Summary: “During the 20th Century, there was a large scale war. It was a major battle between humans and monsters. After bloodshed so violent that no words could ever explain, it was the monsters who had won. Time went by and a new century began. And then, people started to forget that memory.”

That’s what the series tells you right away as the first episode begins, and it remains just a cryptic as that. The Melody of Oblivion, a series released in the spring of 2004 along with Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai to celerate Gainax’s (Evangelion, Gunbuster, Nadia, Mahoromatic) 20th anniversary, follows the adventures of Bocca Serenade, a boy who’s bored of his life and wishes to become a Warrior of Melos. Joined with Sayoko Tsukinomori, a girl who seeks to find the warrior Kurofune Ballad, he goes off on a journey where he faces the monsters and learns about what the world is really like.

Review:

Story: 8/10

The plot of Melody of Oblivion is really deep and enjoyable… if you can make sense out of it. Though I enjoyed what I was watching, until reading some fan analyses on the Anime Suki forums I was very confused by many elements of the story. The ending is definitely something you’d expect from Gainax, but I found it enjoyable in it’s own little way.

Music: 9/10

Hearing the title of the series, you’d expect Melody of Oblivion to have quality music. It certainly lives up to that expectation. The only thing that keeps the rating from getting a perfect 10 is the ending theme, Tenohira no Hikari, performed by Minawo (DNAngel.) While the song on its own is alright, it falls short in comparison to the outstanding opening theme and soundtrack. It’s also accompanied by an incredibly bland animation. The opening theme, Will, is spectacular. I find it a shame that the artist, lisa, has yet to perform another anime theme. Her voice is beautiful and her song upbeat and addictive.

Characters: 6/10

Some of the characters in Melody of Oblivion are definitely worthy of a 10. For example, the main villain Solo. He’s quite an enigmatic character with a great deal of depth. Another that I’m personally a big fan of is Sayoko. While she suffers from being a damsel in distress, she’s an essential character to the show. Many twists surround her character and are gradually revealed as the show progresses. While many of the characters are equally intriguing as these two, some are very flat. The main character Bocca is one of them. He’s likeable but very stereotypical. This seems out of place in the atmosphere of Melody of Oblivion. There were some other characters who I just found flat out boring.

Acting (sub): 10/10

I can’t see any problem with the acting on the sub track. The cast is quite strong, with popular seiyuu such as Houko Kuwashima, Yukari Tamura, Mamiko Noto, Aya Hisakawa, Mai Nakahara, Souichiro Hoshi, and even my personal favorite, Amano Yuri.

Acting (dub): 9/10

While the dub isn’t as enjoyable as the sub track, it’s a great adaptation, which is expected from Geneon. Some of the English voices match the Japanese ones almost exactly. Sayoko’s dub voice is near perfect and Toune’s uses the same unenthusiastic, depressed tone as her Japanese seiyuu. Bocca’s voice doesn’t match his Japanese voice well, but they succeeded in making him sound manlier. Other voices, such as Coco’s and Keiko’s, I found a bit difficult to tolerate.

Art/Animation: 10/10

The animation for Melody of Oblivion was done by the talented JC Staff and is very fitting for the atmosphere of the series. There’s somewhat of a monotone to the colors, but they aren’t dull such as in other series meant to look dark (ie: Big O.) There are some that are bright enough to be very appealing to the eye. Among the dark backgrounds, Toune and Coco’s vibrant hair will always stand out. The character designs are done by Shinya Hasegawa (Revolutionary Girl Utena, Ikki Tousen) and look excellent. Personally, I’m very partial to his bishounen such as Sky Blue and Solo.

Overall: 8.6/10

(This review/pictures made by Soaker87)