tl;dr - This anime had a promising start, but was an absolute mess. Our leads carry us through the wreckage as the only remotely interesting aspects of the show.
Unnamed Memory hurts me not because it is bad, but because, from time to time, you can see the bones of an amazing story peeking out from its carcass. The lack of a cohesive plot, jumping from scenario to scenario with zero explanation, and obvious lack of storyboarding was so atrocious, that Reddit users took it upon themselves to make separate threads for each episode explaining the missing content from the light novels, which would then be
...
linked or referenced in every official episode thread. Without this resource, it would be nearly impossible to understand the show.
I should say, this is only the case if you're paying attention to the many plot points that are brought up, then either poorly developed, or entirely forgotten (like a certain memory without a name? heh? heh?). If you're an attentive viewer, the show simply won't make sense without reading the Reddit source material threads. However, if you're watching passively, the story more or less makes sense if you turn your brain off and are completely ignoring the main plot, instead watching only for the romance between our leads, Tinasha and Oscar.
***Our Leads - A Promising Start***
Tinasha and Oscar are truly the only thing that made it possible for me to finish this show, aside from the fact that I primarily used it as a time-killer anime.
The first episode, which of course introduced them, immediately pulled me in. Unnamed Memory started with good pacing, what seemed to be an interesting fantasy world, solid animation, and thoughtful treatment of what would normally be stock characters in any other fantasy anime/light novel/manga. Oscar, for one, has an actual personality. Many authors attempt to write off-putting, but ultimately lovable male leads, but fail and instead write 1-dimensional jerks that the female lead has no reason to take a second look at (yet she always does). Oscar perfectly tows the line of being arrogant, coy, and blunt, without being a complete monster or an insufferable jerk. He's written like a confident adult man, rather than an edgy teen in a man's body. He's royalty, good at just about everything, and he knows it. But he is also aware of his responsibility to his country and willing to do what needs to be done for its future, such as producing an heir.
Tinasha is the "not like other girls" sorceress who is good at everything yet has poor self-esteem that prevents her from accepting love, which we see in many stories, but again, she is not annoying to watch. She's written more realistically and given valid reasons to dislike herself, as well as good reasons to discourage a relationship with Oscar. She is also that infinitely kind-hearted female lead we often see, but it makes sense for her character as someone raised to rule a nation, with a massive chip on her shoulder from the sacrifices made to turn her into a witch. She also uses her magic to get things done, rather than waiting around sitting on her thumbs. Throughout the show, she is consistently the most powerful character and uses her centuries of accumulated knowledge to approach problems intelligently, which is refreshing when so many stories in this genre will establish an all-powerful female lead, just for her to get nerfed immediately.
These two characters alone are worth watching, but Unnamed Memory excels at one thing above all: chemistry. Tinasha and Oscar from the first episode have some of the best, most natural and entertaining banter that I've seen in a long while. The author knows they have created two intelligent, fiercely independent characters, and their constant back-and-forth reflects that. It also continually establishes the equal nature of their relationship, while being entertaining. It is, by far, the most fun part of the show.
***Marry Me Because I Said So***
As mentioned prior, the show makes sense if you turn off your brain, ignore all the plot and politics happening, and focus only on Tinasha and Oscar. This isn't entirely true, though. There are multiple times where their relationship seems to rapidly develop out of nowhere, as in, going from avoiding all physical contact to sitting on the man's lap in a bed, with no explanation of how they got so close.
The lack of romantic development, in favor of simply jumping to points in their relationship, was so egregious that their first kiss was more confusing than anything else. It also happened quickly and casually, as if they've just been doing this for a while behind the scenes. It felt like it was suddenly normal to these characters, but because we, the audience, didn't get to see any buildup for how they got to this point, the kiss just felt random. Unnamed Memory often does this with major relationship developments, or it depicts them as quick scenes in the middle of the episode's main "plot", giving you no time to breathe or even register what really happened. It's just "I guess Tinasha and Oscar are kissing now" or "I guess they're banging now" or "I guess she wants to marry him now" with little connection on how they got to these points. The show does not seem to understand that most of us are here to see their relationship grow, and so it only gives us crumbs.
Still, compared to the butchered story, there is certainly more of a cohesive narrative thread on Tinasha and Oscar's relationship than anything else in the show.
***Is This Like That One Evangelion Episode, But Much Worse?***
Unnamed Memory's first episode was straightforward, clear, well-animated, and well-paced. This remained true for the next episode or two, before the animation took a nose-dive. The fight animation, which had been quite nice in the first episode, devolved into mostly still frames with characters being slid across the screen. Honestly, we were lucky if the animators even bothered to slide them around.
