The Umineko no Naku Koro ni

Umineko no Naku Koro ni

is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin soft visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion. The first game in the series, Legend of the Golden Witch, was first released at Comiket 72 on August 17, 2007 playable on the PC; the game sold out in thirty minutes...

anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 television series is based on the sound novel series of the same name by the Japanese dōjin soft

Dojin soft

, also sometimes called , are video games created by Japanese hobbyists or hobbyist groups , more for fun than for profit; essentially, the Japanese equivalent of independent video games. Most of them are based on pre-existing material, but some are entirely original creations...

 maker 07th Expansion

07th Expansion

07th Expansion is a Japanese dōjin group that specializes in the creation of visual novels known as sound novels. They started out drawing for the trading card game Leaf Fight, but they are most famous for creating the dōjin game series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni...

. The episodes, produced by Studio Deen

Studio DEEN

is a Japanese company that produces anime. Three years after Sunrise was founded in 1972, Studio Deen was established by Sunrise's members in 1975. As a result of this, anime shows such as Cowboy Bebop that were produced by Sunrise may have had assistance from Studio Deen.-Produced anime:* Urusei...

, are directed by Chiaki Kon

Chiaki Kon

is a Japanese anime director who directed the anime adaptations of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Umineko no Naku Koro ni, and Nodame Cantabile: Paris Chapter. She also worked the storyboard and dramatization for the anime Midori Days and did the Opening Animation for Shōnen Onmyōji.-External links:...

, written by Toshifumi Kawase, and features character design by Yoko Kikuchi who based the designs on Ryukishi07

Ryukishi07

is the pen name of a Japanese man originally from Chiba Prefecture who is well known as the original creator for the idea of the visual novel series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni. He is the representative member of the group 07th Expansion...

's original concept, who also wrote the original story. The story focuses on a group of eighteen people on a secluded island for a period of two days, and the mysterious murders that befall most of the people. The 26 episodes in the series aired in Japan between July 2 and December 24, 2009 on the Chiba TV broadcasting network and aired on additional stations at later times. The episode titles are taken from names of chess moves, reflecting on the idea that the entire story is based on the game of chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

. Four BD/DVD specials called "Uraneko" were produced in late 2009.

Two pieces of theme music

Theme music

Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...

 are used for the episodes; one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is by Akiko Shikata

Akiko Shikata

is a Japanese singer-songwriter and composer, who is known for writing music for games and anime. She is best known for her contributions to the Ar tonelico, Shadow Hearts and Umineko no Naku Koro ni games, as well as anime adaptations of Umineko no Naku Koro ni and Tales of Symphonia.Shikata's...

, and the ending theme is by Jimang. Six DVD compilation volumes will be released by Geneon Universal Entertainment between October 23, 2009 and March 25, 2010.

Episode list

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#	Title	Original air date

External links

• Anime official website