Synopsis:

We start off just where we left off, Tusukuru is about to get its metaphorical butt handed to itself on a platter. As the army of EVAs Arm Slaves Avu Kamuu march towards the town, Hakuoro’s usually invincible army is being beaten beyond pulp. Even boulder reinforced ballistas do nothing as the Avu Kamuu swat ground troops away effortlessly.

Hakuoro realizes that there won’t be enough time to evacuate everyone and draws up a plan to lure the Avu Kamuu away and get beaten up for a while as everyone escapes…nice. The rest of the gang won’t stand for that though and continue defending against orders.

Just as Hakuoro seems done for, Aruruu (sorry!) and Mukuru come to his rescue! Only to be severely injured, this makes Hakuoro angry…very angry, you won’t like him when he’s angry. The result? EVA Unit 00 goes berserk and tears the Angel apart limb by limb Hakuoro goes berserk and tears the Avu Kamuu apart limb by limb. As Hauenkua runs away crying for his mommy, we get a…flashback/parallel universe scene where Aruruu is injured and Eruruu agrees to sacrifice her body and soul to what looks like Hakuoro’s mecha to save her. Also, we get a flashforward/parallel universe scene where two scientists, one who sounds much like Hakuoro, observing Hakuoro’s petrified mecha and spewing out randomness about its place in evolution.

The next morning, Hakuoro wakes up in a “dream in a dream” nightmare sequence to find Eruruu serving him tea. Obviously confused because the last memory he probably had was a huge red foot about to land on them, he asks Eruruu what happened. Apparently Kunnekamun ran away with their tails between their legs and the evacuation was called off. Aaaand Aruruu is fine and running around in the courtyard, despite being slashed by some rather large claws just a day earlier.

Thoughts:
Mixed feelings about this episode, I’m really not liking the mecha integration, it’s just not making sense to me. They have also made battle sequences rather lame, ground troops can obviously do nothing as their swords crack and arrows bounce when faced with metal plating. As for the mechXmech battles, they’re too much like Evangelion. The mechas didn’t look organic when shown before, but all of a sudden you get some very EVA-like limb tearing and blood spatters.

On the up side, the plot seems to be progressing at a pretty accelerated rate as has been the case with Utaware pretty much all the way through. This means that there aren’t many wasted scenes, sure they may be confusing as hell, but at least the action is consistent and fast paced. However, I have no idea where they’re going with their storyline now. They’ve set numerous things up to be explained, but there’s barely any time left to address them all:

- Origins of the mechas
- Hakuoro’s past…and possibly future?
- Eruruu/Aruruu past
- Link between the beast and evolution
- Kamyu vampiricism
- Rogue agent of the winged race

How can they possibly cover all these things in detail with only four episodes remaining? I think they’ve been a little too ambitious with Utaware. Sure the ‘new nation -> new emperor -> war -> new castle’ template was predictable, but at least it was easy to explain and develop. With mechas, fossilized evolutionary links, vampiricism and random shots of advanced technology showing up in the end stretch, Utaware seems to be on the path to a Gainax Ending.

On an episode by episode basis, Utaware is doing just fine, but as a whole, I think it has dug itself into a hole from which is cannot escape, mechas or none.

I apologize to all Eruruu and Aruruu fanboys for the mistake ^^”

True fear is indicated by the screaming for one’s mama

“Utawaremono” *right click* *rename* “Neon Genesis Evangelion”

This one’s just to satisfy my inner Touka fanboy =D

Victories

- Well paced action
- Character development seems to be going fine
- Hakuoro, he was cool in this episode (though his sarcasm is far from Kyon level funny)
- Aruruu, brave, cute, innocent and loyal <3
- "Help me! Help me! Mama! Mama!" Ahahahahaha, yes!

Phailures

- Mechas, they’re not working out at all
- Battle scenes, boring to watch ground troops get slaughtered or EVA ripoffs
- Story pacing, there’s no way they can tie up all these loose ends
- Hauenkua didn’t die D=
- No Kuuya screentime? Tsk tsk

Anime producers sure know how to start series off on the right foot, but they always seem to fall apart at the ending. Let’s hope Utaware can pull out of this nosedive, but barring some really random deus ex machina, I don’t see how they’re going to pull it off…but time will tell.

~ Shirukii ~