Mnemosyne - Episode 2

After not being hugely impressed by the opening episode of Mnemosyne, my expectations for the second forty-five minute episode of this anime were certainly much lower, which perhaps explains why I found part two just that little more entertaining.

Probably the biggest draw of this episode is that Rin's immortality finally gets explained, alongside some of the other imagery we were witness to in the opening episode. Of course, all of this ends up as being little more than another excuse for either a. More sex, b. More violence, or c. More of both at the same time, so the back story behind the whole thing is a complete load of rubbish. What starts as a story about a rare stamp ends as a story about angels and assassins, which also gives rise to the introduction of perhaps the most geeky assassin in the world - when this particular plot point was revealed (and I won't spoil it here) I couldn't stop laughing.

If episode one was all about violence, this offering of Mnemosyne took far more pleasure in its sexuality (although of course there was still copious amounts of violence to boot). Now, hot-blooded male that I am, a little sex, nudity and lesbianism is perfectly alright by me, but it would have been nice if at least some of it wasn't so pointless.

At the end of it all, Mnemosyne really has carved itself out as a real old-school anime, valuing nudity and blood over clever storylines and deep characters. That said, episode two's plot did at least hold my interest to some extent, and kept the action flowing surprisingly well given its longer running time over the standard half hour episode format. It's very much an acquired taste, and it doesn't really sit very well on my palate, but there are worse things out there you could be watching I suppose.