Utawarerumono

[bagandscalpel]

Thoughts and reflections on this episode:

- A very well done humor episode in it's entirety, oh, and I love characters who make an entrance by dropping half-a-dozen name bombs.

- Why does Eruruu say, "With this (honey), even Aruruu drinks it (anti-hangover concoction)"? Does this imply that Aruruu is a raging drunk off the scenes?

- Gachatara's species rare? I doubt it, seeing as how Hakuoro saw the same creature once or twice already during his random wanderings into the wood to watch Kamyu fly around. I bet the merchant swiped it out of the woods.

[Kraco]

- Why does Eruruu say, "With this (honey), even Aruruu drinks it (anti-hangover concoction)"? Does this imply that Aruruu is a raging drunk off the scenes?

What exactly is a hangover remedy? I don't believe a real one exist even today, with all the multibillion medicine reseach in the industry. They are just something that alleviate the general symptoms, and those same symptoms are shared by great many conditions (headache, nausea, etc).

- Gachatara's species rare? I doubt it, seeing as how Hakuoro saw the same creature once or twice already during his random wanderings into the wood to watch Kamyu fly around. I bet the merchant swiped it out of the woods.

Maybe there are numerous species in the same genus with outwards differences not so obvious. That is true in the real world for lots of species, and could be true for that creature and it's close relatives.

[Ryllharu]

What exactly is a hangover remedy? I don't believe a real one exist even today, with all the multibillion medicine reseach in the industry. They are just something that alleviate the general symptoms, and those same symptoms are shared by great many conditions (headache, nausea, etc)..

Prairie Oyster:

1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 dashes vinegar
Dash Tabasco Sauce
Pinch salt and pepper

note: When drinking, the egg yolk should be swallowed whole.

Usually, there's an ounce of alcohol mixed in there too (to really cure the hangover by getting you buzzed again). This is the only "real" one I know of. I imagine Eruru's didn't taste a whole lot better than these do.

[Kraco]

Prairie Oyster:

1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 dashes vinegar
Dash Tabasco Sauce
Pinch salt and pepper

note: When drinking, the egg yolk should be swallowed whole.

Usually, there's an ounce of alcohol mixed in there too (to really cure the hangover by getting you buzzed again). This is the only "real" one I know of. I imagine Eruru's didn't taste a whole lot better than these do.

Somehow I think you'd just suddenly get better so that you wouldn't need to ingest that. And I think this was also true for Oboro.

[chobits1217]

damn this episode is awesom with so much fan services
(ya i think all those funny scenes are more like fan services~)

i just love the tail waging and touka's reaction to the creature. (sorta reminds me of that samurai girl in Love Hina...)

by the way i don't get, how come people actually get confused about the twins' gender??
i was laughing my ass off when my friend told me he didn't know they are female until this episode@@ what the hell....

[Board of Command]

Oboro is a pimp. Wow.

[Yukimura]

@chobits: I forgot to mention this in my earlier post but, in the source game, the twins were boys, which seems to have caused a lot of confusion amoung people who've played the game.

Woot my 500th post is an addendum...should have come here before the NHK one!

[Aiham]

I have to say, I actually thought they were guys and I was totally surprised when I watched the latest episode. But still, even if I knew they were girls, I was still surprised because of them just suddenly having a threesome, Lol.

[complich8]

They seemed a little too concerned about their master's well-being not to be involved with him. Besides, as the emperor said, there's nothing wrong with liking women... it shouldn't be that much of a surprise.

I wonder what sort of effect that scene might have on the doujin authors though ... it's hard to really make up stuff that's pretty clearly confirmed like that... it'd make it feel less ... you know ... unofficial. Or something.

[masamuneehs]

man this show continues to rock! I'm intrigued with the new young emperor, and his bodyguard seems to be kickass as well...

lol at adding honey cracking the medicine bowl! That scene man, so friggin hilarious!

this anime has tons of alcholism in it. I absolutely love it.

and the merchant guy: "So, would they be your new concubines?" That guy is awesome. Reminds me of Ichimaru Gin in a way, less creepy and sarcastic though.

the emperor's talk with hakuoro was entertaining, particularly the bit about wives and securing the throne through an heir. Man, Hak really needs to move on that or we'll start thinking he's...

and speaking of the that ... people here seem to be pretty staunch on the idea that the archer twins are female. Well, ya know, they sure do make the most of that fuzzy line between the sexes... I've heard that in the H-game they are male, but either way, man it was so blunt that they'd just suddenly seduce Oboro like that... Honestly I think the anime guys are intentionally fucking with us in regard to their gender...

[Ryllharu]

They did tell us in an earlier eps that the twins were indeed girls. I could never remember which, but they were still in the village at the time. The merchant confirmed it in his first appearance as well. If I felt more industrious, perhaps I'd go looking. They are were not making it easy to figure out though. As some others have said, this was probably intentional since they apparently changed them from the H-game.

Then, they pull the same thing on us with Amuruurinuruekaieou (intentionally misspelled). You think for all of eps 17 that s/he's a young boy emperor, as does Hakuoro, and then they throw us all revealing she's actually a young Empress.

