Welcome!

Welcome to /r/Utawarerumono, a subreddit for discussing and sharing things about Leaf's visual novel and anime series, Utawarerumono. We're glad to have you here! Please make sure you mark your spoilers, and try to link to the sources for artwork.

Wait, What Is This?

Utawarerumono is a trilogy of visual novels with tactical RPG elements. The original was developed by Leaf, a subsidiary of Aquaplus, and subsequent games were developed by Aquaplus directly. The first two have also had anime series based on them, both of which have received English translations, and the latter two games have been released in English by Atlus. The games are set in a fantasy world influenced by Japanese and Ainu culture. They're commonly praised for having intricate stories, complex character development, beautiful music, and mind-blowing plot twists. In terms of story structure and breadth of plot, they have often been compared to Nihon Falcom's Kiseki / Trails series.

The first game opens with a man who has lost his memories waking up in a forest and discovering that he has a mask permanently attached to his face. He is taken in by the people of a nearby village, and in turn he helps protect them from bandits and would-be conquerers; over the course of the story, he leads a war to unite the country and also seeks to discover the truth of his past. The story explores themes of war, political intrigue, love, and identity.

In terms of gameplay, the games are primarily visual novels and involve reading quite a bit of text accompanied by character and background illustrations. The VN segments are occasionally broken up by tactical RPG battles in the vein of games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Disgaea, or Fire Emblem; I would personally estimate that the games are about 80% VN and 20% TRPG.

By the way, there's also a lot of kemonomimi.

That Sounds Neat, What Order Should I Play / Watch Everything?

tl;dr version:

1. Play Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen (PS4/Vita)
   1. If you don't have a PS4 or Vita, watch the 2006 Utawarerumono anime; streaming for free at Funimation and available for purchase on DVD.
   2. PttF will be getting a PC release sometime in the future, but there is no release date yet.
   3. There's also a fan translation of the original 2002 PC game, but finding the original game legally can be a little difficult nowadays.
   4. (Optional) Watch the 2009 Utawarerumono OAV; streaming at HIDIVE and available for purchase on Blu-ray & DVD.
2. Play Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception (PS4/Vita/PC)
   1. (Optional) Play Utawarerumono Zan; it's the same story but highly abridged and with different gameplay
3. Play Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth (PS4/Vita/PC)
4. (Optional) Watch Utawarerumono: Tusukuru-koujo no Karei Naru Hibi, the final OVA (no official English release)

• Warning: Don't look at anything about Mask of Truth until you've finished Mask of Deception; there are massive spoilers!

I've got a few minutes, what's the non-tl;dr version?

The original Utawarerumono was an adult visual novel released for Windows in 2002. It never received an official English translation. It is no longer for sale digitally, and physical copies are out of print; it can sometimes be found cheaply at Japanese used good stores such as Suruga-ya, if you're willing to go through a proxy shopping service. There is also a fan translation of it that is designed to work with the DVD release of the game. In addition, the erotic scenes in the game are commonly considered to be superfluous, if not actively detracting from the quality of the story; the game was developed during an era when the common belief was that visual novels needed to have adult material in order to sell well, and so they are present in the game despite not being a major part of it or important to the overall story.

It was ported to the Playstation 2 in 2006 as Utawarerumono: Chiriyukumono e no Komori Uta and had voice acting added to it, various enhancements to the gameplay, and the adult scenes removed. That version would later be ported to the PSP in 2009. Neither of these versions received an English release, and these versions are easier to import nowadays, but there is no translation patch for them.

An anime series based on the game was produced in 2006, and an additional three-episode OVA that covers some side-stories not present in the original series was produced in 2009. Both were officially licensed and released by ADV Films, although the license has since been sold to Funimation. The anime series omits a few details that were present in the original game, but overall it is considered to be a good adaptation in the story, and it's the best way to experience it in English.

The series was then dormant for several years, and fans were surprised when two sequels, Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen and Utawarerumono: Futari no Hakuoro, were announced, and they were released in 2015 and 2016, respectively. An anime series based on Itsuwari no Kamen was announced simultaneously and released on Crunchyroll as Utawarerumono: The False Faces. The anime series received a lukewarm reception; while it covers the same basic story, the general consensus is that compared to the game, the anime has significant changes to its tone and pacing, plus it omits or changes a number of minor but important plot elements. No anime version of Futari no Hakuoro exists at this time.

Atlus later announced their licenses of both games, and they released Itsuwari no Kamen as Mask of Deception on May 23, 2017 and Futari no Hakuoro as Mask of Truth on September 5, 2017.

The three games all happen in sequential order and the stories are tied together. After the original, Mask of Deception introduces a new cast of characters and is set in a different location, but several characters from the original return in minor roles. Mask of Truth is a direct sequel to Mask of Deception and continues with the same characters, but it also has strong references to events from the original and concludes some of its open plot threads. If you really want to jump right into a game, you could play Mask of Deception before watching the original anime, as long as you keep in mind that you'll be missing some references and there will be a few characters it assumes you already know; on the other hand, you definitely need to have finished both before playing Mask of Truth.

On April 26th, 2018, a remake of the PS2/PSP remake of the original was released for the PS4 and Vita. In addition to the upgraded combat system from the PS version of the game, this version has retouched character art, completely redrawn backgrounds and an expanded soundtrack. The game was released on May 26 in the USA and May 29th in Europe as Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen by NIS America. The Japanese release also included an all-new animated OVA set between the original Utawarerumono and Mask of Deception, but due to spoilers, it's recommended to not watch it until after you've finished Mask of Truth.

