Amnesia Later x Crowd V, Amnesia World, Amnesia Crowd, Amnesia Later, Amnesia
Amnesia(アムネシア,Amuneshia) is a Japanese visual novel series by Idea Factory. It was first released on August 18, 2011 for PlayStation Portable, and then a fan disc in Japan, Amnesia Later, was released on March 15, 2012. Another sequel titled Amnesia Crowd was released on April 18, 2013. They were later combined for a PlayStation Vita release titled "Amnesia Later x Crowd V Edition" on October 16, 2014. Since this series is well received in Japan, it produced various related merchandise such as drama CDs, character music CDs and books. A 2013 anime television series has been produced by Brain's Base. A PlayStation Vita game has been announced.
Amnesia is classified as an otome game; like most otome games, the player takes the role of a female character who can choose from a variety of male characters as her 'love interest'.
In Amnesia, the male characters that the female character can interact with are based on the symbolic suit symbols from a card deck with the following storylines (commonly known as 'routes') in the game: Heart, Spade, Clover, Diamond and Joker. Depending on which route is chosen, the player's relationship with each character is different. Each route is a parallel world where the heroine seeks to understand more about her selected male character.
The premise to the game involves the Heroine getting amnesia and losing all recollection of her current status and lifestyle. The game focuses on the actions and decisions the heroine has to make in order to retrieve the memories. Since getting amnesia, a spirit called Orion attaches himself to the heroine and gives her advice and his perspective of things, he also provides her with that "inner voice". Orion also serves as the main narrator to the story especially in the later story sequels. Orion needs the heroine to recover her memories otherwise he would not be able to depart and return to his own world.
Like many otome games, the events take place over a fix time frame. However, unlike many games, each route in the game is a parallel world. Events that take place in one route may or may not have happen in another route. The pre-existing relationships the heroine has before amnesia is different in each route. The heroine has also obtained amnesia differently in each route. Playing this game is therefore different from playing other otome games because even key events in the storyline are not fixed.
Main characters
Heroine (主人公,Shujinkō)
Voiced by: Kaori Nazuka (Japanese); Maggie Flecknoe (English)
The heroine of the story who has lost her memories. In the game, Orion follows and supports her throughout each route to regain her memories. In the anime adaptation, she has no apparent name, and it is unclear as to which route she chooses or if she chooses one at all. She is 18 years old and a first-year university student studying psychology. She also works part-time at "Meido no Hitsuji".
Shin (シン)
Voiced by: Tetsuya Kakihara (Japanese); Houston Hayes (English)
Shin is 17 years old, and a high school student studying hard to get into university. Both Shin and Toma are childhood friends of heroine. His father accidentally killed a man who was under the influence of alcohol - he was bullied and avoided because of this during his childhood. Shin is trying to make a successful future for himself to stop people from comparing him with his father. He is the heroine's boyfriend in his route, but has a tendency of calling her an idiot. He enjoys playing card games and is a member of the track-and-field club. His favorite animals are dogs, and his love for melon soda is evident in the anime, game and several drama CDs. His symbolic route in the game is the 'Heart' route.
Ikki (イッキ)
Voiced by: Kishou Taniyama (Japanese); Blake Shepard (English)
Ikki is 22 years old and a fourth year university student. He is best friends with Kent and has a 19-year-old younger sister (in the game). Ikki's hobbies include playing darts, billiards, and table tennis, as well as solving Kent's math puzzles. He is notably skilled at 'anything requiring him to use his hands'. His favorite animals are apparently hamsters. When he was a kid he wished on a shooting star for girls to like him and was granted with eyes that make him irresistible to any woman. However as time passed, he began to think of it as a curse. These eyes, however, do not affect the heroine, which is why he falls in love with her on his route. Ikki is always surrounded by girls and has a fan club that would do literally anything for him to be theirs - they bully the heroine often due her being close to him. He dates women for three months before they break up with him due to his fan club having the rule of sharing him and only allowing club members to date him for three months, though he is unaware of this. His symbolic route in the game is the 'Spade' route.
