I'd say there might be mild spoilers, but then again, there is almost nothing to spoil :'(
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Before I start my rant I will state that I have enjoyed the art and soundtrack in this series (my reaction to the piano track was overwhelmingly positive) . Let us start with the fact, that I have liked the first Utawarerumono series quite a lot. That was mostly because of the narrative, character development and the relation between Hakuoro, Eruru and the rest of the gang. That being said, Itsuwari no Kamen tried to draw some obvious parallels and teased us in a couple of scenes, but failed. At the end of the day, it has very little in common with its predecessor. The elation between the main two protagonists: Haku and Kuon, is cut short in favor of overly introducing the rest of the characters. This is a product that one gets when the makers try to put too much in and leaving single components half baked. It feels unfinished, leaving many plot holes. Some of them are obvious, others explainable by logic. The last episode made me cringe.
-> [SPOILER] I knew that Haku would take Oshutorus place before watching the anime, but the build up to this event was non existent. It was way too sudden. He changes from a slacker into a responsible leader withing hours - really?! A+ on the character development #sarcasm. But the most irritating part was when Kuon cried over Hakus death. As if they were that close. That was so forced by the script that I stopped watching for a couple of moments. Why was she crying? There was no progression in terms of any kind of a relationship between them. No romantic scenes, e.g. holding hands, hugging, kissing... And now she weeps because she thinks he is dead. Give me a break. I was waiting the whole darn series for them to become a couple and all I've got was that? Was there another episode they have forgotten to air? The last episode was just insulting and infuriating. Had to rewatch the last episode of the original series to get my calm back[SPOILER]
TLDR; You could make a 5 episode OVA and it would contain a more complex narrative. As a fan of the original series, I got lured by the cheap trick called nostalgia. It has provided a very shallow story. It felt like a combination of a mediocre harem with some random fujoshi fanservice more often than I would appreciate for this title. Out of the whole series I'd probably recommend watching 6-7 episodes. A wasted potential of what turned out to be more of a filler than anything else.
