Amnesia Anime Series Review

Amnesia is a Japanese anime that released January through March of 2013. I feel awesome for finally – FINALLY – watching an anime as it releases and not waiting till it’s a decade old, like every other anime I watch. I am chronically behind the times in my anime viewing. *hangs head in shame*

Anyhoo, the basic premise of this story: On the morning of August 1st, a girl wakes up to find she has lost all her memories before that day. Suddenly a boy appears in front of her and tells her that he is a fairy named Orion, whose spirit collided with hers and caused her amnesia, and he wants to help her collect her lost memories. The catch is, she can’t let anyone know she has amnesia.

So! The amnesia girl is surrounded by a cast of really hot guys, all of whom have some connection with her, and she has to figure out who she’s dating and what her relationship is with each guy without letting on that she’s got amnesia.

This is another typical harem anime, with a single strong female character surrounded by a kaleidoscope of male characters to suit just about any twisted Japanese schoolgirl fetish. There’s the shy, androgynous type that is a veritable wilting flower. Then there’s the domineering abusive type that likes to lock his girlfriend in a cage. And so on and so on.

Right when she figures out who she is dating, she ends up dying, just to wake up on August 1st again, all Groundhogs Day style. Only this time the world is slightly different. She still has to hide her amnesia, and she still has to find out who she is dating.. and each episode she’s dating a different guy in the cast of characters.

I thought I’d eat this pre-teen drama up, since I loooooove me my harem animes. I’m always rooting for the girl to get with ALL OF DA GUYS! But the guys were all too freaky Japanese fetish-y for my tastes. I didn’t find myself rooting for any one guy, since each episode they all had major personality shifts, and almost every single guy was creepy and / or downright abusive. And the girl just takes it! Seriously, what this anime needed was a sassy gay friend telling this chick to grow a spine and garner some modicum of self-respect. (And no, the fairy-boy Orion was neither sassy, nor gay.) And while the mystery of her amnesia was supposed to be the central story theme, I just found it confusing and irritating.

It wasn’t until the last two episodes, when they actually EXPLAIN her amnesia, that I found myself really liking the series. Basically, (SPOILERS!) in one of the many worlds she’s flitting between, she died in a fire, and her boyfriend tried to save her. He made a deal with a fairy to be able to travel between worlds to find a world where his girlfriend doesn’t die. But each world he finds her, she never remembers him, and she always end up dying. It’s not till the last episode that she manages to live, (he sacrifices his life for hers) and he can pass on, and only then can she have her memories restored and move beyond August 1st. Or something like that.

At the end, she gets to pick which world to go back to and who to end up with. While I normally have an unhealthy attachment to hot anime guys, I was left kind of blinking at the screen, doing a mental recap of the guys in the series and thinking, “Wow. Sucky choices there.”

The series moves at a REALLY slow pace, and when it’s not confusing it’s just eye candy. And the main character – the nameless girl – is just so BLAND. Kristen Stewart bland. And boring. And compliant. Ugh! Anyway, I wouldn’t recommend it, but I’m not ruing the time spent watching it either. I just really, really, really, REALLY wish I had another Fruits Basket-esque anime to dive into. *le sigh*