Mnemosyne: Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi

My first review or this site, and here on I plan to write reviews mostly to series that I feel are being unjustifiably bashed in previous reviews by other members.

Mnemosyne has been noticeably losing viewers as the numerous fanservice dedicated scenes become more evident, but since fanservice has become a staple in recent anime mostly due to commercial reasons, it is pointless to dislike a series based heavily on the amount and harshness of those.

One of the strongest points of the series is the interesting portrayal of immortal beings and the evolution of society and technology throughout the multiple decade time-skips between each episode, the ... aging of mortal characters and their long but passing relationship with the main characters. Compared to most other anime that do have long-living characters in their host, Mnemosyne presents a much more realistic and accurate view on the aspect, arguably comparable to that of the western classical RPG Vampire: The Masquerade.

The antagonists, while not presenting many, if any, noticeable original characteristics not seen in other works, manage to stay mysterious to the end, with very little of their motives, personalities and goals being apparent to the viewer, as well as their natures and origins, resulting in interesting but often small revelations occurring in every episode, successfully enticing the mind of the public.

The protagonists, as immortals, largely resist changes in personality and habits, and, as previously mentioned, maintain interesting relationships with the supporting cast, aware that those are fragile just as the lives of innumerous beings they have watched fade away throughout the ages, but also not treating them as disposable or of low value. Both are shown as having a substantial amount of knowledge, and as preserving the memories of those who were important to them. The main character's fighting ability is not as great as one would expect, but is overally consistent, without noticeable bursts of martial geniousness or inexplicable failures on sure-win situations.

In the end, Mnemosyne can be viewed as a like-it-or-hate-it series, as it's merits are notable, it also requires a lot from the viewer to be appreciated, specially on the western side of the globe, due to it's heavy graphics and plot. It might also become a vanguard work, opening more space for future similar anime to bloom.

First, let me get the obvious out of the way: the first two words I heard about this series were "torture porn" and it's not far from the truth. I do think there's more to the show than that, it tries to have an engaging plot beyond pure smut and the concept is actually a decent one that somewhat justifies the show's perverse tendencies. Setting aside any moral issues I might have with it, for the purposes of this review it's no different than any other kind of fanservice, especially since it's sort of justified by the show's mythos. That said, if frequent nudity, erotic ... moaning and women being torn asunder in various and sundry ways is a deal-breaker for you, there's no need to read this review any further because Rin: Daughter of Mnemosyne has quite a lot of that going on. You have been warned.

The visuals behind Mnemosyne are hit and miss. On one hand, the backgrounds are nice and detailed and the animation is pretty solid and consistent, but on the other the use of lighting varies wildly in quality and the character designs are a bit generic, sometimes even dipping into ugly. When it's too dark, scenes that should be gripping just come out drab, and when it's too bright they end up looking gaudy. The show occasionally strikes the right balance, but the lack of consistency can be distracting, and the choreography behind the fights are pretty lackluster to boot. It's not completely incompetent, there are some good moments, but most of the show's important action scenes tend to fall flat. Maybe I'm being too harsh, it's perfectly watchable and never looks bad, it just could've used more panache. At the very least, it has a few decent camera angles mixed in.

Maybe it'd be more compelling with better music, but it was not meant to be. Half the time the music doesn't really support the series, it just feels like it was slapped on at the end with barely any thought given. It's a perfectly good soundtrack that could have matched the tone the series was going for in theory, but there was clearly very little effort put into its integration, so the strained music direction is a real shame. Combined with the poorly executed visuals, it makes all the difference between these scenes being edge-of-your-seat thrilling and just "stuff that happens". I will say that the opening and ending are both hilariously bad Engrish songs.

The voice acting in both languages is fine, perfectly serviceable all-around, but neither really tries to go beyond the call of duty. The exception to this is Todd Haberkorn as the villainous Apos, his voice dripping with venomous obsession in a way few voice actors can nail. Stop casting him as harem leads, Funimation, he's capable of much better than that. Also, I suppose Mimi sounds better in the dub, but that might just be my distaste for moe bleeding through, I'll take Jamie Marchi's sassy performances over Rie Kugimiya's distilled cutesiness any day. I digress. For a show as dry and dramatic as this I can't help but think that more nuanced performances would have been fitting, but the scripts and acting in both languages are pretty content to just skate by. On the surface, the whole package just looks dull and uninspired.

In case my lack of enthusiasm wasn't immediately apparent, I'll just come out and say it: I was not impressed by this series in the least. Looking at the concept on paper I can see where its modest popularity comes from, promising a sexy thriller with suspenseful battles, engaging mysteries and a unique mythos. Oh, and lots of fanservice, if that tickles your fancy. In execution, though, the series doesn't deliver. Out of all the possible reactions I was prepared for going into this series, the one thing I did not expect was that I would find it boring, and yet that is just what happened. The poor direction is undeniably a big part of it--for a show that seems to want to stand out, the fights and action sequences are pretty standard, no flair or finesse to keep the audience's interest. Even when the risk takes on a global scale the tension is nonexistent. Mnemosyne is at its best when it's being tongue-in-cheek, so why couldn't it just stick with that?

Still, even with bland execution some shows can leave a positive impression if they put out a decent story. But nope, to call the story here mediocre would be generous. The entire first three episodes could be removed from the story altogether with only minimal rewriting and at virtually no detriment to the overarching story. The plot drags its feet through arc after inconsequential arc that often have little to do with the ridiculous mess that's eventually revealed to be the plot, and at the end of the day it seems to sincerely want the audience to take it seriously on some level. I couldn't help but think that this should have been a feature-length film if anything, maybe that would have given it some much-needed focus. We don't need to be repeatedly reminded that vodka means water in Russian without variation, thank you very much. Apos' final plan is absurd and pointless and half of his means have nothing to do with the end. Several twists are thrown in for no apparent reason except to make the plot more "edgy", and it gets really old really fast, especially when the straightforward direction gives every indication that this story really thinks it's actually going somewhere.

Moreso than its poor plotting, this series falls flat in how it develops--and doesn't develop--its characters. For a centuries-old mystery woman, Rin is simpler and more transparent than she has any right to be. She's not unlikable, she has a respect for humanity and cares about the people who are close for her, but aside from getting angry every now and again she's pretty much static, with no hidden depths aside from a bit of backstory in the finale that doesn't really add anything to her character. Her partner Mimi actually gets more development, and that's not saying much. The side companions they pick up over the course of the series receive much the same treatment. Kouki, for instance, has an interesting backstory that the show conveniently tosses aside for most of his screentime only to pull it back to try to milk it for some last-minute drama. To make matters worse, they're not all that fun to watch. I know this is subjective, but if the show isn't going to make its characters complex and thoughtful the least it could do is make them energized. This show waffles incessantly between silly and serious, never sticking to one long enough to leave any kind of impression.

I've nearly beaten this show to non-death, but I have to come back to the show's fanservice elements, because while I don't think the raunchy material is inherently bad, in execution it drops the show from bland and forgettable to just plain bad. I mentioned that the mythos somewhat justified the presence of fanservice in the show, and it does: the Angels are basically incubi, and while I won't spoil it, a certain pairing becomes part of a ritual that plays a key role in the series' conclusion. It's ridiculous, but with better execution I'd be willing to go with it. Rin using her sex appeal to get close to her targets on missions? That actually makes sense. Battles fought in minimal if any clothing? A bit much, but it happens. A security guard shoving Rin, the unknown and probably dangerous intruder, to the ground and trying to rape her on the spot without subduing her properly? This is getting stupid. Everyone in this show, be they human, Immortal or Angel, is ridiculously horny, to the point that it often gets in the way of their common sense. The series' oversexed nature extends well beyond what's justified by the tone and the mythos, it gets in the way of the story, and it becomes familiar so quickly that it ends up becoming just dull.

