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「無名の感情」 (Mumei no Kanjou)
“Unnamed Emotion”
I mentioned it before but it’s proving quite interesting having the combination of Unnamed Memory and Spice and Wolf going at it this spring. Both are thematically similar, both feature a good deal of related character chemistry and organic development, yet as the latter jaunts down the garden path and takes its time to smell the roses, the former seems eager to reach the end. No idea what that end entails, but I do know it’s starting to cause problems.
While the pacing troubles for Unnamed Memory have been a running theme in other circles I haven’t really felt the impact until now. Whether from personal bias or strength of Tinasha’s and Oscar’s verbal (and increasingly physical) sparring there was always enough to tide over things, but the rapidity of this “arc” has left a bad taste. A good chunk of it for me comes down to Miralys and her role, who effectively went from cameo to minor boss to soulless husk in nary the span of forty minutes, all without much in the way of explaining who exactly she is. The breakneck pacing and rapid-fire dropping of names, faces, and events made it quite difficult keeping track of what’s going on, particularly with Unnamed Memory’s continued insistence of teasing the big secret without so much as a thread to latch onto (though the keen-eared might have overheard a name being given to the face). The result is a lot of the current battles and scheming losing impact and wearing away at the aspects which do make Unnamed Memory still a fun watch for the most part. The hope I still keep up is that whatever it’s rushing towards can make up the difference for what we’re currently receiving.
Part of that cautious optimism comes from, as mentioned, the interactions between Tinasha and Oscar and their slow movement into legitimate relationship. Pacing problems aside it’s a pretty major shift compared to other romance anime when the male MC effectively takes the lead, makes his intentions fully known, and spares little effort when it comes to the teasing and flirting. Oscar’s confidence here and Tinasha’s own pride really help to keep the associated scenes fun, and while the accompanying misunderstanding fuelled drama didn’t rise to the same level (again, can probably chalk up to rushing), dinner demands and perplexed lap plants are enough to keep the chuckles coming.
No idea if they will still keep coming of course, but I’ve invested enough right now to remain curious seeing just where Unnamed Memory intends on taking this ride.
Preview
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I haven’t read the source material but it feels like there’s been some problems with the adaptation as whole Miralys arc frankly left me baffled. All her actions don’t seem to make sense and her motivations aren’t explained in any way.
For example if her aim was to steal the orb then whole become a wife candidate plan seems awfully contrived. In addition rather than wait until Tinasha defeats the demonic wolf to then steal it’s core and reanimate it to gain combat power it’s much more logical to just steal the orb while Tinasha was fighting the demonic wolf especially as she was injured during that battle.
I would assume some scenes have been skipped or I blinked at the wrong moment and missed a key plot point
That is the problem with most LN adaptations. They leave out important details and rush development for the sake of getting to the action or because of censorship. Like manga I think most people would be better off with the source material.
@Zemo x2:
I agree that LNs usually skip a lot of content, most of which is either more important or necessary to better explain the scenario on scenes the director chose to use in the Anime. We may never know why the director left out the bulk of the backstory, hindering the context of the scenario. But I assume the director wanted the audience to be engaged ASAP. It’s hard to know what kind of audience will watch an Anime. They can be Hardcore fans of the LN and Manga or just Anime consumers.
@Everyone:
Sometimes, I wonder if leaving out a good portion of the backstory for a scenario is a mistake due to the production team overworking themselves in the industry and the director being unable to see the direction the story is heading due to mental exhaustion.
There’s quite a bit being skipped unfortunately. A lot of the “slice of life” moments and character buildup was cut right out from the first few episodes, causing both this one and the last to have the whiplash of unclear plot points and character motivations. This was the week where it was really felt IMO because we had the showdown with Miralys and what in any other series would’ve been built up towards better.