RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne (Review)

RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne is Hardcore, Except Where it Counts.

It’s hard to tell where to start with this series since it struggles to embody so many different themes and genres. What is certain is that RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne is stuffed to the gills with erotic and grotesque imagery, which seems to fit into the series at first, but starts to spiral out of control and quickly becomes gratuitous. Despite the fact that the anime tries to hide behind the element of gender theory, it is fairly obviously a vehicle for that sort of imagery. The core premise of the series though does offer some intrigue, but it’s too bad that it becomes so muddled by the end.

RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne follows private investigator Rin Asogi (Colleen Clinkenbeard), who always gets mixed up in cases that are much more than they seem. Luckily, she has the unique gift (or curse) of immortality. She solves these crimes together with her sidekick, Mimi (Jamie Marchi), another immortal with a drinking problem trapped in her teenage body. Throughout their exploits, the two maintain a connection with the Maneo family, with whom they continuously bond over the course of three generations.

However, the story is much bigger than the duo friendship with the family, as they find themselves investigating the source of their immortality, which stems from an odd spore that turns women into immortals and men into angels—beings with wings and enhanced strength that feed on immortals. It all comes to a head when Rin finds herself tasked with saving the world from a hermaphrodite who happens to be an immortal angel (Todd Haberkorn).

Directed by Shigeru Ueda and written by Hiroshi Ōnogi, the series was fairly short-lived with only six episodes, each having 45-minute run times, and it packs plenty of story into each episode. However, with such long episodes, RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne does drag things out, and in the end, it comes off as pretentious and slightly condescending. According to Netflix, the series is considered “mind-bending,” but that probably refers to the excessive focus on sadomasochism that the characters all share with each other.

While it might not always be about physical pain, there is a definite emphasis on the concept of power in “relationships.” For example, there is an information brokerage ring in the series that will only trade information for sexually humiliating favors. Underneath it all, though, the story of a private investigator who can’t die has serious potential. However, it gets muddled down by its emphasis on sexual domination. The series uses up most of its shock value in the first episode, and pretty soon the disturbing images come across like business as usual—which is actually very troublesome.

Despite the awkwardness the series develops, one of the more enjoyable qualities of the anime is the focus on the growth of technology. The first episode takes place in 1990, when computers were starting to become more and more common, and through a series of time jumps ends up in 2055 where technology has advanced far beyond what it currently is. Its focus on the interconnectivity of people through technology, which it tries to mirror in the connection between the immortals and the angels.

However, it doesn’t go deep enough with these concepts to justify opening that can of worms. Instead, it falters and plays like a shadow of anime like Ghost in the Shell. There’s nothing deep-seated here to grasp, not like it wants audience members to believe there is. Really, it’s a superficial anime trying to pass as thought-provoking.

While the RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne may have a great hook, in the beginning, the sexual imagery gets a little too creepy by the end of it (a throne of naked women? Really?). It’s hard to imagine what sort of audience this series is aimed at since it seems like a thinly veiled attempt at fetish-oriented pornography. Still, there must be an audience out there for it and I wish them luck with this. After all, who am I to be hating on them?

For everyone else, though, there are plenty of other great anime series to check out that actually are mind-bending. This one is only mind-bending in how it ever got made.