I have become bewitched by the narrative of Umineko.
I started Episode 3 earlier today; go me! (Yeah, some effort that was; kinetic novels like this have no actual gameplay. Still, I don't have to study a strategy guide.)
Also, maybe it's just I'm getting more used to it, but although 07Ryukishi's character art isn't splendid, I must admit, he's good at illustrating facial expressions. As I said before, it's not as bad as the character art of CLAMP whenever CLAMP screws up.
I also found a playthrough of the PS3 remake on youtube. Sampling a few scenes from Episode One, I got to take in the art as well as the Japanese acting. The backgrounds definitely look a lot better on the PS3 version; HD, better coloring, it's gorgeous. The new character designs are, overall, better than the originals, but, for the most part, it's not a huge improvement. Sure, the colors are better, and the faces and clothes are more polished, but it's not a huge improvement, although characters' lips move now. Maria is the exception; she looks a lot better illustrated in the PS3 version. She's not cute, but she looks more like an actual 9-year old now.
The voice cast for the PS3 game are the same from the anime version. As far as I can tell, the Seiyuu did good. Most of the characters don't sound like how they sound in my head, but it sounds well-acted, especially Beatrice's laughs. The only downspot is Shannon; she's moe, yeah, but she sounds way too moe with the voice-acting. Funny, that; why is it the only things where girls have stereotypical moe girl voices in Japanese (where the term 'moe' originated, no less) that I actually feel are appropriate are in Haruhi and Clannad? Why is it in everything else, it sounds incredibly fake to my ears? I must be weird like that.
But now back to the actual writing. There's a couple of characters I dislike, but I feel it's because you're supposed to dislike them. For one thing, I don't like Krauss, he's too smug for my liking. Also, Rosa, for obvious reasons. And while Kinzo is complex, and has sympathetic moments, the fact remains that he's not exactly an ideal patriarch. But there's a difference between disliking a character because of bad writing, and disliking them because you disagree with their principles. Luckily, it's the latter in this case. As for favorite character? Still hard to say. For now, I'll say it's a three-way tie between Battler, Natsuhi, and Kanon. (Although if everything in Umineko is the work of magic, that's not gonna reflect very well on Battler's character, but whatever.)
Oh, also, let's get the obvious out of the way:
JESSICA IS A MARISA KIRISAME COSPLAYER!
Of course, Jessica is not as small-chested as the real Marisa, but her hair and face are perfect for looking like the Gensokyan witch! And yes, in the original PC version, the game does play "Tsurupettan" by Silver Forest at one point. Wait, would 07 had to have gotten permission from ZUN as well to feature a remix of Touhou songs, as well as someone dressing up like a character from Touhou, or are the copyright laws in Japan just that loose? Is that why so many people in the Western World adore Japan? And here all this time, I thought it was because of the romanticism of Feudal Japan and the video games . . . I'm rambling now.
Lastly . . . can't . . . stop . . . listening to . . . the music . . .
