Umineko WHEN THEY CRY Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch, Vol. 2

Umineko When They Cry (Manga English Numbering ) #2

by Ryukishi07, Kei Natsumi (Illustrator)

Six people are dead, and Battler and his remaining relatives slowly come around to addressing the terrifying reality of their situation: Either one of their number is a murderer, or there is a nineteenth person on the island who wants the Ushiromiya family dead. Regardless, the killer seems to be following the inscription beneath the portrait of Beatrice, the instructions for finding the elder Ushiromiya's vast treasure of gold. But each line of the inscription calls for more death, more blood...and the revival of the witch Beatrice herself... Will any remain alive to see the end of this mystery?

Genres: Manga, Mystery, Horror, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comics Manga, Supernatural

624 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 22, 2008

About the author

Ryukishi07 (竜騎士07, Ryūkishi Zero Nana?, born November 19, 1973) is the pen name of a Japanese man originally from Chiba Prefecture who is well-known as the original creator for the idea of the visual novel series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni. He is the representative member of the group 07th Expansion. His pen name originated from the Final Fantasy series, "Ryūkishi" being the Japanese term for "Dragoon", and "07" goroawase for the name "Lenna". His illustration style is recognizable from the large hands he draws on people.

Reviews

[Ray Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

After they found the 6 brutally murdered bodies of their relatives, the remaining people in the mansion try to look for answers for this massacre, but guess what? The only one to blame is the Golden Witch Beatrice.

Still, Battler and the others try to explain what happened using logic, or as he likes to call it, “flip the chessboard”, which is basically like thinking as your opponent does. He doesn’t want to blame any of his relatives or the people at service, but he denies the existence of the witch. So, by doing this, every time Beatrice calls for a sacrifice, she makes it impossible for human beings to commit the crime, leaving no evidence whatsoever.

Now, this is the first arc of the series, so, in this one, the whole ritual is complete and everybody at the mansion dies. Beatrice revives and she wins. But guess what? What if there were alternative universes/timelines?

We kind of see the worst case scenario but, what if Battler could turn the tables? What if he could explain when and how these people are killed? What if he could win over Beatrice? This is the premise for the following volumes and I cannot wait to read them!

Umineko proves that murder/mysteries are quite entertaining and the tension is so well-built that you cannot stop reading until you finish it. Though I must admit that Maria, the little girl with split personality, is a bit annoying and she freaks me out every time.

I would totally recommend you to read this one if you’re up to a quality murder/mystery manga!

PREVIOUS REVIEWS:
EP 1: Legend of the Golden Witch
Volume 1

[yel ᰔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

➺ 4/5 🌟 (overall rating)

I've been reading so much books with endearing and adorable children lately, I forgot that kids are the creepiest in a horror setting. The incredible art that gave an eerily stunning visuals added so much to the atmosphere.

This is such a compelling manga where the mystery persisted until the end. A mansion murder mystery with a strange supernatural involvement in the plot and a very explicit and gruesome murder scenes. There are times when the panels are so visually gory but I still couldn't help but stare at it to admire how beautiful the art is. The actual plot left me with so many things to figure out and the ending just set it up for more mysteries to unfold. I don't know where the story is leading me, but I'm so intrigued to know more.

[Tania · Rating 3 out of 5]

TW: explicit murdering scenes

It took Battler his family starting dying to stop being a perv, but at least now he's thinking.

So, our wealthy Ushiromiyas go to sleep after reading the witch's letter and thinking "meh, that's not gonna stop us from getting our gold :)" and then a new day starts on our now-without-telephone-line island, and six members of the family are nowhere to be seen.

Soon they find them and start looking for answers. Who did this?? why?? Is there really a nineteenth person?

Some of them do believe in Beatrice's, the Golden Witch, existence. Some of them do think that's impossible and that logic can explain what's going on.

Tbh, it's so entertaining to read about these fictional characters who are trying to explain what's going on with their relatives.
We do know Beatrice is about to show up, but they have yet to find out.

[✨Rebel Fairy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trigger warnings: Emotional abuse, occult, and graphic murders.

