Forget unrealistic hair colors, this anime has kaleidoscope eyes!
So it's time once again to get really really excited about an otome adaptation only to be let down. Although, to be honest, this episode doesn't give a lot to be excited about. The story is that our nameless lead has lost all of her memories thanks to this spirit named Orion, who apparently "bumped into her soul" while switching between worlds. They don't give any further explanation, so I guess we just have to roll with this for now. Anyway, she can't tell anyone about her amnesia because the only way to cure it is to continue interacting with people, otherwise she'll turn into a vegetable. This is a pretty interesting premise, but again, nothing really happens in this episode.
Most of the runtime is dedicated to briefly introducing each member of the harem, who are instantly identifiable because they have crazy multi-faceted eye colors and ridiculous streetwear. I spent most of the episode wondering what kind of universe could let a guy wear a coat with that many belts unironically and not be a Final Fantasy character. But that's not to say that the character designs were bad; it's a prerequisite for otome characters to be easy on the eyes, and this passes that test with flying colors. I guess I just wanted a bit more context about whether these crazy stylized outfits were normal for this world. And it says a lot that I found this far more interesting than the actual plot of the episode.
The plot, if you can really call it that, is just the main character going to work and trying to keep people unaware that she has no idea what's going on. I'd say that the heroine forgot her personality along with her memories, but the non-reaction of her friends and co-workers outside of calling her a klutz suggests that she was always this way. I know that otome games like to have "blank slate" characters so that the player can project themselves into them, but it's taken to an extreme here. Also, at first it seemed like Orion was going to be her guide through the day, but his information seems spotty despite having hung out around her for a while already. He knows about how her job works and how to get into her place, but not who her friends and co-workers are? I'd be willing to believe that they just haven't been around recently, but they all seem pretty close, so it's strange that he doesn't at least have an idea of who they are.
I feel like I'm being too critical of this. It's only the first episode, stuff can still change. Like I said above with the character designs, Brain's Base is definitely delivering with the visuals. Overall, the show looks great despite some sparse backgrounds. Right now I'm just hungry for context about everything, so despite the lack of plot I do want to know more. It has nothing to do with how pretty the characters are. Nope, not at all.
Images from Crunchyroll.com.
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