Amnesia [ANIME] Review

• Full Title: Amnesia
• Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Shoujo
• Length: Television series, 12 episodes, 23 minutes
• Anime Studio: Brains Base, Sentai Filmworks^L
• Director:  Ohashi, Yoshimitsu
• Original: OTOME GAME

I wasn’t expecting anything from this anime. In fact, I was bored to death with its first episode as you have read in my impressions. Don’t get me wrong, the story/plot is very interesting. However, the characters and the pacing are the problem. I’ll get to that later. In the end, it turns out to be a decent series. Not that great, but not too bad.

So let’s get into the plot. The heroine is thrown into different worlds wherein she has different boyfriends. And everytime she tries to settle down onto that world, she’ll be thrown again to another. Since it’s based from an otome game, the main reason for this is so that the player can experience all the bishies in the game. Wait, did I just say experience? Anyway, it’s pretty much interesting for me, as a viewer. However, the romance did not work as good as the mystery for this anime. As a proof, the main reason that I continued watching this is so that I can discover the reasons behind her circumstances and that creepy green-haired dude.

At any rate, let’s take a look at its arcs.

THE HEART.

The heart symbolizes Shin’s route. He is our heroine’s childhood friend and, apparently, her boyfriend. He’s a very reserved yet a very sarcastic boyfriend. He often calls our heroine as “IDIOT”. Anyway, the main issue here is that Shin doesn’t want his relationship with the heroine to go back to the way it was in the past. He wants her to see him as a boyfriend material and not just a childhood friend. And that’s it. Oh, it seems like the heroine helped him to recover from his past.

THE SPADE.

The spade represents Ikki’s route. He is super mega ultra popular with gurlz. It was revealed that he wished upon a shooting star to become popular and it was granted. Everytime girls look into his eyes, they fall for him. The heroine is the only exception that’s why he fell in love to her. Aside from that, there was this club of bitches who wants to share Ikki among themselves. And in that alternate world, the heroine is a member of that club.

THE CLOVER.

The clover represents Kent’s route. I just want to say that it doesn’t have a fair share of episodes! It only has one, even though it’s the cutest one. Kent has a very intellectual mindset and his actions are very calculated. He doesn’t know much about dating which eventually became a problem to his relationship with the heroine of that world. Of all the guys, he’s the only one who figured out that the heroine he’s interacting with is different.

Anyway, he’s also a tsundere. And I love tsunderes. This route doesn’t have a very complicated plot but, again, it was the cutest.

THE DIAMOND.

The diamond represents Toma’s route. It’s the most complicated route among the four (not including the Joker). He is  the heroine’s childhood friend and he loves her. He’s very attentive to the needs of the people around him, especially of our heroine. Shin even told him that he’s acting like a grandma.

It was shown that he’s a yandere. He doesn’t want her to get hurt or sad. That’s why when the heroine gets so many hate messages and some of Ikki’s stalkers threatened her life, he wanted to protect her. To the point of drugging her and putting her inside a cage. He acted as if the heroine’s a very delicate creature that any moment she’ll break.

He always believes that the heroine doesn’t love him, but he was proved to be wrong when he read the heroine’s diary.

THE JOKER.

The Joker represents Ukyou’s route. He’s the green haired dude that keeps on appearing in the last four routes. It’s my favorite because I love seeing the struggle Ukyou’s going through with his split personality. And also, the reasons for his actions are justifiable. He has been transferring to different worlds wherein the heroine is alive, with the help of Neil-sama, the fairy creator. He wished to see the heroine alive. However, the world is cruel. It would not allow both of them to live, at the same time. One has to die. Ukyou experienced all kinds of death, as well as the heroine. Seeing his beloved die or being killed by him countless of times would definitely cause him to go nuts. But he REALLY loves her. The last showdown on who will die and who will live happened during episode 12, wherein Neil-sama’s power is weak. Fortunately, both of them live.

So really, the plot is interesting especially the last part, Ukyou’s. There have been so many dull moments but at least the mystery keeps the story going.

Here comes the problem. The characters. Let’s talk about the guys first. They don’t have that much development and you might even consider them as just minor characters. They only appear for few episodes and then poof they’re gone. They’re poorly developed that you can’t really sympathize that much to them. Anyway, they’re hot and good looking so that’s okay lol.

Orion. Our useless little fella. Okay, no he’s not useless. I’ll just look at the positive side. He serves as the heroine’s support system. That’s all.

Now, the heroine. She doesn’t have a name. I don’t have a problem with that. But I do have a problem with her personality. Not because it’s bad but because she doesn’t have one. She’s way too bland. She’s also too submissive that she doesn’t really care about what the guys are doing to her. Shin forcefully kissed her and Toma drugged her. And no, don’t use the excuse that she has an amnesia okay? And oh. She doesn’t talk that much. And when she does, it merely contains four words and a gasp. Yes a gasp, I’ve lost count of how many times she does that. I’ve heard that she talks more in the anime than in the game, which makes me wonder…

The art is something this anime can be proud of, at least. The character designs are great, especially their clothes. The irises of the characters are so beautiful and gorgeous. The animation is very colorful at the same time, very dark. It helps building up the suspense mood this anime is giving off.

Speaking of moods, the sounds also brought out its mysterious atmosphere. The OP and ED are both catchy and lovely.

This anime is definitely not the greatest out there but a decent one given that it’s based on an otome game. There’s a plot going on, a suspense one to boot. You might give it a try if you’d like. And if you like putting yourself in the shoes of the heroine, you’ll like how all those gorgeous boys flock around you.

Anyway, the ending didn’t show whom the heroine has chosen. If you were the heroine, which route will you choose? The heart? The Spade? The Clover? The Diamond? Or The Joker?