Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Tasogare Otome x Amnesia
Episodes: 12
How: Fansub
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Summary: 60 years ago, a young woman was left to die in the abandoned school building behind the exclusive Seikyou Academy. No one knows why. No one knows how. But the horrifying tale and the legends of the ghostly haunting that followed live on to this day. Perhaps it's not so surprising then, that among Seikyou's many school clubs is one for students interested in "paranormal investigations." What might raise more than a few hairs, however, is that the founder of the club is the ghost herself. Unable to remember how she died and trapped in the grey land between life and death, Yuuko latches onto Teiichi Niiya, a freshman who can inexplicably see her, and together they and the other unsuspecting members of the club begin to unravel the many dark mysteries that surround Seikyou. Will unlocking the secret of Yuuko's gruesome death finally free her? Or will her sudden close association with a mortal have even stranger repercussions on both of their existences?
Thoughts: I'm a sucker for ghost stories, With the breast grabbing in the first episode I was a little worried about it turning into some strange, pervy story but.. That was not the case. Well, Not entirely the case.. The show was really, lighthearted until half way through. Things started to get more "serious"..
Who we have....
Teiichi Niiya; The main male...only male in the story. While wandering around the school he happens by Ghost Yuuko, He rather quickly discovers her body behind a mirror in one of the old rooms. It looks like she had somehow fallen down stairs and broke her leg... When he finds out that she has no memories of what was done to her before her death, He promises to help recover her memories.
He's a bit of an odd duck, Through the show he slowly falls in love with Yuuko even with two perfectly live girls hovering around him. At the end it's revealed that he is the grandson of a little girl that Yuuko had saved before her death.
Yuuko Kanoe; She's a Ghost, She's been a ghost for around 60 years..or was it 40? It's been a while. When she's first introduced she's a carefree, roaming spirit that has lost her memories. Slowly or not so slowly she falls in love with Teiichi... Helping him with "cases" for the Paranormal Investigation Club and stalking him around in general.
It's eventually discovered that she has split herself in two, Sending her hatred, fear and other more hostile and painful memories into another self. Which is the dark presence some have seen around the school.. In the end Teiichi helps her come together with her darker feelings and accept what had happened to her.
Momoe Okonogi; The annoying, loud, overactive girl who can't see ghosts but is obsessed with ghost stories and the like. She also has feelings for Teiichi and by the end of the show she realizes that he's in love with a ghost. She's also a member of the Paranormal Investigation Club.
Kirie Kanoi; Rather angry, unsure of herself, upset about her small breasts, grumpy girl that can see Yuuko. How? She's the granddaughter of Yuuko's younger sister. She too has a liking for Teiichi, She also seems to be a bit... smarter then the others in the group.
At first she believes Yuuko is a malevolent spirit come to take Teiichi away... She eventually sees the situation for what it truly is... I weird romance. >_> She joins the Paranomal Investigation Club to find out more about Yuuko.
How did it happen?
It turns out that Yuuko was a sacrifice, Many years ago there was a plague spreading through the village. Fearing the plague was actually a curse brought on by building the Seikyou Academy on a spot that a shrine use to be, The elders determined that a sacrifice was in order.
Yuuko and her sister overheard this conversation and barely escaped without being caught. When they did get home Yuuko allowed a little girl she had been taking care of {Asa} to come and stay with them. {Her relatives had died from the plague}.
Sometime that night, Asa was taken by the Elders.. Fearing the girl was to be the sacrifice Yuuko rushed to where they had been earlier to save her... only to be turned into the sacrifice herself. The men threw her down the stairs {to where a shrine was left}, Which in turn broke her leg.. scared.. in pain and in the dark Yuuko died. Alone.
The End: Kiries grandmother, Yuuko's sister is a higher up at the Academy. Well that's not a huge deal but anyways. Kirie and Teiichi go to see her grandmother and find out that Asa is Teiichi's grandmother, Which is probably why he can see Yuuko.
There was quite a bit of drama through the final episodes, Yuuko blocking out Teiichi even and finally they reunite. In the end Yuuko accepts her painful memories, becomes one with "Shadow Yuuko" once more and all is good. Not.
Yuuko's body is finally removed from the cursed shrine and is given a proper burial, With this comes a last date with Teiichi... a lot of crying and Yuuko finally disappearing. I wish it had ended there.
Days, Weeks maybe after Yuuko is gone Teiichi finally goes back to the club room and finds a box stating if it's opened the person would be cursed. He opens it, She shows back up... She can't go to heaven with regrets and the one not so kiss was her regret and now she's there to haunt Teiichi forever.
The ending is a bit generic, Even if it opens up another season for the show. Just it'd be so much better if he found one of the living girls who had been drooling over him during the series. Oh well.
Favorite Character{s}- Kirie ~ I'm really not sure why but, She's the one that clicked with me, Not that there really a whole lot of characters to choose from.
Least Favorite Character{s}- Those old elder guys; Also didn't like Yuuko's sister much. All these years and she never found the body....
Favorite Episode{s}- Episode Five ~ Kirie with cat ears!
Episode Ten ~ Get to see what happened to Yuuko.
Weakest Episode{s}- Episode Eight ~ The pathetic Teiichi episode. Yuuko "forgets" him because he knows what happened to her and he just... gives up. It takes Kirie to push him back into the fight.