Mnemosyne



Also known as Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi (Daughters of Mnemosyne) and marketed in the United States as Rin -Daughters of Mnemosyne-, Mnemosyne is a six episode anime television series and light novel produced by Xebec that follows private investigator Rin Asougi, an immortal woman, as she takes odd jobs and tries to avoid the mysterious connections to her past.

All in all, the series is a total Seinen bait, featuring nigh everything older male audiences' hearts may desire: cute girls, respectable guys, Mind Screw of a plot, alcohol and blood in equal proportions, a considerable amount of Girls Love... and both types of sex, take your pick. And all of the above without ever going over the top with it. Be prepared to wince a couple of times, though.

Often confused for an OVA, thanks to its risque content, monthly airing rate, and modest episode number, when, in fact, it airs on AT-X network, whose tenth anniversary it was to commemorate.

Contains examples of:
"Mimi: "Rin! You were supppose to find our client's lost cat!"
 * Air Vent Passageway: Subverted.
 * All Myths Are True:
 * Almost Dead Guy: and  in episode 4.
 * Amateur Sleuth: Mishio Maeno talks to herself and in the process does a lot of Shout Outs to Sherlock Holmes as she investigates Rin. At best, though, she only tries to be this.
 * Ambiguously Gay: Apos. Which kind of makes sense,.
 * Anyone Can Die: Starting with The Reveal for episode two, it has been established that not even Immortals are safe.
 * Badass: Rin, by far - although she cheats a bit by being nearly invulnerable.
 * Badass Bookworm - Mimi, especially in Episode 6.
 * Badass in A Nice Suit: Rin's preferred attire is a business suit, giving her something of a Bifauxnen-like appearance.
 * Bad Santa: Though doesn't plan on stealing Christmas, she does  while wearing a Santa outfit, even shouting "Hohoho, Merry Christmas" while she's at it.
 * Bait and Switch Credits: The last portion of the opening credits shows Rin, alone and in the buff, leaning on a pillar in the middle of mossy ruins, with a swarm of angels descending on her in a buildup to a Bolivian Army Ending. This never happens, since the closest thing to that.
 * Bait and Switch Lesbians: Despite a ton of implications about Rin's sexuality, the writers just had to go and . Of course, true fans still hope for a happy Rin/Mimi (or even Rin/Mimi/Mishio) ending but sadly, that would have to happen only in Continuation slashfics...
 * Given this reaction, it seems that this is a Real Life example of No Bisexuals...
 * It could be interpreted as Rin is bisexual, as she wasn't exactly averse to romping with women and other men. Don't forget,
 * It is unknown whether
 * Be Careful What You Wish For: Because got exactly what he wanted, hysterical screams of terror notwithstanding.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Subverted.
 * Played semi-straight in episode 6.
 * Big Friendly Dog: Mimi and Rin's dog Genta.
 * Blind Without Em: Episode one hints that Rin had eye problems when she became immortal (and thus, can never be cured), so now she's forced to replace her Stoic Spectacles whenever they're destroyed. She seems to be able to see reasonably without them, but they're always the first things she goes for when retrieving her clothing.
 * Body Horror: The potent-and-bloody yet seamless blend of death and sexuality in Mnemosyne would make HR Giger himself proud.
 * Bottle Fairy: Rin and Mimi seem to spend much of their time drinking.
 * Bound and Gagged: Episode 1, Rin is strapped down and tortured by Sayara. Episode 3, Rin is bound to the handrails of sinking ship. Episode 6, Rin is chained to a table and ball-gagged in front of a chained Angel by Laura. Then there is Apos' torture victim in various episodes.
 * Brain Uploading:
 * Brand X: Back in the 90's era, Rin and co. used pagers branded as 'Rocket Bell'.
 * The anime doesn't seem too shy about using things that are copyrighted almost to the letter.
 * Camera Abuse: The camera gets splattered with falling blood in the very first scene. It has also gotten wet during Shower Scenes.
 * Career Killers: Laura, and or whatever the hell he's called, from episode two.
 * Cartwright Curse: Rin arguably qualifies for this.
 * Chains of Love: With the "love" being used in the most ironic sense possible.
 * Chekhov's Boomerang: A rather interesting case in episode three is that what the gun actually is isn't shown at all, and is only hinted at until The Reveal. After, all that's shown is the empty case, though from the , it becomes evident that whatever was in there was  It's eventually used again when
 * Chekhov's Gunman:
 * The Chessmaster: It's hard to tell if Apos is one of these, or if he just plays chess to kill time.
 * Church Militant: 's temple comes complete with a laser cage, pressure sensors, and nuns that use both guns and katanas.
 * Cloning Blues:
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience:
 * Furthermore,
 * Contemplate Our Navels: Last episode,
 * Contrived Coincidence: As of episode five, Rin and Mimi have gotten involved with three generations of Maeno. Then again, it might not be coincidental, as Rin has been acting as Teruki's Mysterious Protector ever since A more proper example would be
 * Naturally, it's no coincidence, since all Maenos.
 * Cosplay Otaku Girl: Mimi wears a Meido outfit in the early 1990s, and in episode 4, after losing her clothes to an explosion, she wears a ridiculous Stripperiffic costume much longer than necessary.
 * Cry Cute: Rin.
 * Dashed Plotline: 1/20/14/30 year skips between the first five episodes (the sixth follows the fifth immediately).
 * Deadpan Snarker: Rin in the first episode...
 * Cry Cute: Rin.
 * Dashed Plotline: 1/20/14/30 year skips between the first five episodes (the sixth follows the fifth immediately).
 * Deadpan Snarker: Rin in the first episode...

