Summary: >

Every few years the world tree Yggdrasil appears and from it emerge seeds referred to as time fruits. Normally seeds pass through people and things with no consequence, but on a rare occasion a seed will become stuck in a human body. This causes women become immortal. While they can die, they always resurrect and regenerate. Men on the other hand turn into beings called angels: monsters with insatiable lust to copulate and devour immortal women, who are helplessly drawn to them.

Rin has survived through the centuries, and picked up a companion named Mimi. The two run an agency that takes on oddball jobs they find interesting. The latest one is pretty strange. Koki is a guy who doesn't think he's the right person. His memories and everything are fine, but everything feels wrong. It's clear that something is amiss since people keep trying to kidnap or kill him. Mimi and Rin have been at this kind of work for some time, and this was an ordinary job. Unlike all of their previous clients, Koki would change the destiny of them both as their stories crossed through the years.

Thoughts: >

Many moons ago violent horror was a staple of anime. Those titles often had a lot of sex too. It's been a very long time since that was fashionable, so I found Mnemosyne to be an cool throwback to that era. It is however much more intelligent with its approach, and better than I remember those titles being. Old school anime was also very explicit with graphic violence (and sex). Mnemosyne has a lot of gory violence, but it's implied instead of showing us every bloody detail. Likewise there isn't any explicit sex, but it is very suggestive of what goes on. This allows the anime to be just as disturbing as many of those old school titles, without reveling in carnage as they often did.

This is very much a horror title, and needless to say there is some totally messed up stuff that goes on. I have an unusual fear of being cut by pointy objects like scalpels, so seeing Rin tortured to death in this way really creeped me out. Most of the ways she experiences death are not happy in the least. In one memorable scene, Rin's guts get sucked back into her body after a bomb explosion, but visually it's only seen as a silhouette. It's not as graphic as you might expect, yet the impact is just as effective. Point being: horror here isn't like cheesy Halloween decorations on a happy meal. This stuff is really messed up. If there was a quantitative way to measure "freaky shit", I'd say Mnemosyne would have a high enough concentration to become reining champion in anime. That's not all it has to offer though.

Mnemosyne's story is based around Rin and the Maeno family. Our perspective begins some time around the 1990s, and Rin's interaction with Koki Maeno, who feels like he isn't himself. From this point each episode takes us farther into the future, with Koki aging, and his descendants interacting with Rin. Each story unfolds in a manner similar to a mystery, but it never gives us enough pieces of the puzzle to really figure out what is going to happen, so I suppose this would qualify more as a suspense title. Mixed in with these stories are Rin and Mimi's encounters with angels, and the latest incarnation of a crazy immortal who's obsessed with killing Rin. Things do move into a bigger plot which is hinted at in parts, but not really revealed until episode 4. For a title which you might mistake as putting it's bets on sex and violence, Mnemosyne has a surprisingly well told, well thought out story.

I choose to rate this as above average for a few reasons. The story is good, which is essential, but this title also had a lot of really weird stuff that seriously cranks the "WTF" factor up a lot. Aside from horror styled violence and sex stuff, it digs into a few more abstract topics too. Immortals are often prone to unusual lifestyles like living dangerously, and doing charity work simply to feel alive. Aside from the Mermaid Saga, I couldn't name another title that even gave thought to that consequence of immortality. While I certainly wouldn't say I'd want to watch this kind of title on a regular basis, anime as an industry has recently felt like it's in a rut, so watching something a decent amount of shock value is a good way to shake things up. It's obviously not for everyone, but even for those not into horror/sex/violence this is a title worth checking into because it's not only different, but intelligent as well.