Review of Amnesia

Let me just say this first: I get where everyone is coming from when they that 1) the plot is slow and 2) the main heroine is bland. But I'd like to put my own thoughts out here based on what I have felt while experiencing this story and world unfold. First off, like many of you may know, this anime is based off a visual novel. More specifically, an otome game; a dating simulator story aimed towards a female audience. Let me say straight up: the visual novel incredibly enjoyable. The characters are great, the art is great, andthe story moves in a very exciting way. Now, what happened to the anime you might ask. In my own personal opinion, I feel like the fact that the original medium was this particular visual novel, the anime was bound to be less than amazing.

This is because otome games have multiple men that you can choose and date, different routes. These routes all have different plots and a different scenario that the heroine is thrust into. What the anime tries to do is combine all of these routes into one overarching story, and that's what makes the anime appear to move by in a very slow pace, like nothing is happening at all. By putting her in every route, it adds confusion, unlike the visual novel. With a visual novel, a player chooses one man/route, and plays it to the end until they get to an ending. Then they restart and do another route. With an anime, the main heroine is not played by the viewer, and so picking a specific route for her to go through on her own may upset some who like other routes, so she just goes through them all. This adds a sense of "I want more, but I guess that's it".

I appreciate the fact that there is an anime adaptation for the game, but now I understand that it's difficult to make an anime for these types of games. However, I enjoyed the show nonetheless, especially since I played the game and got to see my favorite characters come to life on the screen. It brought back memories of the time I spent playing the game, and makes me want to play it again, so I can truly see each individual story in a more fleshed out way.

Overall, this anime isn't my favorite, but I still appreciate the effort the creators took to adapt this particular otome game in this way. If you found yourself interested in the story of this world, but were disappointed by the lack of depth, then play the game. I fell in love with every character and every plot while playing the game, so letting a lackluster adaptation of a nearly impossible game to make an adaptation of make me love this world less, is not going to happen.