Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen – 07-08

For the girls.

Wow. Such bromance. Many manservice.

Eight Pillar Generals

Anzu has been naughty.

Episode 7 of Utawarerumono introduces us to the princess of Yamato, Anzu. The episode plays out in the usual manner where the cast meets someone of importance without knowing his or her identity until the reveal at the end. A rather trite way of doing things, but it works nonetheless so I have no complaints. As far as the actual events go, I could elaborate upon Anzu’s mischievous escapades, but there’s really not much of substance to discuss. What’s more interesting is the introduction of the Eight Pillar Generals. All of them have fancy titles which for the most part suggest their roles, and there’s even one particularly unsavory character who we later find out is a corrupt dirt bag. It’s amazing how easy it is to spot the bad ones when all the good guys look like either handsome, suave men or brawny, manly men. Though this observation only extends to villains of little importance. The big baddies can be just as handsome as the good guys because it gives them more character or something. Or more likely because they have more screen time and as such should be somewhat easy on the eyes. But I digress.

Oshutoru’s counterpart.

Anyway, it seems that Oshutoru is actually one step above the Eight Pillar Generals. He serves as the so-called General of the Right, alongside his counterpart, Mikazuchi. And if you’re wondering, Mikazuchi is of course aptly named the General of the Left. Which I guess makes the two generals the emperor’s right hand and left hand men, respectively. But back to the Eight Pillar Generals. Of the eight, we’ve only seen special emphasis on four. There’s Munechika, who I guess babysits and disciplines Anzu. There’s Woshisu, who apparently writes BL under a pseudonym. There’s Vurai, who for some reason scares Haku via intensely passionate staring. I think anyone would be spooked by that. But you can bet from that exchange that we’ll be seeing more of the guy, perhaps in a rather villainous role. And finally, there’s Dekoponpo, who is the aforementioned corrupt dirt bag. We see more of him in episode 8, so this makes for a natural segue to the next episode. Smooooooth…

Infiltration

Looks like a good idea.

Episode 8 opens with Haku, Atui, and Ukon infiltrating Dekoponpo’s pleasure cruise ship to uncover evidence of his misdeeds. We pick up on what’s going on as the episode goes on, but because we’re not given a briefing on the mission at the beginning of the episode, I was left wondering if I somehow completely forgot about such a meeting in episode 7. Turns out I did not, and no such meeting ever took place. Kind of a weird decision on the part of the show, as it makes the transition between episodes rather jarring. And while I can’t say it’s a poor choice since the viewer implicitly understands what took place unseen in between the episodes, it still creates a hiccup in the flow of the show. Anyway, the events of the infiltration aren’t much to talk about either. We find out that Dekoponpo has been smuggling giant insects into the capital for underground gambling. As expected, the insects escape from their cages the one time the heroes sneak on board, and all hell breaks loose. But of course the heroes are there to contain the damage even if a few corrupt nobles bite the dust in the chaos.

Ukon’s inspiration.

Following the incident on Dekoponpo’s ship is a rather nice segment of character development for Ukon. We learn that admiration for his father, a country noble, is what drives him to help and protect the people he serves. In clawing his way to the top of Yamato’s military, however, he found himself separated from the people he hoped to protect by bureaucratic bullshit. Which, by the way, is all bureaucracy is good for. So anyway this exposition simultaneously explains Ukon’s dual identity as well as paints him as a very righteous person. Though I suspect most of us already got a handle of the latter from his depiction so far. Moving on, the show gives us a tantalizing post-credits stinger as Haku is invited to have tea with who we can only speculate to be the emperor of Yamato himself. During this meeting, it is hinted that Haku may have some connection to the emperor as our hero somehow finds the face of the emperor’s servant, as well as the tea she serves, nostalgic.

I really hope episode 9 will continue Haku’s meeting with the emperor and give us a lot of answers as to the amnesiac hero’s identity. It’s plain as day that he plays a big role in the grand scheme of things since he’s the protagonist in an Utawarerumono work, and I think that 8 episodes is a fair amount of time to keep us in the dark. Though it’s entirely possible that the answers we seek may be withheld from us until the very end, as the first season did. But hey, this season is already doing a much better job of developing its characters, so perhaps it will be more generous with doling out juicy bits of information on the new mysterious protagonist.

Tea with the emperor.

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