The conclusion to the first arc or the bad ending in a game where your choices decide the ending...

Battler dropped his perv-joker persona and turned into a logical machine on Whodunit, but his thoughts were going into overdrive.

He still wants to deny the existence of a 19th person on the island, and in doing so, he has to suspect the remaining survivors.

The epitaph is running its course...

The first arc makes you question if the witch is real. Can the reader deduce that all the murders were plausible by human hand.

I will give an overall explanation at vol 21, when the true ending has been reached.

For now, it is the season of the witch.

This remains a nice mix of belief, logic, and mystery to keep turning the pages.

[Gillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars!

GAWDDD DAMNN i need to know what happens now

[Libbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

✨Writing a grouped review for the entirety of the manga and copy/pasting. I started reading this 6 months ago at the time of writing and read over a few months and don't remember specifics about every single volume except what I rated them ✨

Umineko has an intriguing premise and good execution which does a lot right. The author manages to create such eerie and scary atmospheres and have the reader on edge wondering what is going to happen next. I particularly enjoyed a lot of the locked room scenarios and discussions and explanations.

Where this manga fails is it's extreme repetitiveness. It wears down on the reader very quickly. As a result I'm not sure this is a manga I would recommend to many people.

I will eventually watch the anime, whilst a short run this may be something I'd be inclined to recommend more as the premise itself is well done.

[Selena Pigoni · Rating 4 out of 5]

When faced with magic and a witch determined to kill you off, what do you do?

In Battler's case, you give it a big middle finger and go, "I don't believe in you, so shut the **** up!" Then you go about proving that the "magic" is really just humans using tricks.

That is the heart of this manga. Even when faced with the "unexplainable," Battler is going to prove, once and for all, that logic wins out in the end.

Legend of the Golden Witch vol. 2 covers the second half of Episode 1. If you read volume 1, you know the gore that will follow, as well as just how creepy Maria is. And believe me, she's even creepier in this volume.

If you like a horror mystery tale, definitely check this out. Maybe you can think of ways this was done without magic.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Added 12/19/24 - 3.75/5

Overall, the manga is a pretty good adaptation of the visual novel. It manages not too lose too much information, and allows for interesting staging and characterization in a visual format.

Episode 1 has the hard job of setting the stage, which results in slow pacing and lengthy lulls in plot development. As such, it's not my favorite of the episodes, but once it gets going it makes for an amazing hook into Umineko as a whole. Without having to deal with additional layers of perspective, Episode 1 takes it's time to let these characters simmer and eventually boil over. Looking back from the end of Uminkeo, it's incredible how much information and characterization is packed into the initial experience. The first time I read the visual novel, I packed notebooks full of details to try and figure out the mystery. Additionally, by and large because of the ages of the cast, Uminkeo does not shoot itself in the foot with creepy bullshit nearly as often as Higurashi does (with some exceptions, Battler). And I write that as someone who greatly enjoyed Higurashi.

It's a shame these volumes are out of print - I'm glad I was able to hunt down the first few, but I don't think I'll ever be able to justify completing the collection at their current prices online.

Rounding down stars because I hate that the featured color illustrations depict Maria creepily.

[Soyorin · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the first-night murders, tension spikes. While Battler naturally suspects Eva and Hideyoshi, they die on the second night in a seeming locked-room impossibility, found by Genji and Kanon. The Golden Witch’s slaughter continues, leaving Natsuhi with the three kids in the end. She exits holding a gun, only to be shot before firing, with everyone else perishing afterward.
Yet the second volume’s conclusion delivers an unexpected twist: everyone is alive, chatting happily with Beatrice as if nothing happened. Like Volume 1, it withholds tricks but succeeds in stoking intrigue.
Thankfully Battler lays off the lewd jokes in this volume. Probably hard to crack them when your family’s dead.
I sometimes joke that EP1 is “Natsuhi’s arc,” EP2 “Rosa’s arc,” and EP3 “Eva’s arc,” since Umineko’s female characters (compared to their husbands) are so well-written, exploring their struggles in a patriarchal society. Natsuhi here is all devotion and resilience—far from the sharpest like Kyrie or Eva, but she’s self-sacrificing and bursts with unexpected resolve. (and that’s why it hurts when you realize that the one-winged eagle thing is false and Kinzo never recognized her as part of the Ushiromiya family…)
(Side joke: Since Natsuhi serves the Ushiromiya head so loyally, does that mean if Eva became head… Nevermind.)

