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REVIEW: Dusk maiden of Amnesia Blu-Ray


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One-Eye



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2260
PostPosted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 7:56 am Reply with quote
I agree with pretty much everything that Theron said in his review. I'm especially fond of the visuals. However, a little too much boob grabbing for my tastes, a little rushed in certain places like the school festival which was more fleshed out in the manga, and finally that ending. I think I could have ignored some of my first 2 complaints, but the ending became a deal breaker for me. I thought the show had like Theron mentioned a great balance to a variety of elements (humor, horror, romance, mystery,etc.), but again that ending killed it for me. It would have been an instant buy otherwise.

As far as harem elements go I tend to hate them, but I really didn't find that to be the case here. I thought that all in all the feelings and interests of the female characters towards Teiichi worked and wasn't overdone like you would normally find in a harem. I guess you could say that it felt more natural and as Alan45 mentioned they were integrated into the story. If I recall correctly Kirie spoiler[joined Teiichi mostly out of concern over his coming into contact with Yuuko and Kirie seeing Yuuko as a danger. I think her interest in Teiichi later grows and of course she brings with her relevant information]. So, that worked for me and I didn't see it as some intrusive harem element.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 9:30 am Reply with quote
Alan45, forgive me for being naive, but a girl can hang out with a guy without wanting to bone him (and vice versa). The Harem elements were simply not necessary, except to make Yuuko jealous. There are other ways to make her jealous than to consign two major characters into nothing but plot devices.
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Blood-
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Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 9:45 am Reply with quote
First, it would be useful if, just because more than one female is interested in the lead character, people didn't automatically start sqwawking about "harem elements." In a true harem, there are usually between 5 or 6 different females who are ostentatiously interested in the male lead. Generally, that male lead either never ends up settling on one, or if he does, it's at the very end.

DMoA is significantly different than this. It was clear from early on there was only one viable pairing in the show. The fact that the other two had crushes was more background stuff and never really impacted on the main plot.
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Alan45
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Joined: 25 Aug 2010
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 9:56 am Reply with quote
@dtm42
Just where in the show did either say anything about sex?? One wanted to have lunch with him the other didn't even go that far. They are all 15 years old and just exploring the possibility of a romantic relationship. At that age you are likely to get "interested" in any acceptable individual you associate with. Most of the time it goes nowhere and you move on, which is what happened in both cases.
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sam18x



Joined: 30 Sep 2005
Posts: 19
PostPosted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 6:20 pm Reply with quote
@One-Eye

Okay, when I think about it I think you're right. Specifically for DMoA's case, the other characters do have legitimate reasons for liking him to the extent that they do, and their reactions do not extend into the realm of the implausible. I think I'm just more frustrated with the pervasiveness of "harem" in anime in general than any specific complaint with DMoA.

I don't agree that the plot couldn't have been easily reworked (and for the better, I believe) so that Teiichi were not the target of multiple attractions. I don't see the reasons for Momoe and Kirie being in the club necessarily requiring any additional attraction to him specifically. Momoe is interested with the supernatural as it is, and Kirie has an interest/connection with Yuuko, regardless of who Yuuko is involved with. Basically I could easily buy their existing actions without an additional attraction to Teiichi, so I was actually kinda startled unpleasantly each time the anime showed those aspects.

spoiler[The lunch scenes with Momoe would have worked even better, in my opinion, if Momoe really didn't have any interest in Teiichi and they were just having lunch. Then Yuuko's jealousy and negative emotions would have stood out more by contrast. But that's just my opinion.]
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Alan45
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 7:40 pm Reply with quote
@sam18x
I do think your dislike of harem anime has made you a bit over sensitive in this case. I didn't get the feeling of multiple girls falling for the main character for no reason at all which is common to harem shows. However, if it bothered you, you can't help that.

