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「分からないこと」 (Wakaranai Koto)
“The Things Unknown”
Another week another moment of Unnamed Memory doing its thing satisfied and moisturized. Although even this late in I’m still inclined to give it some benefit of the doubt, fairly safe to say the warts shall remain and that whatever end is in store will be of a similar calibre to what we’ve received to date. Well, outside of potential “what the hell was that” moments, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
The thing I think which gets me the most about this current arc for Unnamed Memory is how it shows just what this adaptation could’ve been with more time on the clock. Yeah I know, hindsight at this point, but much as brought up in weeks prior this series has all the pieces needed to be something greater than the simple sum. Tinasha and her relationship with Oscar are case in point, where Tinasha’s growing interest in Oscar and the various moments shared between them lead to an outcome that, while inevitable, would’ve been fantastic if given more time to stew. The point at which Tinasha is openly and comedically confronted about it after all would’ve been a great high point, a culmination of a long struggle between contractual obligations and basic human emotions. Yet here? Nary a pothole on a high-speed rush to a predestined location. The adaptation strategy leads to a lot of the narrative depth and impact being lost, with the focus instead turning to those moments which shine because they in part are given more than a few seconds to make their presence felt. Overall it may not be objectively disastrous, but damn does it itch knowing the missed potential.
A good chunk of the above too comes into play with the plot as well due to very similar reasons. The attempted assassination segue for example would’ve been a major moment in any other show, the point at which you knew something was up, and more importantly, the catalyst for driving that aforementioned main character relationship. Yet here in Unnamed Memory it’s veritable resignation dominating the emotions, because you know full well like Miralys or Lanak that we’ll get the antagonist for this arc dropped in a split second next episode and have them dealt with at that same point. The doubts effectively build on each other, leading to this weird situation for me especially where I want to like what I’m seeing, but tacitly accept it’s going to be a case of me finding my own satisfaction in a flawed offering. Make no mistake, I don’t detest this show – wouldn’t continue covering it otherwise! – however each passing week provides a pretty good clinic on just what anime adaptations should not do.
Plus considering what’s coming down the pipeline (which Unnamed Memory should get to if this pacing remains), I would be remiss to not see how it winds up treating that moment in time. After all, nothing says fun like a good trainwreck.
Preview
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I will admit the scene I enjoyed the most was when Tinasha went to see Oscar and asked if she was in love with him; that gets me all the time. I just wished the backstory wasn’t so trimmed down so we, the audience, don’t just see Tinasha’s and Oscar’s accolades and romance.
The source material will have to be the saving grace unfortunately, there’s a lot more to it, particularly when it comes to filling in the gaps in between Oscar’s and Tinasha’s growing intimacy
Whole heartedly agree with your assessment.
A case in point for me was during the “do I love him?” vote. It felt odd that her aides actually raised their hands. Quite normal for the guy after all he said, but the girl just didn’t feel right. Rewatched the whole episode and that same event didn’t give the same feeling. That was when I realized that unlike Lucretzia and the knight, those two has only had one short cameo after their introduction episode. It never felt like they were around long enough to notice it. Chronologically it was inevitable, but as a viewer, it just didn’t feel like it.
Haha yes! It’s honestly the secondary cast where most of the issues are being felt because outside of initial cameos we almost never see them nor have them feature until moments like this.
Oscar and Tinasha can somewhat carry given their growth and chemistry helps paper over the cuts to some things, but for those characters without that stature it causes major problems keeping things straight or getting anything significant out certain scenes.
I think I will go through the Light Novels once the anime is over. To me, this is such an endearing story (and both Tinasha and Oscar are characters I really love), and I feel that what Pancakes correctly perceives as _rushed_ most likely isn’t in the original story. Looking forward to that already 🙂 … and no, I don’t see any trainwreck coming.
Oh yeah this weird flow isn’t in the source material. Quite a bit of the fluff and secondary plot elements were cut out which causes certain character actions and story developments to feel disjointed. Although I guess in a sense if it gets people to turn to the source material it’s doing its job haha