Genre dissonance
Tasogare Otome X Amnesia considers itself a horror, mystery, romance, and at times, a comedy. The show attempts to be all of these genres at once, but suffers horribly in its attempts to make all these genres work smoothly together. The Horror aspect in this show is pitiful, at best. The humor and jokes are well written and made me laugh, but end up taking any tension or fear away from the rest of the plot. The mystery presented can barely be called a mystery; when you are presented with pieces of the puzzle the main character immediately explains how it fits into the whole picture. The show leaves little room for the viewer to come to their own conclusions. The romance between Yukko and Teiichi is enjoyable, and the primary reason I continued to watch the show to the end. The romance is believable and interesting, but this is probably because their romance is given more attention than almost any other aspect of the show, and the other parts suffer for it. I really think this story would have shined if the horror and comedy aspects had been dropped entirely, and instead focused on the mystery of what happened to Yukko and the romance between her and Teiichi.
Thematic and episodic discontinuity
The multiple genres are not the only things that clash in this show. Throughout the show a consistent theme appears in almost all the episodes. All the horrible and bad things that happen in this show can be traced back to people. Peoples fears, and superstitions take hold and lead them to horrible actions and conclusions. All the ghost stories can be explained by people's fears and superstitions blinding them from the truth. All the terrible crimes committed in this show are because of people’s fear and superstitions leading them to hysteria. In the end, there's nothing supernatural, it's all just fear and paranoia…
Except…for Yukko.
Yukko is decidedly a ghost, and supernatural. So it seems silly to me that this theme about how nothing supernatural is occurring and it's just people's fear is being pushed when THERE IS SOMETHING supernatural occurring. While this is a minor gripe for me, it just adds to this show’s overall lack of cohesion. A Bigger problem for me was the cohesion between episodes. Especially in the early episodes, entire episodes would pass without advancing the plot or characters at all. Often episodes would end, and the next episode would begin as if the previous events just never happened. This show has a horrible habit of introducing side characters in an episode and then NEVER mentioning them again. I can think of 4 side characters off the top of my head that literally appear for an episode and have no consequence on the story as a whole. I really only felt like the main plot was advanced in the first two and last 3 episodes, and the rest of the episodes could’ve been reordered without consequence.
Art and Character
After all of this complaining I would like to take a moment to shine a light on the best parts of this show. The art design for this show is absolutely stunning.The show is unafraid of using bright vibrant colors, that are often contrasted by shadows and darkness. I adore the way the art was done in this show, and I’m glad that risks were taken as it definitely paid off. While personally I did not find Teiichi interesting, I found the interactions between him, and the other three characters, to be an enjoyable experience. I found the romance between Teiichi and Yukko to be touching and sweet. I wish more focus had been put on these two, and also the friendships of the three living club members. The interactions between all these characters is really what drives the show forward, and is what kept me watching to the end.
I would like to take a moment to mention the ending of this show. I will try not to spoil it, but the final episode of the series is basically a 20 minute interaction between Yukko and Teiichi. It is sweet, heartfelt, and believable. It was a beautifully crafted moment between two lovers and was definitely the highlight of the show...
Until the last two minutes of that episode. Look, I’m all for happy endings, but the last two minutes of that episode was a punch to the gut. It made the rest of the episode mute, it felt like a prank. Why have all that setup and emotional tender moments when you were just gonna pull a “SIKE” at the end? It honestly felt like the writer was forced to make the ending happier. It just doesn't seem like that's how the story was supposed to go out.
I think this show was so close to being something really nice. But overall this show has the worst lack of focus I have ever seen. It is fractured, it doesn’t gel nicely with itself, and it just seems confused. A real shame too, with a little more focus and direction I think this story would’ve been a hidden gem, but instead it’s an unfortunate mess. That gets completely carried by its character interactions and art.
