Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen

[Munsu]

Plot Summary: The nameless protagonist awakens to find himself standing in the middle of a vast, snowy plain he doesn't recognize. Suffering from amnesia, he remembers nothing about himself. Suddenly, he's attacked by an insect-like creature but is saved by a beautiful girl with animal ears and a tail named Kuon. She names him Haku.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...e.php?id=17186

Another Utawararumono series is being released next month, really looking forward to it. The first series was well liked in this forum, hopefully it'll live up to it.

The premise seems too familiar to the first one, so we'll see how that goes. Not sure how they'll be related and even if some of the former characters will show up or something. Honestly don't recall much about how the first series ended, so will go back and watch a few of the final episodes. I think I didn't watch the OVA either, so will do as well.

Who else planning on watching this?

Here's the discussion for the first series:
https://forums.gotwoot.net/showthrea...Utawarerumono/

[Kraco]

I'll watch it for the scene where the dude touches the girl's tail. The scene from the original was legendary.

Almost as good was the scene where a soldier was lying on the ground, multiple arrows sticking out of his back and his buddy asking him what's wrong.

[MFauli]

The first anime devolved into shitty, generic harem. Ill watch this, but my expectations are low.

[Ryllharu]

I will watch it because I love the world they set up, but without Karura I fear it will be lacking that little something.

@MFauli:
You're thinking of Tears to Tiara.

Utawarerumono was fantastic except for budget cuts and animation quality drops. It had good, strategic warfare and politicking and a diverse, interesting, and well-developed cast.

[Munsu]

I will watch it because I love the world they set up, but without Karura I fear it will be lacking that little something.

@MFauli:
You're thinking of Tears to Tiara.

Utawarerumono was fantastic except for budget cuts and animation quality drops. It had good, strategic warfare and politicking and a diverse, interesting, and well-developed cast.

Agreed. Though it did have some harem tendencies as it went on, but the show itself had much more to offer than being singled out as a shitty generic harem, as you say, Tears of Tiara became.

As for Karura, well, there should be a suitable replacement in this one I would hope. She was awesome indeed.

[MFauli]

No, I was thinking of Utawarerumono. Calling it harem might be stretching it, considerung true, full-on harem anime, but I still remember it to be annoying how the catgirl, the angel girl and other girls, too, were clinging around the main character ... Hakuoru his name, I think. It´s just a dumb concept, especially if you´re unsuccessful with women yourself irl :P

[shinta|hikari]

It´s just a dumb concept, especially if you´re unsuccessful with women yourself irl :P

The bold part being his point.

[Munsu]

No, I was thinking of Utawarerumono. Calling it harem might be stretching it, considerung true, full-on harem anime, but I still remember it to be annoying how the catgirl, the angel girl and other girls, too, were clinging around the main character ... Hakuoru his name, I think. It´s just a dumb concept, especially if you´re unsuccessful with women yourself irl :P

Ah OK, so you pretty much are against any premise of the presence of an harem itself more than anything?

[MFauli]

Ah OK, so you pretty much are against any premise of the presence of an harem itself more than anything?

Kinda. I think it´s stupid, especially in stories that have potential for "more", but then fall short because of focussing on all the girls falling for the hero. See Danmachi recently. I really liked the artstyle and the setting, but instead of properly exploring that, it focussed on introducing new girls that would go after the hero (in before somebody claiming that it´s my fault for expecting something different, blahblah). Or take Infiniate Stratos. Really neat mecha-suits, super cool fights and great animation ... but instead of exploring that further, it´s aaaaall about all the girls having a crush on the gay hero.

Tbh even Welcome to the NHK is at fault of this. Because while the hero is a typical hikkikomori, he JUST gets lucky to have a cute girl be interested in him outta nowhere.

It´s a cheap concept for self-deluding otaku imo.

[Munsu]

Kinda. I think it´s stupid, especially in stories that have potential for "more", but then fall short because of focussing on all the girls falling for the hero. See Danmachi recently. I really liked the artstyle and the setting, but instead of properly exploring that, it focussed on introducing new girls that would go after the hero (in before somebody claiming that it´s my fault for expecting something different, blahblah). Or take Infiniate Stratos. Really neat mecha-suits, super cool fights and great animation ... but instead of exploring that further, it´s aaaaall about all the girls having a crush on the gay hero.

Tbh even Welcome to the NHK is at fault of this. Because while the hero is a typical hikkikomori, he JUST gets lucky to have a cute girl be interested in him outta nowhere.

It´s a cheap concept for self-deluding otaku imo.