No matter, I am used to my female target audience light novel adaptations getting this treatment. The real issue was how crazy the pacing and "plot" went.
I've never read the light novels, but I could tell that insane amounts of content were being cut, simply because the character's actions stopped making sense. The show would go from showing an implied rape scene to immediately in the next episode, having the characters kissing, no explanation. Unnamed Memory soon became a series of "things happen because we need to rush to hit this plot point" rather than a story.
There was even a single episode plot about a woman who seemed terrified of a bandit who killed her husband, had nightmares about the bandit, got possessed a primordial god, so Tinasha had to rip the god out of her and get stabbed to kill it, and at the end of the episode, the lady is shacking up with the bandit that killed her husband. At NO POINT does the episode explain why this happened. You quite literally would have to read the light novels to know (and the reason is bizarre, spoiler: She was having "nightmares" about the bandit due to being horny. He was just too hot. Her husband was a super nice guy, but not hot enough. Why is this literally an NTR plot?)
I'm also pretty sure Tinasha and Oscar's wedding was only a minute long in the middle of a bunch of other crazy plot developments, like killing another all-powerful witch, and also apparently preventing a civil war in the background, but just telling us Tinasha prevented a civil war...not showing anything she actually did on-screen.
Large amounts of characters would be introduced, or show up in the story with no introduction, written in a way that seemed to imply we should know who they are, just for them to either disappear from the plot, or die right away.
It's worth nothing that top comment on the Reddit thread for the last episode of this season is "what the fuck?" It says a lot that the people who liked the show enough to not drop it still voted that as the top comment.
***Tinasha the Songstress (But You'd Never Know Because of Cut Content)***
The music is one of the strong points of the show. The opening music and visuals immediately drew me in, as it seemed to present itself as a serious fantasy anime, focused on building a detailed world without weird anime tropes. The lack of weird tropes was true, at least.
The ED is well-loved by even the fiercest of UM haters, and it still sticks in my mind. Music throughout the show itself isn't flashy, but it's well-composed and well-utilized.
***The Plot Was the Real Unnamed Memory All Along***
What really stings about the experience of watching Unnamed Memory is that you can see so many interesting story beats throughout the show. It's enough to keep you coming back, but not enough to satisfy. The political intrigue and magic are genuinely interesting, and supposedly well-executed in the source material. But the bits of good you see utterly destroyed and disrespected by the anime are what make it such a tragedy to watch. It's like seeing a kid with potential throw their life away and do black tar heroin.
At the end of the day, the bits of plot coming through are so strong that I still persist in wanting to learn the answers to the various mysteries in Unnamed Memory, and the few moments of respite with Tinasha and Oscar's banter keep me from gouging my eyes out.
Like I said, it's a time-killer anime. Fine for dinner after a long day. I recommend watching it with a bowl of soup, so you have something to catch your tears of disappointment.
6/10 Tinasha cute
Mar 20, 2025
Unnamed Memory
(Anime)
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tl;dr - This anime had a promising start, but was an absolute mess. Our leads carry us through the wreckage as the only remotely interesting aspects of the show.
Unnamed Memory hurts me not because it is bad, but because, from time to time, you can see the bones of an amazing story peeking out from its carcass. The lack of a cohesive plot, jumping from scenario to scenario with zero explanation, and obvious lack of storyboarding was so atrocious, that Reddit users took it upon themselves to make separate threads for each episode explaining the missing content from the light novels, which would then be ... 
Jul 21, 2024
Tasogare Out Focus
(Anime)
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Review made as of episode 3.
- THEY ARE GAY - I’ve heard great things about the source material, and now I see why! This is a refreshingly direct BL that doesn’t skirt around the fact that the main characters are, indeed, gay. No more implications, no more “only because it’s you”; they are just gay. It’s nice to see this representation put forth honestly and plainly. - REALISTIC AND MATURE - The story so far handles its topics maturely and candidly. For example, when one character finds out the other is gay, the gay character is immediately concerned with the stigma on homosexuality in Japan, and ... 
Jul 11, 2024
Arakawa Under the Bridge
(Anime)
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Quite possibly one of my new favorites and I think it’s a shame I’ve never heard of it until now. If I had seen it back when it first came out, I can definitely picture this having a major impact on my formative years. It’s funny, nostalgic, and, occasionally, slightly sad.
The comedy is zany and at times, painfully Japanese, but that gives it a lot of rewatch value for me. The jokes are nonstop, so there’s no way I can possibly remember all of them, so rewatching is a treat. It’s a chill anime with fun antics and the occasional laugh out loud ... |
