(CR) Utawarerumono: Futari no Hakuoro (Mask of Truth) Anime Episode Discussion

[Friday]

great to see this back

looking forward to the rest of the series

[leongsh]

Episode 3
Liking the direction this arc is being made. Clear, snappy and having Haku meaning business to put down the marker that they are no pushovers and will do what is necessary for the goal. Goodbye to the useless oaf, Dekopompo. Haku did Raiko a great favour by eliminating that doofus pillar general. He need not have to take into account of the dumb decisions that Dekopompo would take in battles. There is a side cost to it all with Haku losing Maro for good as he had to keep up the facade that he is now Oshtor and inform Maro that Haku is dead and spinning it as Haku died protecting Oshtor.

[Anh_Minh]

I don't know that I have much sympathy for Maro. Can't he see that Oshtor has a lot on his plate?

[FlareKnight]

The show remains good at showing how heavy the costs are in all this. Not an easy time for anyone. Nekone is taking a lot of stress but having to keep up appearances. Of course same for Haku who also has to lead this fight. But they are both dealing with a lot. And I'm sure they'll have to deal with more as the conflict grows.

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I don't know that I have much sympathy for Maro. Can't he see that Oshtor has a lot on his plate?

I guess not. Now I'm sure the slaughter and the horror of burning soldiers is a bit hard to take in. But Maro shouldn't be an idiot. It should be obvious that Oshtor has few options here if he's going to protect the Princess. Of course winning the war is important! If they lose then they all die.

[magnuskn]

The last season was a damned disaster. I hope this one will be better, because I could not make a single emotional connection last season to the characters.

*edit, 3 days later* Yeah, that's much more like it. I can't deny that the first season set this up nicely, but basically wasting an entire sub-par season so that we can actually care about those characters in a second season seems to be very wasteful to me.

While everything seemed to be low-stakes and somehow removed from any meaningful story in the first, this second season ups the stake instantly and returns to form from the original Utawarerumono.

[FlareKnight]

Certainly things are picking up. And it's kind of nice to get back to the old cast. Although I still think an adult Aruru is still really awkward. They want to kind of keep the personality and speech pattern of her as a kid, but it doesn't quite work now. But the rest of the cast is fine since a few years added to them isn't all that big a deal.

Oboro certainly took a hit when it came to calming Kuon down. Getting his hands frozen and burned! Guess he won't be doing much fighting for a while. Definitely makes Kuon a ticking time bomb in that sense. Maybe she's feeling ready to fight now, but things aren't going to be all that easy on her. But at the same time she's clearly inherited that giant form so she's a pretty valuable asset to have out there when things inevitably get increasingly serious.

Not sure if this makes the situation more or less difficult for Haku here. Of course there wouldn't be much chance his small force could seriously topple Yamato anyways. Even if Anju recovers things will remain complicated. So having a serious military force moving in on Yamato creates a kind of opening. And it isn't as if Tuskuru would have a problem with Anju taking over. Obviously there will be clashes between both sides, because of course. But it might work out ok.

This is a pretty extreme move for them though. Even if Yamato is chaotic and a threat, they are still on a different continent across the sea. Although maybe this is the only time to make that move anyways. They've kind of lost a lot of their firepower over the years. Most of their superhuman members don't seem to be around for various reasons. Although obviously Benawi remains awesome no matter what. Curious to see how this plays out.

[magnuskn]

I can understand them taking advantage of the chaos in Yamato to strike, given that from their perspective it is likely that they will be attacked again after whoemever wins the power struggle consolidates their rule. The first attack was unprovoked as well, after all.

I really wonder at this point about what happened to Eruru.

Anyway, what was up with the voice change for Kuon for a few lines at the end of the episode? That sounded pretty strange. Was that her "divine scion" voice?

All in all, this season has vastly improved over the first one. We got actual stakes, characters suddenly feel like the have real emotions. It's pretty good stuff and very reminiscent of the first series. Whomever the new director is, he is doing good work.

[Nachtwandler]

I presume, Eruru is busy watching a seal on Hakuoros 'tomb'. It would be a logical task for the first wife.

[FlareKnight]

Well good for Anju getting back on her feet. Of course reality isn’t kind and grief awaits her even now. And she’s left with tough decisions. What does she do? Give up everything, hope she’s left alone, and live quietly? Or does she retake what she can still get back? No matter what the choice and the responsibility is on her.

Frankly it’s a miracle that Haku has managed thus far. And it’s definitely ironic that while the other side is using a fake Princess that his side has a fake Oshtor. Seems way too early for the lie to really get exposed. So in that sense I’m curious how the end of this episode will play out. Can Haku rebound from here? And presuming the duel continues I’m curious what he’ll do here…

[Anh_Minh]

If Haku can kill him, they can just point out the other guy's an honorless traitor and there's no reason to listen to him. It's a big "if", though.

[FlareKnight]

On the positive side, at least we don't have to worry about Kuon complaining about Haku concealing his identity. Since she's doing the exact same thing and causing trouble for her friends. I guess that makes them rather perfect for each other?

Still not sure if the voice thing matters or is just something she's doing to conceal her identity. Not that I think she needs to. But I guess it would be unpleasant having her friends calling her out for invading their country.

Kind of a weird mix where they lifted Anju up just to smite her right back down again. Though I guess that goes for both the writer and Kuon herself. Nice of her to cure Anju just to announce an invasion and humiliate Anju. Couldn't she have just not given a cure and left Haku's side unable to do much of anything while they invaded? Could have simply given the cure later after everything was settled.

[Nachtwandler]

Most probably she is just lying and her real plan is for Anju and Ennakamui to join the war and make things easier for her.

[Alchemist007]

Did Kuon just hit puberty at the end of the ep? That voice change.

[Nachtwandler]

Originally Posted by Alchemist007

Did Kuon just hit puberty at the end of the ep? That voice change.

She just embrased her dark side.

The voice change happend at the end of ep. 4 if you missed it.

[Alchemist007]

Right I forgot I'm like 2w behind on this one since I'm watching with people.

[Side-streetdog]

I'm barely remember fight between Kuon and Anju in the game
I believe there wasn't much in term of graphic or animation
So I really want to see it back then.
And it really took awhile until they finally make animation this part

From animation so far I would not expected some crazy battle like from UFOtable or Bones
But I'm still glad I finally seen it

[Friday]

ep 7

a new owner of Karula(Karura) sword. anyone who can lift it is worthy

[magnuskn]

Interest in this series kinda dropped to zero, huh? Well, Maroro's mental break actually made the character somewhat interesting. Otherwise the series is kinda plodding along, with Haku collecting new allies every second episode.

What really hurt the series, in my opinion, is that the first season was all slice of life comedy episodes (except the ending) and now the second season is full on serious drama most of the time.

[Nachtwandler]

But it is the third season technically. Even if 2-3 games have a new plot and main characters, they still continue the first one. This season is just made more akin to first one and follows the game plot better (though, people still complain about things being cut). I personally like it, but I got tired of seeing hateful comments from game purists so I have no desire discussing it.

[magnuskn]

Well, if you count the original series with Hakuoro as the first season, this is of course the third one. I think there's too much of a break between the two to do so, but it's a valid interpretation.