[Fall 2015] Utawarerumono: False Mask Discussion Thread

[Buckeye]

うたわれるもの 偽りの仮面

A completely new series adapted from the Aquaplus visual novel franchise. Like the original series, the MC who can't remember anything gets picked up by a cute animal girl and lives in a new place where wars are everywhere.

Airs: Saturday, October 3

Studio: White Fox

ANN Entry
My Anime List
Official Site
Crunchyroll

The nameless protagonist awakens to find himself standing in the middle of a vast, snowy plain he doesn't recognize. Suffering from amnesia, he remembers nothing about himself. Suddenly, he's attacked by an insect-like creature but is saved by a beautiful girl with animal ears and a tail named Kuon. She names him Haku.

Notes
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[Buckeye]

Episode 1

Just who is he, anyway?

It begins with the MC being found by the fox girl Kuon and brought into a village where he is having quite a tough time fitting in. He is given the name Haku, and Kuon is teaching him how things work in the village. But Haku is still struggling, all while an attack is coming.

That's a solid way to begin this show, and while it starts off in similar fashion as the original series, Haku a total klutz, the complete opposite of Hakuoro. And on top of that, he's not wearing a mask. I loved the original series, and as such I'm excited about this series. The first episode certainly does a nice enough job setting things up. And now, there's conflict coming.

[EmperorBrandon]

Re: Episode 1

I was wondering when that tail was going to be stroked. Just knew it had to happen at some point.

Always neat when we get to see a girl sneak a peek at a guy. That was the second show with that today, both times rather cute.

[Yamada2]

Re: Episode 1

This was a nice episode. Kuon is cute. The MC doesn't remember his name or anything about himself so Kuon names him Haku. And Haku doesn't like working and sucks at physical tasks. What a weakling. He can use his head though. The giant centipedes are attacking more people now. Interesting stuff. Nice comedy, good artwork, fun characters so far at least.

[Buckeye]

Episode 2

Beware the giant centipede.

Haku's party begin their gigiri extermination by drawing them into a trap, but little did they know that there was a giant one among them. Seeing that weapons are useless against it that Haku draws up a plan to draw the blob at the spot he was found to defeat it.

Haku may be clumsy, but one thing he does have Hakuoro's analytical skills seeing that he came up with that brilliant strategy. That was very nice to see that Haku is a strong tactician that all starts out with his math skills. So with that, Haku and company are taking a road trip to the capital next.

[EmperorBrandon]

Re: Episode 2

Dang, talk about a brutal surprise. Well, not surprised that the more monstrous centipede showed up and there were casualties dealing with it, but how it came right in the middle of a nice seemingly safe chitchat. Poor guy. Haku could only thank him for the water later at his gravestone.

I love how Kuon drags Haku back it right as he's about to try and sneak off back to the village. The tailservice continues to be quite adorable.

Looks like we're going to see more major girls next episode. Curious about them, and where the story will go from here.

[Buckeye]

Episode 3

Don't mess with the bird.

Here comes Rurutie and her giant bird Kokopo making the trip to the capital with Haku and company. Along the way, thieves attack and steal the cargo wagon not knowing that it was a trap set by Ukon to annihilate the band. And as for the leaders, they get away, but they face the wrath of the bird for the way they treat Rurutie. With that, everybody is at the capital.

This show's version of Aruru comes in the way of a girl with a giant bird instead of a tiger, and the way they interact with each other is really cute. Kokopo sure shows those thieves not to mess with them. From the look of things, Nosuri is going to become a member of Haku's party later on now that they have broken ties with those thieves, but that's something for another day.

[Buckeye]

Episode 4

She's sister, not daughter.

At the capital, Ukon meets up with his younger sister Nekone, while Kuon is all excited over the bath, and Haku is struggling yet again at work. Then comes Hakuoro who lets everybody know that Ukon is Oshutaru, the General of the Right.

That was a pretty laid-back episode there meant to introduce Nekone, and for her age she is really smart. And then there was Hakuoro coming in all to show just how much of a gap there is between him and Haku. That was pretty nice, and certainly I have to get used to the fact that characters are going by aliases seeing that Haku was given his name because he can't remember what his own is. Next time, there are going to be pirates on the attack.

[EmperorBrandon]

Re: Episode 4

Even though she was introduced the previous episode, it feels like Rurutie is actually making more of an impression this episode. Her enthusiasm for Haku is nice, but even more so that it extends to having BL fantasies about him and Ukon.

[Hitsugi Amachi]

Re: Episode 4

Even though she was introduced the previous episode, it feels like Rurutie is actually making more of an impression this episode. Her enthusiasm for Haku is nice, but even more so that it extends to having BL fantasies about him and Ukon.

Basically, Rurutie is confirmed as a full-blown fujoshi. Now one simply waits for her to begin drawing Haku/Ukon doujinshi

[EmperorBrandon]

Re: Episode 4

Basically, Rurutie is confirmed as a full-blown fujoshi. Now one simply waits for her to begin drawing Haku/Ukon doujinshi

Exactly what I was thinking about.

[Buckeye]

Episode 5

She's fallen for him.

Atui comes out of nowhere to suddenly declare her love for Haku, all while she is being chased by some masked archer. As it turns out, that masked archer is Kiuru and brother of Oshutaru and Nekone. And in the meantime, Atui is living with Haku.

That was pretty silly with this whole chase and Atui's love at first sight, but of course in the original series girls just kept on coming one after another. Anyway, that felt more like a filler episode there seeing that there was not a whole lot of advancement here. But the new characters certainly add to this show.

[Buckeye]

Episode 6

Don't have a bath? Make one.

Haku takes a bath with the inn's owner, who happens the be Karula. As is turns out Kuon was raised by Touka, who she calls mother as she was one of many mothers who raised her, and Karula, who she calls big sister. Then they have a great time chatting with each other while Karula explains the reason for opening up this bathhouse seeing that Yamato, the name of the capital city, didn't have one.

That was pretty nice there getting to see characters from the original series appearing, and some things never change like Karula's resistance to alcohol and daring attitude, while Touka is overly formal and not good at taking jokes. So from the look of things, this show is set years after the events of the first series. Anyway, that was nice to see everybody's reaction there when it was assumed that Haku and Kuon were getting married when in fact they are traveling partners only.

[Jun Kuga]

Re: Episode 6

I knew that it was Karula. The clues last week were hidden, but clear if you spotted them (we saw blue braided hair, and her shackles).

I wasn't expecting Touka, and I didn't recognise her when she was sneaking around. The revelations about Kuon's upbringing isn't really that surprising, that she was raised by a group of strong women is a clear reason why her personality is as such.

We also got a glimpse of Eruru. I had to remind myself, but it was clearly Eruru (Aruru wears a similar but differently coloured outfit)

Her reaction makes me wonder if Eruru is her true mother - but I don't think she is. My suspicions lay elsewhere (given other things that have been said earlier in the series)

[Library-chan]

Re: Episode 6

Carrier...and Touka have arrived. Nice to see the old characters again, and we get a glimpse of the others as well. Touka sure has a deep voice. I thought it was Ogata voicing her, but it's someone else.