Rin: "So instead of a lost cat, I found a lost man.""

"Maeno Kouki (前埜光輝): "Brightness of the Field Before You"
 * Dead Sidekick: Subverted.
 * Deal With the Devil: Notable examples include.
 * Depraved Bisexual
 * Disconnected By Death: Subverted.
 * Distressed Damsel: Mimi depends on Rin and other immortals to protect her.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything: The symbol of the Guardian resembles an uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes.
 * Also,
 * And the way Apos/Rin/whoever act whenever they.
 * The Dragon: Laura, but it only becomes evident when she starts
 * Dramatic Chase Opening: Rin, nearly-naked, being chased through a building by Laura. How they got there is never explained.
 * Dressing As the Enemy: But not for the purpose of disguise; Rin's hospital gown gets completely destroyed when she's trapped in a facility in one episode, so she borrows the clothes of one of the two guards who she just killed. It fits surprisingly well.
 * DVD Commentary: FU Nimation provides a commentary for episode 2, with J Michael Tatum (the ADR director, plus the voice of Ihika), Colleen Clinkenbeard (Rin), Jamie Marchi (Mimi) and Robert McCollum (Kouki). It has a "titular" pun and random profanity ("Fuck!" "Oh dear.") before the opening credits are even over, and continues on from there.
 * Eternal Love: Between.
 * Evil Detecting Dog: In episode 5,.
 * Evil Twin:
 * The Faceless:, the as-of-episode-4 unnamed man with a beard shown in the opening and closing credits. We get a full view of his face in episode five.
 * False Camera Effects: Lens Flare.
 * Fan Disservice: Quite a bit of the "service" in this series arguably qualifies...
 * Fan Service: ...but then again, the non-violent Fan Service in this series is quite beautiful to watch.
 * Flash Back: Flashbacks generally have a sort of watery distortion to them both in terms of video, and audio, and are also seen from the perspective of whoever is experiencing them.
 * Fast Roping: How the Self-Defense Force breaks into Rin's office.
 * Final Speech: gets a short one.
 * Forgotten Superweapon: Rin's Shotgun Glove doesn't appear again until episode five where she uses it to
 * Friend On the Force: Tamo-chan Tamotsu Yanagihara
 * A God Am I: Apos,
 * He was preceded by
 * Presumably, anybody who becomes qualifies for this.
 * Good People Have Good Sex: Bad people have... something else entirely.
 * Good Thing You Can Heal!
 * Goo Goo Godlike:, who is a more subtle example.
 * Gorn: The stuff that happens to Rin is at times quite gruesome.
 * Gory Discretion Shot: Which actually makes it worse in a few cases. Surprisingly used often considering how violent this show is overall.
 * Gotterdammerung: By episode five,
 * Gratuitous English: The Anime Theme Song Alsatia by Galneryus, which is known for writing their lyrics in English.
 * Guilty Pleasures: Watching this series equates to the pleasure of spelunking: to dive into the deepest of darkness and coming out exhilerated and more alive than you were before the jump.
 * The Gunslinger: Laura, though she also uses explosives without much reservation.
 * Hand Cannon: Laura's handgun from episode four, which has enough recoil to blow Rin several feet back. The former has no problem using it one-handed.
 * Handwaved: What does the Guardian of Yggdrasil actually do, except ?
 * Well, he's shown if that counts for anything.
 * Healing Factor
 * Heroic Sacrifice
 * Subverted when
 * Hermaphrodite:
 * Presumably, is also one of these, considering they have the same job.
 * Since, she would probably count, too.
 * It actually seems that to be Guardian you have to.
 * He Who Must Not Be Seen: The person Rin talks to on the phone in every episode.
 * ~Hey, It's That Voice!~
 * Akira Ishida: The voice of Apos.
 * Colleen Clinkenbeard: Voices Rin in the dub.
 * Hitomi Nabatame: The voice of Ruon in episode 4.
 * J. Michael Tatum: Director of the English dub and the voice of Ihika in episode 5.
