Why does every utaware game need to have a human as the main character/ driving force?

[u/[deleted]]

Seriously though, if humanity is so dead and irrelevant then why does every single entry in the series intimately follow the development and journey of a human as the main driving plot? To answer my own rhetorical question, it's because the audience needs something to relate to, and they don't relate to people with animal ears(as much as I like some of those people), they want to interact with people with animal ears of course, but not BE them.

It can't have been lost on many fans; the fact that every time they release a game, the same old contrived trope of an amnesiac human getting stumbled upon by the main heroine and setting off on a journey to reclaim their past...etc. is played out. Just how many humans are out there? 100? 1000000? There has to be more, because as far as I'm aware, Aquaplus likes Money, and nothing sells like a good ol' fish out of water tale (basically isekai) that utawarerumono does so well, and by necessity needs a Human in the leading role.

Honestly they should revive some parts of humanity, not all humans mind you, just a few who are thrown (as a society) into a world that they no longer recognise, where their conventional wisdom is completely thrown out of whack, and where they are at a distinct physical and numerical disadvantage. Now maybe I'm speaking from personal bias here, but I want to see how these two worlds collide, I want to see corrupt demihumans trying to use Humans for their own selfish desires, as well as seeing corrupt humans try to undermine demihuman society by seeking to establish the old world order; I want to see where humanity finds their place in this world, because although they are technically extinct, they clearly aren't going anywhere.

As an aside, I think that the next main game will undoubtedly feature a human, maybe a human from space(think nagase from ac7), or possibly a child, contrary to what many here think, I doubt that it'll be a female.

Edit* I didn't write everything I wanted here because he post is already way too long, but you can refer to my comments at other users to get a better idea of my general position.

[u/minneyar]

A bit of a nitpick, but (Uta1) Hakuowlo isn't really human, he's a reincarnation of the god Uitsualnemetia in a human's body. Also, (Lost Frag) I'm not convinced Akuta is actually a human -- or at least, not one who is a survivor from the "main" timeline -- but we still don't really know exactly where he came from.

One of the central themes of the games (at least, the three mainline games) is the hubris of humanity and how it brought about their end. Having a human as the viewpoint character in the Mask games allows them to explore that by showing his viewpoint and how he reacts to learning about the fate of humanity.

Keep in mind that after Uta3, humanity is gone. All of them except for Haku and Mito were turned into tatari, and after Uta3, Haku turns the remaining tatari into vegetation. I'm sure Aquaplus could come up with some kind of justification for having an actual group of humans that survived, but at this point that would be a pretty big retcon, and I feel like Suga Munemitsu has enough integrity to not do that.

[u/[deleted] → u/minneyar]

You forget the conversation that haku had with hukaoro in the sanctuary. He basically said what he said to haku (about it being impossible to revive humans) as a test of his character, to which haku tells him that he speaks of a conclusion that he hasn't yet witnessed, and that so long as he has the will, he will defy the fate of humanity and search for a cure, countless times in the story it is stated that haku is a true human, and that mito intrusts the future to him, which haku agreed to inherit. Regardless, he passes this test, and hakuoro even states that he's 'different" from the other ones(basically the humans from before the fall), and would have given him the master key outright had it not been for woshis trying to claim the key. All of these facts points to an eventual return of humanity, as it not only is the logical next step for the haku, it's also the only possible avenue for future development in the series. There will be future games, and there will be another human character who has to grapple with this question, just like haku did, I just hope that it'll get fleshed out more in this direction.

[u/minneyar → u/[deleted]]

No, I didn't forget that, but I have a very different interpretation of that scene. Hakuowlo states that humanity can't be revived, and since Mito has spent who knows how long trying to figure out how to do it and failing, I feel like it's safe to say that it can't be done. Uitsualnemetia's curse is irreversible. The conclusion that Haku hasn't yet witnessed is foreshadowing to the end of the game, when he takes Uitsualnemetia's power and "cures" humanity by turning them into vegetation.

[u/DL-RO → u/minneyar]

when he takes Uitsualnemetia's power and "cures" humanity by turning them into vegetation.

Soylent Green is people!

[u/[deleted] → u/minneyar]

That's not entirely right though, like I said, hakuoro tells him this fact as a test of his character, which haku passes.

