It really is true what they say: ignorance is bliss. Once you’ve learned something, you cannot unlearn it, and there are definitely things that you wouldn’t (or even shouldn’t) want to know, even if you think you do. I can think of plenty of things I was happier not knowing.

Umineko’s Answers Arcs falls into that category.

So long, and thanks for all the incest.

A piece of unsolicited advice from me to anyone who may happen to be reading this: never force yourself through something if you’re not enjoying it. If you’re not enjoying it, there is no shame in dropping it. This is a sensible thing to do, because there is nothing worse than suffering through media you’re not enjoying if you don’t have to. Your time is valuable, and anything that doesn’t acknowledge that isn’t worth being acknowledged. If it’s bad, then drop it and never look back. Damn what anyone else says.

I need to practice what I preach.

I had more than a few complaints about Higurashi, but there was one thing I couldn’t fault it for: the more I read, the more I wanted to read. I wanted to know just what the hell was going on with this game’s story, even if I didn’t particularly care for the characters.

Umineko is turning into the complete opposite of that.

“A story should be like a roller coaster. That is to say before writing a really cruel scene, I have to lift the people’s spirits, for example, with a fun scene… Before writing a scene of pure despair, we must go through scenes of hope. And indeed, when I write, all of this amuses me very much.” – so says Ryushiki07, the author of Umineko.

But I have to ask, after slogging through this chapter – where does it say the fun scenes have to be so damn boring?