With the way the story had twisted over the last couple of episodes I didn’t think the ending would be all that great. To say the least, the last episode blew my expectations out of the water. Sure it may not be the best ending ever, but I thought it was still very well done. The early part of the episode wasn’t fantastic, but once the ending song began things really took off. I thought everything afterwards easily made up for the beginning of the episode. I have nothing but praise for their decision to use Suara’s “Kimigatame” as the ending song. It fit the epilogue unbelievably well in my opinion. The song definately made me like this last episode better. I could do nothing but shake my head when Hakuoro asked Oboro to take over for him. Being on such a short fuse he was one of the most unfit person to be a leader. After taking the reins though, Oboro seemed to become a completely different person. He actually appeared to be a suitable person to sit on the throne. The final few minutes allow each viewer come to their own conclusion.

I’m glad I didn’t give up on the series since the end of the series was exponentially better than the beginning. It was a good thing they didn’t use cg much in the latter part of the series. I thought they did a horrible job when they made use of it. Besides that I thought the art stayed fairly consistent throughout the series. I like the character designs for “Utawarerumono” as well. I can’t recall many memorable BGMs and songs in this series. Suara’s “Kimigatame” is one of the exceptions of course. It’s rare for a series without a solid soundtrack to suddenly have a song of this quality for its ending. The story may have been a bit too slow in the beginning, but once things do pick up it really becomes worthwhile. This series isn’t for everyone, but I think a good number of people would enjoy it if they gave it a chance.

It felt uncomfortable seeing Kuuya in a regressed state due to her trauma. You can’t help but sympathize with her considering all we know about her. There was no sign of any recovery, but I’m crossing my fingers we’ll see some improvement in the last episode. We’re finally able to make sense of all the flashbacks from the last couple of episodes. Their explanation for the coexistance of the two very different settings ended up being rather simple yet acceptable in my opinion. I can see how it all comes together now. This episode provides answers to many questions that were still lingering around, but there are still a few more left. Hopefully these remaining questions will be addressed in the finale. Based on the current situation in the story, I think I’ll enjoy the finale. Whether or this will hold true won’t be certain until next week.

A couple of things were cleared up in this episode. We finally get to see Camyu’s critical part in the series. It was previously hinted at that she would play an important part eventually. It was kind of surprising to me since I never thought much about the possibilities of what her role would be. We also got some insight into just who Dii is, thanks to Camyu and Urutori. They made it obvious that Genjimaru was about to be killed, but I never thought he would like the way he did. I thought Kuuya’s reaction at seeing Genjimaru die right before her eyes was a nice touch of realism. At the end of the episode we see her in a state of shock while being carried out by Hakuoro. I felt both scenes greatly improved the quality of the episode overall. Although I was somewhat disappointed that they left many things unanswered, I still enjoyed watching this episode. Hopefully they will get around to explaining everything else over the next two episodes.

I was expecting some of the questions from the previous episode to be answered. They did provide some answers that made a few things more clear. However, this episode also raises yet more questions. As much as I enjoy a good mystery, I don’t feel being kept in the dark about something as critical as this should have been left until so late in the series. The whole issue with Mikoto, Mizushima, and someone who is obviously Hakuoro in some shape or form still feels completely out of place. I’m starting to have doubts they will be able to tie that smoothly into the current setting. It would have been better if they had left the setting alone, but since it’s too late to change that I’m open to seeing what the writers have in mind. With the recent turn of events I can’t say I’m expecting much of an ending anymore.

I wanted to watch this episode pretty badly after seeing the preview last week. After finally seeing it though, I have mixed feelings about it. I found this to be an unexpected and bizarre episode. We get to see who or rather what Hakuoro really is. I think I have an idea of just what is going on, but I’m not too confident about it since it doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. With a few more episodes left I expect a complete explanation in the very near future. For a while I was worried this episode was going to be Aruru’s final appearance. Luckily this isn’t the case, although things have now become extremely odd. On the bright side, the crisis caused by the invasion appears to be over at least temporarily.

After all her talks with Hakuoro I thought there was a chance she wouldn’t end up becoming just a puppet. With the sheer power of the mechs I think it’s inevitable that at least one or two of our beloved characters won’t make it through to the end. Hopefully I’m wrong, but I’m prepared for the worst case scenario. It looks like it will be difficult, if not impossible, for even the highly skilled people like Benawi and Karura to make a big difference in this war. I’m still waiting for Camyu to do something to turn the tide of what looks to be the final battle. We’re quickly approaching the finale of this series, but many questions have yet to be answered. I shouldn’t have watched the preview. Now I want to watch the next episode pretty badly.

I was 8 episodes behind this series so it took some time to get through it all. I must say I like where things are going though. The last few episodes have all been good. It was only a matter of time before a new incident involving Camyu came up after seeing her drink water nonstop. We learn why her wings are black, unlike everyone else’s. For now we still don’t know why she bit Aruru. It seems highly unlikely they will just leave it at that. I’m expecting something big to happen involving Camyu. Ever since Kuuya mentioned the use of “special powers” I’ve been wondering about its identity. As it turns out they’re giant mechs. I never thought I’d see mechs in this series. Although their appearance don’t look so far-fetched to look completely ridiculous in this setting, it will take some time to accept having them in the series. This episode continues the streak of entertaining episodes. I’m anticipating the next episode to keep this trend up.

It seems like Touka and the others on her side believe that Hakuoro killed his wife and children. I wouldn’t rule that possibility out like Hakuoro had said himself, since he has no memory of the past anything is possible. Of course, I’d like to believe that it’s just a lie or it was some sort of misunderstanding. It may be a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Someone else may have slaughtered his family and he just happened to see the aftermath and went beserk. Until we know for sure what really happened it is all speculation. The most enjoyable part for me in this episode was probably the scene where Aruru and Camyu were caught sneaking out of the castle.

To everyone’s bewilderment, they get attacked by fearless soldiers who hold a strong grudge against Hakuoro. We get a few details about the identity of Hakuoro. For the time being we don’t have any definate proof whether or not there is any truth to the claims. The scene with Aruru by Oyaji-san’s lifeless body probably had the most impact in the episode. I really thought Aruru’s seiyuu, Sawashiro Miyuki, did a great job with that scene. We get our first look at Touka in this episode. She’s currently siding with the enemy, but if the opening is any indication she will end up switching sides. I’m glad they’re finally giving us some insight into Hakuoro’s identity.

Thankfully I found this episode to be quite a bit more entertaining than the previous episode. In fact, at times the scenes were almost comedic, which was refreshing to watch. Another character has joined the cast. Carula first appeared to be some cold-blooded killer. After we learned about her circumstances she turned out to be quite awesome. It was funny to see the other character’s surprised reactions from seeing Carula’s strength. Carula brought up an interesting topic with Eruru. I wonder how Eruru really feels about Hakuoro. From the things Eruru has said and done I don’t think there is a clear-cut answer yet. It seems like Hakuoro doesn’t see her as anything more than a sister, so I wonder if there will actually be some sort of relationship development later on.