I've seen plenty of series stand out positively for the amount of love and care that went into making them, but despite its unusual production history and somewhat interesting ideas Mnemosyne feels shockingly cold and apathetic. It baffles me that the makers of something so novel and daring could care so little for their baby, but that appears to be the case. It has no idea what kind of show it wants to be, the end result tries too hard to be edgy and not hard enough to be entertainingly over-the-top about it. It still has some funny moments and some cool moments, but they're not enough to be called a saving grace. The show had no right to turn out as bland as it did.

“Mnemosyne”, also known as “Mnemosyne: Mnemosyne no Musumetachi”, is a six episode series containing a mix of supernatural, science fiction and horror elements. What will no doubt strike most viewers about this series are its explicit horror and sexually tinted scenes.
Considering these horror and sex scenes, as well as the themes behind them, “Menomosyne” is only suitable for mature viewers. Those who do watch will be treated to a dark series that holds some very interesting references and concepts, both apparent from its visuals or integrated in its plot.


The series' time frame spans over sixty years, the first episode showing us events that occur ... in 1990 while the last episode takes place in 2055. Some flashbacks even give us a glimpse of events involving the main characters that took place many centuries ago.
The story follows Rin and Mimi, the various people they encounters and the overarching plot around mysterious phenomenon involving Yggdrasil, everything is slowly unravelled piece by piece to come to a conclusion in the final episode.

In the beginning of the series, Rin and Mimi run a detective agency, as such the first episodes seem to be more independent mystery tales that reveal little about the girls' true nature and nearly nothing about the overarching plot. Gradually more pieces are added to the puzzle and the whole plot becomes clear during the final episode when its fully explained and the intention of those that were pulling the strings behind the shadows becomes clear. This can make the final revelations a bit of a paradoxical experience for the viewer.
On one end, as everything is explained to the audience about the mystic nature of immortals, angels and Yggdrasil, it is rewarding to finally see the bigger picture of the series. On the other end since it was initially so vague that it seemed almost absent during the first episodes, most viewers who have developed a bond with the main heroines are more likely to focus on what becomes of them and may feel more alienated in regards of the overarching plot and its impact on humankind, even though it does involve the main characters.

At first glance it may look like the horror and sexual scenes are there just as selling points to brand the series and fit it in the horror or sexually explicit category, an impression that could even be reinforced when one realizes the meaning behind most of this horror and lust towards the latter half of the series. Yet I found they end up giving the series more depth and add weight to its themes of (im)mortality and human desires. Not only do those scenes explicitly reference to psychological themes or hold sociological meaning, they also tell us more about the characters involved, which may cast a more grim light on some but makes them that much more interesting and involving characters.
Much like the excessive horror and blood spilling in “Elfen Lied” served another purpose than just showing gore, which became clear as the series progressed and ultimately gave it a deeper meaning, especially for its characters.


The cast of “Mnemosyne” is rather small, which makes it easier for us viewers, seeing the limited number of episodes. Most are quite interesting, even when little is known about their pasts, the way they're presented and act shows more intricate and complex characters than the average bland two dimensional characters. Some even offer us quite daring and grim persona.

Rin of course gets the most attention and development, while Mimi is an interesting character, she clearly remains a supporting character to Rin.
Being immortal, Rin especially seems to almost seek out situations where she will encounter physical harm, her body often suffering atrocious injuries. While Mimi is more reserved towards dangerous situations, like Rin she too is no stranger in seeking out the extremes of physical pleasure, certainly sexual pleasures. In the end it's made apparent that being immortal can also be seen as a curse, cut off from one of the very foundations of what it means to be human, one's mortality and finity, the girls can often only thrive or feel alive by seeking out extreme physical experiences and emotions, be it through suffering or pleasure. Paradoxically, their hearts and spirits are shown to remain as those of every other person, while somewhat desensitised towards certain concepts that normal mortal humans face, they became perhaps even more sensitive to others. When they are finally able to bond with someone and feel true emotions such as love, any joyful or painful emotions there seem to be felt even more vivid than for mortal humans.
More disturbing in that aspect, no doubt intentional, was the emotional torture executed on some of the characters, showing that physical pain while great and lethal, can still pale in comparison to mental anguish for which no true deliverance exists, especially when there is no deliverance to be found for it by death.

Portrayed as a strong female lead, who is not only smart and cunning but has terrific martial art skills, Rin is voiced by Mamiko Noto, whose subdued and soft voice could be seen as ill fitting but actually offers a nice contrast and adds indispensable depth to Rin's character by making her not only appear more serene and experienced, but also gives her the aura of a soothing mother figure. This gives Rin a believable mix of strength and vulnerability, of passion and serenity, of distance and attachment.

Mimi's character seems a bit more standard but also turns out to be quite interesting. Mimi's bond to Rin seems to be quite deep and even amorous at the start of the series, but later on those amorous and lustful feelings seem to have given way to a deeper and different attachment. Ultimately Mimi fights to protect and save Rin, the way Rin had once fought to save her.


While the bloody horror scenes should still be stomachable by most, the sadism exhibited in some scenes can be stomach churning. Some characters are repeatedly tortured and mutilated in such sadistic ways, it forms a dark and dire sketch of the inhumanity and levels of sadism some can display. It may seem a gratification or even celebration of sadism, inflicting pain and sexual abuse. A theme that was also touched upon in “Higurashi No Koro Ni”.

Next to the horror, there are many sexual themes and sexually tinted scenes, from near explicit sex scenes to the mutual effect immortals and angels have on each other. All immortals are women and the only real treat to their immortality are angels, males that posses superhuman strength offset by an extremely short lifespan. Devoid of any logical and normal reasoning, angels act as wild beasts that seek out immortals and devour them. Immortals are vulnerable to angels due to their overwhelming physical reaction to them, when close to one, they become utterly defenceless and lust to be embraced by them.
The sexual references are quite obvious, men are referred to as mindless beasts whose power is to subjugate and conquer women, women who regardless of their own powers such as continuing the circle of life, become lustful creatures unable to resist men.

Its story also expanding into the future, “Mnemosyne” shows us an interesting view of mankind's future with a contemporary spawned idea of how the digital world permeate and eventually blend in with the real world.


Animation by Xebec and Genco throughout all the episodes is good, with most focus on the female characters and the realistic, detailed backgrounds. The difference in care and attention of the animation between different scenes can be apparent sometimes. In some scenes where naked bodies are shown, they are not always drawn that well. Some of the horror scenes that would have been too gory and no longer look convincing enough if directly shown, use clever tricks of shading and suggestion.
Overall, the animation of “Mnemosyne” is good, though I did miss a bit of the beautiful animation of Rin and Mimi in the last episode, near the ending sequence, it didn't seem as well cared for as in prior episodes. On many occasions the animation of Rin and Mimi is quite sublime, such as the view of Rin leaning against a stone pillar in the opening sequence.


The soundtrack of “Mnemosyne” is fairly good, the hard rock track accompanying the opening sequence immediately sets the trend for the more raunchy and hard hitting horror and sexual parts of the series. The remainder of the soundtrack does a good job at setting the mood and accompanying what happens on screen, though a more eerie soundtrack could have worked just as well but risked making the series a bit too dark.


I definitely recommend “Mnemosyne” to those who want to see an engaging story with an interesting lead character and aren't afraid of gore or sexually tinted scenes because regardless of those scenes, they emphasise some of the more interesting themes the series holds. And if you're watching it just for the horror and nudity, you'll no doubt be satisfied as well.

“The gift of life is a fleeting precious thing. It is not something to be toyed with." - Asogi Rin

Sex, violence & alcohol. These three things are some of the most prominent in Mnemosyne, and while it may not be as gory as say, Elfen Lied, this series isn’t for the faint of heart.
Originally I went into this thinking it was mostly consisted of copious amounts of torture scenes, gore, and sex scenes, but I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be so much more than that.

