Utawarerumono 11

To solidify support against Shikeripetim, Hakuoro calls a meeting between all the neighboring countries. Everything’s looking good when Teoru busts into the meeting and tells Hakuoro that a mysterious force attacked the village. However, no worries, because everyone escaped. Content with this knowledge, Hakuoro turns his energy towards the counterattack, and the invaders are caught in a clever trap and slaughtered. Hakuoro, however, is concerned about how fearless the invaders were and how much they hated him.

Even worse, it turns out that Teoru was lying, and in fact the entire village was razed to the ground. In a touching scene, we see Teoru collapse in his own blood and see a vision of Sopoku and the other villagers. A messenger later confirms that the country of Kucha Keccha attacked them, and Hakuoro decides to march against Kuccha Keccha. In his scary rage, Hakuoro’s forces are caught in an ambush, and one hot katana-wielding trenchcoat-wearer named Touka shouts out the reason for the attack. Touka is here to avenge the honor of Evinkuruga, and kill the villain Rak Shine. The commander of the legion also calls Hakuoro “Rak Shine”, and claims to be the older brother-in-law of the traitorous Rak Shine.

Finally it looks like we are getting into the main story, and the tension is superb. Already faced with attack on one side, Hakuoro now finds his past catching up to him and pressing on with righteous fury. What could he have done? Seeing the Kuccha Keccha forces, I surmise that Rak Shine must have been married to an important girl (the sister of that commander), but then continued to nanpa around and build up a sizeable harem. At this point, he probably tried to make off with all the women, leaving Kuccha Keccha devoid of hot girls. That traitorous bastard!

In spite of all the many forces tugging against Hakuoro, he’s managed not to collapse into an emo-induced sob. Undoubtedly someone else corrupted Rak Shine (who I will continue to refer to as Hakuoro), and eventually everyone will unite against this hidden shadowy enemy. Speaking of shadows, anyone else marvel at the glowing stone candles that don’t burn down your castle when you tip them over? Those are totally sweet!