Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen - Episode 10 Discussion / Poll

[Kairin]

Welcome to the discussion thread for Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen, Episode 10.

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[Stark700]

Lol so they focused an entire episode about "love" including BL art and what a kiss means..

Got a lot of face palm moments. Poor Haku as well for getting smacked. That's going to leave a mark.

[Pen3]

Another episode of nothing important.... how many more till the story gets going again? It's been like this for the past 4 episodes.

[FlareKnight]

One day the main plot for this series will start....one day.

There were some good moments in there. The bits with Haku were pretty hilarious and you feel for the poor guy. Working in sludge, falling into sewers, getting slapped, tail hung, and now having to go help find Anju....

Couldn't they have just taken care of most of this situation by telling the girl "no, I don't think the middle aged general of the country is going to fall for a pre-teen." I'm sure there are some people in that kind of situation that would try to get involved with Anju for political gain and power, but not for romantic love. Deal with the girl's crush and move on episode.

[DragoonKain3]

I'm still enjoying it, as this was the most humorous episode in the series so far. Like the contrast between semi-real SoL of the previous with the hijinks going on in this episode, is what brought out some chuckles from otherwise rather run-of-the-mill jokes.

Oh yeah, and it looks like Kana transformed into Kana Kana if only for one shot... XD

[dmaxzero]

Legend says that this will have a main story.... maybe.
Laughed more than I should have with tail hung Haku.

[Nvis]

Haku and the Noble Thief have a thing for each other...

She's gorgeous, too.

[Alf]

Really hilarious episode, and by the princess fucking up things the next episode would be interesting. The comedies are much better handled in this episode, though yeah someone should have told her the impossibility.

The two story told to Anju are strong reference to the first series and Haku accordingly....and it's been told as love story? This is great. Although the girl's side isn't as good as the boy's side, the two sides tied together nicely. It's also good to see the bad idea guy moment of Haku, which I wish there are more of it.

And they have merged the reintroduction of Nosuri with the princess event, while showing the secret agent's job at the same time. This mix is causing some timing issue to the episode but overall well paced and good setup for the next episode.

[Nachtwandler]

Originally Posted by Pen3

Another episode of nothing important.... how many more till the story gets going again? It's been like this for the past 4 episodes.

Real plot will kick from ep.14 but I won't say that next 3 eps will be fillers.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Honestly, compared to the original Utawarerumono, I feel that 6 out of 10 episodes (or at least most of the segments in those episodes) of Itsuwari so far should be better served as OVAs or special episodes (which I would enjoy immensely). But as the main episodes, this feels more and more like Aria or K-On! In ancient Chinese setting. It’s great if SoL is the sole premise of the show, but doesn’t it also promise strategy, politics and action?

Originally Posted by Nachtwandler

Real plot will kick from ep.14 but I won't say that next 3 eps will be fillers.

For heaven’s sake, I hope it’s true. But then again, we have to wait 4 more episodes? *facepalm*

[Alf]

Well, let's say this episode is already kicking start the events that leads to the so called main plot? If you consider the elemets preseted in this episode, nearly all previous episodes contributes to the current status so they really can't leave it for OVA.

If you compare it to the first series it will be very different even when it comes to second half, because it's not the war driving the plot but the plot driving the war. At the end, it's not about the war but the characters.

[Flower]

To me this episode did in fact feel like it was the beginning of the main plot of the story...a princess being abducted by her own request after having snuck out of the palace is a level of seriousness that I can only see would have impact on a larger level than any other actions taken thus far. Perhaps it will ge a while before things hapoen, but it really feels like a match dropped on a haystack somehow.

Something tells me Haku meeting with the bandits out in their keep (I assume the one shown in the OP?) also sets the ground for future development as well. I am reminded of season one's developments of the protagonists meeting the bandits being the trigger of the plot beginning to really move as well, though that was way earlier in that series conparison wise.

[tsunade666]

Its painful to watch... ugh. If I'm not familiar with the first game then I would probably liked this one but I painted this series as a successor for that one and it failed to be compared. The series is just that different and the story telling is too different. It become something like gochuusa and I already had that one to fill my needs. I don't need another one. Its already painful to watch harem crap series and I'm waiting for exciting war, politics and strategy series but this series fails me.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Alf

...nearly all previous episodes contributes to the current status so they really can't leave it for OVA.

They can retain the important bits, yes. But they should leave a good chunk of it for OVAs. One example (out of many): the "Aruru & Kamyu searching for Kuon"-shenanigans. They repeat the antics again & again with different food stalls. For what? Mere cuteness? We've got plenty of that already. Trim those fluff down and you'll get a better pacing for this show. That's why I said:

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

...or at least most of the segments in those episodes

not necesarily outright dumping those 6-or-so episodes to OVAs.

