Anime Review: Utawarerumono

Its strange this, Uta is a good anime but like alot of good animes i like, it always fails in one of its key aspects.

When i mean good, i meant that Uta started well with an intriging plot, a good cast of (D&D style) characters and a good setting with lots of action generally. The problem lies when it tries to execute many of the above aspects, its a hit or miss in many cases, for example. the characters, out of the many present, only a very select handful were chosen to be given any form of character development or enough screentime to like them, inarguably, Karura, the kick-ass screen-hogging ass kicker is the top draw, while others pale in comaprison in terms of screen time, development and even the action.
The biggest example of poor execution is the story, the plot is good, shrouded in mystery and tension, it fails to live up to its promise, what with lack of info on Hakuoro, its fantasy turned sci-fi plot is not detailed enough and it feels very very loose.

Its strange though, Uta never tries to acheive anything more than an almost bog-standard fantasy anime, what with the potential it has. The sci-fi style theme at the end is not hard to present as shown by one of my fave animes, Scrapped Princess, but somehow with the 26 episodes here, Uta tries too hard to fit everything in those short episodes and subsequently it never appears more than just 'adequate'.

What is there though is quite fine though, again, Karura rules the roost with her charming, kick-ass ways. Erruru and Arruru are instantly likable, Oboro jobs like hell but a fun character, Benawi is a great character but needed more of him and in general the whole cast really fit their role well. The action (though repeated sometimes) is decent to watch, nothing outstanding, nothing too special, but does the job decently and is not boring at all.
There's a good amount of entertainment aside form the action, with the comedy situations early on, and the drama like stories during the series adding quite alot.

But still, this anime just feels a bit wasted, its too short what with the material given, the story is overly confusing with the characters not given the chance to develop much, but what is still there is good to watch to an extent, sure its not amazing, but it could have been that good.

Overall: 7/10
Grade: B-