The first season of Utawarerumono has finally arrived after a long wait! Here’s everything you need to know about Utawarerumono’s episode 3: Mask of Truth.

Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth Episode 1 & 2 Review And Recap

It has been many years, but now it’s time to return to the epic fantasy of Utawarerumono, where our lazy, unenthusiastic protagonist is forced to carry a heavy burden to restore Princess Anju to her rightful throne, all while deceiving his closest friends in the process. Hi, my name is August, and I review anime visual novels, and we are going to cover the Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth anime adaptation.

These subheadings will be an episodic review and will serve as an additional guide to help cover skipped content from the original Mask of Truth visual novel. For fans of the visual novel, this will work as a refresher on what originally happened, and for newcomers, this will help provide additional context from the visual novel to the anime adaptation. And with that said, let’s begin. To provide a quick background, Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth immediately takes place after the events of Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception, or if you have watched the anime, The False Faces. It has been quite a while since The False Faces anime aired back in the fall of 2015.

But for anyone who doesn’t remember how it concluded, the story ended on a very big climactic cliffhanger with Ushitor’s fatal final battle and Haku taking up his identity. The most important part to this is that no one must know that Ushitor died that day. Instead, everyone must believe that Haku died on the battlefield, including his closest friends. It’s a great setup for the events to follow, especially considering Haku’s personality. But before we catch up with our main cast, episode 1 actually begins with a quick backstory monologue by Hakulo. To those not familiar with that particular name,

it’s not necessary to know at this point in time, but he will be important later on. Hakulo gives us a rather poetic telling of the previous events in the prior games: the original Utawarerumono and Mask of Deception/False Faces. It’s a bit complex in its words, but the visuals add more context. In a land where humanity was wiped out, creatures similar to humans roamed the land. There was a war led by two gods, each one half of a whole. They led their followers to a bloody battle, and in the end, the two gods fought each other. In the midst of battle, the two gods returned to their true form, Utnamete, and upon realizing that he was the true cause of the war, ordered his followers to seal him.

He then fell into a deep sleep, leaving those he loved behind. The first noteworthy point about this backstory is the scene where Obero is holding a baby. This baby is Kuon. Mask of Truth had retconned Kuon’s birth in the original 2006 anime that had completely cut out their relationship plot line with Yuzuriha, Obero’s disabled sister. In the original Utawarerumono story, Yuzuriha is the birth mother of Kuon and shortly died after giving birth to Hakulo’s child. Knowing that Kuon is Hakulo’s daughter is a very important fact, as I’ll find out later in Mask of Truth. Hakulo continues the backstory, covering the events of Mask of Deception. Haku, our main protagonist, wakes up and meets all sorts of people throughout his adventure. This includes Kuon, the girl who found Haku, and Ukon Ushitor, a trusted friend and mentor figure to Haku. And then, on one fateful day, the Mikado, the Emperor of the country of Yamato and Haku’s brother, was assassinated. An attack was also attempted on Princess Anju, with the current suspect being Ushitor. She escaped

thanks to Haku’s group, but was poisoned, making her unable to talk. Our cast flees the capital, but Vurai follows in pursuit. Ushitor confronts Vurai and was able to defeat him, but at the cost of his life. With his last dying words, he asks Haku to protect Anju in his place, and so Haku takes up Ushitor’s mantle and all the responsibilities that follow. Episode 1 covers the immediate fallout of the aforementioned events, and our cast is given a moment to think about their next actions.

Thankfully, they’re in a safe place for now, with Ushitor, Nekone, and Kiryu having family relations, and Makamui Kiryu himself being the prince of the territory. They are able to stay a while, and Makamui is a vassal underneath Yamato. They are loyal to the Mikado, not Yamato, so Anakamoi chooses not to follow Riko’s order. Other territories are similar in this regard, for example, Shahora, where Atui is the princess. We are shown scenes of everyone as they cope with Haku’s death, and that covers half of the episode.

In the visual novel, there’s more emphasis placed on Nekone’s guilt, concerning that she firmly believes that she’s responsible for her brother’s death and making Haku assume his identity. Back in the fight against Vurai, she interfered with the fight trying to help and left herself vulnerable to being attacked, making Ushitor protect her, leading to his fatal wound. The only one that’s not seen here is Kuon. In Mask of Truth, Kuon had left the cast after hearing about Haku’s death. Haku was the main reason why she tagged along in the first place, and so without her reason for being here, she leaves.

