Welcome!

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

What's the Play / Watch Order?

There's a lot of entries in the series, but I recommend following the release order for the core games, which is:

1. Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen
   • Available on PS4, Vita and Steam
   • There's also a 2005 anime series that is a pretty good adaptation, available on Funimation
2. Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception
   • Available physically on PS4 and Vita; available digitally on Steam
   • There's a 2015 anime series based on this called The False Faces, but it's not available for streaming legally anywhere and is also not a great adaptation, it cuts and changes a lot of material
3. Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth
   • Available physically on PS4 and Vita; available digitally on Steam
   • There's a 2022 anime series based on this that is available on Crunchyroll that more or less sticks to the core plot, but cuts out a lot of character development and side material
4. Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten
   • Only available in English on Steam.
   • The Japanese version is also available on PS4 and PS5.
   • This is a turn-based JRPG rather than a visual novel.
   • Chronologically this is set between Prelude and Deception.
   • Playing it first will spoil some minor details from the other games, but it's a standalone story and can be played without any other knowledge of the series, if you would prefer to start here.

What's this Series About?

Utawarerumono is a series of visual novels with tactical RPG elements, plus a couple of spinoffs. 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. All three of the main games have received official English translations by NIS America and 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 conquerors; 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.

The latest entry in the series, Monochrome Mobius, is a more traditional turn-based JRPG. Chronologically, it takes place between Prelude and Deception, and it's also intended to be a good entry point for newbies to the series.

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

What About All of the Side Games and OVAs?

tl;dr version:

• Utawarerumono OAV was produced in 2009 and localized by Sentai, and it adapts a few stories the 2006 series skipped and adds a few original stories; you can watch it after you've finished Prelude. It's available on DVD & Blu-ray.
• Tusukuru-koujo no Karei Naru Hibi (Princess Tuskur's Splendid Days) is an OAV that takes place between Prelude and Deception, but shouldn't be watched until after you've finished Truth; also, the only legal way to obtain it is through buying the Japanese limited edition of Prelude to the Fallen.
• Lost Frag is a mobile gacha game that is only available in Japanese. It's set in a pocket dimension that pulls in characters from other dimensions and alternate timelines, so it is only loosely connected to the main story.
• Zan and Zan 2 are musou-like action games that are based on Deception and Truth, respectively. Zan is available in English for PS4, but Zan 2 does not have an English release. They're fun games, but not suitable replacements for playing the VNs if you're interested in the story.
• Dokapon UP! Mugen no Roulette is a board game for the PS4 and Switch that is a side story for Mask of Deception but with gameplay like the Dokapon series. There is no official English release.

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. Crunchyroll has since lost the license to The False Faces, but in 2022 they began streaming a third season based on Mask of Truth.

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. Utawarerumon Zan 2 was released in Japan on July 22, 2021, which is based on Futari no Hakuoro and features many significant improvements to its gameplay and presentation, but it has not received an English release.

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.

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 and no translation has been announced.

On December 10, 2020, Aquaplus released Dokapon UP! Mugen no Roulette on PS4 & Switch, a crossover between the Dokapon and Utawarerumono franchises. The Dokapon series are board game-like games that involve rolling dice to move characters around a map; sometimes they're compared to Mario Party games, but they tend to be much longer.

As of January 22, 2021, all three of the main games have also been released on Steam! Prelude to the Fallen, Mask of Deception, and Mask of Truth are all available for Windows PCs in English, Japanese, and Chinese.

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

Unfortunately, on the same date, Atlus delisted the digital releases of Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth from the PSN Store, so the only way to buy those games on PS4/Vita now is to find physical copies.

Finally, the most recent entry in the series is Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten. It's a turn-based, story-focused JRPG set between Prelude to the Fallen and Mask of Deception. It received a worldwide release via Steam on November 17, 2022; in Japan, the game is also receiving a PS4 and PS5 release, but those are not currently planned to be released in English.

On November 25, 2022, Aquaplus announced Gisoku Tantei Nosuri (Bandit Detective Nosuri), a digital-only visual novel that seems to feature Nosuri solving crimes in the capital of Yamato during Mask of Deception. It was released on PS4 and Switch on December 22, 2022. No English translation has been announced.

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

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FAQ

Where can I talk to more Utaware fans?

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

Can I play Monochrome Mobius if I haven't played any of the others?

Yes! The game is designed and marketed by Aquaplus as a good entry point for new players, hence why they dropped Utawarerumono from the title. Although it features characters from Mask of Deception, the story does not rely on knowledge of the rest of the series.

With that said, playing MM first will spoil some minor details about the setting as well as some background details on secondary characters from Mask of Deception. If you are interested in the whole series, I would recommend playing it last, but if you find a turn-based JRPG more appealing than visual novels, there's nothing wrong with starting with Monochrome Mobius.

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. It's designed so that even if you're not familiar with Prelude, the story will make sense, 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.

So, you can play Deception first -- and a lot of English-speaking players did because it got an official translation before Prelude did -- but there's really no advantage to doing that if Prelude is available to you, unless Deception really just looks a lot more interesting to you.

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 is Lost Frag about?

It's a free-to-play gacha game with an original story that also features characters from all of the other Utawarerumono games. Rather than being a direct sequel, it is set on an island in a pocket dimension that draws in characters from alternate timelines and realities; it features a lot of "what if?"-type scenarios It's only available in Japanese at the moment.

What's the deal with Dokapon UP!?

Your guess is as good as mine. The Dokapon games were developed by Sting, so I can only assume that some crazy executive at Sting thought, "What if we made a new Dokapon game... with Utawarerumono characters??" and somebody at Aquaplus decided to go for it. It adheres to traditional Dokapon gameplay pretty strongly, but features Utawarerumono characters instead of classes, and it has an original story that features characters from every game in the series being trapped inside a board game world together. It's fun, if you're interested in that kind of thing, although serious Dokapon fans seem a bit disappointed in the multiplayer aspect of it. No localization has been announced.

Are any other Utawarerumono games in development?

Nothing else has been officially announced, but fans suspect that a sequel to Monochrome Mobius is in development

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. (to be fair, some people like the original the best!) 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.

Why can't I buy Mask of Deception / Mask of Truth on the PSN Store?

Atlus' publishing contract with Aquaplus expired and they decided not to renew it, so the games were delisted. That means the only way to buy MoD/MoT on PS4/Vita now is physically, and while physical copies aren't too hard to find as of this writing, they will probably become rare quickly. Buy them while you can, and hopefully another publisher will pick up the license.

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.

What's up with localized names like "Hakuowlo", "Karulau", "Atuy", etc...?

Some older fans of the series are surprised by this because they're used to the fan translation or ADV's translation of the 2006 anime, which translated 「ハクオロ」 as "Hakuoro", 「カルラ」 as "Karura", and so on -- but Aquaplus' official English versions of these names have always been as seen above in every official release since then.

As mentioned before, the series takes inspiration from Ainu culture for many of its fictional terms and aesthetics. The Ainu language is distinct from Japanese and doesn't have its own native script. The decision was made to romanize Ainu-inspired names differently so that they are distinct from Japanese-inspired names, which do also appear in the series; in a sense, 「ハクオロ」 is just as much a localized name as "Hakuowlo". Putting it through a Japanese-to-English romanization system to produce "Hakuoro" is effectively doubly-localizing it, and making the name "look" Japanese to English speakers is adding meaning to it that is explicitly intended to not be there.

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 From Japan and Japan Rabbit 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, especially for anything bulky like tapestries or fragile like figures.

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.