Backlog Dialogues

We have finished Turn, let's talk about what we learned! Also, yap interminably and incoherently about Voice Actors. Also included, discussions of the manga and anime adaptations and a glimpse behind the curtain for those who have already navigated to the answer.

Beatrice has won. Play again? This week on Backlog Dialogues, we fall and rise.

Our When They Cry map is becoming increasingly useless. As the storm rages and our ship drifts in to uncharted waters, we continue to be plagued with more questions than answers. Just what can the red truth not say? Just how many goats can Beatrice summon? What is Rosa's problem anyway? And for that matter, why does Beatrice get so mad about the subject of love? The answers to these questions will...

It's time for a new rule! Umineko has been going easy on us for a chapter and a half now, but this week it shows its cards and reveals that we're in for a very different story. As the First and Second twilights happen again, this time with a far more grotesque display, Beatrice reveals just how much magic she can muster - and it turns out to be a lot! But the game truly begins when Beatrice introd...

And now, Umineko truly begins. As the family returns to Rokkenjima, Battler and Beatrice begin a game of their own, a contest to determine if a Witch is behind the murders on the island, or if a human could pull any of these bizarre cases off. Pseudo-logical arguments and lots of yapping abound in this episode, as Beatrice makes a bold first move, showing her in the flesh on the island! This week...

Umineko's second episode starts by focusing on the lives of the two young servants on Rokkenjima, Shannon and Kanon. Both yearn for love, both yearn to be human, both yearn to be free from their fates as furniture. But Shannon makes moves that Kanon can not, and the mysterious witch Beatrice sees an opportunity to facilitate her revival through the servant's desires... This week on Backlog Dialogu...

For our first Umineko minilog, we venture west, with our first Western RPG discussion, Obsidian's Medieval Murder Mystery game, Pentiment! The Bavarian village of Tassig and Kiersau Abbey play host to the lives of many people, including visiting artist Andreas Maler, who gets swept up in the murder of a valuable patron of the Abbey's Scriptorium. We discuss the nature of truth in history, the role...

It's time for a godcast, for real this time! We delve in to the TIPS, discuss the adaptations, and more. And of course, for all you witches out there, the spoiler section awaits.

Now that we've hit the end of a When They Cry chapter, it's time for an after party! Join the characters as they discuss the story like usual - wait, what? WHAT?! HUH?!?!? This week on Backlog Dialogues, the End of the Beginning.

Everyone is dying! After Eva and Hideyoshi are found dead in a room sealed by a chain, Kanon gets killed in the boiler room, Kinzo's body is found, and tensions run high! As the storm rages, truth is washed away, leaving nothing but rubble and questions. Who was that mysterious person Battler saw as the clock struck midnight? The only answer we can hear are the sad cries of the seagulls... This we...

Oh fuck, six people are dead! In the middle of the night, someone killed Krauss, Gohda, Rudolf, Kyrie, Rosa, and Shannon and dumped them in the shed, then painted a strange occult marking on the shed door! The baroque and grotesque murder mystery begins this week as Battler takes it on himself to question the people around him and try to prevent his Aunts from increasing the body count further now...

The Family Conference is disrupted by a strange event - Maria claims to have received an umbrella and a mysterious letter from a woman claiming to be the Golden Witch, Beatrice! The not-so-peaceful atmosphere of the island begins to roil as the typhoon blankets it, cutting it off from the world. Is there a 19th person on the Island, or does one of the 18 people have a secret? This week on Backlog...

Our story begins by introducing a family. A family of rich assholes. Meet the Ushiromiyas, a family led by a domineering dilletante, Kinzo, and his four backstabbing offspring, Krauss, Eva, Rudolf, and Rosa. It's time for their annual family conference, and the four siblings are jockeying for money and power. But our hero, Battler, doesn't care about that, he just wants to catch up with his cousin...

