EP1: The creepy mood that the show is trying to set up is rather forced at this point... This episode suffers from the same flaw Higurashi did: some of the sudden mood shifts aren't really well-executed and end up being awkward rather than unnerving. That said, this is the "set-up episode," so it's practically destined to be not-so-great. The set-up itself seems interesting enough, and I DO like the whole Ten Little Indians thing this show has got going on.
EP2-6: Ooo, it gets MUCH better. I'm def. digging the way the storyline is unfolding. Thus far, I'd say this show "feels" pretty different from Higurashi. Both involve murders and supernatural elements that appear to be behind those murders. But Umineko is more of a straight-up murder mystery (at least, so far) and has the audience wondering "Who is the REAL killer?" Whereas Higurashi relied more on sudden mood shifts and all other kinds of batshit insane, and had the audience wondering, "How is everyone going to go crazy and kill each other THIS time??"
Plus, I like that Umineko actually explains why the story repeats; I watched Higurashi at my high school's anime club and none of the other first-time viewers knew that Higurashi was based off of a visual novel, and so all of them were confused and didn't understand why the story kept repeating. I like that this one actually gives a reason for it early on.
EP7: I would slap the hell out of Maria too. She is so goddamn annoying. I swear, kids in anime are either genuinely sweet or intolerable. Her equally crazy mommy is probably supposed to draw the audience's sympathy towards her, but I def. ain't biting. That girl is fucking crazy no matter what the reason.
The Beatrice/Battler interaction really abrupts the flow of the story. (Apparently, their dialogues are a mechanism of the VN.) Hopefully it will be pulled off better in later episodes.
A lot of the talk on MAL has me VERY excited for ep8. This post in particular:
In order for Battler to win at all, however, he has to be able to explain the mysteries of EVERY board game. Meaning, the first murders will be addressed eventually by Battler, but in the meantime he's just going to be stockpiled with even more mysteries to deal with. It may seem like an endless diversion right now, but actually, the developments of this arc onwards will provide Battler with the tools/means he needs to be able to counterattack Beatrice on all of the board games.
As well as the confirmation that this next arc is NOT just a simple Answer arc or a repeat of the first arc--things are going to get a lot more interesting and difficult from here on out. (Which the above preview appears to confirm.) This is going to be pretty awesome. :D :D
