A romantic adventure story about Crown Prince Oscar, who is under a curse that prevents him from having an heir, and about the "witch" (although it would be more correct to call her a sorceress) Tinasha, with whom the prince falls in love and tries to convince her to marry him. Fantasy elements (dragons, magic, medieval surroundings and other attributes) are also present in the anime, but the emphasis is more on the characters and their very adult relationships.
Plot: In an effort to find a way to get rid of his "curse" placed on Oscar as a child by the "witch of Silence" Lavinia, Prince Oscar goes to another "witch" - Tinasha. The latter is known for granting wishes to those who are able to conquer her magical tower. Oscar, the first in many decades, easily copes with the task, demonstrating intelligence (when solving riddles), dexterity and strength. The classic elements of European fairy tales seem to be in place, including the beautiful sorceress Tinasha, whom Oscar finds on the top floor of her tower. The sorceress turns out to be quite friendly, kind-hearted and, to Oscar's surprise, young (only in appearance, because she is over four hundred years old) and very beautiful. However, from a conversation with Tinasha over tea, it turns out that Oscar's "curse" is not a curse at all, but a kind of blessing that protects Oscar's future child so much that can kill a woman who risks conceiving a child from him. Tinasha is unable to remove the blessing, but offers an alternative solution - to find a woman who can resist the magic of the blessing and bear Oscar's child. Seeing how beautiful, feminine and kind-hearted Tinasha is, Oscar asks whether she herself is capable of resisting such magic and, having received an affirmative answer, asks Tinasha to marry him. The latter protests, but somehow hesitantly and even with elements of game (flirting) - instead of saying that she is too old to bear a child, infertile, etc., Tinasha says that not only she doesn't have a husband, but there were never any men either. Of course, it would be difficult to inflame Oscar's desire to get her any more. Conquering an unapproachable beauty who retained her virginity for hundreds of years is much more desirable for a man like Oscar, who is accustomed to being first in everything, than conquering some magic tower or defeating an enemy in a sword fight. Therefore, when Tinasha, having rejected his proposal, threatens to erase his memory and throw him out of the tower, Oscar, for his part, also threatens her with his royal sword, capable of dispelling any magic. Since both opponents stand their ground and are unable to achieve what they want using force, Oscar offers a compromise - Tinasha must live in his castle for a year, searching for a way to remove Lavinia's blessing. The sorceress, who clearly likes the manly and decisive Oscar, but who does not want to admit it either to him or to herself, likes this compromise - after all, it can justify her latent desire to get to know Oscar better. This is the beginning of the plot, which includes the development of relationships between the main characters against the backdrop of shonen adventures. However, it's difficult to call this anime shonen, since the characters here are not shonen-like at all, and the narrative itself is rather intimate, more tied to the relationships of the characters than to their relationships with the outside world.
Characters: I would call Tinasha the main character - most of the time is devoted to her, and the author did the best job with her. Apparently, the author wrote Tinasha from herself, or from a close friend or relative, since female psychology is conveyed in the sorceress very reliably. So reliable that the anime often resembles a women's novel, with the eternal doubts and tossing of the MC, changes in mood, hidden narcissism that combines self-flagellation and self-doubt with the desire to manipulate Oscar, causing his jealousy, creating triangulations and provoking constant confirmations of love. Melodrama out of nowhere, female manipulations and misconceptions regarding male psychology and motivation are often tiring and annoying, especially in the middle of the anime, but, on the other hand, they give Tinasha's character depth and realism, despite all the author's efforts to idealize her. Tinasha, of course, for the sake of shonen clichés, was credited with some masculine traits, such as excessive strength and sword skills, but otherwise her character remained entirely feminine, as did her behavior - she cooks well, behaves modestly and, closer to the finale, listens to Oscar, without claiming leadership or even "equality" in decision-making. She ultimately transfers all burdensome male responsibilities to her man. The male character, Oscar, was not so successful for the author - one can see the author's poor understanding of male psychology. However, the fact that the author is a woman who does not understand the fantasies of teenage boys saved the story from many of the sores and stereotypes of shonen. Oscar is not an eternally embarrassed, homely and petty, pathetic schoolboy with a harem of ethereal beauties lusting him, captivated by his "kindness" and "understanding," but a decisive, manly, tall, strong and intelligent man, behaving with dignity and without absurd embarrassment, stupid humor and antics. In this sense, "Unnamed Memory" is more reminiscent of shjojo than shonen. However, you can't call Oscar a shjojo character either - he's not effeminately handsome and is too masculine for an audience of teenage girls. Such a manly, mature man would probably frighten immature girls rather than attract them. This is not a handsome "bad guy", an unprincipled bastard with a "vulnerable soul", whom only the female protagonist can reach by taming him, subduing him and forcing him to change and obey only her alone. So the main male character is either not a character of the fantasies of teenage girls and infantile women. Oscar copes well with Tinashe's manipulations (except for the plot moves with provocations of jealousy in which Oscar's behavior does not correspond to his character), is adamant, principled and controls himself, their relationship, and Tinasha herself, allowing her to relax and constantly sit on his lap, like a little four-hundred-year-old little girl. After all, in fact, all women, regardless of their age, are like that (I mean little girls, not old hags).