Story: (8 / 10)
Mnemosyne follows the lives of two immortal private detectives, Asogi Rin and Mimi, ... as they take on various assignments. The series actually span several decades (around 60 years, or so), with each episode skipping quite a few years. Because of this, we see the world and the characters in it change as time goes on, while Rin and Mimi stay the same.
The consulting agency at which the two main characters work at make for “monster of the week”-type episodes, with seemingly unrelated events. However, as the story goes on, we see how it all fits together, and as we learn more about Apos’ (the main antagonist) true motives, we uncover more answers about immortality and the “non-mortal world”.

At first you will encounter so many unanswered questions that it may seem confusing or intimidating to continue watching, but as the episode goes on, the writers do a good job of explaining most things, however not without leaving you with more questions.
This element of mystery and never really knowing what’s really going on, or what’s going to happen next will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire series.

Art: (9 / 10)
The very first thing you’ll see is the opening sequence, which to be honest isn’t anything all that great. It’s more or less your standard “character montage”, with some pretty weird stuff and some fanservice thrown into the mix.
Already in the first scene you’ll see one of the characters wearing nothing but an unbuttoned shirt, while running across a rooftop. This sort of “fanservice” is present throughout the entire series, but because of the way it is done, it never feels as if it’s forced, or takes away from what’s actually happening.

There’ll be a lot of times where the characters are naked, whether it be during a fight scene or during one of the many sex scenes. Yes, there are actual sex scenes in Mnemosyne, something you don’t see in a lot of anime (though here it’s 90% lesbian sex).
Ofcourse there are some scenes where the characters might be perverted just for the sake of being perverted, but most of the time it all fits in rather well with what’s actually happening, and it doesn’t take away from the experience at all.

As for the rest of the art, it’s rather well done, actually. I liked the character designs (especially the choice of physically portraying Mimi as a teenager), and the changes made to the characters as the years passed were nice, as they’d really show that the characters do age, but you were still able to tell who was who.

The overall aesthetics are also well done, and somewhat change throughout the episodes, but nothing really major (though I suppose architecture don’t change that much in 60 years). However, once again you can see that this is a totally different time than the previous episode, and how civilization has advanced.

The animations were fluid, and there was not a moment where I felt like it seemed “stale”.

Sound: (8 / 10)
One of the first things I noticed when I started watching (and it didn’t take me very long) was Kugimiya Rie as the voice of Mimi. Having only heard her voice characters who are a lot more aggressive (and overall very tsundere), Mimi was quite a nice “change of pace” so to speak. While she’s not very aggressive, she has a more “childlike” voice than Rin does, and this fits very well with her character design.
The rest of the voice actors did an overall good job, and there wasn’t really someone who stood out as “that character with the lame voice acting”.

The opening theme, “Alsatia”, and the ending theme, “Cause Disarray”, are both performed by Galneryus, and since they’re both very much done in the same “style”, it makes them sound very similar. I can’t say I really liked these songs at first, but near the end of the series I’d gotten used to them, and I guess this is very much a preferential thing.

The soundtrack was often rather “calm”, or had a very casual feel to it, which was quite the interesting contrast to the themes shown in the series. This didn’t feel like a bad thing, though, and I quite enjoyed the music. One small problem I had with it, however, was that the background music pretty much stays the same for the majority of the series, and I feel like it would’ve been nice if it had changed as the years passed.

Characters: (9 / 10)
The characters are obviously a big part of this series. The two main characters (and their dog) stay the same throughout the series, as everyone else ages. This does not only apply to appearances, but there isn’t really much development for most of the series regarding these two characters. Instead, the show focus more on the backstory, giving us flashbacks now and then, revealing small parts of their past. I thought this was interesting, since the immortals would’ve probably lived for a very long time, and it could be fun to see their past experiences (unfortunately, not much is revealed about their past lives, aside from the parts important to the plot).

Every episode (more or less) introduces a couple new characters to the cast. These characters are usually pretty young when they’re first introduced, meaning they stay around for a an episode or two. Because of the short amount of time these characters are given (as opposed to Mimi & Rin), it’s important to make them as interesting as you can with the given time.
I felt like the writers did a good job with this, as there were times when I’d certainly “feel” for the characters.

All in all, the characters are quite varying, and they’re all rather likeable and interesting, and without this aspect I feel the show would’ve been much worse.

Enjoyment: (9 / 10)
I thoroughly enjoyed Mnemosyne, and was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be such a more interesting anime than just “a bunch of sex and violence” (even if those things are certainly present). Though once again, I’d not recommend this show if you’re susceptible to gore or overall nudity...

Pros:
+ Interesting storytelling “mechanics” (having the story span decades).
+ Several twists and events to keep you interested.
+ Good art and animation.
+ Makes use of fanservice, as opposed to just “having it there”.
+ Soundtrack makes for a nice contrast to the visuals.
+ Interesting character cast.
-----------------------
Cons:
- Too many unanswered questions at once may leave you very confused.
- Opening and ending themes have a very specific “style” to them, may not be for everyone.
- Soundtrack doesn’t change all too much with the time skips.
- The levels of violence and nudity may turn you away if you’re not prepared.

Violence, sex, and torture. That's what Mnemosyne is about. It favors style over substance, and shock value over both. For those of you seeking bloody fighting and lesbian sex scenes: rejoice! Mnemosyne: Daughters of Mnemosyne delivers both. For those seeking a well told story along with the fulfillment of these more primal desires: don't get your hopes up.

The protagonist of the story, Rin, runs a consulting agency with her partner (insert double entendre) Mimi. Rin is the cool and collected field agent, while Mimi is the playful flirtatious girl who helps out by being a computer hacker. Through the course of the series, there are ... a number of other important characters they meet and work with that you won't be able to keep track of because after the second episode the show tends to skips years or decades between each. While it is somewhat interesting to see the progression of technology across decades, it serves little purpose except to allow certain characters to age and have children in a show with limited run time. Unfortunately, this means the viewers have little time to get attached to a character before they are killed off, so we can't empathize with Rin and Mimi's loss. Did I mention that Rin and Mimi are immortal? Well they are, and they don't age, so they will remain hot and young so we aren't grossed out when they have lots of lesbian sex (often with other immortal lesbians).

There is an overarching plot to the story, but it is presented only very gradually until the final episode suddenly springs the whole thing at us. In the meanwhile, Rin and Mimi, sometimes with the help of other people they know whom we can't remember if they have been introduced, solve puzzling cases that are obtuse even in their resolution. Not that the final outcome of the individual cases matter at all to the larger picture, since the tangential link between them tends to be the involvement of a particular family (genetic, not criminal), and that another immortal often appears in order to kill Rin for reasons that are never explained, although there are repeated mentions of someone named Apos who seems to be manipulating something and being cruel and sadistic about it.

Visually, the series is very dark, probably to convey the omnipresent brooding and ominous atmosphere of the series. For an OVA from 2008, the animation and art is good but unspectacular. Voice acting is generally well done, and the opening and closing are appropriately gritty, if not particularly memorable.

Interestingly, while Mnemosyne is a reference to the mythological Greek river of memory, the impetus behind the story is Yggdrasil, which is the world tree from Norse mythology.

After only watching the first episode, I must say, this is refreshing. There aren't too many shows that I watch and actually have to say....."Wow, thats fucked up..." Last one was either Berserk or Ninja Scroll. This isn't a kids show by any means.

Story: I've only gotten one episode in, but there are allusions to a deeper running plot. My expectation is for mostly episodic content until probably the 5th ep. There will be more and more revealed until that point, but the 5th and 6th should be true story. Thats fine and as long as the story is ... eventually fleshed out while still being entertaining, its all good.

Art: what else would you expect from a show with this much gore and yuri but great art. Its sexy, and I'm talking about more than the boobies. XP It has a very dark feel and definitely needs to be watched full screen in a dark room. The higher the quality the better. Some good effects and tons of detail.

Sound: I enjoy the sound of the actors, and putting such a cute voice on Mimi is hilarious when you realize she isn't as innocent as she seems. The OP is also great, sadly I don't tend to pay too much attention to them. Something other that cheery Jpop is always nice.

Character: I'm having a lot of fun with these guys. We've got the two "ladies" who are obviously bi, a somewhat wimpy and confused guy, and enough alcohol to drown them all in. It actually looks like some care was put into these characters.