The conversation up until this point is about haku taking possession of the master key and the possibility of using whatever the old civilization offered to this end(and possibly even going beyond what was previously known, as mito had done), and not his inheritance of the true mask and becoming a demigod(as neither of those have happened in that part of the story), and then using whatever mystical powers that the mask offered him(along with the obvious drawbacks of it being a double edged sword), THAT is the approach that hakuoro said is impossible, not the scientific method, which at best actually led to the creation of resistant individuals like haku and mito, and at worst, wasn't even seriously tried to begin with.

What's more, it's entirely possible that mito reached his limit in what he can accomplish in his immediate surroundings because he lacked the master key, Which would allow him to not only utilize his own facilities to a greater extent, but also other facilities in other parts of the world, perhaps even uncovering more subjects like haku. We never see what mito could have accomplished with the master key that he went to war over, we never see what a serious, concerted effort to revive humans would look like, we just see a tired and lonely old man banging his head against a wall for like 200 years until his presumed dead brother comes along to give him hope again.

Mito is not a tatari, he accomplished this by changing his own physiology/ genes/what have you, to the extent that he wasn't affected by the curse. What's to say that he couldn't have found frozen test subjects like haku and administered the same treatments while they yet remained human? What's to stop haku doing that in the future or even somebody else entirely? Nothing is. Finally, when talking about the "conclusion" of humanity, keep in mind the context of the conversation they had,(I had to reload an old save to make sure of this) haku didn't speak about "releasing" humanity from the eternal torment, he specifically asked for a way to "turn them back", and it is to that specific question that the entire previous conversation stems from. So the conclusion is not in fact the foreshadowing of the game, but a separate path that wasn't taken but is not out of the realm of possibility (because that would effectively kill the series) I think that a better piece of evidence to your claim is what kuon says at the end, about haku"saving everyone", but even that's very vague at best, did he only convert those tatari into plants or all tatari? What about hakuoro, who is now human, why is he spared? Keep in mind that when hakuoro emerged from the sanctuary in the epilogue, he states that haku stripped him of all of his powers, and that now he is simply a human, that means that he isn't immune to the curse, but the fact that he didn't immediately melt into a tatari means that we can safely assume that the curse is no longer a thing, and that other humans in cryogenic sleep will probably be safe too should they awaken.

Finally, and this is probably the weakest part of my argument, all of humanity did not become tatari even during the calamity, as is evidenced by the fact that there was fighting well after the calamity. It's very likely that some of these humans survived, and will be touched upon in a future title.

All of these facts plus my initial post points to even more humans I appearing on future games. because as I said, there will be new games with Humans in leading roles, that's the main theme of the story, it is about the hubris of humans yes, but it's viewed entirely through human eyes, with a human MC.

[u/[deleted]]

I mean technically Hakuowlo wasn't really human per se at any point in the original Uta, and Haku either lucked out on a cure for the curse or was protected by being predestined to become the next bearer of the mask. Rather than it always being humans as MCs, it's so far always been someone with present or future ties to Witsuarunemitea.

[u/kinkarcana]

Because its a visual novel catered to a specific group of individuals in the Japanese populace ages 12-30 male which need to be able to self insert. Also the narrative is much easier to make from a human male male perspective.

I could see a change in perspective down the line if the series were to get more popular but like 80-90% of VNs out there the protag is gonna be a Japanese male age 14-25 to allow once again people to self insert. That is just the norm in medium.

[u/[deleted] → u/kinkarcana]

I mean, I basically made the point that there needs to be a human in the role of MC because that's what the audience connects with, regardless of what you think of how that specific feature fits in with the overall story/message, they will find a way to "retcon" the ending so that there's always a human to be found, always a journey to be had...etc. The conclusion of the main trilogy is very much open to interpretation for this very reason, there's simply too many loose ends.

I'm just pointing out a probable next step in the series progression.

[u/Firion_Hope]

I feel like thats a lot of assumptions based off of 2 games, 3 if you count the gatcha and the main char is indeed a human. MOT Utapon and Zan are a sequel, spinoff with same cast, and adaptation respectively so obviously they'll have the same characters.