On September 27, 2018, they released Utawarerumono Zan, an action game based on Itsuwari no Kamen. The game was developed by Tamsoft, developers of the Senran Kagura games, and has similar gameplay; it tells a heavily abridged version of Itsuwari no Kamen's story, and during the action segments you control a group of four characters and fight waves of enemies. Every controllable unit and Ukon from the original Itsuwari no Kamen are playable, and Oshtor and Munechika are available as DLC characters. This game was licensed by NIS America and released on September 10, 2019.

On October 18, 2019, all three of the main games also got released for free on iOS and Android. Unfortunately, the mobile releases are only available in Japanese, remove all of the battle sequences, and have all of the bath scenes removed, presumably to comply with content restrictions on the Apple and Google app stores.

At the same time that those games were released, the director of Aquaplus announced that they are producing an anime series based on Mask of Truth, but no other details have been revealed yet.

On July 2, 2019, Aquaplus announced a new game in the series titled Utawarerumono: Lost Frag, an iOS/Android mobile gacha game. It was released in Japanese on November 11, 2019. It's not available in English, but it's very easy to play the Japanese version; there's an English wiki with more info about the game at https://utawarelf.miraheze.org/.

All three of the main games are also getting PC ports and releases on Steam. Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth were released on January 23. Prelude to the Fallen does not have a release date; presumably they are waiting until the English translation of it is finished.

After 18 years, all three Utawarerumono games finally have official translations. It's a good time to be alive.

To sum everything up, here's a list of major Utawarerumono game / anime releases. Platforms with an official English version are highlighted in bold.

​

​

FAQ

Where can I talk to more Utaware fans?

There's a Discord chat server at https://discord.gg/qejpjpJ! Come join us.

When is the Utawarerumono remake coming out in English? Has it been delayed?

It's out! The PS4 version is available physically and digitally; the Vita version is only available digitally. A PC release will be coming sometime in the future.

Do I need to play the original game (Prelude to the Fallen) before Mask of Deception?

I strongly recommend it.

Longer version: Mask of Deception, coming out over ten years after the original game, was written with the expectation that there would be a lot of new people coming in to the series who had never played the original. You can play it without being familiar with the original, and you won't miss much, but there are several character cameos and references you'll miss. Also, the opening scene of Mask of Deception spoils a major twist from the ending of the first game.

Mask of Truth, on the other hand, is a different matter entirely, and the final plot arc ties very heavily into the original game; you definitely need to have played both of the first two games before Mask of Truth.

So exactly what is Utawarerumono Zan? Should I play it?

Zan is an action game developed by Tamsoft (developer of the Senran Kagura series) based on Mask of Deception. Its story is the same as MoD's except massively abridged; it compresses a 40-hour visual novel into under 10 hours of action game. It's a fun game if you want to play as your favorite MoD characters and beat up some mooks with musou/Warriors-style combat, but if you're interested in the story, I would not recommend playing it as a replacement for MoD.

What's the deal with Lost Frag?

It's a free-to-play gacha game with an original story that also features characters from all of the other Utawarerumono games. It is not a direct sequel to any of the other games and seems to take place in an alternate universe. It's only available in Japanese, but there's a wiki dedicated to documenting translations and information about it if you'd like to learn more.

Are any other Utawarerumono games in development?

After Lost Frag was announced, Aquaplus also announced that they have another console title in development, but no details are known about it.

I'm not really enjoying the original game or anime series. Will I like the others? Do I have to be familiar with the original?

While I like the original, I do think it's the weakest part of the series, and there are a lot of people who like the sequels much more. If you're just not getting into it, go ahead and skip to Mask of Deception and see if you like it more. There are events late in Mask of Truth that tie heavily into the original, but the game is still understandable even if you haven't finished it, and seeing the end of the series might give you more appreciation for the beginning.

I watched the The False Faces / the Itsuwari no Kamen anime, should I still play the game before playing Mask of Truth?

Yes! The anime made a lot of changes from the story of the game. Character introductions and backstories are different, a lot of character development was cut out, story arcs were removed, and details around major plot events were changed enough that some things in MoT just won't make sense.

I try not to be too harsh on the series -- I know people who enjoyed it and got into the Utawarerumono fandom because of it, and that's great -- but it really is not a good adaptation of the game.

Where can I buy Utaware merchandise?

Many online retailers such as CDJapan or Play-Asia carry CDs and DVDs.

If you want things like figures, posters, or other collectables, those are hard to come by from English retailers. Aquaplus and Toranoana, a chain of Japanese doujinshi stores, are owned by the same company, and Toranoana is the only place where most Utaware merch is sold. They have an online storefront at https://ec.toranoana.shop/aqua/ec/. Almost everything there is limited edition; they put new things up every few months, and sometimes they will make reprints of things, but very often after something sells out, it's gone for good.

Sometimes you can also find merch that is in used-but-good condition at used goods retailers such as Suruga-ya or Yahoo! JAPAN Auction.

All of those sites are in Japanese and don't ship internationally, which means that if you want to buy from them, you'll need to do so through a proxy shopping service. I have personally used White Rabbit Express many times and like them; also, Buyee specializes in Yahoo, and I've used BuySmart Japan, too. There are others out there, so feel free to share if you have success or failure stories. Be forewarned that proxy shopping can be expensive, and often the shopping fees combined with shipping and handling can be almost as expensive as the items you buy.

Last, sometimes you can rarely find merch on eBay, but the sellers there have markups so high that often it's more expensive than proxy shopping.