After Higurashi, 07th Expansion decided to take the sorrow and desperation to new characters, in a new location. The chosen one was an island knownRokkenjima, and so a new nightmake begun.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni (When the Seagulls Cry) can be considered the spiritual succesor to Higurashi, as it has some cameos and references to characters of the first series, besides similar themes, but everything else is different.

This series features the main characters as the Ushiromiya family: Rudolf, Kyrie and their sons Battler and Ange; Rosa and her daugther Maria; Krauss, Natsuhi and their daugther Jessica; Eva, Hideyoshi and their son George and the head of the family Kinzo. The Ushiromiya family is very wealthy, and since Kinzo is dying, he has to chose which son will become the heir. This is one of the main themes of the series, and one that persists in all the series. Besides them, there are the servants of the family: Shannon, Kanon, Genji, Gohda andKumasawa. All these characters have a unique backstory and, as you might guess, they all have a depressing backstory. But besides that, the family members are all introduced as jerks, and it hurts a lot the series for them to be so unlikeable, but they grow on to be nice characters.

These are the main protagonist, specially Battler, but the series has a bigger focus on its villain, Beatrice. She is a witch, who gave Kinzo his wealth a long time ago and, since he hasn't repayed her, she went back to get what is hers. This is the main thing of Umineko: Beatrice kills the family, but to become the Endless and Golden which, and all powerful, she has to have all family members to acknokledge her. All but Battler do, and the arc of the anime focus on her trying to make him belive. To do so, she keeps reviving the family members, and her and Battler watch it from a meta-universe, with her trying to make him belive, and him trying to prove all the murderes by a human method.

The premise is unique and highly interesting, and the best moments of the anime are when Battler is trying to rebuke Beatrice, often failing, in a very Ace Attorney-esque like. However, Uminko has a much more flawed structure. The big problem is that the series dosen't explain nearly as much as Higurashi, and the 26 chapters just end, barely explaining anything. Also, there are so many plot twists that are hard to keep up, and since every time she revives them (she calls it "games") the past, present and future are changed, there is a lot to keep up, and the anime often fails to explain stuff.

The series is like this: starts of greatly, then becomes better in the second game, falls in the begining of the third, reaches a high point in the midle of this one, as well as a low in its end, becomes stale in the fourth and another high point in the end. Even though, the series really dosen't explain the end, which is just really annoying.

Besides Beatrice, other witches are introduces: Bernkastel (which the name will ring very familiar for Higurashi fans), an all powerfull witch, the most powerfull of the world; Lambdadelta, her rival; other Beatrices, since this name is a title and some of her servants. They all have a lot of personality, and is a lot of fun when they are on screen.

One thing to note is that the series is just as gruesome and sad as Higurashi, and often show some really horrible deaths or just very disgusting scenes, and unfortunately, it often is with little reason. A friend of mine calls this a "psycopathic" anime, and it really is true.

The music is something to take note, as it is much better than Higurashi's. The opening theme is amazing, and the music that plays in the episodes is normaly clas*ic, with organs and other instrumants playing, and it sound incredible.

FINAL NOTE:
Umineko no Naku Koro ni is often as inteligent, intereting and sad as Higurashi; but is often much poorly explained and confusing. Also the level of violence is very intense. Definitely worth watching if you liked Higurashi, but one must proced with caution.

FINAL GRADE: B

The good:
-Incredible music
-Great cast of characters and they do become likeable throughout the series
-Story is interesting and inteligent
-Beatrice and the other witches are specialy great characters

The bad:
-A lot is not explained
-Sorrow of the characters and violence is even bigger