[Anime Reviews]

Mnemosyne halfway thoughts: an atrocity exhibition

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Mnemosyne]

My thoughts on Mnemosyne are now a mixture of embarrassment and disappointment - I feel duped into thinking that it was going to be anything special and frustrated that it has yet to realise what potential I thought it had. The trouble with this show is that what can make for a great opening episode is not necessarily good enough to sustain a full series - a real bummer after giving it such an enthusiastic welcome.

A day at the office…you have to admit that ‘The Heavy Drinking Shoujo-ai Detective Agency’ sounds like win

The gratuitous sex and violence, coupled with hints to a back-story that are not followed up or explained, aren’t unexpected when a show is setting things up in its first instalment, after all. Getting the viewer’s attention takes top priority with the explanations and real substance turning up later on; it’s pretty standard procedure in episodic storytelling. Sadly, I’m halfway through this particular show and all it’s delivered in subsequent outings is more of the same.

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[Anime Reviews]

Mnemosyne 1: a sexy and sassy revival of the OAV (with added zombies)

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Mnemosyne]

A while back on the other blog I write for I lamented over the decline of the old fan favourite, the OAV. Y’know, those short straight-to-video series that the likes of AIC and Gainax made their names on back in the old days, but don’t seem to come around very often any more. They’re those shows that offer bigger helpings of sex, violence and visual shininess because they can: the budgets are higher, the schedules less punishing and the censorship is less of an issue. Mnemosyne, with its overt sexiness, real bloodshed (no NICE INK here) and visuals that you’d expect from a feature film, seems to be keeping the old tradition alive. It may not be the most cerebral or even the most original show on offer at the moment but that’s beside the point: it’s a slick, exciting and darkly refreshing break from the norm.

If you take the empowered female/wimpy male setup of Bubblegum Crisis, the gratuitous, cheeky nekkidness of Gainax and the contemporary spin on the Chandler-esque film noir detective fiction of Darker than Black and Read or Die, you’ve pretty much nailed Mnemosyne: it’s an action/mystery thriller with a brutal streak and a dash of the supernatural. I know it’s lazy to do the comparisons with anime X and Y in recommending a show, but if you appreciate the type of series that makes a conscious effort to entertain viewers with the old staples of fast-paced action and a keen sense of cool, you’ll get as much of a kick out of this as I did. While Speed Grapher tried to marry fan service with hard-boiled action but stumbled with the ropey visuals and ham-fisted moralising, Mnemosyne has little in the way of social commentary but combines the sexiness and the tension while coming out of it looking as cool as a polar bear’s unmentionables.

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