What rang false for me was Kirie constantly being concerned about her chest. I don't like that trope to begin with and in this case it was unnecessary. To begin with, there was nothing wrong with Kirie's build. In addition Yuuko's rack is implausible and unnecessary. She would have been just as beautiful with substantially less and the chances of her being built that way were between slim and none. She died in 1952 at the age of 15. This means she was born in 1937 or early 1938 and grew up during the war. Her early nutrition would have been extremely limited with only a couple of years of decent meals before her death. She should have been built more like Kirie. Maybe Teiichi was seeing what he expected/wanted to see.
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hpulley



Joined: 26 Sep 2012
Posts: 408
PostPosted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 7:53 pm Reply with quote
You guys all realize that this is based upon a manga, right? The anime did not amplify anything that wasn't in the original source material. The mangaka's other works are much, much, more intense, including hentai... this is probably the tamest thing they've done.

Maybe/Meibi has done 7 Daime no Tomari (7 short stories about sex), Matsugaoka Angels! (Saeko uses her sexy body to bring evil to their knees. Melon is the 14 year old genius, and Kanaka is pure justice in human form. These three ladies fight crime and clean up the city no matter what happens to their clothes!), Hakoiri Hazukashi Musume/Shy Girl in a Box (A girl is too shy to confess her love. So she ask a friend to tie her up, put her into a box and send it to her crush's house. ) et al.

Not sure why most westerners are so squeamish about a little fun... You have to remember the manga is for shounen, 10-18 year old boys though men read it too. Teiichi is 13 years old. Ask a 10-18 year old Japanese school boy what their ideal 15 year old girlfriend would be like and I'm sure Yuuko fits the bill perfectly. It is a fantasy; having Kirie and Momoe after you as well is a fantasy, never happens I'm sure but while we're dreaming we might as well have a harem...

In the end this is one of the most romantic ghost stories I think that has ever been told. I love this anime! I imported the original Blurays, just love them! I can watch them over and over, especially the ending. Love bonus episode 13 too.
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Key
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 10:10 am Reply with quote
Alan45 wrote:
What rang false for me was Kirie constantly being concerned about her chest. I don't like that trope to begin with and in this case it was unnecessary. To begin with, there was nothing wrong with Kirie's build. In addition Yuuko's rack is implausible and unnecessary. She would have been just as beautiful with substantially less and the chances of her being built that way were between slim and none. She died in 1952 at the age of 15. This means she was born in 1937 or early 1938 and grew up during the war. Her early nutrition would have been extremely limited with only a couple of years of decent meals before her death. She should have been built more like Kirie. Maybe Teiichi was seeing what he expected/wanted to see.

Kirie being self-conscious about her chest is nothing more than a standard anime trope, one which is so common that you even sometimes see it in shojo series and other series which otherwise are not male fan service-focused. Yes, it's silly, as she has a great, athletic body as is (Tomoe certainly respects it!), and that's the point. Also, remember that she's actively trying to figure out why Teiichi is so fixated on Yuuko when a living option like her - one that he could actually have a normal relationship with - is around, and since the only differences between her and Yuuko appearance-wise are hair length and bust size, and bust size is known (in her view) to be an attracting factor for guys, she's settled on that as the main cause.

Could the series have done without that? Yeah, and I'm definitely tired of that particular trope, but here it at least makes a certain degree of logical sense and contributes to some good jokes.

Now, as far as Yuuko's bust size being improbable given the times she grew up in: I think you're off-base there. Yuuko is shown to be tall for a girl (as was Yukariko, for that matter), and poor nutrition during childhood and adolescent years would stunt vertical growth just as much. (That's the reason why the average height today in the U.S. is 3-4 inches taller than the average height from 150 years ago.) Hence nutrition was probably not a problem for her family. And yes, we're probably reading waaay too much into this, since I sincerely doubt that the original manga-ka ever considered those factors.
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getchman
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Joined: 07 Apr 2012
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 10:19 am Reply with quote
they are also first year middle school students, so having body issues at that age is plausible
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Key
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 2:29 pm Reply with quote
No, the living students are all high school students. The series is very clear on this point, and I believe that Yuuko is stated somewhere to be 15.
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getchman
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 2:34 pm Reply with quote
oh, so the anime made them older, must have missed that
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hpulley