Enjoyment: Hey, this is a blast. Some good laughs )though I'm sure that some of the humor will be lost on the younger watchers (Seriously....if your mommy tucks you in at night...you really shouldn't be watching this...even if you are 30). There is a certain something that can be said for the experience of curing a hangover with liberal drinking. Theres gore, well-played nudity, dry humor, action, sexual innuendo, sadism and more. What else could you want?

Overall: If this continues to deliver it may very well be my favorite new show, and perhaps make it up there with some of my longtime favorites. Only time will tell.

**SPOILER FREE REVIEW**

Don’t be fooled by the relatively average score that I have given it; “Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne” (or “Mnemosyne: Mnemosyne no Musumi-tachi”) is ANYTHING but an average, run-of-the-mill anime. This is a disturbing, startling, adult-only watch complete with regular intervals of rape, torture, nudity, and symbolic themes that only people familiar with Greek Mythology would understand. However, DoM is advertised as far more than just a show that throws blood and sex around willy-nilly to pander to the audience; it claims that every torture scene, every rape scene, and every nudity scene serves an actual purpose. Supposedly, these themes are not contrived and ... serve as a legitimately vital element to the narrative. Now, whether that advertisement is true or not, that’s another matter entirely. So: Is this tale of immortals and angels just a cheap, mindless, pandering piece of trash that’s only good for shock value, or is it a well-written and well-thought out masterpiece that is drastically underrated? The truth, in my opinion, is somewhere in between.

Synopsis: Rin Asogi is an immortal private detective with a thirst for, *cough, “water”, and a talent for attracting things that cause her tremendous amounts of pain and suffering. The series follows Rin over the course of sixty-five years as well as the nightmarish events that she gets herself involved in as she tries to discover the truth behind her own immortality. The mastermind behind her tortured existence is a being known as Apos, an eternal being obsessed with sacrificing Rin to Yggdrasil (the tree of all life). Rin is no stranger to the realm of the dead, but if Apos has his way, her next visit could be her last.

This is an anime that I have very mixed feelings about. When the show decides to focus on the lives of Rin and her partner Mimi and their work as private investigators trying to unravel the mystery of their own immortality, the show works very well as an adult supernatural-detective thriller. The unique presentation of the anime does wonders for its pacing as there are only six total episodes, each one twice as long as a normal episode. Every episode is followed by a large time skip; a plot element that also works in the show’s favor. While the environment, the people, and the technology around our main characters change drastically, Rin and Mimi always stay the same. This is a very nice technique that puts the character’s immortality in perspective; there is no denying that there is some very nice writing going on in this series. The show presents us with an intriguing mystery and slowly unravels it overtime, just like a good mystery anime should. These parts of the show are definitely where it shines the brightest.

Unfortunately, for every element that DoM does well, it also does an element wrong. Very wrong. In this case, I am referring to the way that this show handles its more mature themes. I’m no prude who automatically looks down on any overtly sexual content in an anime, but some of DoM’s “mature” plot elements are just plain silly and childish. For example, without spoiling too much, consider how immortal women act whenever an angel is nearby; who thought that turning the immortals into horny sex-dolls with no willpower was a good idea? The whole “bang-me then kill-me thing” is just too ridiculous to be taken seriously; it doesn’t serve the narrative and kills the tone of the show. There is simply no reason for this plot element to exist, and it is not the only thing out of place. Virtually everything in this show based around Yggdrasil (google it) is just poorly executed, overly complicated, and unnecessarily sexual. The fact that it’s full of mythological allusions does nothing to change to the fact that it is poorly written and rushed at times; the backstory and actual function of some of the supernatural elements aren’t explained very well and minor plotholes exist throughout. In the end, what we end up with is a very mixed package. Sometimes the plot works, sometimes it doesn’t. All in all, it’s decent and certainly unique compared to what anime are normally about.

The characters are also a mixed bag. The protagonists, Rin and Mimi, are definitely the two best characters. Rin, particularly, is the complete package; she has legitimate/complex motivations, a distinct personality, and receives development. Mimi doesn’t receive the same development that Rin does, but she is also multi-faceted. The viewers get a very good sense of the bond that these two have with each other and their chemistry is very apparent; the protagonists are definitely the highlight of the show. The antagonists on the other hand, are unimpressive to say the least. Apos has no motivations what so ever and the motives behind pretty much everything that he or his underlings do can be chalked up “because I’m evil! Mwhahahah!” We are simply never given a substantial reason for anything he does, and when we are, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The side characters are an interesting case because we actually get to see them age throughout the series. Their relationships with Rin and Mimi are some of the strong points of the show because the audience gets to see these characters (who the girls have grown attached to) get older and older until they eventually die. This helps the burden of immortality hit home with the viewers. Despite the lack of any complex antagonistic force, the characters of DoM is where the anime strives the most.

In conclusion, Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne has some great ideas, but it loses sight of them because it is trying too hard to be mature. If it had dropped the whole idea of angels and the idea of adding in Apos as a horribly confused villain (as well as the copious sexual situations that go along with it), this could have been a damn good show. Unfortunately, it ends up coming across as too inconsistent and a bit incoherent. If you are in the mood for something drastically different from the norm, then I guess DoM isn’t a bad watch. However, I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it nor would I suggest that you get your hopes up; it’s simply a decent change-of-pace anime at best.

Ok, here it goes, my first review.

Until now, this Anime is nothing but a way of selling sex and unnecessary violence, the story is really random, i think that they even don't care about th story, they put some random and absurd things and hope the viewer doesn't note (wich works, because you see something like 5 lesbian scenes and 10 violence scenes per episode)

The art is very good, and the sound effects work well with the anime too.

The characters are almost as bad as the Story, they are all a bunch of Lesbian girls, and then there's one or two guys who act normaly, ... nothing else.

I don't like it because i need a good plot for a Anime, and when i saw "A Mistery anime", i tough about a good, consistent story, what i did get was nothing else than Sex, Violence, and if i want that, i watch Rambo movies and Hentai.

Terrible, but the one looking for some random entertainment will sure like this

Why did I watch this?

The first episode has elements of guro, lesbianism, immortality, mysticism, love across the ages, and Angels and Demons which all get raped, literally and figuratively along the next six episodes of this OAV.

It it supposed to be raw, sexy, shocking? Or is it doing all of that to cover up terrible script writing, characters coming out of nowhere (or in this case bloody orifices), animation that takes a sharp nose-dive after the first episode, cacophonous sound track, and the use of graphic sexual and violent elements to keep us in the dark to the fact that after six episodes nothing's really ... happened.

You follow Rin, an immortal woman, along her life. She gets raped, molested, beat up, and whatnot. You're supposed to care because she's searching for a long lost lover, accompanied by her loli lover/sidekick, meets people whose lives she royally cocks up, and is antagonized by a charismatic and sadistic enemy that taunts her at every step to make her more "delicious" for him.

And since the show is so fond of random crap here's a list of mine: Tears of the Soul, Yggdrasil, Vedic legends. Also Zombies. Lesbians. Sexual torture.

There you go. An anime that tries too hard, and fails. It can't even look good while doing it.

Well, we're nearing the end of yuri anime month and so far the only anime I've watched that was completely new to me was Yuru Yuri. So I'm taking a risk this week and watching Mnemosyne. Written by Onogi Hiroshi who also wrote several episodes of Rahxephon, that can't be a bad sign, and the anime adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist. Of course, he was also involved in the completely unimpressive Aquarion anime and there is a big difference between adapting the work of others decently and being able to write your own. It's from Xebec and Genco, both of whom have done some really good ... and really bad work. So, I have no idea what to expect. Let's take a look and find out.

