Forum - View topicREVIEW: Utawarerumono DVD 6
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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Overall, it was a good series and I'm definitely glad I bought it. I was annoyed at their poor explaining of some things or completely ignoring others (so now we know why Camus/Kamyu is special, but we still don't know why she was sucking peoples blood or why NO ONE seemed to care or wonder why after they found her). I think my biggest disappointments in this last volume where what they did with the head of the bunny-eared clan (I really don't like the spoiler[memory regression] plot device) nor how they handled spoiler[Yuzuha's death.] But overall it was a good series and I really enjoyed the cast. The omake videos, especially the ones focusing on Touka, were awesome. Kudos to ADV for including all those extras.
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Ai no Kareshi
 Posts: 561 Location: South Africa |
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I have to disagree with this statement. While I love the entire series, the final part of the story just seems rushed to me. To someone like me who has played the original game, the last episodes look like nothing more than an extended movie trailer, given how much depth they cut out. (And before you condemn me for being some sort of pervert for playing the game, note that the PS2 version that I played contains no h-scenes). While not everything about the sci-fi flashbacks are explained in the game either, a great deal more of it is. The flashbacks, especially the ones with Iceman, Mikoto and Mizushima (the holograph guy), are longer and more detailed. Also, I'm still irked by the fact that they completely left out Mutsumi's part in those – watching the anime only, the viewer has no idea who she is or spoiler[why she is so attached to her "two fathers"]. I found the interaction between Mutsumi and Iceman in the game very sweet and I would have liked to see this included in the anime. Kamyu love and Mutsumi love forever! 
P.S. I was just as disappointed in the handling of spoiler[Yuzuha's death], HitokiriShadow. |
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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I love this series from start to finish. There are so many characters in the series that are so likable. I think we would find a pretty good balance in regards to "favorite Utawarerumono girl" here. I personally vote for Karura, who I knew I liked when she first appeared with Motoko's (GITS) voice actress.
I'm glad that it is being released on Blu-ray with subs and dubs included for 50,000 Yen. This is fairly comparable to non-HD releases in price, and it sounds that it will be taken from the 1080p masters, and not upconverted like Yukikaze or Air on Blu-ray. I love those little short stories especially the last two which are so funny. I'm constantly surprised at the above average rating that Theron gives the animation for this series since the motion seems fairly minimal at best to the point that the CG stuff really stands out. People who are in the background hardly ever move and there is a high ratio of shots that are limited to lip flaps and eyes for motion. This doesn't bother me too much since animation (ironically) is the least important of the four categories in these reviews for me. I find it far more important to have good artwork and direction (like Berserk) which Utaware does very well. I just find it weird since I feel there are many shows reviewed with C and B grade animation that seem to have better animation, but this category is at least as subjective as music or art. It also doesn't help that I just watched the last volume of Noein which has amazing animation. spoiler[I think I was more surprised at abruptness of Yuzuha's than disappointed. I really didn't care too much for Oboro or Yuzuha, but I can see how it could be a big letdown for others.] |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18447 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I was strictly speaking from the viewpoint of someone who's only watched the anime, of course, which would certainly explain the difference in opinion. It didn't even occur to me that they didn't explain Mutsumi's attachment until you mentioned it; could you elaborate (in spoilers) for those of us who will probably never play the game?
Although it caught me off guard at first, it made sense when I stopped and thought about it, and it fits within the framework of what spoiler[Oboro felt he needed to do at the end. It's not like her not surviving for the long haul should have been a surprise, given how close to death she was earlier in the series.] Ultimately it was not an issue for me. |
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W-General
Posts: 280 Location: Ithaca, NY, USA / Taichung, Taiwan |
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The mishandling of spoiler[Yuzuha's death] has its roots in that this is a ero-game to anime adaptation.
