After dinner, Kinzou's sons and daughters (along with their spouses) are having a conversation about their father's assets. It is revealed that Klaus is diverting his father's funds to his own business (a hotel).

[Natsuhi Ushinomiya: Klaus' wife, according to Eva, she is just being used to give birth to the next heir of the family.]

At the beach, Battler, Jessica, Maria and George are having a picnic. They start talking about a legend that is tied with their family as it involves on how exactly Kinzou got his family fortune back.

Battler says that Kinzou told them that he once met the Golden Witch Beatrice and made a pact with her; in exchange of his soul, Beatrice would give him 10 tons of gold (20 billion yen).

Back to the conversation with the siblings. Rudolf, Eva and Hideyoshi tell Klaus they will let him handle the funds with 4 conditions:

1.- He must find the gold.

2.- He will allow each sibling a portion of the gold.

3.- The heir of the family will receive 50% of the gold, the other 50% will be split between the siblings and that of course includes him. This means he will receive 12.5 billion yen and they (Rudolf, Eva and Rose) will get 2.5 billion.

4.- The gold will be split when Kinzou dies, but 10% will be paid to each of them as of now and the rest before March of the next year. (A 700 million yen deposit)

But Klaus is not out of the loop as he may seem, he knows his siblings are in financial problems just as much as them, and he doesn't hesitate at telling them. All in all, they all are in need of money so they will find the gold at any "cost".

As the day progresses, the clouds begin to gather. The younger cousins after coming from their picnic at the beach and receiving a scorpion medallion from Maria (for protection against magic) from Maria, they return to the mansion and start to search for a sick rose they saw when they arrived and marked with a bow, but to no avail. Maria asks for her mother's help when she saw her walking by.

Since they can't find the rose, Maria starts to make the most annoying sound ever (aaauuu~ over and over again) until her mother snaps and smacks her around, much to the surprise of Battler and his other two cousins. They leave the two to settle things by themselves but since Maria is still making that annoying sound and would not give up on searching for the flower, Rose left her there by herself.

After a while, the rain picks up and Maria, naturally, is nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, Kinzou is talking to the storm again, screaming to Beatrice that she is late and he'll start by giving her his family crest, now the banquet can begin.

Battler, George and Jessica help Rose find Maria, she was standing not too far away with an umbrella (which she didn't have before). Rose apologizes to her, she just responds that she couldn't find the rose. When asked about her umbrella, she tells them that Beatrice was the one that lent her the umbrella.

Impression:

Let me start by saying that the intro and ending video are really great. They capture you with their eerie magical ember like butterflies, the changes between the beautifuly colored antique like designs, in both the characters and backgrounds, to red colored old movie scenes is a nice touch that adds to the dramatic feel of the show. Even the songs are attractive in a spooky kind of way.

This show was based off a video game and the when the cry series (like Higurashi no Naku Koro ni -kai) so we can expect to get confused at some point of the story. I wonder if the killings that will happen (because there's no doubt that they will) will be as graphic as it's others when they cry series.

A lot of information was given in this episode and we got to meet the cast, but not much has happened as of yet, I only hope the action/mistery starts with the next episode.

I enjoyed this episode quite a bit and would recommend you guys give it a shot.

Next episode is called: First Move.