Anime: Umineko no Naku Koro ni

Animation
-It's quite good. The CG blends in great with the surroundings, and the surroundings themselves were well planned out. I'm a guy that hates bad CG.
-I love the character designs. I would've hated it if they used the character models from the Sound Novels, as they look very unprofessional. The characters all still look like themselves, even if some of the eye colours have been changed.
-There were a few moments of bad boarding, but there were few enough that I didn't really care and they were far apart.

Sound
The sound and music fits in with the surroundings and what is happening. The OP and ED songs are both different, but appropriate. The voice acting is also pretty good, as far as I can tell.

Story
Before I start, I just want to say that this is not Higurashi. If you go into it expecting something like it, prepare to be disappointed. It makes references to Higurashi and it follows the formula of parallel worlds, but Umineko is still completely unrelated to it.

Now, I think the story is a bit shaky. I think what happened was that they tried to jam all 4 story arcs (yes, this is also not Chiru) into a 26 episode series, and that's not enough time for everything that matters. They still managed to make the story make sense, but it's disappointing to see all they didn't include.

This story is incomplete without anything of a second series. The series ends with a cliffhanger, but we are given a scene after the credits that gave me a feeling that this is only the beginning. Very little of the questions are answered (as Battler was apparently wrong about mostly everything), and it just stops right there.

It has potential to be good, but until Chiru comes to an end and an anime adaption is made of that, I can't really say.

Character Development
Again, I don't think they gave themselves enough time. Some characters show a personality right away, some take a few arcs before you even get a feeling of who they are, while some never show anything of a personality.

As for the bad guys (meaning, characters that aren't the servants and family members), most of them are likable (or become likable), more are introduced in every arc and they show personality throughout the show.

Value
I'm not sure if I'll ever watch it again. The series lacks an ending, and I feel like there weren't enough episodes to include enough of the story.

Enjoyment
I don't think it was really all that bad. It's watchable and it's far from the worst thing in the world, but I think it could've been better if the arcs took more episodes to get through. My least favorite arc was easily the 2nd, while my favorite was probably the last (I will say that I didn't like most of Ange's story).

Disclaimer: I have not played any games, read any visual novels or manga related to this work. For me this is just an anime on its own.
Disclaimer 2: In retrospective, this review might sound a little bit harsh. There is, however, a reason for it. I'm judging Umineko as I would judge the better series, including it's excellent predecessor Higurashi. It is by no means rubbish. Thus without further ado,

Animation

Mostly good. There are some nice CG effects and the surroundings are generally well drawn out, but none of them are likely to cause your jaw to drop. However, some of the character models, in particular the protagonist, look rather modest, while others seem to be directly cut out from an "Drawing Anime Characters 101" book and thus rather uninspired. On a flip side, the opening and closing cinematics look very nice.

The one thing that might strike you as a little odd, especially if you've seen the completely unrelated prequel Higurashi, is the super-sexualised character design. Most costumes look like they were taken straight from 18+ animation with particular emphasis on breast-physics. It's not unusual for characters to look rather promiscuous in anime, but we are talking about almost every character here, which makes it seem that the producers decided to substitute the lack of depth by fan-service. Oh and while we're talking about all things popular, the buckets of blood and heaps of intestines aren't missing either.

Sound

The ambient sound and BGM are fitting and well placed, deepening the feeling of country mansion mystery. The intro and outro clips are accompanied by appropriate songs, both in terms of style and lyrics. The voice acting, too, is solid (Japanese version).

Story

The story is where things start getting a little shaky. If you are familiar with Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and its sequel (both of which you should watch before Umineko, which is the third, but completely unrelated, part in the series), the "repeating nature" of the series won't be much of a surprise to you. Basically you're dealing with classic country mansion murders, witches and the Groundhog's Day. It starts off very well, a little too well maybe, but loses momentum in the middle of the season. The intensity picks up later on, but the means by which it happens are somewhat questionable. (More in next section.)

What you should know is that this is the first season of something that is absolutely and utterly incomplete without season two. The series end with a blatant cliffhanger without even attempting to stick with the principles of modesty and wrap things up a little. You might just as well do yourself a favour and put this anime back into the drawer until the release of the sequel. None of the important questions are answered. Full stop.

To be perfectly clear, it is not bad and has potential to be great, but before season two comes out it's just an uncooked meal.

Character Development

This is where Umineko no Naku Koro ni tries running too fast, trips over a branch and never manages to stand up again. Right in the first minutes of the series you are introduced to 18 "victims". You're told (and shown) their names, who they are and how they are related to each other. Memorised all eighteen? Good, because you won't need it. As the series progresses the focus will shift from character to character, telling you more about them, but, unfortunately, you probably won't care. The vastest majority of them are incredibly shallow, possessing one distinctive attribute at best and being completely irrelevant to the rest of the plot. For instance, during the first act you'll be following the actions of woman married into the house and, by the time the act ends, you might just start liking her. One episode later, she is a completely irrelevant side character. Rinse and repeat this four to five times and you've got Uminego.

While having eighteen mediocre characters was already diminishing the overall quality, the authors skillfully chose to introduce quite a few more as the series went along. They, too, quickly became obsolete and were moved into the background or disappeared completely.

Of course, one could excuse the legion of poor secondary roles by focusing on a good lead. Unfortunately, it seems that he missed the bus and was replaced by his brother two minutes before the filming started, who happens to be just as awful, if not worse, then the rest of the cast. Boring, unemotional and incredibly superficial.

Now, to be fair, there are two or three likable characters: the villian, her protege and a different character introduced much later in the series. So if you always wanted to cheer for the bad guys, Umineko is definitely the show for you.

Value

It's hard to tell at this point, but chances are I won't watch it again unless the, as of time of this writing, yet unreleased sequel completely turns things around. The series clearly lack an ending of any sort, being its biggest drawback.

Final thoughts

Umineko no Naku Koro ni is a good example of a "it would have been so great, if ..." work with a tendency to become very odd at times. The start of the season is absolutely majestic, the end a catastrophe. Personally, I'm holding up for season two to finally figure out what I've watched and what I should think about it. It's not completely awful, just very unfinished. Watch it, but only after the release of the sequel.

Here is a very brief review of Umineko no Naku Koro ni based on the games that give us 2 majestic season of Higurashi. Unfortunatly as much as Higurashi was a disturbing masterpiece, this new series is a spectacular failure. That's a shame :(

Animation: Fairly good animation, what you could expect for this kind of adaptation.

Sound: The OST is pretty much enjoyable, expecially the metallic ending and the symphonic opening, one of the higlight of the serie.

Story: A major weak spot. The story is highly repetive in the setting, closer to a bad game of clue than anything else. Not to mention a fair amount of cliché, cheezyness that made it hard to feel any tension during the series. There some interesting idea in the last arc with Ange but that's pretty much it. And even if it more gore overall than Higurashi, it's so kitchen sink aproche that it's only felt rediculous.

Character Developpement: There's too many character for the sake of the serie and their developpement is minimal. Battler is one of the most pathetic and rediculous character I've seen in a long time and the rest of the famely isn't really better. The way thing are it's very hard to compel and appreciate any of these character. They can be cut in half and no ones cares. Totally the opposite of Higurashi witch could turn you upside down thankx to the mesmering quality of the character,

Value: Not very enjoyable to watch. Once is more than enough

Enjoyment: Very weak unfornatly. That serie was overall a big disapointment and the rediculous ending won't help its cause.

BTW A very nice X-Mas to all