 * Jamie Marchi: Voices Mimi in the dub.
 * Mamiko Noto: Rin's sexy yet gentle voice.
 * Monica Rial: Voices Sayara in the dub.
 * Rie Tanaka: The voice of Sayara.
 * Sayaka Ohara: Voices Laura.
 * High Pressure Blood: Oh deary me...
 * Hollywood Board Games: Apos is occasionally seen playing chess against an immortal blindfolded, bound, gagged, and stabbed in several places to her chair, and using rather squicky-looking chess pieces at that.
 * Hollywood Cyborg: As continues to get horribly maimed, she is eventually turned into one of these once the appropriate technology is developed.
 * Don't forget Sayara. Though her machinery may be just a Powered Armor.
 * Holographic Terminal: Everybody's using these by episode five.
 * Hot Chick in A Badass Suit: Rin, par excellence.
 * Hot Shounen Mom:
 * Her son? Think bigger: her entire bloodline will have to answer that question until the end of time!
 * Identity Amnesia:.
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: X(s) Don't/Doesn't X. Episode six is gonna be an Odd Name Out.
 * Idiot Hair: Mimi
 * Implacable Man: Laura, in this case, is an Implacable Woman. Subverted in that
 * Immortality Hurts: Seriously. The tagline for the English release of Mnemosyne even said, "It only hurts forever.
 * Immortality Inducer: Any female who happens to get in contact with a becomes immortal. This also applies to dogs, apparently. Furthermore, a recurring theme throughout the series is how humanity in general craves it.
 * Immortal Life Is Cheap
 * Inside a Computer System: Deconstructed. '2.0' is highly addictive, and when it's introduced in episode 4, people can be seen lying around on sidewalks like a bunch of hobos while plugged into the network.
 * Invisible to Normals:
 * And for that matter,
 * Jekyll and Hyde: Subverted when it turns out that
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Rin and Mimi.
 * Just Between You and Me: Sayara does this in the first episode . In the fourth episode, the honor falls to.
 * Karmic Death:
 * Kick the Dog: Laura in episode six. Seriously, she's got issues...
 * Killed Off for Real:
 * And
 * Knife Nut: Rin has at least several push knives on hand at all times.
 * Kill Sat: Subverted.
 * Kiss Me I Am Virtual: Ruon.
 * Kiss of Death:
 * Knowledge Broker: An unnamed woman and two of her successors, who drink Grasshoppers and take sex as payment.
 * Laser Hallway: Combined with Air Vent Passageway.
 * Last Kiss
 * Laser Guided Amnesia
 * Legal Jailbait: Mimi, oh so very very much.
 * Library of Babel:
 * Lolicon: Fan service involving Mimi, though somewhat subverted by the fact she is Really Seven Hundred Years Old.
 * Lock and Load Montage: Episode five has Rin buying a new suit and digs up a weapons cache she stored in her grave.
 * Locked Into Strangeness: Kouki gets a gray streak in his hair starting in the second episode, presumably at the same spot that.
 * Lodged Blade Recycling: Rin pulls it off in episode three
 * Luke I Am Your Father: Inverted when reveals that he is 's son.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Apos, probably more so than being a chessmaster even though he plays chess every now and then. There's nothing magnificent about how he goes about doing it, either.
 * Market Based Title: In America, FU Nimation is marketing the series as RIN ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~.
 * Mayfly December Romance: Present (or at least Mayfly December UST), but it doesn't really come up. Thanks to the time scale of the series, mortals age and die, but nobody ever dwells on it.
 * Meaningful Name: With a little knowledge of japanese, the Maeno (前, "in front of", 埜, "field, wilderness") family names suddenly start to make sense in context:

Maeno Yuki (前埜有紀): "Chronicle of the Existence of the Field Before You"

Maeno Teruki (前埜輝紀): "Chronicle of the Radiance/Shine of the Field Before You"

Maeno Mishio (前埜美汐): "Beauty of the Tide of the Field Before You""