The story is actually really simple. The Nordic world tree, Yggdrasil, exists. It releases spores that make women immortal and men into short lived angels. The story follows two immortals, Mimi and Rin, as they fill their time solving mysteries for humans over several decades and eventually face the greatest mystery they're aware of, the truth behind Yggdrasil. To be fair, there are some interesting ideas here and that's where my praise for the story is going to end because the execution is horrendous. The first issue you encounter is that the mysteries aren't interesting. What makes a mystery interesting is going through the deductive process to find the solution, even if you're being walked through by Sherlock Holmes or Harry Dresden. The issue with Mnemosyne is that there's no reasoning. They present the mystery, they go to informants, and then they're told the solution. There's no intrigue and nothing compelling about it. Yes, this isn't technically a mystery anime, but the boring "investigations" take up a lot of time and they never do anything interesting with them. I'm not going to go into great detail about the second issue that comes up since, frankly, it's really gross. All you need to know is this simple phrase "sexualised torture scenes." Another major issue is that it's just boring. There are long stretches where nothing important happens and the first four episodes are really repetitive, all following the same basic arc. When something does happen it's generally not something that you'll want to see. Just reread the previous issue for the details. Then there's the romance, or more appropriately, sex scenes as the characters are given very little in terms of actual emotional connections. Obviously, my problem isn't with the yuri. What I do have a problem with is that a lot of these scenes have dubious consent or even lack consent completely. Yeah, these are real issues but where an anime like Berserk treats sexual assault seriously, Mnemosyne just has it as a thing that happens and never deals with the repercussions and it certainly isn't respectful for how horrible it actually is. I'll end with some story problems that aren't thoroughly unpleasant. One is going to be another issue with the romance, and that's that the romance that thankfully does have consent isn't developed very well. To give an example, two characters meet in one episode and have roughly a half dozen shared scenes. In the next episode they're married for no adequately explained reason and that, sadly, is the best that Mnemosyne does with the issue of love. This is an anime that doesn't establish its universe's rules very well. The final episode adds several new ones that were never mentioned or even alluded to. The result is that they seem to come out of nowhere. It's not quite a deus ex moment, but it comes really close. There's a lot of really stilted dialogue for the sake of exposition. Then there's the ending. I don't want to spoil it, just in case there's someone who still wants to watch it, but the ending is awful. It's rushed, it doesn't make sense, and it's really really really stupid.

The characters aren't exactly helpful. Yeah, great characters couldn't exactly save Mnemosyne from its myriad story issues, but they could at least make it somewhat bearable. The problem is that the characters are roughly as well done as the story. Most of them barely have personalities. Yes, the anime is short, but that's not an excuse. The Read or Die OVA is short too and it manages to have developed characters. Mnemosyne doesn't bother. The only three characters that I can really talk about beyond a very short description are Rin, Mimi and Apos and even they don't have a whole lot to them. Mimi is... supportive of Rin and good at hacking. Rin is... kind of a blank slate. She has a vaguely tortured past that barely gets touched on. She's always shown as being ready to help people who need it, but other than that her personality kind of varies based on what Hiroshi needs her to do for that episode. Apos spends most of the series being vaguely evil. You don't learn anything about his motivations until the final episode and it's not worth the wait. He ends up just being a really cliche villain.

The art is decent, for the most part. A lot of the backgrounds are pretty plain but the character designs are pretty well done. My biggest issue is the massive amount of fan-service. A lot of it is just used for gratuitous sex scenes, but there are also the sexualised torture scenes that I'm trying not to mention because I care about you more than this anime does. The action scenes are pretty lazy. They tend to last for short bursts and several end abruptly without any kind of satisfying conclusion. Still, the art is probably the best part of the anime.

Now we move on to the voice acting. Now, I know for a fact that Kugimiya Rie, Ishida Akira and Noto Mamiko can not only act, but they can do it magnificently. I've heard each of them do it on multiple occasions. That being said, their performances in this aren't very good. Honestly, they don't even sound like they're trying. In fact, the only cast member who seems to be putting in any effort is Nazuka Kaori. That isn't to say that the acting is bad, it just seems like it's "phoned in." The music is all rather underwhelming, sounding rather typical for a horror action series. Except for the themes, which involve heavy engrish and are kind of annoying. No, it's not funny engrish like Black Lagoon has.

The yuri factor on this one has to be a 10/10. There are lesbian sex scenes. None of the women really develop an emotional connection and some of the scenes are just thrown in randomly, but you still can't get a whole lot more blatant than that without going into pornographic territory.

So, how is Mnemosyne overall? Well, it has some ideas that could've been interesting and the art is pretty well done but the story is an absolute mess, the characters have very little personality and there's just no substance. I also have to wonder just who the target audience is. People who watch anime for a good story certainly won't find it here. It's definitely not funny. The action scenes aren't very good so action fans are out. It's labeled as horror, but there's nothing remotely frightening in the entire series so horror fans will be uninterested. Yuri fans might enjoy some of the sex scenes but will likely be disappointed by how little you get of actual relationships and by the fact that het ultimately plays a bigger role. It's probably too tame for torture porn fans, even though some of those scenes do get pretty graphic. I guess that just leaves the easily impressed and people who can be fooled by the illusion of substance, maybe people who want to watch torture porn and have some room for denial. If you're in one of those groups you might enjoy Mnemosyne, as for me I'm giving it a 1.4/10. Ultimately, the few good ideas don't make up for the complete lack of anything redeemable in the actual story or from the characters. If you want to see immortality mixed with other supernatural, mythical and sci-fi elements in a show that deals with sexuality and is actually competently done, check out the first two seasons of Torchwood. They're much better than this. Actually, the bad seasons of Torchwood are still better than this. Now, I need to watch something decent after that. So next week I'll end yuri anime month with a look at Sasameki Koto.

This is by far the most boring anime I have watched. I rarely finish a series if I find myself disliking it mid-way through the series. I’m very disappointed since I really wanted to enjoy Mnemosyne that at first, I was very willing to ignore whatever flaws it had. It’s too bad that the negative aspects vastly outweigh the positive ones.

Before I go into the details of why Mnemosyne didn’t appeal to me very much, I’d like to state the things that I did enjoy. The opening song is one of them. I enjoy it so much that I barely skipped it. I'd even ... go far as to say that it was the most enjoyable thing in the anime. The visual aspect of the opening was mediocre and just plain boring. The other thing that I enjoyed, or at least tried to, is the main character, Rin. Rin seemed to be the protagonist that I was always looking for in anime, which is why I badly wanted Mnemosyne to be good. She was the perfect mix of cool and bad ass and I really did like her character design, but eventually, she just failed to be interesting.

The biggest problem I have with this anime is the lack of development. Everything from the plot to the characters was left unexplained. They fail to show what the main characters motivations are. This isn’t just exclusive to the main characters, it goes for every character in this anime.

The fight scenes are just meh. The show barely has any entertaining fight choreography and opts for guns and explosions. The most interesting fight scene in Mnemosyne is in the first episode and gets worse as the shows progress. In fact, the previous sentence describes the entire anime perfectly as the animation and stories descend far below pathetic by the last episode. The soundtrack is completely lackluster and seems to have been pulled straight from stock soundtrack library.

Overall, I think it was mainly a waste of time. The only other thing I felt while watching this show aside from boredom was frustration.

First off, I would like to say, that FUNamations description does not do this series the justice it deserves.

Story 9/10 - Mnemosyne, is kind of like the movie "The Shining", absolutely god awful, but if you pay attention to it, and put a little thought and research into it, you will see that it is actually a misunderstood master piece. Just like in "The Shining" there are actually multiple stories being told simultaneously. It is telling the tale of Japan and it's struggles after the nuclear bombs had been dropped, the Greek mythological tale of Mnemosyne(goddess of memory and remembrance) and her children, and the ... story of a detective(who becomes a daughter of Mnemosyne), trying to piece all of these elements together. What did not like about this series is that there was a huge plot hole, that threw me off. And I find it didn't attract as many viewers because of the aggressive and what most would believe to be pointless sex scenes, which derails the story for the eyes of people not looking for its complex dimensions.