It's amazing that a series can continue to throw the audience time and time again. With the plot advancing more quickly than any of us anticipated (who expected Yue to die off so fast, or even the first fat emperor of Tsukuru?) we are left guessing all the time. This has really become one of the best series of 2006.

[Yukimura]

Utawarerumono - 18 - [Your-Mom]
I don't particularly like Your-Mom's work, but Uta is still Uta, and I'll get the Yesy version when it comes out.

[Death13a]

http://bt.yesy-fansubs.com/%5Byesy%5...5D.avi.torrent
Utawarerumono - 18 Yesy

another excellent. Begining was very intresting.

[Lucifus]

Excellent! Downloading yesys =)

Goddamn, this show is good. Gonna be close for me to chose between F/SN and Utawarerumono as teh best anime of '06.

[Yukimura]

OMG KARURA!!!!! Where is the Karura fan art! Where is my Karura Sig, where is my Karura wallpaper. If any of you want to make one DO IT AND SEND ME THE LINK!!!!!!!!!

Karura for Best Heroine of '06 (Action).

Anyway, besides the obvious awesome parts of this ep, namely Karura being awesome at every aspect of life. We still have overprotective Touka, and awkward moment Eruuru on the comedic side. I hate the anime girls ALWAYS have to have that reaciton at some point in their shows, and it's ALWAYS the exact same after the event. I imagine it's b/c girls act the same way in real life, but i've never been in that particular situation...

Anyway, as well as bondage Hakuoro, and Urutori's (older angel girl's) Kamehameha. Somehow every episode of Uta makes me just as shocked and excited and happy...I think they might be transmitting crack along with it. I alomost forgot about how bad Your-Mom's version was, because even with yellow shit randomly appearing on the screen that was still the my favorite ep to date.

[Lucifus]

My god....Give me H!! Karura is teh shytznite! Greatest ep yet.

Hmm....I do so love F/SN....but I think i'd have to go with Utawarerumono as best anime of '06.
I really can't wait for the next ep.

10/10 this ep. O, and I second that Yukimaru! Best Heroine of '06!

[Kraco]

Aye. It was a great episode. It also demonstrated how Hakuoro is a first generation emperor: to travel with a few buddies to help some rebellion elsewhere.

The triangle scene was to be expected sooner or later, no doubt of that. Considering how Eruruu and Hakuoro have been a kind of destined pair right from the beginning, yet have not really moved any closer to each other, but still there is some unity between them. So, true to traditions, like you said Yukimura, there had to be a scene like that.

I'm a little concerned of what happened to the greater plot now. Surely it must be there somewhere, but this looks more like a sidetrack.

The funniest single moment of this episode:

Maybe those three arrows sticking out of his back..?

[Ryllharu]

As for the greater plot, I believe it lies in the OP. There is the one panning shot of all the people who didn't live in the original village or Tuskuru Castle. It contains in it all the characters that have been hostile to Hakuoro and company. Some people we haven't seen before, some just showed up recently. (I'm still working on how their position up the chart and size relates to their relative malevolence at their given time in the series, if at all). At the top we've got the Young Empress and at the very top in the shadows, an angel man who almost certainly was Yue's assistant. The final conflict will undoubtedly involve him.

There is also little doubt that Hakuoro's empress will be Eruru. I kinda just wish they'd get on with it and have him grab her tail again, but these things take time.

What I found most shocking was Urutori's kameamea Gravity Blast. It made all of them into very squishy lumps in a big hole. I figured she had some form of magical/divine power, but I certainly never expected gravity manipulation.

@Kraco: great picture. You just made my morning.

[masamuneehs]

I thought this episode was pretty good, but like Kraco I was slightly dismayed by what looks to be another deviation (or perhaps post-ponement is the better word) from the main plot. Not to say I don't want to know more about Karura's past and other nations, but I just fear that in 26 episodes there's not enough time...

H-game roots showed strongly in this episode. Guess even Uta isn't immune to the standard jealousy/misunderstanding segment required in almost every anime... But I must say I haven't been this invested in seeing a couple get together since Shakugan no Shana. You not only need to like the characters, but also care enough about them. That character development is what i like about Uta.

Benawi's reaction to Hak and the girls all getting away was probably the funniest part of the episode for me.

The rest of Urutori's clan need to fight more often! That magic is awesome! And they just slipped it in, like it was no big deal. But it was sweet as candy.

@Ryll - I never paused to see everyone in that gigantic pan shot of all the enemies in the OP. The fact that the masked empress with the impossible name is up there really comes as a surprise to me, as I thought she was surely going to become an ally of Hak's.

[Ryllharu]

This is all wild speculation, but it seems to me that since Urutori's clan are reverently referred to and considered mediators, that in itself would be how the young empress would end up opposed to Hakuoro and various consorts. We know from the episode she was in that she is extremely devout, and I wonder if Shadowy Winged Bastard will play off of that to turn her against Hakuoro, with whom she was very impressed before. A faked betrayal could quite possibly turn her into a serious enemy.

As for timing, they'll easily wrap the Karura segment in the next eps, as they have so excellently executed the story arcs in the past. That leaves plenty of time for the rest of the villans to show up.