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Year: 2012
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Romance, School, Shounen, Supernatural
Episodes: 12
Rating: 3.75 out of 5
Have you ever been to a place that is haunted? Have you ever ventured to a house that is supposed to be haunted? We all see that spooky house on tv or in real life that has that haunted vibe to it. The dark house that has a long story behind it. How about a haunted classroom? A classroom that, if you go in, you will see the ghost of a student.
How about real haunted places. Haunted places that are in the world. Aokigahara is a haunted forest in Japan. It also goes by the name of “Suicide Forest or Sea of Trees.” It is a reputation as the home of ghosts and one of the world’s most popular destinations of suicide. In 2003, 105 bodies were found in the forest, beating the previous mark of 78 in 2002.
Dusk Maiden of Amnesia deals with a school that has been haunted for many years by a student. A student named Yuuki. What are the secrets behind the haunted school?
Overview:
Seikyou Private Academy is a school that, throughout the years, has added many additions to the original building, creating a maze-like structure. Over the past 60 years, many stories of horror have been established around the school. As the stories have grown, a legend was created that a student named Yuuko died on campus and has cursed the school ever since.
Dusk Maiden of Amnesia revolves around Teiichi Niiya. Teiichi is a first-year high school student enrolled at Seikyou Private Academy. While wandering the halls of the academy and becoming lost in the process, he finds an abandoned room. While searching the room, he opens up a box that states, “Do Not Open or you will be haunted.” Teiichi decides to open the box and soon encounters a ghost named Yuuko Kanoe.
Yuuko has no memory of her past life. With the help of Teiichi, Yuuko discreetly finds and heads the Paranormal Investigations Club in search of answers. While investigating the seven mysteries of the school, they discover the truth about these ghost stories and help those who are troubled. As the club grows with new members, the investigation in Yuuko’s past starts to unfold. As Teiichi and the group dig deeper into Yuuko’s past, the truth about her death begins to unfold, and the reason she doesn’t remember her past.
Review:
Dusk Maiden of Amnesia presents quite an interesting but overall good story. The story presents the standard ghost story but in a school. A school that started off small but over time has grown to almost a university size. Throughout time and the growth of the school, several ghost legends within the school have grown. The story revolves around a first-year middle school student name Teiichi Niiya who just enrolled at Seikyou Private Academy. Teiichi gets lost in the school and meets a girl named Yuuko Kanoe, who reveals herself as a ghost with no memories. Teiichi decides to investigate her death by looking through the school’s seven mysteries revolving around her. The beginning episodes revolve around these seven mysteries as Teiichi starts to learn the background of Yuuko, ultimately learning of her death and why she has no memory.
Back to the review, the story is actually really good. It is simple but great to follow. I thought this was going to be an actual horror anime, but it had more comedy. Some of the episodes do get downright creepy, intense, and sad, but overall, it’s not a jump scare anime. I’ll take that back, some episodes are quite terrifying and might make you jump. It is a horror anime. I would say this is more of a mystery type anime where you try to figure out how Yuuko really died. The story moves at a nice pace as the story is told in a way to make you pay attention. With that said, there are some points where you can predict what is going to happen, like the ending, but it won’t leave you confused.
The animation is hands down the best part of this anime. Even though the anime is supposed to be a “horror” story, subtle little art styles and themes add to the overall appeal and give it that horror feel. One example of this was during episode 3 when Yuuko was seductively talking to Teiichi while lying on top of him. As she continues to speak, and the scene slowly pans upwards, we see a reflection of a spider web over them. The scene lets us know that Teiichi is trapped in Yuuko’s world/web. Other examples of how the animation truly adds to the anime are by having minor characters faces blacked out or showing them as demons along with the sky becoming crimson. Everything added to the visual appeal of the series.
The characters of Dusk Maiden are the standard characters that one will see in an anime. A naive high school boy meets a beautiful young girl who happens to be dead. The girl meets the standard of being flirtatious to the boy. Yuuko is funny in the way she acts, but as the series unfolds, we see why she acts the way she does. Teiichi is pretty good as the boy who eventually falls in love with Yuuko. Next, the supporting character, Kirie, has a major crush on Teiichi but compares her bust size to Yuuko while saying she needs to drink more milk. Finally, Momoe is the most annoying character. Every time she is on screen, I want her to go away.
Dusk Maidens’ soundtrack is pretty good, but nothing memorable. The opening theme is pretty intense and surprising. It is a strong song to lead you into the anime. It is actually the last song you hear when the anime ends, which in my opinion, is a great choice. I actually teared up from the scene and when the music started playing. I was happy with the outcome, and the ending theme just added on to me. The ending theme is okay in a way that Yuuko sings a somber song. It seemed out of place.
Dusk Maiden of Amnesia is a pretty fun anime to watch. If you are expecting a horror anime, like myself, this one falls short of that. It is more of a love story with bits of horror added into it. With most 12 episode shows, the first half is pretty good but not great. It took me a while to understand why they were doing each adventure. The second half of the season was really good and entertaining. From how Yuuko died to ultimately having her pass on. This is a sweet little love story that you could watch over and over again.
