Unnamed Memory

Unnamed Memory - Kadokawa, you fumbled the anime so hard that your intentionally planned speed-running does not give incentive to entice viewers further, WORD. What's up with the Spring 2024 season bringing back classics from all walks of life, from IPs like Spice and Wolf's remake and Bartender's reboot, to the pre-Mushoku Tensei era Syosetu titles of Re:Monster, The New Gate, and most specifically, novelist Kuji Furumiya's work that is Unnamed Memory (all of which preceded Rifujin na Maganote's masterpiece work)? All I can say that we live in a rather fascinating time watching old classics that took a decade plus (12 years to be exact,if counting Narou releases to anime) to get their anime adaptations, though for the same reason (as I've mentioned in Re:Monster's review) that these works were stories of their time, and by comparison, Unnamed Memory would be the best out of the 3. That is...if not for the anime's literate "walk in the park" expression, that's almost just as insulting as being part of the 3 classic, but really bad adaptations to betray source material readers of the works that deserved much better than what was presented for the past 3 months. To quote @Pekorn's words: A witch who lives in an azure tower, and a cursed prince. If they could rewrite time, what would they do with such power? This is the story of what happens when everything is overwritten: encounters, love, and human conviction to do anything for the one they love that will change their fate and destiny. No matter how cruel it may be, love triumphs over them all. A curse of devastating infertility that struck not just a random person, but someone of noble status — that's who Oscar is: the crown prince of his country, Farsas. The said curse that deprives Oscar of having potential descendants should he try to do the deed against any woman who will bear his child, which instead of trying to find the witch that imprisoned him, leads him to another well-known witch: Tinasha, the Witch of the Azure Moon. After completing her trial to climb up the azure tower to meet her and request a resolution to this long-standing curse, her answer is only one: overcome the curse by marrying somebody whose magical powers outweigh the witch who cursed him. And Oscar's thought process is plain and simple: "Said woman is in front of me, I will choose you to be my wife, even if you reject me firsthand." Of course, this is nothing but balderdash to Tinasha, who flusters in a shell-shocked manner, because having a witch be the future queen of Farsas is next to impossible, with Oscar potentially being ridiculed for his rather unkempt decision and quite possibly losing his credibility as a talented crown prince. Still, every person who succeeded in climbing the witch's tower gets a wish, and Oscar's wish is for both him and Tinasha to have a trial relationship for a year, to which the latter responds in kind and agrees to his request, descending down her tower and being his acting fiancée for the time allowable. First things first, let's not beat around the bush, yeah? Unnamed Memory is a fantasy work that may not seem original as it comes, but at least it's an enjoyable work to read through the paces of both the original LN and its manga counterpart. And with Oscar and Tinasha's romance being set dead centre of the series, going through their past, present, and future, as well as what makes them tick and yearn for one another, this is a relationship that's not just a political one (like so many other Isekai/fantasy works are). But also, one that thrives on mutual agreement, maturity, and, most important of all, admiring one another's quirks well enough to make the year-long trial relationship a success on not just Oscar's part, but Tinasha as well, being accepted by the people of Farsas enough to stand alongside said crown prince as a suitable queen who can protect them in the long run. Whether it is their moments of independence or co-dependence working together to outrun enemies ranging from the usual baddies to old friends and the like, the hunky and handsome crown prince who wields his Akashia sword as a sign of his strength as a capable swordsman, along with the witch who is just as beautiful compared to witches similar to her calibre, and also just as strong as Oscar, their attachments towards each other may be fraught with fights and lovey-dovey moments, but what they have is an equally supportive relationship, which in my eyes, is rare to see in a fantasy/romance series. And that's what makes their interactions work, which makes the series great to begin with. Sadly, this is the end of my praises, because, by the infinite wisdom and courtesy of Kadokawa and one of their subsidiary studios of ENGI, they proceed to butcher the anime horrendously and give everyone a not-so-good impression. Yes, even to Oscar, Tinasha, and the rest of the characters in the ever-growing love story, which made the source material so good to digest. But you, as the viewer, have to understand that for works like Unnamed Memory, the usual story arcs that we're so used to in series like Re:Zero and the like, did not exist back in 2012, of which authors will go by "Acts" (think of literature works and such) to define not just journeys made, but the "starting and ending" progression of the stories within the series as a whole. And the premiere season here covering the first half of the LN (the first 3 volumes of 6 of the LN, encapsulating Act One), it's definitely jarring to see pacing so out of whack and content needlessly removed, that anything and everything didn't amount to much when all is said and done. I find myself questioning why Oscar and Tinasha's relationship was going at a breakneck speed from the flirtations to partner stages that, over time, I just didn't bother to give a heck care for, only to realize that the producers had a choice to adapt less to cover more content that would help the anime pace the LN a lot better (as opposed to going by the story's Acts approach), but that someone, somewhere within Kadokawa, just ditched that idea and asked ENGI to go ham at it. Speaking of ENGI, they're not the most consistent studio out there, and their being affiliated with Kadokawa doesn't make things any better. By the production standards of the show, it was supposed to look good, but after a considerable production delay that set them back from its intended original release last year, I have to say that it looks...alright. Though nothing truly stood out, I'm just relieved that in-house director Kazuya Miura and his production staff team at ENGI managed to get the product out considerably, even if it doesn't look the best. The only positive thing that came from the anime was the music. I especially love Tei's OP "Yobigoe" (i.e. Call), it's the right amount of fit for a fantasy show like this, exasperated by her high-octane musicality and clear, majestic vocals that give the show the fantasy feel. It's the same story for Arika's ED "blan_", of which the music unit is composed of VA Yuko Natsuyoshi (Maou Gakuin's Sasha Necron) and composer-cum-guitarist Yamato, that the latter's vocals also contribute to the melodramatic cues of the song being bright, but also blighted in a way to tell of Oscar and Tinasha's rocky relationship in the story. It's a musical masterclass here, folks. Since this show has gotten a Season 2 to finish off Act Two a.k.a the 2nd half of the LN (which is confirmed for Winter next year), I'm literally praying that the story resolves well, against all odds. That said, you could do worse by following the anime, and by the same complaints of the begrudging reader telling you to go and read the original source material, I truly think that at least you have to read the LN in manga form (even though the anime has already surpassed it) to get more context for the between-the-gaps missing content and how things spiralled from then to now. There's no doubt in my mind that the anime is a far inferior version of the source material, and there's no hope for a decent adaptation like this one.

