Very Allegorical, With Gratuitous Fanservice
mori | USA | 04/09/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Melody of Oblivion is an anime series rife with cultural references. Everything from Zen Archery and Bushido to Revelations from the Bible, stories of Greek mythology, and images from the Garden of Forking Paths can be seen in the series. Therefore, readers who view this anime without being widely read risk missing prominent references and being unable to appreciate the depth of the tale. [Note: I am the author of the Wikipedia stub about MoO that bears the above introduction.]
Essentially, if you don't like bleeding colors, mystery tales, and plot twists galore, stay away from this series. If horror or fanservice bother you, you should probably stay away as well. Due to the Chutulthoid horror that monsters in the series radiate, random bystanders shriek and lose their sanity (and have additional reactions, which are revealed in the plot) whenever they see them. There is therefore a lot of screaming as well.
It is difficult to fully categorize MoO's all-encompassing style. It can be watched for the appreciation of its unique character and monster designs, for the exquisite timing of its battles, or for the tale itself. The tale is romantic comedy, tragedy, gothic horror, heroic saga, war story, courtly epic, and myth at different points in the series. Overall, it can be considered an allegory about the difficulties that heroes or principled people have in life."
Huh, kinda weird...but good
Some Guy | New York City | 05/22/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"First of all, I'm writing this before the DVD is released in the U.S. so I don't know anything about the special features or English dub (if there is any).
I didn't really know what to expect when I started watching this series, so I wasn't really all that shocked when I first saw it (as many people seem to be). Its very hard to catergorize this series but I suppose I would call it action/comedy. After losing a war to the "Monsters", humanity is not well off, they are in constant danger of attack unless human sacrifices are offered to the "Monsters". Bocca, the main character is a Meros Warrior, he and other Meros Warriors like him have the job of fighting the "Monsters" and protecting humanity. The show follows Bocca as he and his allies pursue these groups of "Monsters" and learn more about them.
The show has a very deep story and one really finds themselves paying close attention to it as it develops to find out more about the situation humanity is in and how society copes with it. What greatly helps you to feel the emotion of each scene is the shows very unique art style which relies heavily on symbolism. I admit, though to sometimes being slightly thrown off by it, and having to rewatch certain scenes to grasp whatever message they were trying to convey.
Great music in this series, I recommend getting the OST if you can find it anywhere.
All in all, very good series, although the quality is kind of inconsistent. Some episodes are fantastic while others are somewhat boring without very much plot development. Some people will tell you they hate the ending, but I really think it was great...so yeah, go watch the series."
Very good. I strongly reccomend it!
CJerd | 01/26/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is an anime series that even anime fans would get into!
Pros:
Its humor is perfect! Not only do they have the blatant jokes that everyone would get, but they have those hidden jokes that not everyone watching the show will see, along with the jokes that people may see but not get. It's a nice blend of comedy without filling the whole thing with laughter or without makeing the series unrealistic. I don't mean that this scenario is realistic in the first place, what I mean is that you won't see any comedy that people probably wouldn't normally see in Bocca's situation like the type you might see in those series with the really stupid characters.
Another good thing is the actualy plot. It makes you think enough to enjoy watchign it, but it also doesn't make you think too much to the point that your investigating. In every single, err, should I say event (since some last more than one episode) the watcher will be able to see, not only Bocca's point of view of trying to help the humans, but you are also able to see how the humans are dealing with this and their opnion and view on the whole thing. This allows the watcher to leanr more about the minor characters that only show up for a couple of episodes.
I hope this reviw helped!"