Wind of Amnesia - Wind des Vergessens

It takes a good Japanese animation to impress me. And this is one of my favorites.

A strange amnesia has swept over the entire world. People have forgotten who they are, how to speak, how to do anything of their past lives. Chaos runs all over. But a young man tries to figure out what the mystery is, and along the way, we see some touches of lessons in humanity.

Some people who watch this movie, however, may think to deep in to it, and think that it's trying to send out all kinds of social messages and not understand that that's not what films like this are made for. Look at the premise, understand it's basic value, and enjoy the film. Thats what it was meant for. To dissect it means your over-thinking it.

Very different from the average action anime, I recommend this not only to the anime fan, but to the casual viewer as well.

Although I feel that this film could have been much more than it was, I must nevertheless recommend it for a couple of reasons. The plot itself is quite thought-provoking, and for that reason alone I am glad I saw this movie. I was also very impressed with the opening scenes that explained how the central male character could function much like he probably did before the wind blew in that changed the world forever. The ending was a disappointment, but it did manage to keep me interested right up to the end, and I must confess that I continued to think about the basic premise of the film long after the credits had finished. For those of you who like to think while watching a movie, this film should prove to be an enjoyable experience.

Whoever doesnt like this film does not understand the concept that this film is an essence of wonderful animation and storytelling never seen on the TV screen. This film simply is depicting what nature may do to the world someday as a punishment or a recreation for the world like a wind of amnesia, and some may have not been affected and those characters will help begin a whole new Earth. Some of the ideas may be bad, some may be good, but the people will take advantage and help the people with forgotten memories make new memories. This film also shows how the savage human is recreated for a new evolution. Through the story, Waterlu goes on a journey looking for an answer, and encounters many odd situations through the story that will reveal commitment, love, understanding, loyalty, integrity, and everything needed to start a better life, and better lives.

In describing what I found impressive with A Wind Named Amnesia, I must first get out of the way what wasn't good. The art and animation has an old look and feel to it, older even then it's 1993 standard. Several times I had found where it almost seemed that there was a bit of laziness on the addition of frames. Some of the dialog was a bit silly (even sillier in the voice dubbed version) and it's not exactly the most original story. Memory loss, an apparent apocalyptic Earth ravaged by war? It's been done before. Mecha units? Check. Naked anime babes? Here!

But the movie didn't stop there. What seemed to start as a simple story turns out to be epic. Our protagonist, Wataru, is educated by an intelligent experimental boy who survived the world-attacking amnesia. Wataru surly isn't perfect, as he stumbles from place to place, but he's not dumb. His morals are there. The people he encounters range from animalistic humans, which only know to eat and kill, to a mysterious and beautiful woman who seems to know more then she lets on. To add to it, something is following him, meaning to kill him.

I think the negative comments I have seen were induced by a feeling that the movie should, for some reason, give much more then what it has. The simple fact is, it doesn't have to. It's neither boring or stupid, as some imply, as it gives exact reasons as to why things occurred the way they did, and the action is steady and interesting.

I highly recommend it to anyone who like action, sci-fi, and post-apocalyptic movies with a twist.

Most sci-fi animes are good because the elaborate ideas of their producers and writers are explained. Wind of Amnesia, however, does not do that for you. The story line is basic, a wind flows through the world around 1999 that causes everyone to forget everything, and pretty irrelevant stuff happens afterwards. You may ask why that caused this wind to exist and I can tell you that most likely you will not be satisfied by the explanation that is given. The audience is forced to sit through the film, accepting anything that the film shows you. While this may be fine to some, the viewers who prefers concreteness will be disappointed. Morally I think Wind of Amnesia tried to imitate Nausciaa of the Valley of Wind, but it wasn't successful in that attempt because, really, most would think that this Wind and other sci-fi elements of the film are simply absurd.

On a related note, the dub is the copy that I watched. It's horrible. Watching a subtitled version of this film would have given me a better opinion of this film because much of the tragedy (I certainly think the original animators were trying to emphasize the tragedy of mankind) is lost due to bad voice acting.