[Nathalia★ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cada vez se iba poniendo mejor, estaba esperando que pareciera Beatrice aaaaa, el final me dejó medio confundida por que como que se murieron pero luego estaban en la fiesta del te y luego Beatrice volvió a matarlos y luego que la María escribió esa historia contando lo que pasó, tal vez si fueron a la tierra dorada, en el final final apareció una que ayudó a battler así que no sé si si están muertos o qué pero dijo que lo ayudaría a vencerla así q no sé xd

[Renan Fontes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong finish for Episode 1. Some pretty gruesome gore and excellent tension. Natsuhi is the standout character, but my favorite things about the back-half are the closed room mysteries. You're always given just enough information where you can pause to try and figure out what's going on yourself. It makes for a way more immersive read.

[Nicole Mello · Rating 4 out of 5]

what a weird and compelling ending to episode 1?! i love a strange story and i also love that this ended in not only such an insane way but also in such a mysterious way!! wasn't expecting how this end of this would go and now i'm even more hyped to read what happens next than i thought i would be 😫

[Hugh-Jay Yu · Rating 5 out of 5]

(this is a review of the answers arc of umineko, not the manga)

maybe one of the most ambitious pieces of fiction, even if it has the pacing issues at times. what a beautiful story about the importance of storytelling and the importance of love and empathy and perspective and truth and waowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwWWWWWWWWWWW I DEDICATE THIS TALE TO MY BELOVED WITCH BEATRICE

[Michael Garrity · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing.

[Aria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esto apenas está empezando, por fin apareció la bruja Beatriz. Es realmente una pena que todos hayan muerto de maneras horribles, pero a ver que pasa con Battler.

[Monif Chowdhury · Rating 4 out of 5]

The build up of the suspense is top.notch. can't wait to read the other 7 episodes.
Only, why Battler had to push hard to defy the existence of Beatrice???

[ace · Rating 4 out of 5]

No idea how they got me to root for battler but holy shit

I think i’m gonna read the visual novel….

[Chona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not having kids.

[Aeriven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still enjoying revisiting this world and story.

[Kamiab Ghorbanpour · Rating 5 out of 5]

An r/atheism guy passionately debunks why someone wasn’t murdered by a supernatural being, during a supernatural afterlife tea party. 10/10

[Liam · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

*This is a log for the visual novel, not the manga itself*

Umineko when they cry. The one series I have always managed to find fans forever since I started being online. My first online fan was a massive Umineko fan. And so, I finally decided to take a plunge into the world of umineko. Umineko is one of the most frustrating reads I have had in a while. The good is some of the best stuff I have encountered in a while, the bad on the other hand is terrible.

I will get the bad out of the way. My main issue with the first episode is the pacing. The story (particularly in the first half) would go for hours of unrequired detail that would kill the pacing. It would lead to some possibly interesting development, but it felt the need to stop and overexplain a small fact. That's the issue it faces. Whenever it has the potential to do great stuff, most of the time it ignores that potential, to do something else entirely.

My other big issue is Batler being a massive pervert. Pervs will always be a thing that bothers me in stories, but Batler on the other hand. He takes everything I despise about the perverted character and turns it up to eleven. I don't see how I can root for the guy who says "HAHAHAHAHAHA YOU WILL SURLY HAVE BIG BREAST". I hear his development gets better as the series goes along. But, there was one point I audibly screamed shut up at him.

On that note, I love the rest of the cast. Umineko cast has a lot of potential from here. There are a lot of themes rising within like intergenerational trauma that I hope the series explores through these characters. Besides Battler, all these characters feel like people you could encounter in real life. While some might be charactures, they all feel real in some form or another. I particularly like the story of Maria currently. There's one character who's only here for a few seconds, but they steal the show.

