Release: 2013
Category: Harem, Romance
Now the question is: Can you dock a rating for an anime based only on its genre…? I would say no. No, that would be unfair. It’d be like rating a show for kids poorly because you’re holding it to the standards of adults. It’d be like rating a horror flick poorly because you don’t like scary movies. Like rating the Naked Gun as a 2/10 because your dog died moments before and the thought of laughing makes you sick.
Amnesia is based on a reverse-harem dating sim. For those of you unaware, Japan has an abundance of not just anime, manga and video games in its popular media, but also dating games where you play as the protagonist and have the chance to date a number of characters with different looks and personalities. These games are designed to incorporate many different endings and often these can have huge variance depending on the decisions you make. There are hundreds of these games in almost every genre: romance, hentai, adventure, and even horror (try googling Song of Saya)… as long as you’re a guy. (Or don’t mind playing as a boy…)There are OVERWHELMING numbers of these games but the options for girls are very limited. (But I would encourage almost anyone to look into the bird dating sim “Hatoful Boyfriend” because holy shit—just do it.)
Amnesia is, as you have probably figured out at this point, based on one of these dating sims for girls. With that in mind, what rating does it deserve? Certainly not a 2, or a 3, not anywhere near the ratings I keep seeing over and over. It seems to me that the main beef most people have with this series is that it is “a shameless harem”. Oh please!!! And the same people who rated this series probably gave anime like Shuffle a 9 or 10. Alright men in their 20’s: this is not the anime for you.
Girls? Gay men? Give it a shot. But understand what it is:
This game is based on a dating sim. In dating sims the main character is left a completely blank slate for a reason. You are supposed to project yourself onto this character. If the lead was designed to have too much of a defined personality players would feel pressured to make decisions based on what they feel the protagonist would want, not their own interests. That being said…
An adaption should be able to break through that play-through motif. Unfortunately without changing too much about the story this is a difficult work around, to invent a new character as the lead out of thin air.
The Amnesia anime has a HORRIBLE protagonist. But with an understanding of where she came from (a completely blank slate designed to compliment every potential suitor) who could blame the writers? Had they changed too much about the lead I think this would have upset some players (and the main target audience) who saw her as having a different personality.
The Amnesia anime is eye candy. Watch the opening and ending themes: This will give you an idea of what you’re in for.
Animation: 10/10
Beautiful animation. No complaints here.
Directing: 5/10
My main complaint here is that there are some problems real problems that can pull you away from enjoying the story.
Why were the directors so set on keeping this series Y-7? They have references to “spending the night together” but the director must have explicitly told the animators to draw stab wounds without blood, because wow, what the heck.
My other complaint is that they never had the main character make any expression beyond a blank stare. Even in situations where she is about to be horribly murdered, or even when she’s being strangled she still has a more calm expression than the average person discovering a parking ticket. It’s outrageous how expressionless she is. Even if her personality was designed to be a blank slate, she should still feel emotions for heaven’s sake! Her facial pallet is embarrassingly blank even in desperate situations.
Story: Eh…. 6/10
It’s an adaption… they did the best they could… Not dreadful anyway.
Music: 8/10
Not bad.
Characters: 8/10
If you ignore the main character’s blank personality the rest of the cast is interesting and fun.
Overall: 7/10
Amnesia is a dazzling 7/10. Amnesia knows exactly what it is and exactly what it’s trying to be. It’s refreshing to watch an anime that doesn’t take place in high school for once. I cannot emphasize this enough.
Remember where this series originated and enjoy the eye candy!
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