Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Utawarerumono – episode 11

July 11, 2006 on 4:38 pm | In Utawarerumono | 3 Comments

“The Eternal Promise”

I know that this episode was a deal breaker for some, but to me it was as a restoration of interest in Utawarerumono. Raising the stakes and throwing out revelations for mysteries are a prime method for continuing narrative support.

I’ll get the best quote ever out of the way here, though: “If this can be solved by vomiting, then vomit all you want.”

Spoilers Inside

As several countries gather to sign a unification treaty with Tusukuru, Teoro comes from Yamayura with news of a terrible attack. It turns out that Hakuoro’s name is actually Rak Shine and a whole country hates him so much that they’ll die just to bring him pain.

There’s little point talking about the shock revelation that Hakuoro was probably a bastard before he had the mask, because that was always a given. You don’t end up amnesiac and with an irremovable mask if you didn’t commit some form of bastardry when you had a memory. My prediction is that Hakuoro abandoned his wife (or, possibly, his sister and her husband, ruler of a land) at the altar and slew a few ugly “wings for ears” women along the way. Okay, that’s not really a guess at all.

The highlight and lowlight of the episode was Teoro: his death was so ridiculous to some people that they’ve walked away from the series in disgust. While yes, it was stupid that he didn’t start bleeding until everyone was gone, and that he probably bled out more than his body could actually contain, the scene where he hallucinated the people of Yamayura coming back to him was a fine way to suggest that everyone of the village had died. They had; it was nice and poetic without being too overbearing.

Everyone who made Hakuoro what he is in that village, with the obvious exceptions of Eruruu and Aruruu, are now dead. It’s kind of sad, because the past for Hakuoro is another country. He’s receiving punishment for actions that he can not remember committing and that the audience are entirely in the dark about. Did Teoro, with his manliness, have to be sacrificed for such a thing?
Of course they did: the enemy army is governed by crazies who will give their lives to make Hakuoro’s just that tiny bit worse. I have no idea who they are, but I’m actually interested in what is going to happen.

The stakes have finally been raised on Utawarerumono. Perhaps now the wars will start to mean something. But I will never accept a woman with wings for ears. That’s just wrong.