Amnesia – 12 (Fin)

Ukyou chases the heroine around the burning church with a knife, but keeps changing back to his gentle, caring self, who tells her her death in this church started everything. He wished she could live, and Orion’s creator, Neil, granted his wish by sending him to worlds where she was still alive, but only one of them could live in whatever world they ended up in. He stabs himself to stop the evil him from killing her. She ends up in limbo, where Orion explains what happened. Neil thanks her for restoring his powers. Neil in turn will restore her memories and let her return to her original world.

We’ll be honest, we were dreading both the possibility that this would go on for another slow, deliberate season, or worse, the ending wouldn’t be told until who-knows-when in some future film of OVA. Fortunately, neither happened, and we got a definite end that competently explained the mystery of the heroine’s predicament, Ukyou’s full role, and the real reason Orion was by her side for most of her journey. Most of these answers are delivered rather matter-of-factly through exposition, much of it either happening while Nice Ukyou peeks his persona in or by Orion in the checkered limbo when the cycle finally breaks. We’re somewhat conflicted with regards to whether all the explanation at the end works (the pop-up monitor Orion uses to show recaps flashbacks is pretty silly).

On the one hand, we liked the idea of a wish gone wrong, Ukyou causing far more trouble for himself and his lover just because he wanted to see her again, and worlds that don’t like people who aren’t supposed to be there. On the other hand, neither Orion or Ukyou really earned the emotional resonance this episode was trying to peddle, the four other dudes are completely abandoned  and while we really wanted to see just a smidgen of the heroine’s world, the end did not provide. Finally, the big NEIL reveal…just didn’t do anything for us. When weighing the pros and cons, this is a fittingly good but not great finale to a good but not great series.

Rating: 6 (Good)

Stray Observations:

• For the record, when he’s in control, Evil Ukyou is not that good at carrying out what he says needs to be done in a prompt and efficient manner. It’s not as if the heroine is particularly fast.
• That is one massive, slow-burning church, and the flames are remarkably smoke free. No asphyxiation for our heroine! 
• The end credits didn’t feature a heartwarming shot of the heroine locked in Toma’s Cage of Happiness.

Amnesia – 11

The heroine and Orion learn that Ukyou has a split personality: one side wants to protect her and prevent her from dying on the 25th, the other side wants to kill her so he can live. Despite warning her to stay away, she can’t, and when a text he sends her a text on the 25th implying he’ll die that night, and she goes out into a storm to find him. The evil Ukyou corners her in a burning church.

The heroine proves yet again that her sense of self-preservation is iffy at best, but overpowered by her refusal to stand by and let anyone suffer, especially if it’s for her sake. Logically, if half of Ukyou wants to see what the inside of her skull looks like, she should stay away from him, period. But she thinks with her heart, not her head, and for her trouble she ends up right where she started the series: in that burning church, hiding from the person she came to save. Nice symmetry!

Apparently, while this world will try to kill the heroine until the 25th, if Ukyou dies in her place, she’ll live on. Ukyou makes reference to having met the heroine and seen her die countless times, so it’s not unrealistic to assume the experience has made him go at least half-mad, developing a side of himself to stop him from dying in the heroine’s place. That half’s willing to do anything – kill anyone – to stay alive, just as the heroine is willing to risk her life again and again to relieve the pain of others.

Rating: 7 (Very Good)

Amnesia – 10

The heroine unlocks her diary where she learns she loves Toma and planned to confess to him the day of the accident. She lets him read it when he appears, and his misunderstanding is cleared up. He takes her to the hospital, where the fangirls show up apologize for how they treated her. In the night, Ukyou throws the heroine off the roof of the hospital, and she wakes up in a world with a much nicer Ukyou who protects her and claims to be her lover, but tells her the current world she’s in is trying to kill her.

We’ll admit, we were furious when the heroine all but forgave Toma’s criminal activities just because he “cared” about her. Hell, there’s no telling what the madman would have done to her had she not had that diary to defuse his rage (letting him off the hook is so glaring, we’re rating the episode a point lower.) But sure enough, she’s back in the hospital (she’s there so much, she must be putting a great many health professionals’ kids through college), only to get frikkin’ thrown off the roof by that creepy evil Ukyou guy. So long, world in which her childhood friend kept her in a cage…

…and Hello to the Killer World; that is, the one in which everything bad that can happen to the heroine does happen, unless the nicer Ukyou warns her or gets her out of harm’s way at the last second. Our thought was that if getting killed in one world throws you into another, why not just die and be sent somewhere less dangerous? We don’t know, because even though the heroine wants answers, she doesn’t ask any meaningful questions. Nice Ukyou – who may be on the same kind of “journey” through world as the heroine, is too preoccupied with her safety to let her (or us) in on what he knows…which is a lot.

Rating: 6 (Good)

Amnesia – 08

The heroine is now in a world where Toma is her boyfriend, as well as her childhood friend. He is very attentive and caring, but in the course of the next few days, her mailbox is filled with garbage, someone misses her head by a hair with a dropped flower pot, and she is accosted by Ukyou, who warns her she’s about to die. She stays at Toma’s place, but while shopping she goes off alone, and the Ikki Fan Club corners her.

The show is called “Amnesia”, but this week it could might as well be called “Paranoia” – full as it is of shadows and secrets, threats and intrigue. The heroine starts this next chapter out of it to begin with, but like no other episode before, she’s a marked woman, and there’s the sense she’s on borrowed time. She may not be dating Ikki, but she’s still meeting him periodically in “The Back Alley”, so his fangirls are as ferocious as ever with their acts of psychological warfare and outright assault. And then there’s a particularly sinister Ukyou, who’s acutely aware that she’s jumping from place to place and dating a different guy each time.

He rather flippantly informs her of her impending death (jerk). Orion’s nowhere to be found, and Toma is doing all he can to protect her, but he can’t be awake and by her side at all times, and every time he isn’t, she gets into hot water. We’re curious what the fangirls think they can get away with in a busy mall, but one thing is certain: the heroine has gone with the flow thus far. If she doesn’t want to end up dead, she may need to take a more active role in preserving her life. Though every other time she’s “died” she’s simply woken up somewhere else.

Rating: 7 (Very Good)

Amnesia – 01

Three days after passing out at work, a girl finds she has no memory of who she or anyone around her is. The amnesia is brought about by Orion, a spirit only she can see and hear who crossed paths with her soul by chance and is now trapped inside it. The girl’s friends Toma and Shin walk her home, and the nex day she goes back to her job at a main and butler cafe, where she meets Ikki and Kent. When she goes home, she’s cornered by three girls accusing her of betraying them. She experiences a traumatic memory and passes out again.

The title “Amnesia” turns out to be a perfect description of what we see in its first installment, which is all about the confusion, frustration, and helplessness that accompany a state of Amnesia, and this girl has it bad (worse still, no one will say her name, which she doesn’t know herself.) Despite a couple tiresome moments of her fumbling with words or dishes, we’re on her side, because we’re just as in the dark about everything around her as she is. Her relationships to all these guys for instance, remain a total mystery, and none of them do her many favors with regards to helping her remember.

Still, she does okay for one day. Jumping right into a job at a maid cafe – or any job, for that matter – is no small task, but she does it to try to unlock some memories. All she gets are flashes that only raise more questions. The OP and ED seem to have fun with the fact that any or all of these guys could be her lover; we just don’t know at this point. As for Yumekui Merry Orion, well…we’re not the hugest fans. Her voice is annoying, and her design is a bit rote (Yumekui Merry looked cooler, even though we dropped her). Still, we like the premise atmosphere well enough, and will certainly give it another look next week.

Rating: 7 (Very Good)