Melody of Oblivion

During the 20th century there was a large-scale war between humans and monsters. After bloodshed so violent that no words could ever explain, it was the monsters who had won. Time went by and a new century began. And then people started to forget that melody.

When Bocca realizes he has the holy mark of Melos, he decides to become a Warrior of Melos and fight against the monsters. The story follows Bocca as he travels from town to town saving children from being sacrificed and searching for information on the whereabouts of a girl called the Melody of Oblivion. The Melos warriors believe that she will help them win against the monsters.

For the most part, the show progresses in small three-episode story arcs that follow a pattern. Bocca and Sayoko come to a town, get involved in its scenario, defeat a "baddie" and move on to the next town. The early episodes show how the world has been affected by the Monsters and things get slightly more enjoyable as it goes. The second half improves as the story starts to pick up at bit and the animation quality rises a bit.

Melos Warriors fight with a bow and arrows and ride Aibar Machines which look like futuristic motorcycles. On his journey, Bocca teams up with a couple other Melos Warriors, Tone and Coco. These two girls have Aibar machines that can fly, however, Bocca can't seem to get his to.

In every town, Bocca confronts an agent of the Monster Union - a human allied with the monsters. The Monster Union works behind the scenes and are responsible for bringing the child sacrifices that the monsters feed on as a tax the cities must pay to keep their peaceful way of life. The leaders of the Monster Union pilot robots that are designed as animals such as a horse, rat, and monkey which add to the shows bizarre sense of style.

Bocca is a bland character. He just sort of exists. Bocca meets a girl named Sayoko who travels with him and they begin to develop feelings for each other. Tone has a stereotypical quiet and serious personality while the pink-haired Coco quickly became my favorite character due to her fun personality.

Melody of Oblivion has a visual style that ranges from unique to silly. Some of the designs and parts of the show are awkward. The enemies are weird and the robots they pilot are just as bizarre. Near the end it even features cow girls complete with a milking scene. The dark mood is heightened by its reddish blood-like shadows present in many areas. It seems to try to be symbolic with its imagery, but I could never find any meaning behind it. I found Melody of Oblivion's style too weird to take the show seriously at times.

Animation-wise, the show is average for a TV series, although some of the later episodes look slightly improved. There is some recycled animation used for attacks and the action scenes are mostly ho-hum with a few impressive parts. The show can be pretty heavy on the fanservice. When Tone and Coco use their Melos power to fire an arrow it looks like they are in sexual delight from their facial expressions and rosy red cheeks. Even Bocca often blushes after seeing them attack. The background music and theme songs are pretty good.

I thought the ending felt rushed and could have played out better. Some questions are not answered and are left open to the viewer's interpretation, which isn't always a bad thing, but it left me feeling a little bitter. I think there are some who will dislike this series' ending.

Melody of Oblivion isn't for everyone. The journey is fairly enjoyable, however, when it's all over, I can't help but feel a little unsatisfied with it.

Score:

Written by Marc Frost on Mar 16, 2014