Accidental Anime

OVAs come and go, and rarely has a few managed to leave an impression on me. However, the latest 6 episode OVA by XEBEC and Genco titled Mnemosyne – Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi certainly left its bloody imprint in my mind.

Its story is nothing special. A mysterious and alluring female detective Asogi Rin (looking like a cross between Integra Hellsing Wingates and Yomiko Readman), runs a detective agency investigating strange and mysterious cases together with her assistant Mimi, an expert hacker who looks like a certain someone from Kiddy Grade, lol.

And the plot in the first episode is also quite ordinary too. Rin picks up this clueless lad, whose displaced reality leads her to an organization that does illegal underground experiments on cloning. Think Parasite Eve meets Resident Evil. She gets caught, escapes and in the midst, manages to shut down the entire facility, killing most of the people in it.

However, what struck me about the show wasn’t its plot, but its copious amount of blood, nudity and gore.

This has certainly the most amount of blood I have ever seen in a recent anime…since Shingurui I suppose. And the nudity is generous to say the least, not to mention all the other fanservice elements like shots of breasts and butts. One very good example is the part where Rin was captured.

They could have just thrown her into the cell, but instead, you have the female head honcho, looking like a sick ballerina, tying up Rin in a room. After some lip-locking, she then proceeds to adorn Rin’s body with multiple piercings.

I’m not sure of the purpose of the scene. Perhaps it’s just to show that she’s immortal, but a bullet to the head would do the job just fine too, but I’m certain the otakus out there would enjoy it. -_-||

And the A-list cast helps too. With Notou Mamiko (Enma Ai) headlining the main character, and other big names like Kugimiya Rie (Shana), Ohara Sayaka (xxxHolic’s Yuuko), Rie Tanaka (Suigintou in Rozen Maiden), you know for sure the voice-acting is going to be top-notch. And it is.

One trend I noticed is that Notou seems to develop a knack of voicing dark, internally turmoiled roles, and she does it here again. Though her trademark breathy voice is not really evident much here, as Rin sounded harder than usual for her, it’s still great. Her chemistry with Kugimiya Rie is very natural too, full playing upon their deeper relationship which was hinted in this first OVA. (Yuri alert =p)

The animation was great too, Though some scenes look quite sparse, overall, the animation was clean, crisp and fluid. Here’s hoping they keep it that way for the rest of the 5 episodes to come.

However, there was one thing I disliked, and it was the opening. For a dark show like this, something along the lines of the Elfen Lied theme song would be just perfect. But what we have instead is some washed-up rock in Engrish, or whatever language it was. It was so garbled that I can’t make it out. I hope they change the song for the next opening, as it is awful.

Nonetheless and in spite of the bad opening, I did enjoy the edgy and understated stylishness of the first episode. If they manage to flesh out the story more, it could turn out to be great, and not just remembered for its blood and gore.

I will definitely be watching the second episode. In the meantime, if you’re undecided about Mnemosyne, here’s more pictures to whet your appetite. There are certainly worser animes out there than this.