Art 8/10 -The art was pretty average for this type of anime for the first half, but what was really good about it was the animation. Very fluid like transition between frames, no "Blur frames" or "Half frames" . But once the Greek Mythology story comes more into play the, the art becomes more detailed and ominous. The mysterious looking skies with a transient look, like water colors of a sunset painting.

Sound 8/10 -The music was very well placed throughout the series, every song was well placed with the themes of the actions that were taking place throughout the series, the one thing that kind of was bothersome, is that some of the songs sounded like something that was used in a corny 80's film. The OP and ED were definitely suiting to the themes of emotional and physical torture, and the abuse part, but nothing really creative along the lines of being original. The voice actors actually did a very good job on the English Dub. The voices weren't annoying as they tend to be English dubs and they did a fair job of getting the feeling they were trying to convey to the audience, and they didn't use unnecessary formalities, using apostrophes for omission("It's" instead of "It is").

Characters 7/10 -Rin is really the only character that has a solid dynamic nature through out the OVA's. Though Koki Maeno and Mimi, do some changing themselves through out the series, Rin is the only characters whose change is consistent through out it, the others seem to just change dramatically half-way through, as a significant amount of time passes. First time I watched this, Rin's character got kind of annoying, she comes into the series like a total bad ass, and ends it with her tail between her legs, that part really got to me. But when I watched it a second time, third time etc, I saw that to complete the story they wanted to tell it was a necessary plot tool.

Enjoyment 10/10 -Not going to lie, the first time I watched this anime, I was absolutely appalled by the amount of sexual content and lack of story content. It wasn't until that I heard from a friend that I should re-watch it after reading up a bit on Greek Mythology and the story of the goddess of Mnemosyne. After doing that, I find little wonders hidden through out it, that I didn't see before, and it happens each time I watch it. In the end it was because of this anime, that I began to develop an interest in it again I have been able to get quite a number of people to start watching it as well, I also happen to own a copy of this anime as well, I liked it so much.

Overall 8.4/10 -Overall, this anime is definitely got something in it for everybody; action, orgies, mythology, Sci-fi, comedy and a little bit of romance in the end. I give a strong recommendation to check it out with an open-mind and attention to detail for full enjoyment.

This is the first complete OVA anime I've seen and, without a doubt, one of the best animes out there. Just a first glance at this anime's early sequences and it's clear that this one is just not for anyone. Mnemosyne contains the whole package: nudity, profanity, strong language, strong sexual themes and intense violence. So discretion is advised, this anime is exclusively for mature audiences.

Well that being said let's start with the story. Normally a anime this long would have been separated in 12 or 13 episodes, so why is this anime cut into 6 - 45 minute OVAS? The answer is simple: ... is easier and less confusing to manipulate and separate time in 6 parts that it is on 12 or 13. Almost every OVA occurs in a different time lapse, the space however remains normally the same happening the main events in Shinjuku, Nagoya and Kyoto. Sometimes the location is changed by the flow of the story but mainly everything starts up within this cities. The OVAs divide in 5 different time epochs:
1st OVA - 1990
2nd OVA - 1991
3rd OVA - 2011
4th OVA - 2025
5th and 6th OVA - 2055

OVAs 1,2,3 and 4 consist in different arcs regarding story. The 5th and 6th set the conclusion and finish the anime. Each OVA alone is so impressive that you'll make haste to watch the next one. The story is manly about the life of a immortal being, Asogi Rin and her assistant Mimi. At first in seens that Rin is just a common private detective, but as the storyline develops and the main events unfold you will discover who she really is and why she is immortal.

-THE NEXT THREE PARAGRAPHS CONTAIN SPOILERS REGARDING THE MAIN STORYLINE (+OVA 3)-

Basically the story revolves around the nordic legend of the "Yggdrasil", tree of life. This legend says that this tree's roots mantain united the two worlds, the world of the mortals and the world of the immortals. And if a woman, only a woman takes one of the tree's fruit it will become immortal, while a man will become a monster and die in eternal agony. This legend is a bit changed here: the men become "angels" (monsters with red wings) and are forced to fornicate with the females which are, at the same time, inexplicably sexualy atracted to the males. After the male has satisfied his sexual desire he must kill the female in order to be able to continue his sorrowful existence by eating the Yggdrasil fruit inside the female.

Asogi Rin does not remember when did she consume the Yggdrasil fruit, in fact every certain lapse of time she forget's her memories due to Eipos (the main antagonist) influence. Sometimes when you begin watching a OVA you will not understand what's going on but the event sequence is so well put that in no time you will be enjoying the continuation of the OVA even if you don't know what's going on. And in the end the connection between the confusing and the certainty will arrive sooner or later, but it does appear in such a natural way that you won't even notice it.

One thing to point out is that you will be seeing these fruits falling from the sky all the time during the anime as well as the Yggdrasil far away on the edge of the city. I think it's kind of cool because it get's you more attached to Rin knowing that you can see what she sees. So in the end the story is amazingly well put. The changes in the legend, the different time spaces and some flashback (inputted smartly in some of the OVAs) just make one of the best storylines come alive and deliver a ultimate experience.

The characters, spaces and locations are terrific. All the anime occurs mainly in some specific cities and some time it diverts to some other locations in order to fulfill certain objectives in the story. It sounds anoying to be always located in the same city, but this is when the time dividing aspect does it's job. In the first two OVAs you won't notice anything different, having only passed one year between them, but in the third OVA you will witness the changes in the demographical, technological and style aspects. These changes are so well driven that you will be impressed on how things changed from just one OVA to another and wonder what else is going to change afterwards. Note that the last two OVAs (5th and 6th) do share the same timeline of events as well. This is undertandable, being this two final OVAs the ones that contain the main storyline and define the conclusion.

Mnemosyne art is also focused on the horror, gore, bloody and sexual aspects. The dark theme in this anime is mantained on all the episodes development and does make feel one really anxious about what is going to happen next. Gore and blood are evident in this anime. From the scandalous turns and events in the anime (wich include from body dismembering to genital-piercing tortures) to the ending song theme (Cause Dissaray), this anime will result a feast for those who love violence. In the sexual aspect this show contains just enough content to almost fall into the Hentai genre. Nudity, mid-detailed sex scenes and, from time to time, pedofile sex escenes will be a often ocurrence here.

Altasia and Cause Disarray are just the best opening-ending combination I've listened to. Normally all animes Open with a really good and powerful song but then the ending just becomes a slow and weak song that has a cool-down role. Differently from other animes, Mnemosyne both, opening and ending, are strong an powerful songs (of course my criteria funtions by my musical preferences: metal, rock, etc.). These two songs manage to create a feeling of a never ending struggle, a neverending story, this matches perfectly the immortal theme.

Passing now to the battle soundtracks I really can't get enough of the main battle theme. I mean is just so original and really does go in when it has to. The rest of the BMGs are overall good and do a well job adding more spice to the OVAs. Another thing is the japaneese voice acting, I mean Rin's voice sounds sexy and clear no wonder why, she's interpreted by Noto Mamiko (Ichinose Kotomi in Clannad, Yuka in Elfen Lied, Hecate in Shakugan no Shana, Shihou Matsuri in sola and the popular Emma Ai in Jigoku Shoujo). So it all comes down to if the music plays good in conjuction with the anime, well it actually it does, and it does rock hard without the anime as well: perfection.

There is a lot of characters in this anime. I'm in love with Rin, she's just so sexy. She's drawn to attract the male audience: exotic hair colour, big eyes, beautiful face, huge breasts and perfect all around body. The other characters are given least importance but are well drawn as well. Mimi is gorgeous too. She target's the other part of the male audience which likes a more clasic teen look: a not too llamative hair colour, moderate breast size, small body, and a all around teen look. Now the personalities are exotic and different. Mimi has the naughty-teen personality and tends to practice lesbianisn sex in one or two episodes. Rin is a special case: her main personality is quiet, confident and seductive when the situation requires it. But at some specific moments her personalitie suffers changes due to memory loss. So you will see her one episode as a loving girlfriend, then (almost all the time) as a detective or as a sexual goddess.