As Summer gives way to Autumn, so too do the melancholic cries of evening cicadas give way to the haunting cries of seagulls after a storm. The soundscapes are changing, but the discussions are not. Backlog Dialogues is back, and we're following up Higurashi by discussing Umineko When They Cry! In this episode, we reintroduce ourselves and what we're doing, and get the audience settled in for a co...

We're still on break, but we are here with a bonus episode as a listener request, just in time for Watanagashi! Join us as we discuss the surprisingly good 2016 Live Action adaptation of Higurashi When They Cry, as well as the many difficulties we had in watching it that make it a hard recommendation anyway. Discussing Regional Idol Groups, Tokusatsu Stars, Prolific Character Actors, and roughly t...

It's the season finale for Backlog Dialogues, and what better way to send off Saikoroshi than a Minilog about a game for true witches, Undertale. Join us as we discuss the many characters and endings of 2015's smash indie success and summon all our determination to see it through. Plus, bonus heresy as suitable for a minilog paired with Saikoroshi! Oh what fun. This week on Backlog Dialogues, we t...

Its the Maebara show, with our very special guest star, Hanyuu Furude! YAAAAAY! Its time to play the board games, its time for squirt gun fights, its time to meet the club mates on the Godcast show tonight! Its time to put on theories, its time to penalize, its time to raise the curses on the godcast show tonight "Why do we discuss it all here?" "i guess you need to know its like a kind of magic t...

Rika has to make a choice, and the responsibility for that choice cannot burden anyone but herself. Will she kill her mother and return to the world she fought for, or will she live in this world and attempt to improve herself here? Is she a human, or a witch? Perhaps a certain orange haired street magician has the answers... This week on Backlog Dialogues, we accept the world we are in, and bid f...

In her search for the fragment that prevents Hanyuu from finding her, Rika's depersonalization continues as she lashes out at Satoko for bullying her. Is this world real, or is the world she came from a fabrication of this world's Rika's sad mind? Rika consults Doctor Yamamoto, setting off a chain of events that leads to both the possibility of this world's Rika finding happiness but also a terrib...

Rika has arrived at the 1983 of her dreams, and is riding high off the success. But in her arrogance, she fails to remember the important lessons from train safety PSAs and plays in traffic, finding herself in a nightmare bizarro Hinamizawa where no one likes her and Hanyuu isn't around. Can Rika find her way out of the labyrinth and back to her world again? It's time for the coda of Higurashi, Sa...

For our penultimate Minilog for this season, we look in to one of the most impactful stories of adolescence anime has to offer. A coming of age tale about growing to become the best person you can be, about the people that change you as you grow and that you change in turn. A tale about the changes one experiences in their body as they grow. A tale about being the most powerful psychic in the worl...

We've made it to the end - or have we? As we explore the many facets of Matsuribayashi's post story elements, as well as the anime and manga adaptations of the work, it becomes clear that Ryukishi07 still has a bit more to say in this idealistic fantasy world of his. So join for this penultimate Godcast as we prepare for one final voyage.

It's time to get extremely indulgent in the way only Ryukishi07 (and Backlog Dialogues) can get in a finale. The longest chapter in all of When They Cry, a massive epic of big goonies energy and hype. We follow the Hinamizawa School Board Game Club as they enact Operation 48 Hours, throwing Takano Miyo and the Mountain Dogs for a loop. This week on Backlog Dialogues, the Festival is here. And you...

Alternate Episode Title: Furude's Eleven It's time to plan a heist! The club prepares for the fight of their lives, for the sake of Hinamizawa and everyone who lives in it! But before we can do that, a bit more movement of pieces along the game board is required. Ooishi's character arc hits its finale in one of the best scenes in all of Higurashi, and the hype builds as we go through this penultim...

Alternate Episode Title: Rika Explains it All We have left the realm of the gods and return to the realm of man, and we brought a really cute god with us! The club gets to know Hanyuu, and Hanyuu learns that Rika has forgotten all the stuff she needed to remember. Guess it's time to speedrun everyone's character development in this final world so that we can turn the tables on Takano Miyo... but f...