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Jun 18 2004

Categories: anime, general review
Tagged: melody-of-oblivion

1 Comment »

After seeing the preceding image, I decided to go watch some Melody of Oblivion (MOO, 忘却の旋律). Whoa! I wasn’t disappointed… MOO is good stuff. The backstory is very similar to other modern “world-in-a-bottle” tales like Scrapped Princess and The Matrix. Basically, there was a war many, many years ago between humans and monsters, and, well, those pathetic, weak humans lost. Most people, of course, do not know this and carry out their lives oblivious to the fact that monsters control the world.

The humans that are aware of this are divided into two main groups. The first is the Monster Union (VIVA MONSTER UNION!), basically collaborators with the monsters. They are given powers and mecha by the monsters to help keep watch and maintain order over other humans. They are also responsible for providing sacrifices for the monsters. These tend to be in the nakkid chix0r variety, which helps keep my interest.

The second are the select few humans who are gifted with the ability to kill monsters. These people are called Warriors of Melos, and they have magical tattoos on their bodies from which they can empower monster-killing arrows. Warriors of Melos also are equipped with Iber Machines (no clue on the proper romanji for it). Basically, they shoot arrows from a motorbike that flies.

The story follows Bocca as he discovers that he has the Melos ability and his journey to find the Melody of Oblivion. The legend is that if the Melody of Oblivion, who only appears via hallucinations like Reisha from Rahxephon, is found, then she can save the world. Of course, the journey isn’t easy for him as no one wants to be saved from the monsters. Monsters give the population power and wealth and only ask for occasional nakkid sacrifice in return.

Like Rahxephon, music plays an interesting part in MOO. (Coincidentally, Kuwashima Houko, the seiyuu for Bocca, was Kuon on Rahxephon.) There is always a menancing violin playing in the background, which fits the mood and animation style very well. It is also highly symbolic in the animation, as Melos look like they are playing violins more than actually shooting arrows.

The show is from GAINAX, but from the FLCL staff, and it doesn’t suffer the same familiarity problems that Konomini has. The animation is very symbolic and sparse with some decent amount of reptition, which fits the overall tone of the story well. It reminds me of Soul Taker. The animation style also takes a few cues from Ghibli, which I won’t spoil.

Combining an interesting story along with ample fanservice, MOO looks like a winner. Sadly, I hope it doesn’t suffer the typical GAINAX disease and have some oddball ending.

Screenshot gallery on next page.