Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen

[Kraco]

At the very least we learned Munechika isn't dead or even rotting in a prison. She seemed well off. I always thought she's so beautiful that it would a huge waste for her to die in such a stupid war.

[shinta|hikari]

And she shows off her waki with that sleeveless arm wielding the hammer fist weapon.

[Ryllharu]

So, we never had a thread for Mask of Deception (and the adaptation was apparently a horrible mess anyway from the source material), and now Mask of Truth is airing.

All three series are still connected, so I'm using the powers of necromancy to revive this thread.

edit: Apparently, we did, it just can't be searched for it at all without the full title

Mask of Truth
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Mask of Truth - 01


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I am completely lost, but I do remember some of the characters names. I knew Rurutieh and Atuy were both princesses at least!

The recap parts for Mask of Deception didn't really help. So here goes:

Haku was revived (of course he looks just like Hakouro but he's not a revived god), met Kuon (who was raised by most of the waifus of the first series) and all the others, eventually ending up in Yamato with, "the princess" being Anju. Stuff happens, the masks have stored power that Hakuoro had, and a Berserker looking guy shows up and tries to kill some of the major Yamato royalty off. A mask-wearing guard captain named Oshtor dies in that fighting because his little sister Nekone tried to help and directly caused his death, but not in the anime. Haku takes over the mask, pretending to be Oshtor, much to the dismay of most of the female cast. These incidents will result in a very large war winding up. Thus starts Mask of Truth.

I'm missing a ton of particular details, because I couldn't be bothered to rewatch 25 episodes from 6-7 years ago. But this first episode is mostly tone setting and trying to recap the important stuff. Noticeably, Nekone is way guiltier than she should be, and that was something the previous season apparently changed.

[shinta|hikari]

So far the adaptation looks good. The art doesn't seem crap, and they aren't rushing through the story.

The difficulty here is how to show the battle parts because the game itself relied on you playing and demolishing the enemies with your SRPG skills, not actual war tactics. I hope the writers came up with convincing yet still impressive ideas, or at the very least not make it too unbelievable.

To add to Ryll's summary, here is a quick character recap to refresh memories:

Haku (ハク)
CV: Keiji Fujiwara
The main protagonist of the story. A young man who has lost memories and uncertain of his identity. He was saved from a monster attack by Kuon and gave him his current name. He excels at using his quick-witted insights although he's not serious nor a hard-working person. He's worried about that he may die in a road without Kuon due to his remarkably low stamina.


Kuon (クオン)
CV: Risa Taneda
The main heroine of the story. Away from her hometown, she's a beautiful lone traveler who has an ability to fight using hand-to-hand combat. She helped a man with an amnesia and gave him a name "Haku". She is lively and clever but somewhat distant somewhere. She may be young to be a doctor but her skill is certainly good.


Rulutieh (ルルティエ)
CV: Ai Kakuma
The princess of Kujyuri, a dependent nation of Yamato. A timid noble girl who owns two pet birds named Pororo and Cocopo. She is heading towards the capital of Yamato as a messenger carrying the tribute.


Nekone (ネコネ)
CV: Inori Minase
Ukon's younger sister who may seem like his daughter. An intellectual girl who looks very sweet due to her youth and stretches herself to speak politely. She is the youngest person who passed a difficult test. Her favorite foods are sweets, and she has a hobby of examining matters of ancient times.


Atuy (アトゥイ)
CV: Yumi Hara
A young girl who is bright and fearless with an elegant tone of speech. Although she may seem an affectionate young lady, she is an expert on utilizing a spear. She always places Kurarin's pet on top of her head.


Kiwru (キウル)
CV: Murase Ayumu
Ukon's sworn brother from Ennakamuy, a dependent nation of Yamato. Easily flustered and a worrywart, but a skilled archer with strong potential.


Nosuri (ノスリ)
CV: Nozomi Yamamoto
A girl who leads a clan of thieves titled after her name. She is a lively thief who has a big chest and not very well organized. Her younger brother, Ougi is always by her side.


Ougi (オウギ)
CV: Takahiro Sakurai
The assistant and younger brother of Nosuri. He appears to be very sharp and has good manners despite being young.


Uruuru & Saraana (ウルゥル・サラァナ)
CV: Ayane Sakura
The twin sisters who follows Haku's party around, although their intentions are unknown. Despite their identical appearance leading to not being able to distinguish the sisters, Uruuru's skin color is white while Saraana has tanned skin.

[Kraco]

The story didn't waste time, with armies already marching. While I remembered some things from the previous season, I didn't remember Haku & Gang ended up in such a dire situation at the end, basically having the empire's central government after them.

[Ryllharu]

Borrowed from another forum:

Anime Only Recap


And a relationship map as of the beginning of this season!

[shinta|hikari]

2nd Ep is out.