Kent (ケント,Kento)
Voiced by: Akira Ishida (Japanese); Tyler Galindo (English)
Kent is 25 years old and a university graduate, as well as Ikki's best friend and came to know the heroine through being her tutor. His parents raised him with the belief that everything has some sort of logical conclusion, thus he believes anything can be solved using logic. On his route, Kent has a hard time showing his feelings for the heroine. His interests include devising math puzzles for Ikki and observing things. His symbolic route in the game is the 'Club' route.
Toma (トーマ)
Voiced by: Satoshi Hino (Japanese); Christopher Ayres (English)
Toma is 19 years old and a second year university student. He is a childhood friend of both Heroine and Shin, and acts as an older brother figure to both of them. He loves the heroine but has a Yandere personality in a few routes. In addition to being in a number of school clubs, including soccer, broadcasting, archery, and the newspaper, Toma enjoys playing basketball, cycling, surfing the internet, playing video games, cooking and reading. His symbolic route in the game is the 'Diamond' route. Toma is revealed to love the heroine in two of the worlds (Shin's and his routes).
Ukyō (ウキョウ)
Voiced by: Kouki Miyata (Japanese); Patrick Poole (English)
Ukyō is a 24-year-old photographer with a split personality who seems to know the heroine, but remains distant. He is in a lot of different clubs: triathlon, cheerleading, hula dance, soccer, lacrosse, rugby, kabaddi, dance, art, riding, debate and more. His symbolic route in the game is the 'Joker' route. It is revealed in this route that he wished to Orion's superior Nhil to let the heroine live, and thus he has to die on every route where she survives, as they can't live together on the same world.
Others
Orion (オリオン)
Voiced by: Hiromi Igarashi (Japanese); Shannon Emerick (English)
A fairy which came from a completely different world. From the view of humans, he takes the appearance of a twelve-year-old young boy. He wears eccentric clothing. No one can see or hear him but the heroine.
Sawa (サワ)
Voiced by: Satomi Moriya (Japanese); Allison Sumrall (English)
A female university student with a bright and sporty personality. She is the heroine's best friend. She speaks in a very lively way, but is someone one you can rely on. In Ikki's route, she does not work at the cafe, but she is still good friends with the heroine.
Mine (ミネ)
Voiced by: Kana Akutsu (Japanese); Molly Searcy (English)
The heroine's kōhai at the place where she works part-time. She has a crush on Ikki in most of the routes, but she likes Waka in Kent's route.
Rika (リカ)
Voiced by: Yoshida Seiko (Japanese); Genevieve Simmons (English)
A mysterious woman who dresses in old fashioned clothes. She is the head of the Ikki fan club. Rika is well mannered, but is terribly cold towards the heroine in most of the routes.
Waka (ワカ)
Voiced by: Takahashi Hidenori (Japanese); Jay Hickman (English)
The manager at the place where the heroine works part-time. He is a wise businessman who holds a firm policy. It appears that he has a habit of being too devoted to the ideologies he believes in, and outwardly, he has a little bit of a blown-away behaviour. In the game Waka has a different personality depending on the player's route.
Luka (ルカ,Ruka)
Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya
Luka is a mysterious individual and plays an important role in Amnesia Crowd. Later it is revealed that he is older brother of Rika.
Anime
During the Otome Party 2012, production of an anime television adaptation was announced with an expected broadcast in 2013. The opening theme is "Zoetrope" by Nagi Yanagi and the ending theme is "Recall" by Ray. The series aired from January 7, 2013 to March 25, 2013 and was animated by Brains Base.
Reception
The anime adaptation of Amnesia was generally poorly received. Anime News Network's Rebecca Silverman gave the first half a C grade overall, commenting "Parts of it are fascinating...while other parts are intensely annoying", and said the show "basically feels like watching someone else play the game." Matthew Lee, writing for Twitch Film, opined that Amnesia's "story offers nothing of any interest beyond the burning question of what the hell any of it means." Seb Reid of UK Anime Network rated it 4 out of 10 and called it "A show that is best forgotten." Silverman gave the second half an overall grade of D, saying that "Ultimately Amnesia ends as it began – fascinating in the same way a loose tooth is, but the payout when you finally get rid of it doesn't feel like enough."