[Pen3]

I know some of you guys are into the BL stuff and i wish it could be tuned downed a bit. We already know the girls are fascinated by it, but trying to remind us 3-5 times an episode is a bit much.

[Alf]

Originally Posted by tsunade666

Its painful to watch... ugh. If I'm not familiar with the first game then I would probably liked this one but I painted this series as a successor for that one and it failed to be compared. The series is just that different and the story telling is too different. It become something like gochuusa and I already had that one to fill my needs. I don't need another one. Its already painful to watch harem crap series and I'm waiting for exciting war, politics and strategy series but this series fails me.

Well, it's expectations. It's because the first series was so good at what it did, they cannot go for same direction. That's why just another war will not work.

The first series isn't much about politics, and while this series (should) have more politics it's not very much into it. There are wars later but it will not be as much as the first series, and it will be very different.

While it's perfectly okay to say the execution is not good enough or the trope they use are not for your taste, expecation problem is another matter.

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

They can retain the important bits, yes. But they should leave a good chunk of it for OVAs. One example (out of many): the "Aruru & Kamyu searching for Kuon"-shenanigans. They repeat the antics again & again with different food stalls. For what? Mere cuteness? We've got plenty of that already. Trim those fluff down and you'll get a better pacing for this show. That's why I said:
not necesarily outright dumping those 6-or-so episodes to OVAs.

I think I got much of why of all this, but it's gonna be long.

I agree that the arrangement could have been better, but so far there really are not much unnecessary stuffs. Instead, it's because they have cut out some less important parts that make the life in the capital much better, namely the agent missions, that it feels like a long wait for the build up.

TL;DR…

 

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

I'm personally not very fond of this direction, but I can guess why it's chosen. And having this in mind is good for adjusting expectations and knowing how to best enjoy this series. Anyway I find it a good sign that secret agent jobs is taking more spotlight since ep 8 and they added it to the mix in ep 10, so still looking forward to it.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Alf

Well, it's expectations. It's because the first series was so good at what it did, they cannot go for same direction. That's why just another war will not work.

The first series isn't much about politics, and while this series (should) have more politics it's not very much into it. There are wars later but it will not be as much as the first series, and it will be very different.

While it's perfectly okay to say the execution is not good enough or the trope they use are not for your taste, expecation problem is another matter.

I think I got much of why of all this, but it's gonna be long.

I agree that the arrangement could have been better, but so far there really are not much unnecessary stuffs. Instead, it's because they have cut out some less important parts that make the life in the capital much better, namely the agent missions, that it feels like a long wait for the build up.

TL;DR…

 

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

I'm personally not very fond of this direction, but I can guess why it's chosen. And having this in mind is good for adjusting expectations and knowing how to best enjoy this series. Anyway I find it a good sign that secret agent jobs is taking more spotlight since ep 8 and they added it to the mix in ep 10, so still looking forward to it.

Hmm....so that's why the show is suffering so far. Oh well, I guess this is one of those situations where the expression "It can't be helped" find its use (unless the anime-team is willing to go truly anime-original to have better pace). Anyway, thanks for the explanation, I appreciate it.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Alf

Well, it's expectations. It's because the first series was so good at what it did, they cannot go for same direction. That's why just another war will not work.

The first series isn't much about politics, and while this series (should) have more politics it's not very much into it. There are wars later but it will not be as much as the first series, and it will be very different.

While it's perfectly okay to say the execution is not good enough or the trope they use are not for your taste, expecation problem is another matter.

it is not just the war thing. The first series was a lot of plot focus. There was hardly any filler eps. The first series had moe element but it didn't need to focus, the plot bought it out naturally. The sequel is trying too hard to sell moe without any plot.

[relentlessflame]

FWIW... I'm pretty convinced now that this is going to be 50-episode show in total. With the fact that they just announced that the third game will be released in September 2016, my guess is that they will announce at the end of March (with the 25th episode) that an anime for the third game will also arrive in Fall 2016 (exactly like how this anime arrived in Fall 2015 after the game came out in September). This would also help to explain why they're releasing the anime in boxsets rather than singles (because 4 boxes is more palatable for collectors than ~18 singles).

So if you think of this whole thing as a 50-episode series, the slow wind-up and gradual world-building makes a lot more sense. We're just really, really not used to such long-running anime anymore in this world of quick-hit 1-cour shows. And it's only because of the strength of the original that they can make this sort of big bet that people will be patient and trust them for an eventual payoff.

[Flower]

If it does turn out to be a 50 ep series then I will be thrilled!

And yes, if it does turn out to be so it would certainly explain the pace adopted thus far....