Disadvantages: I would include the ragged narration as a disadvantage - most of the plot of the novel/manga was cut out of the anime, without taking care of normal editing and gluing together the broken storylines. Often storylines begin as suddenly as they end, without any connections or transitions. Although I personally like the dim, subtle psychologism of the relationship between Tinasha and Oscar, when the development of the relationship is shown more through actions than through words and comments, but for many, especially those accustomed to cliched rom-coms, the romance between Oscar and Tinasha will be incomprehensible and questionable with questions like: where did the kiss come from?, etc. I also include excessive melodrama created by Tinasha among the shortcomings. A man with Oscar's character, after some of Tinasha's particularly outrageous antics in the middle of the anime, would simply break up with such a woman once and for all, despite all her beauty, eternal youth and femininity. Also I didn't particularly like the art - the backgrounds are empty and expressionless, the animation is rather mediocre.
Pros: The anime is quite unique and doesn't fall into the usual genre clichés. Some aspects of anime that can be perceived as disadvantages are, to me, advantages. I liked the revelation of the relationships between the characters - without Shinkai's sentimentalism, but in an adult way, through actions and mutual understanding without words or comments. Just look at the scene of short mutual apologies, where the characters' feelings are conveyed not through lengthy ranting, but subtly, through pause, silence and hugs. The female part of the audience may like the melodramatic elements - Tinasha's tossing and indecisiveness, her self-flagellation and reflections. The advantages I would include are the psychological authenticity of the relationships, great attention to character development, good dialogues (which is an incredible rarity for anime) and the end of the season. The last episode, although not without melodrama and plot holes, was a great success and made up for all the previous shortcomings of the anime for me. I would also note the excellent opening and, especially, ending.
In general, "Unnamed Memory" gave me ambivalent feelings - along with a number of advantages, which I would include the adult and serious tone of the narrative, a beautifully written female psychology and, for once, a normal, courageous male main character, the anime also has many shortcomings associated both with its production (quality of animation, truncated plot, etc.), and with the very features of the author that allowed her to so beautifully portray the relationship between Oscar and Tinasha. There is a lot of melodrama and plot holes, caused not only by editorial problems, but by the problems of the author's narration, with her poor understanding of male psychology. However, the genre uniqueness of "Unnamed Memory" and the interesting ending clearly distinguish this anime from many others.
I really liked the final episode where Oscar is forced to deal with consequnces of an unfortunate magic accident. There is a great lesson there - forgetting or undoing your past, no metter how bad it was, is the same as forgetting and undoing yourself. Our past defines who we are, it's part of our personalities. As Oscar points out, only children would want to erase all the sufferings from their past, since by doing so they will erase them very selves.
Plot: In an effort to find a way to get rid of his "curse" placed on Oscar as a child by the "witch of Silence" Lavinia, Prince Oscar goes to another "witch" - Tinasha. The latter is known for granting wishes to those who are able to conquer her magical tower. Oscar, the first in many decades, easily copes with the task, demonstrating intelligence (when solving riddles), dexterity and strength. The classic elements of European fairy tales seem to be in place, including the beautiful sorceress Tinasha, whom Oscar finds on the top floor of her tower. The sorceress turns out to be quite friendly, kind-hearted and, to Oscar's surprise, young (only in appearance, because she is over four hundred years old) and very beautiful. However, from a conversation with Tinasha over tea, it turns out that Oscar's "curse" is not a curse at all, but a kind of blessing that protects Oscar's future child so much that can kill a woman who risks conceiving a child from him. Tinasha is unable to remove the blessing, but offers an alternative solution - to find a woman who can resist the magic of the blessing and bear Oscar's child. Seeing how beautiful, feminine and kind-hearted Tinasha is, Oscar asks whether she herself is capable of resisting such magic and, having received an affirmative answer, asks Tinasha to marry him. The latter protests, but somehow hesitantly and even with elements of game (flirting) - instead of saying that she is too old to bear a child, infertile, etc., Tinasha says that not only she doesn't have a husband, but there were never any men either. Of course, it would be difficult to inflame Oscar's desire to get her any more. Conquering an unapproachable beauty who retained her virginity for hundreds of years is much more desirable for a man like Oscar, who is accustomed to being first in everything, than conquering some magic tower or defeating an enemy in a sword fight. Therefore, when Tinasha, having rejected his proposal, threatens to erase his memory and throw him out of the tower, Oscar, for his part, also threatens her with his royal sword, capable of dispelling any magic. Since both opponents stand their ground and are unable to achieve what they want using force, Oscar offers a compromise - Tinasha must live in his castle for a year, searching for a way to remove Lavinia's blessing. The sorceress, who clearly likes the manly and decisive Oscar, but who does not want to admit it either to him or to herself, likes this compromise - after all, it can justify her latent desire to get to know Oscar better. This is the beginning of the plot, which includes the development of relationships between the main characters against the backdrop of shonen adventures. However, it's difficult to call this anime shonen, since the characters here are not shonen-like at all, and the narrative itself is rather intimate, more tied to the relationships of the characters than to their relationships with the outside world.
