Story & Playability

Melody of Oblivion is certainly not an anime that everyone can get into right away, nor is it one that will appeal to everyone's tastes to hold your attention all the way through...To put it rather mildly, this anime is very STRANGE. There are certain elements to the whole thing that can be confusing, inane, and even disturbing.
However, if you are like myself, and find such things to be intriguing, then you will probably get sucked into this anime rather quickly, ready to see where it ultimately will take you; just don't expect everything to be explained or even be acknowledged all the time...
The typical battle that seems to be continuously waged back and forth between Good and Evil is well represented here...almost to the point of becoming like a battle-of-the-week anime, whereas we've got this new enemy to face, how are we going to beat him/her and move on to the next part of the story. I'm being a little bit harsh in view of this, as it isn't quite as bad as that, but there are times when you think to yourself "Is this DragonBall Z dressed up in a horror atmosphere?"
Or, at least you would be pondering this, if the anime wasn't presented in the interesting way that it has been. The villians are human with human fears and weaknesses, and so that helps to allevate them from being mere masked foes. And the relationships shared by the main characters, as fractured and inconsistent as it may seem sometimes, is genuine and does strike a chord with the average viewer.

Overall, I was drawn into the story, but I was left confused when the whole thing wrapped up. In the end, I felt there were WAY too many dropped story bits and character information for me to be satisfied, but at least my boredom was relieved during its run.

Rating: 7

Graphics

The art is nothing overtly special to write about. It has your standard looking characters with your average animation styles....Bocca is rather bland to look at, but his female compatriots are cute at least.

Just a fair warning, you are more than likely to get REALLY sick of the battle animations (the ones that take place EVERY time they call upon their Melos power to fight the Monsters....and I do mean EVERY!)...

Rating: 7

Sound

I had a lot of trouble accepting Bocca's voice to be honest with you...He's supposed to be this ripped and buff Melos warrior badass, yet he has a voice that seems more akin to Shinji Ikari.

Luckily, this is made up for by the voices of his female warrior helpers, and in my humble opinion, that damn parrot that did the message deliveries for the Monsters was the most interesting and amusing voice that was present.

The music is very well fit to the tone and mood of the story, being off-key in places and somewhat eerie overall. It works well for the anime, but its nothing you'd want to listen to outside of it.

Rating: 8

Fun

This one was a very very very hard anime to pidgeon hole. At times it could be rather immature, at others very profound and unnerving, and more often than not completely baffling.
The pacing is pretty consistent and helps to keep one in the flow of things (usually the story moves along in 3 part chapter type stories, than moves on to another one after that chapter is finished). In fact, within the anime the episodes are kind of presented as movements in musical piece, thus giving a fun little nod to its title.

This is not an anime to watch for a quick laugh, or a quick scare, or a quick anything really. It spreads its wings across vast areas, so one must watch the whole thing to get all that it has to offer. Just be prepared to be scratching your head...

Rating: 7

Final Verdict

7.17 (above average)

Reviewed by Murrman84, Nov 13, 2006

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