A mix between a unforgetable story, over the top artistic quality, impressive soundtrack and wonderful and appealing characters gives Mnemosyne a HUGE onjoyment factor that transforms it into a ''must see" OVA-Anime. This anime will challenge your senses, unleash your hidden desires and replenish your most gory and bloody necessities. Now the only question you must ask yourself now is: are you ready to start watching Mnemosyne-Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi?

Episode 1: It's alright. It plays out as a normal supernatural mystery story about people trying to achieve immortality through scientific means. The episode also ends rather thought-provoking.

Episode 2: The supernatural elements from the first episode are explored more. Not as good as the previous episode, but still interesting enough to continue.

Episode 3: The guy from the first episode is suddenly 30 years older, but whatever.

Episode 4: What's going on, some kind of digital world shit? Why haven't they mentioned this before?

Episode 5: What the fuck just happened? Am I to understand the things that happened in the previous 4 episodes don't mean ... shit anymore? WHO ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE?

Epsiode 6: That's it. Ignore everything you've read about this show or anything that I've just said. It's not worth your time. It's shit.

If you want to see a bunch of angels dressed up as The Gimp from Pulp Fiction jerk off to a bunch of girls having lesbian sex in a bloody orgy with limbs lying around, go right ahead, because that's the mental image you get after watching this.

I DON'T CARE THAT VODKA IS RUSSIAN FOR WATER.

Story
What we basically got here is immortal people and a nice evil plot for someone "eating memories". The story seems rather original and fits nicely into just 6 45 minute episodes. We have our fair share of action and gore in this also. The ending was far from disappointing and really enjoyable. Although I somehow don't feel as this deserves a 10 and not sure why, maybe theres something missing ^^ Oh! And theres a few nice twists ;)

Art
I liked the art in this anime it matched well with the genre and the effects we're cool. It could've been better but it was nice to ... watch.

Sound
I don't think everyone will enjoy the OP and EP. But I loved the music and sound effects through out this anime so I'm going to have to rate it 9 out of 10.

Character
The characters seemed rather in depth and backed up by great voice acting and watching how the characters develop through out the anime was interesting.

Enjoyment
I really enjoyed watching this and the sex-content wasn't too heavy. I wouldn't class this in with hentai because it wasn't over the top. It was a nice action fantasy with some cruel content and sex. If i was to relate this to any anime...I would say...a modified version of elfen lied with less romance / emotivness and added sex.

These are elements in most things media that you as the viewer are attracted to or appalled to and in this case, there are many anime that is clearly not meant for everyone and it’s not just the pointless fan service anime or the very, very nauseating hentai titles but more titles that are too risqué for TV but instead went into the OVA format and that is where Rin Daughters of Mnemosyne come to mind and when first hearing about it based on most reviews and just shootin’ the shit with some people, some say it’s either good, perverted, creepy, etc. but then again, ... I’ve been reviewing anime for two years now and I have seen way worse material than what they describe and so I went inside an open mind and that’s all I wrote.

Rin Asogi is an immortal private detective with a thirst for vodka and a talent for attracting things that go bump in the night. In a series of nightmarish vignettes spanning sixty-five years, Rin’s lush body is sadistically pierced, blown up, and mulched to a bloody pulp. The fiend behind her tortured existence is Apos, an eternal being obsessed with sacrificing Rin to Yggdrasil, the tree of all life. While Rin struggles to unravel the secrets of her endless agony, Apos lurks in the shadows, eager to tear into her ripe body and devour the memories of her countless lives. Rin’s no stranger to the realm of the dead, but her next visit could last forever.

And the result was that the show was……while it has very strong sexual and erotic themes and there is copious amounts of graphic violence in the show, I didn’t really feel that creeped out by it because in actuality, those themes fit within the show without it being played for shock value. Like I said, I have seen much worse than this. Elfen Lied, I feel was creepy, pretentious, and only being played for shock value for most of the part and also it fits the context. It doesn’t seem out of place or inappropriate that you wonder what the hell you just watch. The story does introduce immortals, which most people are familiar with if they saw Baccano! And believe me, Rin gets in most situations where any person would just up and die. However, while Rin is an immortal, I did felt like she was in real danger most of the storyline does go through 5 timelines from the 1990s to 2011 to the very near future of 2055 within the span of 6 45-minute episodes, the pacing was smooth as when an episode end, it feels more conclusive and episodic at least for the first 4 episodes and while it has that monster or bad guy of the week (actually, year) format, it never felt as tiring or easily bored. As of what I thought about the main plot, I was confused at some times but then again, like most shows, I get the idea just about a few episodes in and it is an interesting yet devious plot.

I do like the duo of Rin Asogi and her assistant Mimi as likable characters although while everything around them change, from cities to people to technological advances, they actually don’t considering that I always remember the line of when Rin wants some water and Mimi gives her Vodka and says, “Vodka is Russian for water” and that is repeated for the first 4 episodes. The Maeno family are the most interesting characters as you see different variations of them from Koki to his son Teruki and to Teruki’s daughter Mishio and it does show how well-connected they are to Rin and Mimi. Apos, the main antagonist of the show, isn’t exactly as textbook “take over the world” villain as I thought. He does it with sex and murder.

Xebec is in charge of the animation and while I had my gripes with them on a few titles that I either watched and/or reviewed, this is definitely a far cry from the usual material they often make. The art style and animation is fine with the setting within the in-universe changing from either a year or two to 10 to 50 years. The gore and violence factor is very high so this is definitely not recommended for those who have weak constitutions or not much of a gore/violence fan.

I really, really, really love the opening theme and I also thought the ending song was decent but not exactly high on my list as the opening and ending are both sung by Galneryus and while I like it, I can’t really say it fits to the show although some of the time, it does.

As for the English dub, the FUNimation dub leaves me not wholly satisfied as while Colleen Clinkenbeard was perfectly cast as Rin, I seriously can’t picture Jamie Marchi as Mimi. I like Marchi as a voice actress and I appreciate her going for a role outside of how she’s usually cast but she sounded kind of screechy in her role. Todd Haberkorn manages to give a decent performance as Apos and all around, the dub is….well, the FUNimation standard of dubs.

FINAL VERDICT: In short, I really enjoyed watching this show. I like that while it does have those themes I’ve mentioned earlier, it manages to fit with the context of the show and not feel out of place and if the show creeped you out, then the show did what it needed to do. I guess if you are a fan of shows like this, then this is made for you.

This anime has put a spell on me, a spell so powerful I'm woken up in the middle of the night two weeks after finishing this show and thinking about how god-awful it was. The only way I can get this off of my chest is by writing a review and sharing my opinions.

This will be my first review and I've decided that I might as well write it on my least favorite anime, therefor this will be very opinionated (like every other review isn't) and may contain many writing flaws as I have not yet figured out a solid structure that I should be ... using for my review. So without further ado, let's talk about Mnemosyne: Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi.

I'll start with the story. Essentially the plot is driven by a new story every episode, as most of the episodes are a large time leap from the last. Say 1990 to 2011, making it very episodic. I didn't particularly dislike this about the show, actually it was one of the very few things I did like, if not the only thing. I was genuinely interested to see how much time had passed each new episode that I started and what had changed around our (mostly) unchanging cast of characters. Other than that, what was actually happening each episode was mostly uninteresting and forgettable, which made sitting through FORTY-FIVE MINUTES each episode painfully boring and almost kept me from even completing the series several times. Luckily there are only six episodes, so it amounts to about a twelve episode series. I'll admit, the actual premise of the show isn't that bad, it's actually pretty interesting, it's just very poorly executed and could have been approached much better in my opinion. It does take until the later bits of the show to get into the actual plot, though, and honestly that just makes the previous episodes essentially useless because nothing of significance is really happening until later in the show. I also couldn't help but notice several plot holes throughout the entirety of the series, and you'll probably be left scratching your head once you notice them, too. There were parts of the story that were honestly so unnecessary and poorly executed that I found myself laughing at things I shouldn't be. At times, this show felt very similar to a poorly produced hentai.