"Rin: "It's such a shame when the good die young." (gunshots)"
 * Considering how closely tied to Rin's character and destiny the Maeno family ends up being, it's interesting to notice their names all correlate the owners to some important event or situation in Rin's life similar to what their name implies (Kouki showing Rin the bright side of life, Yuki raising Teruki alone, with Teruki later proving to be the initial trigger to Rin, and Mishio awakening Rin to the new and beautiful experience of parenthood). It's also interesting to note how the first kanji in their family name is precisely the kanji to indicate something in front of something else, alluding to the fact that they were always beside Rin, partly because.
 * Meganekko: Rin. Even though she very much subverts the "timid" meganekko stereotype, when she is nice she can also be a genuinely sweet, if not downright cute person.
 * Mundane Utility:
 * Yggdrasil seeds the world with, creating immortals and angels for the purpose of . Yeah, really amazing.
 * Immortals don't get hangovers.
 * My Grandson Myself: Rin takes this route when visiting a person she met back in WWII.
 * Inverted in episode five, where Mishio considers the possibility of Rin being the daughter of the woman (also Rin) that she saw in a 30-year-old video.
 * Naughty Nuns: Mimi
 * New Era Speech: Inverted, since
 * The Nineties: The first two episodes.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Shotgun Gloves. And Rin herself. No, seriously.
 * No Name Given: Though a university lecture in episode five hints on the identity and name of the bearded man who Rin talks to on the phone Once an Episode, it's only revealed in episode six.
 * Also, Apos' immortal 'opponent' whenever he's playing chess. In episode five, it's hinted that she is actually
 * The show loves toying with this: none of the informants were ever named on-screen, and Laura's name is only given in episode six (unless you watched the trailer or the credits).
 * Noodle Incident: Rin's "view" of Oda Nobunaga, which leaves Mishio's sense of history in tatters.
 * No One Could Survive That:.
 * Not Afraid of You Anymore: The way Rin turned the tables on Apos in the very end.
 * Not Quite Dead: This probably explains how
 * in episode six.
 * Number One Dime:, which eventually becomes , which is eventually lost, and then later found by when she washes up on the beach. Subverted in that even if she didn't forget everything, she probably wouldn't even know that the two of them were connected. Then again, it could probably be just some  that fell into the water.
 * episode 6, it's revealed that the spore
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Though she seems carefree and happy-go-lucky, Rin instantly reveals herself to be one hell of a Badass when the going gets tough.
 * Oedipus Rex: Apos and
 * Oh Crap: Sayara gets three in a row.
 * Ominous Latin Chanting: It's only soft, but since it was combined with the Ominous Pipe Organ, the Ominous Latin Chanting pretty much punctuates and intensifies the disturbing atmosphere of
 * Ominous Pipe Organ: Whenever Apos and Rin are in proximity of each other in episode six.
 * Once an Episode: Rin, Mimi, and vodka threesome. This is not the case in episode five and seems, um, unlikely to be thus in episode six...
 * Not to mention Rin getting maimed/killed, which is actually closer to thrice an episode on average. Also, Rin talking to He Who Must Not Be Seen on the phone.
 * with Rin and/or Mimi staring at the event for a couple of seconds. Averted in episode five, where
 * Borderline example: Laura showing up to shoot Rin full of holes then blowing herself up with Rin once that fails..
 * Lesbian sex scenes
 * One Gender Race: Immortals are Always Female, and Angels are Always Male. Unless you take the third option.
 * Our Angels Are Different: Very different.
 * Our Presidents Are Different: In this case, we have a President Buffoon, who
 * Out Gambitted: When.
 * Playing With Syringes: Sayara's project. When she's not just doing it for fun, that is.
 * Precision F Strike: From the dub: "MERRY FUCKIN' CHRISTMAS!"
 * Pre Mortem One Liner: Rin gets one in the first episode . From the dub:
 * Precision F Strike: From the dub: "MERRY FUCKIN' CHRISTMAS!"
 * Pre Mortem One Liner: Rin gets one in the first episode . From the dub:


 * Private Detective: Rin, minus the Private Eye Monologue.
 * Psycho Lesbian: Sayara and especially Laura.
 * Rape Is Okay When Its Female On Male: Subverted, as is shown to be just as depraved and wrong as any male rapist.
 * Razor Floss: Yet another piece of Rin's arsenal of concealable weapons.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: May be literally so with some of the girls. Rin at one time even says that it has been centuries since she had a lover (although it also raises the question what Mimi is to her then). In fact, Rin is
 * That, and Mimi didn't know the person Rin met back in WWII.
 * Rie Kugimiya: As the loli-genius Mimi.
 * Running Gag: Every episode but 5 has Rin wake up with a splitting headache (Usually a hangover) and yelling at Mimi to get her some water.
 * Save Point: Essentially how immortality works.
 * Scenery Porn: To the point of sometimes being distracting.
 * Shout Out: In episode 1, the pharmaceutical company executive's laptop is named "cylon".
 * Shower of Angst: Rin in episode 5.
 * Shower Scene: Rin from episode one, and the second informant in episode 3.
 * Show Some Leg
 * Small Girl Big Gun:
 * A partial example would be
 * Spoiler Opening: Subverted by the . We also see, however none of these really register until you've seen them in the episodes proper.
 * Spy Catsuit: Sort of:
 * Laura's standard outfit is a black catsuit, but it's not particularly tight, so it's more Badass than fanservicey. (Except for one brief, inexplicable shot where it was unzipped enough to show off her cleavage.)
 * Rin fulfilled the trope when she went exploring air vents, but not with a traditional catsuit: She wore a black, skin-tight shirt and pants. The shirt had a zipper, and for added Fan Service bared her midriff and did not feature a bra. She also dressed Kouki up in a similar but less fanservicey outfit.
 * Stalker With a Crush: Apos has a serious obsession with Rin, and of course, in his own 'special' way. Even after he claims to be just after her, it's strange that he doesn't just go out of his way to dig it out of her.
 * Also, in episode four.
 * The Stoic: Rin
 * Stoic Spectacles: Rin's glasses are sure as hell not Nerd Glasses
 * Strapped to An Operating Table: Someone gets tied to something nearly Once an Episode. Most notably, Rin is strapped to a chair and tortured in episode 1, and vivisected on an operating table in episode 3,.
 * Episode 4: Episode 5:  Episode 6:
 * Stripperific: Mishio Maeno's outfits.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: Courtesy of Laura.
 * Take My Hand: A weird example, which starts with
 * This is symbolic of living through Mishio as Rin's sworn protectors.
 * Taking You With Me: Laura does this... a lot...
 * Subverted on one occasion. Rin runs away after seeing Laura's explosive vest, so Laura simply takes it off and throws it after her.
 * Technology Marches On: Played for laughs in Episode 2, where Mimi retorts Koki's remark about screwing up a computer job by saying "This is a top of the line 16-bit 40MHz CPU and 128MB of RAM with a 300MB hard drive with all the bells and whistles."
 * Techno Wizard: Mimi has claimed to be capable of hacking into the CIA, MI 6, and Special Forces Section II. Furthermore, in episode six, she
 * Time Skip: Happens Once an Episode. Considering Rin and Mimi are immortal, it's not surprising that the series took place over a period of 65 years, with the epilogue taking place at least nine months after the climax.
 * To the Pain
 * Torture Technician
 * Turbine Blender: Rin lands inside a running airplane engine in episode four. Her last thoughts are "This may be too much even for me."
 * Twenty Minutes Into the Future: Episodes 3-6, which are set in 2011, 2025, and 2055 respectively.
 * Unknown Rival: While Laura goes Psycho Lesbian with her obsession with Rin and spends considerable amounts of time thinking about how to kill her, the latter considers her nothing more than a nuisance.
 * Virtual Ghost:
 * Virtual Celebrity
 * Waking Up At the Morgue
 * We Can Rebuild Him:, after she gets dissected and made immortal by Apos.
 * Wham Episode: 4 already had some serious wham moments, but they upped the ante in 5. A lot.
 * Who Wants to Live Forever: Amongst other catches, when you become immortal, your current physical state is sort of recorded, and you will forever return to it. Bad vision? You can't fix it with surgery. Virginity? You will be deflowered each time. Dying of grievous wounds in extreme pain? Yeah.
 * Though Rin and Mimi don't seem to mind and find odd jobs to do to pass the time.
 * Why Won't You Die: Laura has done everything in her field of expertise to kill Rin, from blowing her to pieces with a shotgun, to . By the fifth episode, she even admits to have become obsessed with figuring out how to kill her.
 * A Wizard Did It (how did Yggdrasil did it!)
 * Might not count, since this was stated outright and was important for several other scenes.
 * The World Tree: Yggdrasil, source of, is visible in the opening credits as an ominous background entity that easily dwarfs Tokyo skyscrapers.
 * Would Hit a Girl: Everyone, really. Of course, half of the hitters are women themselves.
 * Yakuza
 * Yandere:
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Teruki's blonde hair is presumably a dye job, and Ruon's orange hair is justified since, but there's no explanation for Rin, Mimi and Laura, whose hair is green, blue and red, respectively.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Mishio Maeno
 * Zip Me Up: Rin, to tease Teruki
 * Zombie Gait:
 * Zombie Gait: