Umineko no Naku Koro ni (anime)

The Umineko no Naku Koro ni (うみねこのなく頃に) anime adaptation of the visual novel series of the same name was announced by 07th Expansion and animated by Studio DEEN. The series aired in Japan on Chiba TV from July 2, 2009 to December 24, 2009 and has been licensed in the US by NIS America.

Plot
Umineko no Naku Koro ni takes place in the year 1986, during the time frame of October 4 and October 5 on a secluded island named Rokkenjima. The head of a wealthy family named Kinzo Ushiromiya, who lives on and owns Rokkenjima, is near death, and eight of his family members arrive on the island to discuss how Kinzo's assets will be divided once he is dead. Also on the island are three family members who live there, five of Kinzo's servants, and his personal physician. After the eight family members arrive, a typhoon traps them on the island and shortly after people start to get mysteriously murdered.

Episodes

 * Episode 1: I-I Opening
 * Episode 2: I-II First Move
 * Episode 3: I-III Dubious Move
 * Episode 4: I-IV Blunder
 * Episode 5: I-V Fool's Mate
 * Episode 6: II-I Middle Game
 * Episode 7: II-II Early Queen Move
 * Episode 8: II-III Weak Square
 * Episode 9: II-IV Skewer
 * Episode 10: II-V Accept
 * Episode 11: II-VI Back Rank Mate
 * Episode 12: III-I Castling
 * Episode 13: III-II Gambit
 * Episode 14: III-III Positional Play
 * Episode 15: III-IV Isolated Pawn
 * Episode 16: III-V Queening Square
 * Episode 17: III-VI Promotion
 * Episode 18: III-VII Swindles
 * Episode 19: IV-I End Game
 * Episode 20: IV-II Zugzwang
 * Episode 21: IV-III Prophylaxis
 * Episode 22: IV-IV Problem Child
 * Episode 23: IV-V Breakthrough
 * Episode 24: IV-VI Adjourn
 * Episode 25: IV-VII Forced Move
 * Episode 26: IV-VIII Sacrifice

Trivia

 * All of the episodes are named after moves in chess.
 * Sales of the anime adaption were very poor in Japan. There is a rumor it sold under 500 copies out of all 13 Notes and their Special editions.
 * Part of the fanbase dislikes the anime adaption due the poor quality of animation and lack of certain story elements. There are also several plot holes due to not having waited for to be finished, leading to major plot inconsistencies and many of the games becoming unsolvable.

Overall

 * Battler and George are approximately the same height, whereas in the visual novel, Battler is 180 cm and George is 170 cm.
 * In several scenes, Shannon and Kanon have been shown together in front of Battler at the same time, which should be impossible.
 * In certain scenes and especially merchandise, Shannon has been shown to have real breasts.

Legend of the Golden Witch

 * The cousins saw Natsuhi fall after being shot, which means that they should also have been able to see the shooter.
 * Natsuhi's gun should be unloaded. It would be impossible for Battler to shoot with it.

Turn of the Golden Witch

 * Shannon's corpse is found with the stake in her forehead instead of at her side.

Banquet of the Golden Witch

 * Eva-Beatrice met Rudolf in a corridor, while she should be in front of Beatrice's portrait.
 * Eva-Beatrice commanded the Chiester Sisters to kill Rudolf and Kyrie and bring their corpses to her. However, when they were killed, she teleported to them.
 * Rudolf and Kyrie were killed in a corridor. But then they and Eva-Beatrice (wanting to "play" with the corpses) were shown in the hall.

Alliance of the Golden Witch

 * In the first twilight, Chiester 00 kills Rosa by cutting her throat rather than destroying half of her face.
 * In the final episode, the first half of the Tea Party is completely omitted.
 * A significant amount of blue truths and red truths were removed from this arc alone.
 * Kumasawa and Gohda were bloodied when found dead. Moreover, the window in the garden shed was big enough to fit a person inside, but in the visual novel, this isshould be impossible.
 * In the ???? Scene, the red truths that Lambdadelta made to correct Battler's mistakes were completely removed.