The Melody of Oblivion

Having a look at the other review, I'd disagree with a fair bit of it. I liked it alot more than most people probably would but I still think it is extremely enjoyable.

The story seems to focus on a war that is thought to have ended in the twentieth century. In the twentieth century, a war was waged between monsters and humans, of which the humans lost. However, while other people moved on and let kids gets sacrificed 'to keep peace', a few Melos warriors still fight. These Melos warriors use Aibar Machines (what seems to be powered up moterbikes) to help fight.

Now that seems to be quite simple, but layers upon layers of depth add to it throughout. For example, just after leaving school and travelling with Sayoko, they get into a small seaside resort which gets a lot of tourism because the sun never rises. This is because the Monster Union is in control of the area, and to allow the sacrifices to happen, they stop the sun rising to bring the tourism that was dissapearing. After Bocca defeats the Monster leader in control of the area, he gets thrown out of town and viciously attacked, showing that maybe people are happy with the monsters control.

Lots more moral questions are asked during the course of the series. One of them, which arises during the series climax, shows some young girls being treated like cows. They get milked (which is one of many moments of sexual tension) and run free in the fields. This shows how the humans had been turned into livestock by the monsters, being raised and then being killed.

It can get 'confusing' at times, like the karaeoke part in episode 23. But, while I'm not going to give an explanation on it, when you understand what's happening, it turns into one of the cleverest moments of any show that you will watch.

When these slot into place, you start to realise how clever this show actually is. You realise what's happening. And it's these moments that make the show brilliant.

And I haven't even talked about the other aspects of the show yet. Animation is superbly well done. While it is still similar to most anime shows, it just seems to look better than it does in your average, run-of-the-mill show. The opening and closing themes are extremely good, but after that there doesn't seem to be much that stands out. Apart from the Melody of Oblivion tune. Characters are well thought out in every aspect. They all feel like they've been through lots of battles by the end, and there is a fair bit of character progression throughout the 24 episodes.

I could write a books-worth of stuff explaining how much I have enjoyed this series, but I think I'll stop there. While most people here think it is confusing and wierd, I have thoroughly enjoyed it and found it clever instead of confusing. But I enjoyed it. And that's what matters.

In my opinion, this is a classic. A true gem.

Overall, I think I'm gonna say that I enjoyed this anime. I really like how it ties in Mythology, the Chinese Zodiac, classical music and weirdness all into one, haha. The stories behind some of the agents of the Monster Union are really dramatic, interesting and somewhat relatable. There were also some pretty awesome plot twists during the middle and end of the story. I think that some guys might enjoy the boob jiggle action, skimpy outfits, sexy facial expressions, and some PG-13 scenes (which created A LOT of sexual tension btw). I noticed a lot of the comments I read during the episodes said that the anime was weird (especially towards the end), but I found it kind of fun trying to decipher the symbols and metaphors which are thrown at you throughout the anime. Oh, and I loved loved loved the ending theme song, it was fun to sing along to. :3

On the downside, I felt that there was a lot of loose ends that needed to be tied up and a lot of questions left unanswered. Melody of Oblivion is in serious need of some flashback action. I would've really liked to know a little more about the backgrounds of the characters; the anime gives some hints here and there but not enough to satisfy me. Another thing, if you're one of those people who don't like open neutral endings, then this might not be the anime for you (I'm one of those people, but I'm not totally bummed, because I was sort of expecting an ending like that anyway). MOO (lol) started out REALLY good, then it got eh, and ended up blah.

Did I like it?
Yeah sureeeee. :]

Do I recommend it?
Ehhh...I don't know. Probably NAT.

Will keep this short since other reviews have been very thorough.

Just in case you missed it this was made in 2004, so it does have a somewhat dated look to the art. The story is halfway decent despite a need for better depth and character development through about episode 19/20. Then it seems they just started throwing random scenery and lots of fan service in until the last episode. Although the ending was acceptable considering the story to that point, it tended to leave me feeling a bit underwhelmed. I recommend the 3 episode rule. If you aren't very interested after 3 episodes then you won't make it past the sloppy part to the end.

The basic premise of the story starts with a fair bit of potential about a world where humans are living in the shadow of monster overlords. Children are sacrificed regularly to the monsters to keep the peace and garner special benefits. Melos warriors are humans with special abilities that are able to fight the monsters, and attempt to free humanity from its current situation regardless of what the general public feels.

I guess I will put a little review here cause there are only 5 at the time. I liked this , but not loved it. I am glad I watched it , as it is no where as bad as one review states. It is just a little weird. Kinda in the melancholy of haruhi suzumiya way. Some of the scenes were a little over the top , but all in all a good story that kept me engaged until the end. The main character Bocca , really reminded me of Renton from Eureka Seven , you get to see him grow up and become a hero. Also get to see Bocca struggle with love just like Renton did . I gave it 4 stars cause I couldn't do 3.5 . It was funb to blow out the series in a few days while waiting on my other shows to come out.

It took me till the middle of the series to get a grasp on this. It really is a love story especially from the male point of view. All the characters are symbols of what's going on in Boccas head. He meets his love in the first episode and they decide to travel together. Everything from then on is dealing with things that can derail a relationship. OK , The melody girl is the manifestation of Boccas ideal dream girl. Bocca want's a girl like his dream girl. The other melos male warrior represents soyokas past love i guess is the best way to put it. and it's hard to compete with a memory. Soyoku comes a long way in dealing with that. So he has to deal with her past and of course with her family. Her crazy brother in this case.

I wonder sometimes if me and the other reviewers even watched the same series. That said. The monster king represents a few things .First it's a struggle in his own conscious . The cow women are potential wives they are all the same, such is the treatment of women in china. The whole idea of the monster war i believe is in reference to Chinas cultural revolution and the communists, the monsters won .There are many other symbols and metaphors in this series. That's why it was so good. The motorcycle represents his beliefs in a way, his base. Anyway i hope this helps. You see there is no current war, this is simply a representation of Boccas view of the world. The monster union is the government. Bocca is disappointed with society, the sacrificing of children is simply a social issue in conflict with his beliefs such as abortion or the single child issue in china The cities he travels to are ones that function contrary to his beliefs also. Such as Washington or vegas for us or Beijing and other places in china. The monsters he battles are sins fears and oppressions.

This series is like alice in wonderland. Everything is something else but his feelings for soyoka are real thus his hesitation to have a phyisical relationship with her before he is sure. When he is sure and his vision of an ideal woman is replaced with soyoka . they go on together to face their future. Overall an excellent series and for those who did not get it i would recommend at least a second look or a series where u can follow the bouncing ball.


The labyrinth was fascinating as a place for Bocca to deal with his issues about soyokas past and for him to try to not make the mistakes her old boyfriend did and lose her ,only to become a memory. The lady he visits in the dark city at the light house is simply his grandma. He is looking for guidence but she has little to offer , having been alive when the communists in china murdered 50 million people who did not agree with them. I believe her advice was to not fight the system. The stuff in space is basically Bocca realizing that right now he can't change the system and it will put down any attempt , with devestating results "Tienemen Square" comes to mind. I don't know who wrote this series but i really think they are Brilliant. Well done.

I don't know what it is like to live under an extremely oppressive Govt. Although i think it's pretty bad here in NY, If you cannot speak out directly against it, you would hide your message in symbols and metaphores and hope it has some effect on people. I do agree with the other reviewer that you could spend alot of time working through the symbolism. It's all there in this series, the cities, the two female warriors, the other motorcycles, the dam of tears, the chain on sayokas wrist, the clocks, each individual monster, the old man, the space ships, the space battle, the wedding dress the bowling ally, the train that went in circles. Everything was something else. I believe i got the point of it . It would take to long to explain all that and I'm tired and i have taxes to pay. i end with this, It's good to find real love in a crappy world.

the other 2 reviews were way too nice and sugar coated for my tastes so i'm just gonna say this anime sucked. "a true gem"? YEAH RIGHT.
this has got to be one of the worst animes ive ever seen in my life and its the first one i've seen that i would put on a least favorite list. also the first review said "it kind of fun trying to decipher the symbols and metaphors which are thrown at you throughout the anime"? im not a very deep person so i just didnt get all the symbols or whatever they put in there at all. it was basically a stream of wtf moments. also the animation seemed old. i have to say i agree witht hte 1st review more than the 2nd one so i do agree that it did start out good , the music is not that bad, and the semi sexual scenes were awesome but that's the only good things that i can say about melody of oblivion. and i also agree that there couldve been more info about the characters pasts. and the ending was so lame nothing was resolved, i felt that the creators realyl just half a$$ed the 2nd half of this anime.


don't watch this. you'll be saving yourself the disappointment and time.