Joined: 26 Sep 2012
Posts: 408
PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 2:35 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:
No, the living students are all high school students. The series is very clear on this point, and I believe that Yuuko is stated somewhere to be 15.
Middle school actually. Yuuko is 15 but Teiichi is 13, Kirie and Momoe are 14 (source: Tasogare Otome x Amnesia volume 8.5 character profiles). High school starts at 15 in Japan, grade 10.

animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-05-22/dusk-maiden-of-amnesia-manga-to-end-in-june
Quote:
For some mysterious reason, first-year middle school student Teiichi Niiya is the only person who can see Yūko.


http://www.amnesia-tv.com/character/index.html#chara01
私立試教学園中等部一年
Private middle school 1st year.
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Alan45
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Joined: 25 Aug 2010
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 6:39 pm Reply with quote
@ Key
Yeah, I'm over thinking this. I note from one of the comments above that the mangaka has a history of hentai production which probably is a sufficient explanation.

Actually my dislike is personal, while I can deal with it, the entire bit in anime of boob comparison, boob groping and general boob obsession tends to annoy me. I've noticed that when an anime shows girls comparing or groping each other's boobs that the female reviewers get a bit snarky with the implication that it doesn't match their own experience. I have to wonder if there is a cultural difference and Japanese girls actually do that or if it is just male wish fulfillment.

And yes, Yuuko shouldn't be that tall either. In 1969 I worked with some men who had been in the army of occupation after the war. They went on R&R in Japan and when they came back all they could talk about was how much taller young Japanese were and that the girls actually had breasts. They were adamant that right after the war they had nothing you could notice. They claimed extensive experience in that field.

The other thing that initially bothered me was spoiler[human sacrifice in 1952.] I remember 1952, not well, I was only seven but it wasn't the dark ages. My first thought was that the Japanese know their small towns best. But then I thought of all the weirdness that modern horror stories have going on even now in small isolated towns in the US and realized it is a common trope. Big city people think anything is possible in a small town. "Paddle faster, I hear banjo music"
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Key
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 8:59 am Reply with quote
hpulley wrote:
Key wrote:
No, the living students are all high school students. The series is very clear on this point, and I believe that Yuuko is stated somewhere to be 15.
Middle school actually. Yuuko is 15 but Teiichi is 13, Kirie and Momoe are 14 (source: Tasogare Otome x Amnesia volume 8.5 character profiles). High school starts at 15 in Japan, grade 10.

Hunh. I guess it actually doesn't specify anywhere in the series that they're in high school - in fact, it only mentions Seiyou Academy as being "a combined middle and high school." I had always assumed that "first-year" meant high school, as that looked more the age that everyone was and acted. Despite the way he goes spastic over Yuuko's behavior at times, he seems awfully mature for 13-year-old boy.

And Alan45: Yeah, the improbability of the spoiler[human sacrifice] angle is something that we talked about quite a bit in the series thread in the Anime forum; Yuuko even comments during the flashback something to the effect of "does this really still happen in this day and age?" I'm hesitant to attribute that to just being a backwoods-hick-town kind of thing, and let's not forget that these were some very desperate people who were grasping at straws. Given the way the festival episode plays out, I'm also inclined to believe that spoiler[the shrine in that basement] is having some influence on the townsfolk in inducing hysteria.
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Alan45
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 1:33 pm Reply with quote
I always took the festival incident to be the author saying "see, it could still happen". The end of that where they rushed out into the sunlight and everything was so mundane was a great touch. spoiler[Imagine how they would have felt if they had actually done something to the other girl.]
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