I very much enjoyed the anime and I was wondering if there will be there a second season and I came here to see the score and what other people think but I guess there is no people sane in this world any more say what you want but I will take it if they said that the LN is better than this but after reading the reviews I cleaned my brain with soap there is so many anime like shit and overrated and you come to me after this long time I enjoyed somthing good and say this not good and give 6 asscore you people becoming brainless loving somthing bad and hating somthing good people this days becoming brainless where all the good people gone i dont know at the end I hope everyone have a great day.

Unnamed Memory could have been a great show if it had received a decent adaptation. It starts well in the first 3 episodes, however, as the following episodes go by, the adaptation begins in a limited way, getting lost and confusing and scenes completely unexplained, making you seek to find out in the original work what happened to cause such a scene. It happens, it seems confusing but this happens in several episodes because they simply didn't want to explain and adapt it properly to LN. This ends up making you think the story is bad, when what's bad in this case is the adaptation, whichis very rushed. The high point, and this has to be at least praised, is that the relationship between Oscar and Tinasha is good, although the poor adaptation still interferes with some things here, things like this, for example: Oscar and Tinasha are collecting fruit together and exchanging cute words, considering that in the previous episode their relationship wasn't at that level yet. But yes, overall their relationship is good and Oscar is a proud MC. As we know, ENGI was the one who adapted the work, and honestly they are not a competent studio, however they made a hasty adaptation. Knowing that the work will have a second season was frustrating for me, as this season could have been divided into 24 episodes, with a first season done without rushing. We know that ENGI is not a studio to expect a neat adaptation, but Unnamed Memory at least deserved its story to be well adapted.

Unnamed memory is a very popular and esteemed title when it comes to light novels. Being adapted from such a good source you can't expect it to be that bad. But ENGI spitting on our dreams and expectations releases this adaptation which is worse than a pile of bullshit. Let me get into it straight: So the story atleast in the first ep looked very promising with the above average art and animation provided to it. But then in the second episode and then all the other further episodes you are greeted with stuff which you dont realise how or why is happening. In short,ENGI skipped full arcs between episodes and also some important interactions of both the main characters. Every episode is like its own story because its not started from where its left off in the previous episode. I haven't read the light novel but I have indeed read the manga to some extent and I can vouch for the quality of the original source material which is miles ahead comparing to this piece of abomination of an adaptation. I'd recommend just watching the first ep and then reading on the LN or the manga for the best experience. In a story like this, romance is the main focus point and with the amount of interactions that have been skipped between the main ship is like unfuckingbelievable. Their relationship feels weird to say the least because of how non sensical it becomes result of the full arcs and material skips by ENGI of the source material to fulfill their adaptation I suppose? If we were given a full story paced with the LN or even the manga I think this could have easily been one of the best romance animes out there if not the best. Probably could have easily gotten an 8 rating on MAL. Anyways you guys should stay away from this.

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