A Wind Named Amnesia - Anime Review

in The Anime Realm4 years ago

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I am not here today reviewing an anime movie, that is working under the assumption what I watched was a movie. What clearly happened here is I went in to watch an older anime film and clicked so bad I found a rejected Ted Talk on YouTube somewhere. A Ted Talk where the speaker is telling you that people are shit for an hour and eighteen minutes, and then has sex with a human woman that he is trying to convince everyone is an alien. Because if that isn't what just happened, what did just happen is I watched the most infuriatingly pretentious anime I have ever seen in my life.

It didn't even have the decency to be comically edgy about it. What little story is there, and I'll get to that in a bit, is completely overshadowed by eighty percent of the anime is one of the characters droning on and on about human nature while not having anything to say on the topic. It just boils down too 'Well people are kind of shitty, what can you do?'

The actual story is about how the world forgot everything. A wind came through and all memories, include who was your family, how to speak, and anything else was wiped from the world. Wataru is on a quest to teach the savages that remain of humanity what it means to be human, aided by a mysterious woman who seems to know everything. She exists to ask such difficult questions such as 'Is it right to stop this group of people from performing human sacrifices to their god just because we know it's wrong but they don't have the same information we do?' Let's just ignore that humans have only lost their memories and ability to speak for a few years and yet somehow one of them has learned to operate highly advanced machinery and set up a well-understood system of ritual sacrifice and the concepts of deities.

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In his journey barely anything gets accomplished, so the movie feels like it ended how it started. And the action is badly choreographed that when it does happen it feels like a jumbled mess. I will give the show this though, the final confrontation with the security robot where it's led to the rooftop ends with a pretty fantastic scene, so I can't say there is nothing in this show worthwhile.

And there is nothing more to say, the show is more interested in philosophizing about human nature (Badly) that it is about having an actual story to critique. It's the worst kind of show for me, and honestly, I can't think of a reason to sit down and subject yourself to getting preached to for an hour. Just skip this one.

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I've never seen this particular anime, but it was one of those "always heard good things about it" flicks, at least back in the day when I was heavily invested in my anime (the mid-to-late-90's).

Now, after reading your review and several others, I'm kind of curious to check it out, just to see if it's truly as pretentious as everyone says. Then again...maybe I have better things to do with my time? Bubblegum Crisis always cries out for a re-watch, you know. :D

It's up on Amazon Prime, so if you have that you can watch it there. (And probably several other sites):p

And I never actually watched Bubblegum Crisis. One day I will check it out (I'm still working on catching up on One Piece though)

I'm still working on catching up on One Piece though.

Been nice knowing you, friend. See you in another, what, 27 years? :D

My internet is too garbage for streaming services like Amazon Prime or Netflix, so I'll have to wait until I run across the DVD or LaserDisc in the wild. :)