Unnamed Memory Act.2

This anime is actually a Masterpiece and this season shows it! The last episode is one of the best episodes ever and probably the best this year. The characters dynamics, the development, the animation glow up... Literally everything just became suddenly peak for the sake reason of the plottwist at the end. I don't know who or how or why they changed the director of the series at the last 3 episodes (if they did) but I'm so in love with it. Definitely no one expected a turning point like that where it was so deep and complex at the same time, while also being ... consistent in storytelling? OMG. Most recommended anime this year by far to even those who never watched anime before.

Squandered potential.

This review is for both acts. I will also preface this review by saying that I have not read the source material and have only watched the anime.

I stumbled upon this show randomly. Just browsing what to watch and this seemed promising so I started watching it. And I immidietely got the impression that the source material bangs. I could see the framework of an extremely competent story. But what bothers me about the anime adaptation is that they seem to be speedrunning the story for some reason. This trend continued throughout the whole series and really upsets me because regardless of my low ... score and hesitance to outright recommend it, it's clear as the sky that the anime does not do justice to the source material. Even having never read it. The elements are just too competent. I plan on reading the novel at some point when I get the burst of motivation to do so and if it sucks I will be very surprised.

There are a lot of instances in the anime where sub plots start from seemingly in the middle without proper set up. Conflicts start and end within one or two episodes. This makes it difficult to follow the red thread running through the whole story and what is and isn't important.

I'll say this much, if this anime gets a remake some years down the line, with proper pacing and without the story being rushed, with better or even the same quality of animation, I will be watching that religiously. That probably won't happen considering this show wasn't all that popular and remakes rarely happen, but I would say that this story deserves it. It deserves the time and care of a longer and slower version of the anime. At minimum the story should have been spread over twice the run time. There was no need to rush things like this and I would love to hear the studio's justification for this speedrun-esque pacing.

Unnamed Memory, Act 2 — For longevity or for purpose, I beg you: please just read the source material.

It's just sad to see source material works get butchered for the sake of many reasons the AniManga industry can tell you, but truly, for better or for worse, you're working against so many constraints that it's easily identifiable which of the assets that needed to be sacrificed just to fit the bare content that has both a starting/mid-point and a stopping point. Case in point, novelist Kuji Furumiya and his/her series of Unnamed Memory, which I've already made it evident that both Kadokawa and their subsidiary ... studio ENGI have really messed up the prior season last Spring, which bars no worth for the continuation of the source material, as butchered and confusing as it is.

Yet, Act 2 came out, out of a necessity that the LN was only 6 volumes long and covered the remainder of the LN volumes 4 to 6, which serve as a new sub-story in and of itself, right after Season 1 adapted the first 3 LN volumes which encapsulate Act 1. The continuation, however, brings about a different constitution to the formula.

To give important context, forget everything that you remember about Season 1 with the Farsas crown prince of Oscar and the Witch of the Azure Moon of Tinasha, because the timeline has once been reset again to the time where the "what if" came true of Tinasha still remembering that she needs to fulfill Oscar's request to help him remove the curse from the witch that cursed him. This is in addition to fulfilling that outcome by being wedded to him to produce an heir for the country, only to spite the other nations of the venture that this will bring about the fall of their own civilization should she choose to go ahead with leaning towards a superpower.

As expected, even if you've watched Season 1 to begin with, Season 2 has so many plot holes and contrivances that'll leave you scratching your head on how it's any different from what Season 1 presented, just a rhetoric different from the usual. Trust me, Kadokawa and ENGI are still purposely and egregiously butchering the remainder of the LN, so important context is always left out for the sake of major events that bring about the drastically needed change, which only leaves all but crucial infodump for the anime-onlies to take in and assume that it is concocted that way.

Once again, ENGI may have 2 shows in its belt for the Winter season (this and Medalist), though you can easily identify which show got the better priority, the other being left in the waydust to be left to interpretation. Even when the production is decent, if not a bit better than what Season 1 showed overall. Hell, while the OST is the same, the OP/ED set took a hit, and both TRUE's OP and Arika's ED show the same "what if" grasp to make the show the way it truly is.

Ultimately, if Season 1 was just an abject failure, I already foresaw the problems with Season 2, and my worst fears are realized coming into Act 2 of the anime that it will not live up to the LN. Sorry, but as much as the sequel brings back the appeal of what the show lacked in the prequel, you're better off with the LN instead.