Nice review. I'd agree with it for the most part, since I liked it.
Utawarerumono tv Review
An injured man was found in the forest and rescued by the elder of a village, becoming part of her family. The man has no memory of his past and wears a mask he can't remove. Hakuoru, as he becomes known, proves to be a strong leader and eventually leads numerous missions to liberate the people throughout the country of its corrupt politics. While on this journey he unknowingly seeks out his past, as well as his true purpose while at the same time protecting his new found friends and family.
Written by littlejonny100.
Story & Characters
'Utawarerumono' is also known as 'The One Being Sung' and is to be released in english as (to my dismay) 'Shadow Warrior Chronicles'. I'll start by pointing out this a review for the anime, although the storyline is based and shared with the original game.
We start with an injured man found in the forest and rescued by the elder of a village, becoming part of her family. The man has no memory of his past and wears a mask he can't remove. Hakuoru, as he becomes known, proves to be a strong leader and eventually leads numerous liberation missions throughout the country, taking his new family with him across the lands and making friends of enemies. It is interesting in that although the start sets up the anime to be about Hakuorus past, that's mostly forgotten through most parts and it isn't until the end that you again remember the original point of the story.
Great compliments to the story as it is engaging, keeps you thinking and most especially is almost completely unpredictable at every stage. The story swings through various, conjoined arcs and manages to cover each character's individual stories while at the same time advancing in the grand scheme of the plot. Although there are too many characters to go through in a short review I'll guarantee that the personalities cover all typical stereotypes so there's someone for everyone to fall in love with.
The overall score is not given lightly; the only thing holding it back from a perfect score is the manner in which the ending becomes slightly rushed and complicated to understand, seeming almost random, never-the-less, the overall connectedness and spontaneity of the plot is overwhelming in its verdict.
Rating:
Art
This seems to be a suitable place to mention that the characters are mainly dog-like people with a few angels as well (a quick visit to any gallery item will give you a better understanding). The art/animation has a strange mix and includes normal cell animation as well as the random 3D renders here and there. Although the 3Ds look decent for aspects such as fire there are times when soldiers in battle scenes temporarily become 3D, however to negative effect. Battles scenes are also worthy to note for some gruesome details which start to appear in later episodes, although the anime is not projecting its gore, be ready for it.
Although the animating tends to be mostly simplistic the shadowing across faces has been used to great effect in portraying character emotions. One thing to note with the animation is it tends to become better and worse with the importance of the scenes, some scenes appearing very basic while others are spectacular, these variations in quality can be seen in aspects ranging from landscapes to battle scenes. This bias certainly becomes prevalent towards the end of the series as the animation becomes improved and superior, adding to the grandeur or the closing sequences.
Overall the animation is good however it fails to hold consistency with seemingly random changes in style that negatively effects its score.
Rating:
Sound
The opening song of Utawarerumono 'Musou Uta' is nice and lively while the ending song 'Madoromi no Rinne' is more tranquil and relaxed. More important than just being nice songs (which they are) are their messages, so once you finish the series, think about the words and connect them to the ending and you'll realise what a deep and clever significance they actually have. The ending song of the series 'Kimi ga Tame' is a perfect compliment to the closing sequences and is so beautiful that it acts as the final blow to bring those tears to your eyes.
As far as the voice acting goes, I'll say it's appropriate and everyone is well suited for their roles, also making the characters feel more realistic. The sound effects are decent although in large fighting scenes the sword clashing and yells become slightly generic, however with the importance of the scene you'll see improved sound effects along with more convincing yells. The background music isn't especially memorable and rather mild, however is always fitting to its scenes and achieving more energy within them.
Rating:
Presentation
The anime genre would be adventure with plenty of action, that is lots of fight scenes but at the same time a great deal of warm humour, the type that creates that fuzzy feeling in some, so be prepared to fall in love with at least one of the characters. Looking at the characters appearances one would say it is of a fantasy genre as well however towards the end a few ideas of science fiction invade this, but that can be left for your own discovery. In saying that no matter what type of person or anime your into there is bound to be something for you to enjoy in either the plot and characters themselves.
Utawarerumono presents itself beautifully with a perfect mix of genres and characters complimenting an exciting but equally touching storyline. The overall effect of this anime is that you can experience the passions of the characters while making your own conclusions on the larger picture of what's happening in their world.
Rating:
Final Verdict
8.8333 (very good)
Reviewed by littlejonny100, Oct 15, 2006
Comments
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firemiste Oct 16, 2006
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AWOL Oct 16, 2006
Do I detect biased-ness? Haha~ finally got to review your recommendation already, huh?
Sounds rather compelling, to watch, though. :D -
drastikhate Oct 17, 2006
Thank you for writing such a good review. I hope people who havent watch Utawarerumono should try watching it. It has fighting, romance, comedy and cuteness all in one!
The only thing I wished that they had not done is to have rushed to the ending so quickly but it was still very enjoyable overall.
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Lichking Oct 20, 2006
I only see one bad thing about this anime, blood. The rest is loveable and cute, rather relaxing...
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akuma2002 Oct 20, 2006
A nice review indeed. I love the anime from the beginning to the end. The tactical aspect of the battles is incredible, especially for a rpg freak (^^) like me. I'm still praying to see the game on ps2 translated in english.
Ah and btw, if you loved the anime, why not join the group i made ? http://utawarerumono-fans.minitokyo.net
:D -
Faikenshin Oct 27, 2006
it sounds good i realy want to check it out now my friend has been telin me how good it is:)
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Tyzz Nov 02, 2006
blood? are you that pussie scare of blood?
why the hell you complaining about blood? this is fighting anime. Of course they have blood... if you don like it then stfu n watch ur school, romance n ur comedy anime. don't watch this animeyes im mean ^___^
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mayuka Nov 15, 2006
I quite agree with you, I really liked Utawareru Mono and I think your review is really good.
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zippocool Dec 27, 2006
Wonderful job with Sound, Art... Everything else except the plot
Wouldn't anyone agree that he defeats strong opponents like 10 times his size... a bit too easily? I mean one episode he talks about how strong they are, next episode he's already destroyed them?! Yes he uses strategies, unless the director deliberately cut out all the hard fighting, but it seems to me that his enemies WANT TO BE KILLED or destroyed or annihilated~~~ -
foxmagic71851 Banned Member Jan 26, 2007
nice review!
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shadowfoxza Apr 17, 2007
Utawarerumono actually took my by surprise a bit ... it turned out to be a lot better than I expected it to be. I really enjoyed the series, so much so that I tended to keep watching instead of paying attention to things I should have been doing ;)
A note on the animation ... I didn't actually notice the variance until you pointed them out .. and the start and end themes are permanently on my playlist ...
Good review, makes me want to watch it again ... :)
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SukiLovesAnime Jan 03, 2009
I rly liked this anime very much ^-^
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SchRita Jan 15, 2010
Thanks for the review!
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