Thematically this is already very rich. The deconstruction of the mystery genre could go anywhere from here. I do hope it touches more on the themes of class as well. While mentioned in passing, it sadly wasn't given much room to breathe here. I could easily see the theme of class adding another level to the story. What I love the most so far is the portrayal of grief. Greif is handled in an incredibly mature manner and the moments and reactions of grieving all lead to an emotional depth here I didn't expect. Already managed to make me cry, and I hope that the game continues exploring this concept of grief.

The atmosphere near the end was also phenomenal. The way the entire story builds up to no release of tension in one of the most gripping, yet anti-climatic conclusions imaginable was perfect. Loved the entire build-up and release here. I hear it loses the horror aesthetic as the story goes along. But, for the first chapter, the horror story fits perfectly.

For better or worse, I am invested in this story now. I hear it only gets better from here, and I am so incredibly excited to see where the next 135 hours go story-wise. The only place to go from here is up. From the little I have read from chapter 2, it seems to be a massive improvement.

[Phoebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Legend of the Golden Witch was truly thrilling till the very end! I enjoyed the murder mystery seeming aspect in the character monologues. Characters trying their hardest to make sense of clearly inhuman feats. I liked all the details, like the names of demons on the throwing knives (Although I'm still a bit uncertain what the meanings behind them were.).

In addition, I loved the illustrator, Kei Natsumi's artstyle! The facial expressions were very intense and dramatic.

5/5 ☆ stars

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this volume the rest of the family is turned on each other and killed off. We also learn how the story continues spreading and what the police find at the mansion the next morning. Then we move onto the children and what happens after their deaths and the beginning of Battler's battle with Beatrice.

While the illustrator says this is supposed to make the reader wonder whether it's a mystery or a horror tale but to me it feels to me like a horror tale where the reader knows more about what's going on then the characters. The illustrator's thoughts on this kind of give me a meh feeling, like how can you not understand a title that you are drawing. I am curious aout what will happen with Battler and Beatrice, so most likely I will continue reading at least another volume if I can get a hold of it.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one really picks up the pace off the first one in true When They Cry style. The artwork is excellent and follows the tone of the series very well. Minor gripes, I have them. One or two really emotional scenes felt a little rushed and abrupt in comparison to the visual novel. But really, that may simply be a function of the changing medium, and it beats the bad habit the anime had of skipping those scenes entirely. Overall, I have very little to complain about in this volume. I'm a little down because this artist's next volume is in the third arc, and I'm not really sure I like the artist for the second arc's volumes as much. But that's a complaint for a future review, which I will hopefully get to soon. This one's definitely a keeper, though.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Battler resists the notion of a witch being real with all his might, as he tries to reason out who the killer is. The conditions are set, and time is ticking away though. With each passing hour, the next life expires. Locked room situations, occult murders, and guesses keep Battler's mind swirling round and round; his constant denial does become a bit tiresome, but it is this unwavering personality that will be an asset in the next volume. By the end, the impossible is the only thing possible, and the twisted witch is finally revealed, marking the start of the real battle. Gruesome depictions of death and some psychotic actions by characters makes this series only appropriate for a mature audience.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

This continuation of the exciting start in Vol 1 of the Legend of the Golden Witch did not get me nearly as excited. Some more clues as to what is going on are given and more people die (surprise!). The whole otherworldly spirit (Beatrice) seems like the same view point used in Higurashi (which I watched the anime for). So far it is not getting me as excited as Higurashi did, but we will see where this goes!

[A.J.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this volume. The plot was easy to follow with and I enjoyed reading it from start to finish. Have to give the buildup of the story two thumbs up.

Battler and Maria were awesome, and that is all I will say about those two. Don't want to spoil anything for the future readers of this volume.

I look forward to reading the next volume.

[Emily Lightfoot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.

Wow.
Wow...

That ending. I NEED TO KNOW

That tea-party was cut just to see George and Jessica smiling again until Battler was back to being a barstool and yeah....

And my Kanon now. Mine.

[Mehsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just pure awesomeness. :) Can't wait for more!