We know that spoiler[Yuzuha's really sick, so eventually she is going to die - it was just a matter of when and how it's presented.] The way it was presented in the anime probably ticked people off because it was very sudden. spoiler[ In the game, it didn't seem too bad because as you know it, Utawarerumono has its roots in ero game, and in the game he gets to bang all the girls (except Aruru) and Yuzuha was able give birth to Hakuoro's son before she passed on. This is not present in the anime at all, so people probably felt something's amiss.] |
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Furudanuki
 Posts: 1874 |
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W-General's comments are correct, but I wanted to add a bit more info so that people don't get the impression that in the game spoiler[Hakuoro is a sex maniac who blithely takes advantage of a frail little girl like Yuzuha.] That's not the case at all. spoiler[In the anime and the game there are several scenes where Yuzuha and Eruruu are discussing the nature of family and love. In the game, Yuzuha makes the decision that, no matter what the consequences to her health, she wants to have a child before she dies. She feels that creating a new life and sharing her love will give some meaning to her existance: there will be a family to remember her. The only man Yuzuha really knows - other than her brother, Oboro- is Hakuoro. So Yuzuha begs Oboro to intercede with Hakuoro on her behalf. Oboro refuses repeatedly, but Yuzuha persists and eventually her resolve wears down her brother's resistance. Oboro drinks heavily while trying to work up the nerve to approach Hakuoro about the matter, and winds up in full supplication mode tearfully begging Hakuoro to grant his sister's one request. Hakuoro is shocked at first, but he knows how deeply Oboro loves his sister, and also understands how much it must have cost the proud Oboro to approach him about the matter. Eventually Hakuoro agrees, and fathers the child Yuzuha wanted.] Edit - In the game the only members of "Hakuoro's Harem" who he actually takes the initiative to sleep with and does so entirely of his own volition are spoiler[Eruruu] and spoiler[Urutorii - but in her case there is a strong "comfort sex" element involved.] |
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HitokiriShadow
Posts: 6251 |
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I've never played the game but I did think it felt rushed at times, though nothing too bad pacing wise. More importantly, it just didn't do a good job of explaining things or simply didn't explain things at all that were, presumably, explained in the game.
I didn't have a problem with spoiler[her dying] itself (heck, I would have been disappointed if spoiler[she was magically healed or something], I just thought that how it was shown left something to be desired. I only learned of the other issues W-General mentioned later. |
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MaxSouth
Posts: 1363 |
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again sorry for replying to old thread, but i do not think it would be worthy to create another one just for few thoughts, and i think my input could be of some use to some who require consistency and strive for imaginative creativity in anime... (further i discuss only the anime as standalone work, not game-anime as whole):
doggy/catty ears and tails?.. dinosaurs instead of horses?.. how much more uninspired and boring cliché this "fantasy" setting could be?.. especially since these features are absolutely useless, irrelevant to (magical or not) essence of heroes or events of the story... under the hood of this kind of fantasy, this anime, for the most part, was another boring pseudo-historical shogun-wars saga mixed together with mostly boring scenes of peaceful life... until very end, the characters are mostly one-note, boring flat types, that rarely, if ever, shown any growth... also, as it was with mentioned here "twelve kingdoms" story, almost all of higher officials shown, except main hero, were not believable types... (most of them were actually insane...) they almost made no reasonable decisions, what might tamper with viewers' attempt to connect with the story, to feel it convincing... the story itself makes only half of sense or consistency in terms of built mythology... the dichotomy, that shown in the end, does not scale back to prior events of the series, and much of else is pretty disconnected and unexplained (i agree with Theron on that)... so, all in all, we have just another stitched-together game-to-anime show, that has no actual, clear, consistent concept beyond set of heroes and an attempt to make sense of them in this plot... however, even though not consistent, the ending was fun to watch, not boring at all, and it finally presented some good monster design, so the show is worthy "C" mark... (which is no better than simply "good" in ANN encyclopaedia rating terms, not "very good" as the current rating states... people are too kind to this show...) |
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Shenl742
Posts: 1525 |
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Normally I wouldn't condone bringing up such an old topic, but ironically I just finished this series two days ago. Overall I'd call it "about average"
And about the spoiler[Yuzuha] thing, all I can say is... WARNING! CONTROVERSY AHEAD! No. No. No. NO. Wrong. Holy crap that is awful. I don't care what the justification, that just simply isn't done. The only plausibility for that is that it's a hentai game. If it were not a porn game there'd be absolutely no logic for that kind of BS. I don't care what kind of magic, poignat reason, fluffy bunny reason there was for spoiler[having sex with her]. It was a porn game, at the end of it all, it was probably put in there to appeal to the loli ill girl crowd. I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm going over the line but damn. I found this out right after I finished this series and now I don't think I'll be able look at it the same ever again. |
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