©2022 古宮九時/KADOKAWA/Project Unnamed Memory
I don't think even dragon saliva will leave a sour aftertaste in your mouth like parts of this episode do. It goes beyond Nameless Memory's half-hearted attempts to make us think Oscar and Tinasha have more of a relationship than they do. However, if the series had a persistent and glaring problem, it would. You have to do a little more than have him insistently reiterate that he will marry her while ignoring her personal space to convince me that the two characters are destined for each other, and that could be the underlying issue leading to this week's problem.
There's a trope in romance novels in which the hero is so overcome by his feelings for the heroine that he acts in ways that we know are questionable (if not is completely wrong), but in the larger story they are. excuses that he only did it because he couldn't help himself; he just loves/wants her so much that he can't control himself. It's a trope that's mostly fallen out of favor in adult romance novels because it's so difficult to defend. There's nothing wrong with enjoying it in your novels, but Nameless Memories doesn't even sell enough to make it a success. When Oscar gets jealous after seeing Als and Tinasha perform (very lamely) for Miralys, he decides that the only solution is to punch Als in the face, slap a magical sealing bracelet on Tinasha, and then make her She thought he was going to rape her. Because that's how you show a woman that you love her.
To sweeten the pot, this scene comes right after Oscar enters Tinasha's tower, where she is trying to do what he asked and told her to make him dinner. Sir, you are a prince with a kitchen full of chefs ready to serve you. Tinasha is the witch you asked to break the curse on you. That job doesn't involve cooking you a meal. And when you get down to it, being his princess isn't either; again, they have a kitchen full of experts doing those things. But really, this request (request?) is just another sign that Oscar is trying to get his own way without really listening to Tinasha, who has repeatedly said she doesn't want to marry he. If she says yes, it will feel like he is wearing her down rather than like she has fallen in love with him.
If that's the only problem here, it's still enough to make me question whether I'm actually enjoying it or not. original novel. But this episode also continues the film adaptation's trend of throwing plot points at the audience like rotten tomatoes and hoping that we'll have too many tomatoes in our eyes to actually see what's going on. . Look no further than the conclusion of the Miralys storyline: she is revealed to be a candidate for Oscar's hand, disguised as a magically suppressed maid before being exposed as the villain after a random object before almost dying. End. Having spent many episodes allowing us to understand Miralys' emotions and motives, her releasing her soul from her body because she loved Valt could have been a tragedy. As it stands, even Oscar and Tinasha don't bother to wonder who Valt is or why Miralys committed soul suicide, and they only seem tangibly interested in the red orb she's after. When even your main characters don't seem to care about the story, it makes you question why you should.
We get some hints about Tinasha's past and try to make up for the rest of the episode. Lanak, if it's the same person we saw her carrying when she was Aeti, may not have been kind to her, especially since she seemed to have a PTSD flashback when Oscar carry her to bed. If the story can slow down and give us a reason to care about how Tinasha's past affects her present then this could be on the right track. But at this point, I'm not holding my breath.
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Untitled Memory is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
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