Don't be too hasty to judge this series just because of my fairly low score, this is perhaps the most original unoriginal series out right now except perhaps Code Geass. It's hard to explain what I mean. The primary plot device does turn out to go where several anime have gone before in the end, however the method by which it gets there and the execution both in animation and in character development are both fairly original.

The first episodes are awesome, and the animation quality for the first episode is spectacular. The sheer violence and sensuality of the first couple of episodes is damned shocking, even to a jaded arrogant son of a bitch like me. The characters are intriguing and mysterious, the sheer brutality and blatant sexuality separate it from most other recent anime, hearkening back to the days of Ninja Scroll.

however, as the series goes on, it become repetitive. In part this is intentional, and in a way it is effective, however too much time is spent on things we already know. Rather than simply alluding to things, they spend extra time on them in later episodes. It's a difficult balance to hit, and they did a lot of things right, just not quite enough.

As the series progresses, the characters who at first were intriguing now become frustrating and flat. In an attempt to maintain the mystery, the authors miss the chance to allow their audience to connect emotionally to the characters. The end result being when the major revelations are finally made in the final episode, it's difficult to care, because the audience knows so little about the characters true hopes and motivations.

I hate to rate this anime so low since it truly does have a lot of things going for it. It's rare that animes are so ambitions or take so many risks these days. It is refreshing to find directors willing to experiment rather than simply come out with yet another renamed Dragonball Z clone, or by-the-books wish-fulfillment romantic comedy. Still, in this case, the author simply didn't have the ability to follow through on the huge initial promise, and so, just like Ergo Proxy, this becomes yet another interesting, but ultimately mediocre anime.

Verdict: It's worth checking out. Just don't allow the first couple of episodes raise your hopes too high and you'll have a great time.

Although the story can leave some in disarray, altogether Mnemosyne is a good animation to pick up. Being only 6 45min episodes makes it easy to go back and review events to help better understand the events taking place. The animation is top rate along with a good audio track as well (imo). If your interested in deep plot driven animation with a decent amount of gore and some erotica, then this is one for you.