Characters: I would call Tinasha the main character - most of the time is devoted to her, and the author did the best job with her. Apparently, the author wrote Tinasha from herself, or from a close friend or relative, since female psychology is conveyed in the sorceress very reliably. So reliable that the anime often resembles a women's novel, with the eternal doubts and tossing of the MC, changes in mood, hidden narcissism that combines self-flagellation and self-doubt with the desire to manipulate Oscar, causing his jealousy, creating triangulations and provoking constant confirmations of love. Melodrama out of nowhere, female manipulations and misconceptions regarding male psychology and motivation are often tiring and annoying, especially in the middle of the anime, but, on the other hand, they give Tinasha's character depth and realism, despite all the author's efforts to idealize her. Tinasha, of course, for the sake of shonen clichés, was credited with some masculine traits, such as excessive strength and sword skills, but otherwise her character remained entirely feminine, as did her behavior - she cooks well, behaves modestly and, closer to the finale, listens to Oscar, without claiming leadership or even "equality" in decision-making. She ultimately transfers all burdensome male responsibilities to her man. The male character, Oscar, was not so successful for the author - one can see the author's poor understanding of male psychology. However, the fact that the author is a woman who does not understand the fantasies of teenage boys saved the story from many of the sores and stereotypes of shonen. Oscar is not an eternally embarrassed, homely and petty, pathetic schoolboy with a harem of ethereal beauties lusting him, captivated by his "kindness" and "understanding," but a decisive, manly, tall, strong and intelligent man, behaving with dignity and without absurd embarrassment, stupid humor and antics. In this sense, "Unnamed Memory" is more reminiscent of shjojo than shonen. However, you can't call Oscar a shjojo character either - he's not effeminately handsome and is too masculine for an audience of teenage girls. Such a manly, mature man would probably frighten immature girls rather than attract them. This is not a handsome "bad guy", an unprincipled bastard with a "vulnerable soul", whom only the female protagonist can reach by taming him, subduing him and forcing him to change and obey only her alone. So the main male character is either not a character of the fantasies of teenage girls and infantile women. Oscar copes well with Tinashe's manipulations (except for the plot moves with provocations of jealousy in which Oscar's behavior does not correspond to his character), is adamant, principled and controls himself, their relationship, and Tinasha herself, allowing her to relax and constantly sit on his lap, like a little four-hundred-year-old little girl. After all, in fact, all women, regardless of their age, are like that (I mean little girls, not old hags).
Disadvantages: I would include the ragged narration as a disadvantage - most of the plot of the novel/manga was cut out of the anime, without taking care of normal editing and gluing together the broken storylines. Often storylines begin as suddenly as they end, without any connections or transitions. Although I personally like the dim, subtle psychologism of the relationship between Tinasha and Oscar, when the development of the relationship is shown more through actions than through words and comments, but for many, especially those accustomed to cliched rom-coms, the romance between Oscar and Tinasha will be incomprehensible and questionable with questions like: where did the kiss come from?, etc. I also include excessive melodrama created by Tinasha among the shortcomings. A man with Oscar's character, after some of Tinasha's particularly outrageous antics in the middle of the anime, would simply break up with such a woman once and for all, despite all her beauty, eternal youth and femininity. Also I didn't particularly like the art - the backgrounds are empty and expressionless, the animation is rather mediocre.
Pros: The anime is quite unique and doesn't fall into the usual genre clichés. Some aspects of anime that can be perceived as disadvantages are, to me, advantages. I liked the revelation of the relationships between the characters - without Shinkai's sentimentalism, but in an adult way, through actions and mutual understanding without words or comments. Just look at the scene of short mutual apologies, where the characters' feelings are conveyed not through lengthy ranting, but subtly, through pause, silence and hugs. The female part of the audience may like the melodramatic elements - Tinasha's tossing and indecisiveness, her self-flagellation and reflections. The advantages I would include are the psychological authenticity of the relationships, great attention to character development, good dialogues (which is an incredible rarity for anime) and the end of the season. The last episode, although not without melodrama and plot holes, was a great success and made up for all the previous shortcomings of the anime for me. I would also note the excellent opening and, especially, ending.
In general, "Unnamed Memory" gave me ambivalent feelings - along with a number of advantages, which I would include the adult and serious tone of the narrative, a beautifully written female psychology and, for once, a normal, courageous male main character, the anime also has many shortcomings associated both with its production (quality of animation, truncated plot, etc.), and with the very features of the author that allowed her to so beautifully portray the relationship between Oscar and Tinasha. There is a lot of melodrama and plot holes, caused not only by editorial problems, but by the problems of the author's narration, with her poor understanding of male psychology. However, the genre uniqueness of "Unnamed Memory" and the interesting ending clearly distinguish this anime from many others.
I really liked the final episode where Oscar is forced to deal with consequnces of an unfortunate magic accident. There is a great lesson there - forgetting or undoing your past, no metter how bad it was, is the same as forgetting and undoing yourself. Our past defines who we are, it's part of our personalities. As Oscar points out, only children would want to erase all the sufferings from their past, since by doing so they will erase them very selves.