What’s interesting is that in the Mask of Truth visual novel, the story actually begins following Kuon’s perspective and her emotional fallout. I won’t say where Kuon is at the moment,

because I believe that the anime is deliberately skipping this information for now to reveal at a later date. Another main point is that Ushitor has been given control of Emakamui by Kiryu’s grandfather, Irowaji, a leader of Nmakamui. The visual novel spends a good amount of time having Haku learn more about the culture here and the lives of the citizens.

while also learning how to disguise himself as Ushitor. What’s not included in this episode is that Haku meets Ushitor and Nekone’s mother during this time. I suspect that this is also the same situation with Kuon’s perspective I mentioned earlier, in which the anime is saving it for a later episode. Episode 2 covers the night fight against Bocchiante’s assault and the setup for Dekopon’s siege. A notable point with Dekopon’s attack is that this happens much later because at this point in the visual novel, Anju recovers from her illness and gives a speech to the Emakamui troops. Anju giving her speech to her troops is necessary to her growth, so a similar moment should happen later on. A lot of other minor events happen in between the night fight and the siege. The anime is skipping content to get through the main plot beats, in particular, the slice-of-life events. It’s understandable

because of time, so let’s talk about them briefly. The slice-of-life scenes that were cut out serve a purpose, timing-wise, because this is the first time everyone’s talking to Ushitor casually. Prior to this, everyone assumes Ushitor has this formal, noble air to him, so it’s surprising when they find out that he’s actually got a more laid-back, casual personality.

I wonder why. The slice-of-life events include Nekone learning the Japanese language of Haku, the whole cast going out hunting where Haku demonstrates his terrible usage with the bow, Nusray’s punishment game with Haku, and Atoy playing matchmaker for Kiryu, which ends up with Kiryu accidentally confessing to Shinnon, to which the latter reciprocates.

Now, one final note to highlight is that Kentaro Tone, the voice actor of Oshtor, is playing the role of Haku in Mask of Truth, as the original voice actor for Haku, Keiji Fujiwara, has passed away. It’s a sad irony that while Haku impersonates the deceased Ushitor, in real life, his VA has to take over Haku’s role. It certainly hits on another level. Rest in peace, Keiji Fujiwara, your talent will be missed. So what do you all think of the episodes, and what are your thoughts? I would love to hear them. If you liked that review, check out my other videos regarding the Utawarerumono series. Click here for my review of the original visual novel, or click here for a full playlist of this series. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.

Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth Episode 3 Release Date

Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth episode 3 will be released on Sunday, July 10th in Japan. In the USA and Europe, the episodes should be released on Saturday, July 9th, due to timezone differences.

The series is aired early in the morning in Japan on Tokyo MX and BS11. The anime is forming part of the Summer 2022 anime season.

Viewers in most international regions outside of Asia will be able to watch Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth on Crunchyroll.

Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth Episode 3 Release Time

Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth will premiere in Japan at 1:00 AM on Sunday, July 10th, 2022.

While not officially confirmed, it appears that Crunchyroll is simulcasting Utawarerumono 45 minutes after episodes premiere in Japan.

With that in mind, here is when we expect you’ll be able to watch Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth in your region:

• Pacific Time: 9:45 AM (Saturday, July 9th)
• Central Time: 11:45 AM (Saturday, July 9th)
• Eastern Time: 12:45 PM (Saturday, July 9th)
• UK Time: 5:45 PM (Saturday, July 9th)

About Utawarerumono The Mask of Truth

Utawarerumono, an anime series, is based on the tactical RPG visual novel franchise. Mask of Truth, the last game in the series, is the third season of anime.

Hakuoro is a story about a young boy who wakes up in an unknown world. He is saved by his family and a young girl. He decides to join their village, only to discover that it is under threat by a dictatorial emperor.

Hakuoro is a hero in the anime and previous games. He helps to liberate the village, form his nation and make many friends and enemies along the way.

Mask of Truth will see Hakuoro and season two’s Kuon return to face new threats from the Yamato Empire ruler.

To be able to join Utawarerumono this year, you will need to see at least the previous seasons to catch up on all events and character relationships.

Utawarerumono enthusiasts recommend that you watch the visual novels as it isn’t the best adaptation of the source material.

Mask of Truth’s initial episode aired almost immediately after season 2 The False Faces ended. So much so, that even fans who had seen previous seasons required a refresher.