Utawarerumono Review

Kabitzin on November 15, 2006 · in Reviews,Utawarerumono

It’s been a while since I finished a 26-episode series, but Utawarerumono more than exceeded my expectations. At first it seems like some kind of bizarre Gundam-Harem RPG silliness with a title that’s hard to remember, but the series actually gets fairly deep. Moreover, the harem never truly develops as Hakuoro keeps everyone around as a flock of friends rather than a group of possible love-interests (poor Eruru gets a number of unfortunate tags throughout the show).

The initial episodes introduce us to all the characters in the series, and there are a lot. Still, almost all of Hakuoro’s band of merry men and women are memorable and likeable… except for maybe Oboro who sucks all the way until the very end. The super-cliche elements begin to give way, towards the middle of the series, as more of Hakuoro’s past is hinted at and numerous wars plague the lands. Fortunately, our loveable hero Hakuoro possesses the mojo and the tactical skill necessary to pwn all enemies without sinking into too much emo-angst. In the middle of the show, Hakuoro carries the show, and I found myself really cheering for him. Hakuoro befriends many of his enemies, but he is still able to take the real scum out and not hide behind idealistic pacifist crap. In short Hakuoro’s realistically perfect. Or, as Cephas puts it, he basically HakuorOwns everyone.

The one part where the series misses a step is at the start of the Kunnekamun arc. Because most of Hakuoro’s backstory is ignored until the last few episodes, the beginning of the war with Kunnekamun comes off as rather campy. The plot twists make no sense without the backdrop of Hakuoro’s past with Dii, and it’s difficult to understand why sentai mechs are suddenly part of the equation. I was personally worried that the whole thing would mirror the later goofiness of Scrapped Princess with the appearance of the Avu Kamuu, but thankfully that was averted.

When it comes out that the Avu Kamuu are nothing more than a tool of Dii’s manipulation, the campiness subsides a bit and the show moves on. The backstory with Witsuarunemitea is actually very interesting, but unfortunately the anime does not tell it very well. The Wikipedia entry on Utawarerumono actually provides a better explanation of what happened to Iceman, as the game details did not all make it into the anime. In fact, it is a shame they didn’t stick with the Shadow Warrior Chronicles name, as this was a much more accurate reflection of how the series is really about Witsuarunemitea’s journey (although this does not become clear until the very end).

The plot finally does show up eventually, but while it is a good story, it’s rushed into the last few episodes. Sadly, the importance of Hakuoro’s loyal followers subsides later on, but at least the ending is a very satisfying one. I always love endings where we get to see what is going on with the characters in the future. The only weak points of Utawarerumono are:

1. When the Avu Kamuu first appear and everything is corny and confusing
2. The extremely goofy Foxkuoro form
3. The rushed and botched Iceman backstory that could have been so much better
4. The lack of screen time at the end for Hakuoro’s gang (just give us more cool battling scenes against non-blobs/zombies)

In spite of that, Utawarerumono features an awesome cast with very fine voice acting, decent production values that are consistent throughout the series, and an amazing OP that I watched every time. I like that the series became so much more than one would expect, given the rather cliche beginning, and I thought the last episode was outstanding. Overall the show greatly exceeded my expectations while giving me characters I could love and plenty of little things to poke fun at.

Kabitzin’s Rating: 4.5/5

Tagged as: Four Stars