Also known as Mnemosyne －ムネモシュネの娘たち(Munemoshune no Musumetachi), this six part OVA series was part of the 10th anniversary celebration for the AT-X channel a few years back. Knowing it aired on AT-X, it should have been pretty obvious that this show would be loaded with fanservice, but oh my, there was A LOT more fanservice oriented scenes than I had expected. At the same time, the contents to this OVA series are sometimes extremely disturbing. Warning for anybody that watches this series, Mnemosyne is DEFINITELY for older audiences only.
Surprisingly, though, the fanservice doesn’t completely detract from the original concept for this particular anime. If anything, it only added to the surprisingly unique premises and ideas explored in this series. Mnemosyne explores some very dark, and sometimes even brutal and cruel, ideas about how human society evolves and grows, all from the perspective of an immortal being.
Some of the strongest points to this series is most definitely the representations of norse mythology, and more importantly, how it is incorporated into the actual setting. Represented by the fabled Yggdrasil tree and the immortal beings that result from it, the incorporation of norse mythology to the story gives this show a very unique flair in terms of both direction and concepts. It is especially obvious to see when you contrast the unrealistic idea of immortals with the present day society they are immersed in. Seeing our main characters, as they are immortal, witness decades of evolution of human society and technology, really does help give Mnemosyne a very unique atmosphere. The delicate balance of mixing the supernatural with futuristic technology really helps create a dynamic setting that really makes you ponder about every aspect in this show.
That being said, the immortals themselves largely remain unchanged, which provides a huge contrast to the ever changing setting, where the settings of each episode often being decades apart from each other in terms of timeline. Yet at the same time, our main protagonists are aware of the fleeting and fragile lives of regular people, and treat that with both respect and dignity. The main characters themselves are more subtle at times, and were surprisngly well thought out in terms of personality.
The major issue with this show would include both the unnecessary fanservice (although at times it was essential), and the somewhat convoluted, odd plot.
This show is most certainly fanservice heavy, with a lot of lesbian sex scenes involving our main protagonists Rin and Mimi. As I mentioned earlier, this show is extremely fanservice heavy, with boobs and naked girls making a lot of appearances after the first episode. I will admit that I was completely taken by surprise by the heavy amounts of fanservice, as the first episode was extremely deceiving with it’s notable lack of fanservice. And seriously, at least half of the fanservice scenes in this show could have been cut out with no impact on the main story. On the other hand, though, the fanservice was never blatently stupid, and in numerous cases, did involve the main plot.
The plot of the line, in a nutshell, goes along the lines of “immortal girls who received the seed of immortality from the Yggdrasil tree is in a decades long struggle with angels and Apos”. The plot does sound odd, but at times it’s very well done. The story during the first one or two episodes really do help flesh out our main cast, but from there on out the story gets progressively more and more complex and convoluted. The story is actually pretty enjoyable to watch, but by the end of the OVA series most people will be like “lol…what just happened…?”
In the end, this series definitely isn’t for everybody. Mnemosyne is pretty much a horror anime with a lot of fanservice elements. This show is similar to other horror titles like Higurashi no Naku koro ni, Elfen lied, and horror-torture movies such as Saw and Hills have Eyes. If you can’t handle brutal scenes, this show is definitely one you should avoid. If you do watch this show, the story is rather decent, and the characters are well portrayed and developed.
Production Quality: 8.0/10
Characters: 8.0/10
Story/Setting: 8.0/10
Overall Score: 8.0/10
Distant Paradise 