I feel like I should include this with the story, but for this particular anime I think it should have it's own spot for discussion. Of course I'm talking about the excessive violence, gore, and sexual undertones of this show. Now normally I would have no problem with violence, sex, and mature content. Actually, it's one of the factors that I particularly love about anime when it is pulled off correctly. I think the first thing that comes to mind when people mention this anime is "torture porn", and it isn't too far off from the truth to be honest. I've heard several people say that the especially violent scenes in this anime are there for good reason, and help to advance to the plot. And yeah, I guess you'd be right, if the scene had tied and restrained the plot and put a gun to it's head. I thought it was very forced and unnecessary. It added absolutely nothing to the show.

The next point to make would be the characters. I would think that having lived hundreds of years would make you at least a slightly interesting person, I was wrong. Despite being immortal, there is absolutely nothing interesting about our main characters Rin and Mimi. I guess Rin can be pretty attractive in her pajamas though, that's about it. Every other character is very disposable and honestly they feel like they're just there for filler. Inevitably since each episode skips a fairly large amount of time, you know these characters aren't going to be around for long. Even knowing this, the show never really gave me a reason to care about any of these characters. The most interesting character in this show is without a doubt Apos, and without him there to drive the plot I probably would have dropped this show. I'll also go out to mention that some of the characters have very odd decision making.

This is where we come to, personally, one of the worst aspects of the show. The art and animation, as well as the sound. This show possibly has the ugliest color template I have ever seen in my life. There isn't a more polite way to put it. It's actually visually displeasing. The animation is pretty stale most of the time, and you'll never be thinking that a particular scene looked very nice, but honestly it isn't bad, it's just mediocre. The torture scenes are obviously where most of the hard work went in regards to the animation, and it's pretty sad that that's the case. It could have been put towards much better places rather than the scenes that are forced into my face and have no appeal whatsoever. The soundtrack is terrible. I actually partially feel that whoever composed the soundtrack of this show had ulterior motives, that being to troll every single viewer of the show. One song in particular really got me when it kicked on, it was almost infuriating but also made me want to laugh at the same time. I don't know what to feel. In a sense, this made the soundtrack very distinct and memorable, but not in a good way.

All in all, Mnemosyne: Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi, has to be the worst show I have seen in all my years of watching anime so far. This is a generalized review, so I didn't go into the core details of the show, or else I would be sitting here writing for days, and no one would want to read all of that. I did try to include parts of the show that weren't particularly bad, but honestly they are very hard to find so mostly, I couldn't. There are probably a ton of structural mistakes and whatnot in here but this is the first time I have ever wrote a review, so go easy on me.

Final verdict, should you watch this anime?
No. You'll be asking yourself why you're still watching this each new episode.
I can't even throw in a witty excuse for you to watch this show.
Just don't.

A particular quirk to Japanese visual novels (story-based PC games) is the addition to extended graphic sex scenes to an otherwise PG or non-pornographic route. The fact is, beyond story, reputation, publicity and reason: sex sells best. This is a concept the creators of Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne seem to have wholeheartedly embraced.

After buying another anime DVD from Amazon, I kept getting emails recommending Mnemosyne to me, but after reading some reviews I decided it was best to watch on Netflix instead. At six episodes, decided it wouldn't take up too much of my life - plus, if I didn't like it, I could ... just turn it off and not worry about what to do with a DVD I didn't want to watch. Unlike most anime, instead of being comprised of 25 minute episodes, Mnemosyne has an expansive 45 minutes per episode, meaning there is enough time to create an entire fully fleshed-out world and establish various characters despite the short series length.

Rin, the titular character (in more ways than one), runs a private detective business in the Tokyo district of Shinjuku. She deals with various cases with the help of her assistant Mimi. Thing is, being Magnum P.I. aside - Rin's immortal, and when she's not tracking down lost cats, she's getting involved in more supernatural mysteries that seem to find her whether she's on or off the map. What is the darkness haunting Rin - and is it the same force behind her inability to die?

From backgrounds to finishing touches, Mnemosyne's art isn't really anything to write home about. The character designs along the same lines with generic crazy hair colours, big eyes and, yes, large breasts - I get second-hand backache just looking at this series. Similarly adequate is the music, apart from the opening song, which I skipped every time because I just couldn't stand it, but that is my bias.

It's clear that Mnemosyne's best quality is the use of time throughout the series. Recurring characters dare to do what many cartoon characters never do - age. And do they age! There is no better illustration of Rin's immortality than to have generations sweep past her as she stays the same, and the implied loneliness this creates. And it isn't just people who age - society and technology sprints along at every new episode. From totally immersive MMORPGs to intuitive virtual-reality shopping at a fingertip, this is one of the most intriguing aspects of the show, especially how it relates to Rin's investigations. Though I have to say - Rin, if you only get one case every twenty years, maybe it's time to consider a career change?

From the best to the worst: the explicit porn and gore scenes. I felt that, like a VN, Mnemosyne should have had an option to turn these scenes off altogether as they added nothing to the plot, feeling nothing more than embellishment to attract freaks and their wallets than any kind of artistic or political endevour. There were many times I considered like closing the browser window when these scenes happened, and they do colour my ultimate perception of the show negatively.

As for the dub, I thought the voice actors did very well with the material they were given. Whereas the majority of the cast didn't last more than a few episodes, they fit their roles well enough. Colleen Clinkenbeard deserves a special mention for her consistently natural delivery as Rin, even during more... challenging scenes.

Overall, the series presents some compelling mysteries and the setting and time-span are utelised effectively to create a unique perception of human impermanence from the eyes of one who cannot age. The evolution of technology throughout was also fascinating to watch. The ending's reveal on the nature of Rin's mysterious condition also drew from several mythical sources, suggesting that the creators had done a lot of research on ancient civilizations and their beliefs. Without giving too much away, I also appreciated the subversive attitude towards what we consider angelic beings - it felt like the first time Mnemosyne had dared to make a statement that wasn't explicitly sexual in nature. However, I felt that as much as the erratic, brave plot was a cartographer's delight, the pornography and gore are enough to take this series off the map for me. While Mnemosyne has potential, it is preoccupied with selling itself, and selling itself too cheap at that.


Amazon.co.uk price: £6.75
Language: English, Japanese
Subtitles: English
Number of discs: 2
Classification: 18
Studio: Manga Home Entertainment (UK) Ltd
DVD Release Date: 13 Sep 2010

Originally posted on marusamarento.wordpress.com

In two words; underwhelming and underdeveloped. If I haven't believed in the sincerity of the creators I wouldn't bring myself to finish it.

Artwork is nice, the usual oav quality. Storytelling is consistently boring. The issue of immortality and long time span of the oav brings in lots of potential that's rarely tapped into. There are a few plot twists which tends towards a home run then gets lost quickly.

Most interesting things are the main character Rin and background details as the time goes on. A few lifestyle changes and interfaces are introduced in later episodes, but it has been used way better in ... Gits:Sac and they don't effect the flow of the story much. It's not as gory and sexually exploitive as people seem to think .

All in all I felt that Mnemosyne would have worked way better in a 26 ep. series assuming some inspiration comes into play and it gets further developed.

This anime is slow in progressing through the story and character development. It is announce that there will be 6 episode which comes out at the first sunday of each month. So the last episode will be early July, having that being said, we are half way through this ova series but the story is still unclear.

Rin and Mimi apparently are kinda like immortal, they don't age or die, they get have guts spilling out and they would heal. Lots of gore and sex in this anime, there is at least a couple minute where Rin or even Mimi have to please this lesbo for ... infomation in the last 2 episode.

Some character appears in one episode as main focus and then they disappear completely. Other than that we know there is a cruel kid, Eipos, who seems to be another immortal, who is after Rin and Mimi.

They sure took their time into drawing the background in some part of the anime, and the music is good. Overall it is a good serie to watch probably just for the gore and sex, hopefully the story will improve.