[Ryllharu]

Eps 4

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What's with the really weird voice shift at the end of the episode? Is Kuon using The Voice from Dune?

Kind of threw me out of the entire episode.

[Buffalobiian]

Yeah, I don't know if it's just "symbolic" like when characters grow to cut their hair etc, or whether it's actually her becoming one with the "monster"/inherited-destiny/divine thing.

Atuy is entertaining.

[shinta|hikari]

Kuon is using her divine scion voice LOL.

I think it's an actual voice and not symbolic. As to how she is doing it, who knows. She is part god, so there's that.

[Kraco]

If the poisoned princess, Anju, doesn't want a war with Tuskuru, why wouldn't Kuon just restore her onto the throne? Now it sounds like her aim is to raze the whole Yamato continent to the ground. Why else would she think her friends would hate her and consider her a traitor? Anju and all of Kuon's old friends are fugitives as it is. It seemed to me like the Tuskuru folks already knew that much.

[shinta|hikari]

I think her goal is to invade and defeat Yamato in order to bring order to it and save her persecuted friends, who are stuck in a bad situation with Anju. The Haku faction has barely any military power compared to the whole of Yamato and its generals/provinces, so when Kuon said she will defeat Yamato, she is likely referring to the latter, not the crippled province her friends are hiding out in.

[Kraco]

I think her goal is to invade and defeat Yamato in order to bring order to it and save her persecuted friends, who are stuck in a bad situation with Anju. The Haku faction has barely any military power compared to the whole of Yamato and its generals/provinces, so when Kuon said she will defeat Yamato, she is likely referring to the latter, not the crippled province her friends are hiding out in.

Indeed, but she was told: "Your friends will call you a traitor and hate you."

I don't think Tuskuru would have the means to actually annex Yamato or turn it into a colony or a vassal state with a puppet ruling it, so whatever Kuon does there, would be sort of transient, a rearrangement of what's going on there to make the place less hostile toward Tuskuru, at least for the time being. Keeping that in mind, what exactly would be a better option than to have her actual friends (Anju) in power?

[Ryllharu]

Eps 5

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Didn't expect Anju to get well so soon. She had it quite rough though. First learning of "Haku's" death and then having him tell her that if she wants her rightful throne back, she's going to have to accept a very blood-soaked civil war. Quite the harsh political lesson for a girl who is only now starting to mature and realizing what position she's in after playing around before. The last to catch up to the other Princesses.

I assume that Oshtor and Nekone's mother wasn't actually fooled.

But the "I've battled you before and can immediately tell from a single blow that you're an imposter" cliche is lame.

[Buffalobiian]

Ep 6

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Didn't expect Anju to get well so soon. She had it quite rough though. First learning of "Haku's" death and then having him tell her that if she wants her rightful throne back, she's going to have to accept a very blood-soaked civil war. Quite the harsh political lesson for a girl who is only now starting to mature and realizing what position she's in after playing around before. The last to catch up to the other Princesses.

Nothing compared to Kuon it seems. She's laying it down hard for Anju.

I agree that mother wasn't fooled.

I did find relief that Nekone has finally concluded that Haku shouldn't emulate Oshtor when he's around her. Now he has an outlet besides the twins.

[Ryllharu]

The first half did feel like a redemption episode for Nekone.

Unfortunately, the mask is now stuck to Haku's face.

I get what Kuon is doing to Anju, but she's pretty mean about it. She's still humiliating a fellow ruler, even if her intentions are to help Anju grow up.

What I don't understand is Raiko. He's a huge asshole, usurping power and even lying to his people about what a POS Dekoponpo actually was and painting him as a hero. Definitely the guy who needs to die the most and in the worst way possible...like Anju tearing him in half, Karula style. Does Raiko have a deeper aim, or is he just in it for the personal power?

[shinta|hikari]

Losing Haku really made Kuon cold. Whatever her intentions are, her previous self would not have taken such brutal methods.

I really feel for Haku every time people praise him as Oshtor. He is essentially doing his best to destroy his true self for his dead friend's parting wish.

[Buffalobiian]

Wait I thought both Nekone and Kuon knew Haku was the new Oshtor.

edit:
Ah. Only Nekone knew. Sad times.
But while rewatching some stuff I found a Kuon-bedwetting-as-a-child OVA which was cute.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 07

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That ended up being very wholesome. Best bit is that Kuon now has hope.

As much of an emotional boost as Anju got, it was at least an equal amount of morale damage to Kuon that evened this out. I wonder if even Karulau knew how the sword scene would play out. It looked like it was thrown equidistance from both parties, but Anju took the initiative.

But yeah, damn.. Karulau's still as much of a beast as ever. She was probably my favourite in the original.

[shinta|hikari]

What do you mean by Kuon now has hope? She went back to the team knowing Haku is pretending to be Oshtor. She has way more than hope.

The OG gang will be complete next episode.