So I’ve been thinking, right… how much more complex the story of Umineko is compared to Higurashi.
Like, no shade AT ALL to Higurashi, it is and will always be one of my favorite stories of all time. It’s so fucking good, seriously. But I’ve been thinking about how, in Higurashi, all of the protagonists are likable and well-meaning. Obviously they have conflicts with each other, but the vast majority of those conflicts are born from terrible misunderstandings, like Keiichi’s Hinamizawa syndrome making him think Rena and Mion are out to get him in Onikakushi when that’s not the case at all. Everyone the reader is meant to be cheering for is ultimately a good person, and while yeah, Takano is very sympathetic, it’s still made absolutely clear by the narrative whose side we should be on.
This isn’t a sign of bad writing; it’s just straightforward storytelling, which definitely has its merits.
But in Umineko, things are different. We have many different protagonists, and not all of them are equally likable. Natsuhi is a great example of what I’m talking about: In episode 1, she’s deeply sympathetic and even heroic as she goes about trying to protect her family from the culprit. Especially in the final quarter or so of the episode, the reader is likely to be rooting and cheering wildly for Natsuhi, the Winchester-wielding heroine who is defending her daughter and the other Ushiromiya children. But.
But Natsuhi is also classist. She talks down to the servants, especially Shannon, and can be quite rude and even cruel to them when they don’t meet her impossible standards. She pushes and pushes and pushes Jessica, and her regrets over doing so are obviously not more powerful than her narrow-minded, capitalistic ideals about her daughter being the next Head at any cost.
Natsuhi’s negative character traits are not justified by the narrative, but nor are her positive traits praised. All of her characteristics are simply presented to the reader, one not necessarily outweighing the others, and the reader is allowed to draw their own conclusions about the type of person Natsuhi is and whether or not they like her. Are we supposed to cheer for Natsuhi? Are we supposed to boo Natsuhi? The answer to both of those questions is “no.” We’re not supposed to do anything—except draw our own conclusions and form our own opinions.
This is a sign of really good writing. It is not the author’s job to tell us who to like or dislike or approve or disapprove of. The author has one job and one job only: to tell a story. The conclusions the readers come to have no bearing on the author’s one and only job, which is to tell a story. Really well-written stories don’t hand feed the reader morality; all they do is present a cogent narrative and then let the readers do the rest.
This is important for any story, but especially for a mystery like Umineko.
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