Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Utawarerumono – episode 9

June 6, 2006 on 8:36 pm | In Utawarerumono | 1 Comment

“Taboo”

Hakuoro is smart after all; it’s just that lolis impair his peacetime judgement is all. Here is a man whose heart cries out for a war so that he may prove his worth, or at least take his mind away from the forbidden thoughs.

Some soldiers from the neighbouring land of Shikeripetim demand that Tusukuru surrender without a fight. Hakuoro willingly accepts, which upsets Emperor Yue so much that he decides to attack Tusukuru anyway.
Yet Hakuoro is not without his wiles.

I was initially wary of the “Eruruu concerned” shots that have started to proliferate throughout the series but it turns out that they have been with good reason: Eruruu doesn’t miss Hakuoro so much as she wants to learn forbidden techniques from him; explosive taboos that can change the course of a war. I am now with her on this one, although I understood Hakuoro’s reluctance to let on too much.

In my notes I wrote at the beginning of the episode “Yue does not care for the land, he just wants to punk their asses.” This really does seem to be the case: one of testing the new emperor of Tusukuru. I particularly liked when Yue jumped forth and began to attack Hakuoro.
I wish that today’s world was ruled by warrior leaders who would lead their armies into battle, preferably in stereotypical traditional dress. Alas, a puritan leading browncoats or a shining king leading beefeaters to victory seems like it’s nowhere in sight.

The obvious question to raise is that of how Hakuoro knew the taboo: it must be a resonance from his previous life. To know such dangerous things implies that we’ve known all along: Hakuoro is a dangerous person.

When Hakuoro has something to do, Utawarerumono is an entertaining series. This is such an episode, even with Benawi ex Machina.