Ranked #366

Utawarerumono

Utawarerumono manages to be one of those harem animes that anyone can possibly find enjoyable, even if they don't particularly like the concept of harems. Based on the ero-game with the same title, Utawarerumono focuses on an amnesiac man who is found critically injured in a rural village. With the kindness of the villagers, he recovers and spends his days peacefully with them. However, the peaceful times quickly end with a heart shattering event that throws the man and his fellow villagers into a life of war.

Story
The story in Utawarerumono is somewhat simplistic at first, with a majority of the anime following a simple formula of battles, battles and even more battles while introducing new characters. One may find that the way the story unfolds in this show is quite repetitive. However, if you're a fan of war stories with occasionally comedic situations and intelligent strategies to undermine the enemy you will most likely overlook the lack of variation. Despite what has been said, Utawarerumono also has a number of twists and turns (especially in the second half of the show) that should keep the viewer glued to their chairs long enough to see the story through.

Animation
Animation is both a positive and negative point in Utawarerumono. While the animation actually animates the characters in combat (compared to other anime that may just use still images and lines to indicate action) with a good amount of detail, recycled animation occurs. The reused animation is unfortunately quite noticeable (although not too frequent) and may detract one's enjoyment of the battles. The CG animation present in this show is a mixed bag. Some may like it, some may not. Either way, the CG is only used occasionally so it shouldn't be a huge issue. Character designs are more or less consistent, detailed and interesting, albeit one (or more) episode(s) may have the characters looking slightly more odd then usual due to different animators.

Sound
Sound is also quite a mixed bag; you may like it or hate it. The opening song is quite catchy, although there is nothing particularly memorable about it. The ending song also proves to have a unique flair to it, with the overall tone of the music befitting the ambiance of this anime. As Utawarerumono contains a number of battle scenes, the background music does well in giving out the proper mood that is needed to set atmosphere of the show. The voice acting is decent, with no one really standing out but with everyone befitting their character.

Character
Utawarerumono being a harem anime contains the usual female stock characters that you would find from other harems. The serious one, the flirtatious one, the cute one, the shy one and etc. However, due to the majority of the show focusing on war, thankfully most of the female characters are not just part of the harem and play a role in the story. Not every character is developed, most likely due to time constraints (although I'm not sure whether the original game developed the ones missed out in this show). Thankfully the main character and a number of other major characters are given some development and time to flesh out their backgrounds.

Enjoyment
As for why I enjoyed Utawarerumono - I have natural bias against anything that would be considered a harem anime, but the nicely animated action scenes and character designs won this series over for me. Storywise I thought most of the show didn't really offer much, but I was quite suprised towards the second half of the show where a number of twists were thrown in, making the overall story of this anime much more interesting. I also found almost all the characters to be likeable, except for the certain few which are obviously meant to be hated by the viewers. I only wish some other characters besides the ones given time were developed more properly.

Overall
Overall, Utawarerumono manages to deliver an enjoyable package to the casual anime viewer. One may desire to watch this show more then once due to the presence of foreshadowing and a good amount of the background story told in different episodes. Either way, Utawarerumono has a little bit of everything for everyone. It has fan service-like scenes and characters, a large amount of intense action scenes and an intriguing and somewhat deep plot for those seeking something less mindless and profound. It may not prove to be strong in any given area, but it delivers a show that should leave most anime fans somewhat satisfied with what they've just seen. read more

For about 4/5 of the series, I really enjoyed myself. I’m not usually into science fiction/supernatural anime series, so I wasn’t looking forward to anything when I started watching Utawarerumono. However, I was proven wrong. Utawarerumono was just so exciting and fun to watch and I really liked it – 4/5 of the 26 episodes. For the last 1/5, I didn’t like it too much. I don’t wanna give out any spoilers, so I’ll just say that the last arc was too weird and it didn’t register.

All the characters were really likable and I felt sorry for them whenever another war or battle emerges. It’s a good thing they laugh and make me laugh now and then. My favorite was Oboro – I loved watching him fight alongside Dori and Gura, the adorable twins. I love Touka too. I’m still wishing that he’s secretly a guy so my crush on Touka would be justified, but that will never happen. Aruruu was just so adorable and I like her WAY more than her older sister Eruruu. I just find Eruruu a bit weak and bland. I really didn’t like the idea of Hakuoro and Eruru as a couple. It’s just too weird since Aruruu thinks of him as her dad. The villains were also as irritating as the main characters are likable. They really convinced me to hate them.

Animation was above average. Everything was well drawn and surprisingly, I’m OK with the earthy color palette. The CG is something I have to think about. It’s not bad, but it’s not good either. It reminds me of early PlayStation1 video game graphics, similar to Suikoden 2’s graphics. The fight scenes were impressive (and exciting) – I love how the characters move swiftly and smoothly when fighting.

I’m not familiar with most of the voice actors, but they were all very impressive. I have to admit that I was iffy with Hakuoro’s voice at first, since I thought it was too manly and old for him, but in the end it turned out well. Everyone was able to bring out their respective character’s personalities and that is what’s important.

As a stand alone, I probably won’t like the music that much. It’s because the music was really tailored for the series. If I’m gonna enjoy the music, I have to watch Utawarerumono along with it. On that note, I really love the opening theme. Whenever I watch Utawarerumono I just have to sing along with it. The BGM was good too. Most of it sounded tribal, for lack of a better word, which also went well with the theme and feel of the series. I also noticed that the music, although it sounds tribal and almost authentic, it would have sounded better if it was less synthesized.

It almost made my favorites list if it weren’t for the last 4-5 episodes that were too weird for me. Overall I did like it, in fact I like it a lot and it’s one of those series that left a strong impression on me. read more