I'm not a fan of Harem myself, so I know where you're coming from a bit from a story telling perspective. I rather not have it present, but from what I recall Utawarerumono had much more to offer to let it bother me as long as the focus is not too overwhelming distracting the rest.

But we'll see.

[Kraco]

It´s a cheap concept for self-deluding otaku imo.

Uhh, yeah. That's what entertainment largely is. It's not limited to relationships (that go both way, btw, since the same concept also exists for girls in the traditional shoujo, where both the princes on white and black horses just happen to choose the ordinary girl (figuratively speaking)). It's the same thing about all kinds of successes. In Utawarerumono the dude not only got the attention of the girls, he rose to a position of leadership, became a strong warrior, decided the fate of the nations, and whatnot, despite being nothing but a masked nobody in the beginning. Girls are just a single detail of many, so don't get stuck on it. You'll soon find yourself watching only... Dunno, slice of life or something, if anything unrealistic in fiction rubs you the wrong way.

That being said, I don't like harem either, when it clearly claims the center stage. I didn't really feel like that watching Utawarerumono back then.

[Munsu]

First episode is out by Horriblesubs:
http://nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=740399


Is it just me or are the vast majority of the series of some interest this season all airing episodes from Friday through the weekend? Seems like we'll have a severely unbalanced week this season.

[Kraco]

Man, I just knew we would get a tail scene. It wouldn't be Utawarerumono otherwise. Quite an amusing first episode. The dude has a hilarious personality, just like the Boss commented. It's nice there's this distinct difference in attitudes, probably permeating the whole culture, between the animal eared folks and this single human. Haku's lazy attitude also demonstrated the very origin of great many machines: When something is time consuming, hard, and annoying to do manually, you build a machine to do it for you. I'm really happy he did possess those skills considering he was starting to look somewhat useless, even if his disposition otherwise amused me.

I think I'll enjoy this show till the end. Kuon was also a great character so far, and I have liked her voice actor ever since Strike the Blood. There's nothing I wouldn't have liked in this first episode.

[MasterOfMoogles]

I enjoyed this first episode a lot. There were a couple oddly paced parts and an overly long pan down, but overall it was interesting.

Kuon is great. I like that she has a bit of an adventurous/sadist side to her compared to Eruru's generally more calm demeanor.

Based on the subtitle, I'm guessing Haku is some clone of Hakuoro or something. I'll have to go back and refresh my memory on all of the backstory and ending of the first anime, as I don't really remember where Hakuoro came from originally or what happened at the end. I do remember the scientists turning into red slime monsters, though.

[shinta|hikari]

KUON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THAT TAIL. And I normally hate animal ears and tails. That was really well done.

The hospital gown heavily agrees with mom's theory.

[David75]

That tail is incredibly agile and strong, but Kuon isn't derived from an elephant... Well I don't care, I thought the way it has been used in the ep is great. I also liked Kuon tells Haku he can't touch it as he pleased, only for her to roll it around his head the next scene.

The scene with the giant insect was bad. Because coming from behind, there's no way it would jump over Haku and then attack...

Might be a detail, but I liked the idea Kuon treated Haku like she found a stray cat and is now catering to his needs as the master.

[Ryllharu]

I doubt he's a clone. Hakuoro's mask...wasn't a mask. I think the glittering lines in the opening scene are telling, just not sure of what yet. The goop monsters were also more curious about him than I think they should. I'd be more inclined to believe he was a technopath (to a degree) or a different branch of experimentation than the beastmen. He barely even knew how to feed himself, but accurately described the physics of the watermill in order to repair it.

I've always liked the beastmen of this franchise are far physically superior to humanity, but still have hints of an inherent meekness to them due to the way/reasons they were created. The notable exception being the more feline members, of which Kuon clearly descends from.

I also love the Ainu setting. This one seems to be set even further north than the prequel. The building designs in the town are lovely.

@David:
The feline beastmen apparently are much much stronger than the others like the more common canine people. Karura alone was phenomenal. Kuon obviously follows the feline persuasion despite her non-perky ears. The bird people have magic powers, and whatever the hell Touka was had speed.

[David75]

Hakuoro reminds me of something, but other than that I don't really know the franchise.

As for difference in strength, well that first ep was very explicit.

I think I'll keep watching, I liked the Kuon/Haku exchanges

[KrayZ33]

This looks like a lot of fun, is there some sort of prequel to this?

I'm hooked already.

[shinta|hikari]

This looks like a lot of fun, is there some sort of prequel to this?

Yes. Utawarerumono was an SRPG adapted into an anime years ago. This is a related story in the same universe. I'm not sure where it is in the timeline though.

I'm looking forward to Haku commanding armies and owning the primitive opposing clans.