Utawarerumono is Braveheart with amnesia and some small-scale Jurassic Park thrown in as well. The main character, Hakuoro, who wears a skull mask that can't come off, awakens in the woods and doesn't know who he is. A kind girl named Elulu takes him into her home, becoming the family he doesn't have anymore. In very short order, Hakuoro acts as the village's hero, standing up to the corrupt king and leading a rebellion. The series, then, is about Hakuoro as the kingdom's new king, the challenges he faces, and the colorful characters that join his army and friendship circle.
 My favorite of these colorful characters is a warrior named Karura, a woman with superhuman strength who perpetually wears a chain around her neck (due to her status as an escaped prisoner), swings a sword the size of her body with ease, and downs sake like nobody's business. I really took to this character, especially since her first scene, where she single-handedly slaughters a whole crew of soldiers on a ship during a massive thunderstorm, is an impressive debut. On the other end of the spectrum, I also rather liked Aruru, Elulu's younger sister, who is incredibly shy and prone to doing her own thing, but who gradually warms up to Hakuoro and the others. She is often seen riding and playing with her colossal white tiger. I think what I like about this character is how she doesn't speak very often; thus, when she does, it's important. It's also significant that she talks more later in the series, which clearly shows how she's more comfortable with everybody. (In the first few episodes, she ran and hid whenever Hakuoro addressed her.) Overall, the show is paced pretty well in the first half, as we meet one character after another, with each one typically getting their own episode.
Ironically, where Utawarerumono works is not in the big scale battle sequences, but in the smaller, human moments: Aruru learning the concept of death when someone close to her dies; Elulu gradually falling in love with Hakuoro; Hakuoro adjusting to his new position as leader of an entire village. There's one nice moment, for instance, when he is signing bills and the camera pans back to reveal he still has a huge pile to go. The series has little comedic moments like that to keep things from getting too deadly serious. Perhaps the most crucial development, obviously, is Hakuoro struggling to remember his dark past. In fact, we do learn about Hakuoro's origins later on, and those episodes work wonderfully. Without giving anything away, I also thought the ending, while bittersweet, was satisfying.
 The show does falter at times, though. Late in the series there's a showdown with a villain who is incredibly one-dimensional (he laughs maniacally and seems to exist only for the pleasure of murdering others), and also introduces a mecha weapon I feel was out-of-place amidst more primitive combat. And speaking of battles, as well-choreographed as they can be, they get pretty repetitive after a while. Yay, they're hitting each other with swords and spiked sticks. And there's a big body count. Yawn. Maybe they would've meant something more if there was a human element to them, but most of the battles are just "Another nation is attacking! Ready your men!" About the only thing to make the battles stand out is that the soldiers frequently ride dinosaur-style creatures instead of horses. (Now you see what I meant when I mentioned Jurassic Park!) Finally, I wasn't a huge fan of a near-death moment later in the series. I won't give anything away, but it's one of those "brought back to life" situations that just feels cheap.
As is typical of TV anime, the visuals are a mixed bag. The show uses a combination of 2D and 3D/CG in the battle sequences, the latter arguably necessary with battles containing hundreds of generic soldiers. While sometimes the CG effects are masked pretty well, at other times they stand out like a sore thumb. A good example is when the camera pans over a conflict; we see the same pattern of characters repeated a few times. In non-battle moments, there are the usual shortcuts employed (near-static characters), but at certain times the animation will get more full. I find it depends on who directs the episode; for instance, an episode done by Naoto Hosoda (who directed Shuffle!) displays looser character models, making it more fun to watch. And as I said in my vol. 1 review, I do like the character designs, as the animal ears/tails on the characters are unique and memorable.
As with most any modern ADV dub, I found the voices to fit the characters and the performances to be well-done, with a few exceptions. A scene where John Gremillion as Hakuoro shouts "Nooooo!!!" in one episode felt too overacted (though, as we saw with Darth Vader in Episode 3, rarely is this effective anyway). I also wasn't fond of Serena Varghese's voice of Kamyu at times, where sentences didn't sound naturally spoken. Overall though, I thought it was a good dub cast. Kira Vincent-Davis as Elulu did a fine job, especially towards the end when she had to emote more.
 This four-disc DVD set from FUNimation has its ups and downs. On the plus side, the video quality is very good and crystal clear (well, as good as DVDs can get, anyway), easily the best I've seen from these thinpak sets. But the set loses points for omitting the four omake shorts originally found on the ADV singles. These are more comedic than the series, so it's a shame they're gone. We saw this practice with Shattered Angels as well; I'm not a fan of FUNi leaving material off, even if it means a lower disc count and price. The only special material on here are clean openings/endings and trailers.
Utawarerumono, despite its lulls in the story and repetitive fights, is a worthy entry into the fantasy genre that keeps you going with the hook of who Hakuoro really is and why people from other villages seem to know him (and hate him for reasons revealed later). The only catch remaining is, I know that people have to be more picky in today's economy. So is Utawarerumono exceptional enough to warrant a purchase? Maybe, but it's worth renting, at least.
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