Wind Named Amnesia, A

Genre: Drama
Parental guidance recommended, contains some delicate scenes
1993 Hideyuki Kikuchi, Kazuo Yamazaki, Asahi Sonorama, Right Stuff Office, Japan Home Video. Screenshots courtesy of Orlean's A Wind Named Amnesia Image Gallery

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Cover Description:
Amnesia has descended upon the world...and everyone forgot who they were and how to use the tools that society has come to rely on. Now, two years after the disaster, a young man tries to make sense of a world suddenly gone mad.

What if...? >>> by skysenshi

A Wind Named Amnesia is just that--a movie filled with what-ifs. It explores the possibilities surrounding human nature through thought-provoking questions and philosophies that some people may have never considered before. It gives a new meaning to the words "utopia", "civilization", and "society". Sociologists have often debated whether it is our nature to live in anarchy if we were given a chance to start all over. A Wind Named Amnesia gives a glimpse as to how this debate may be resolved, but still leaves enough room for imagination to expand and open more venues for discussion. It seeks answers to the ultimate question of god's existence, how man might have invented the concept of a divine power as an extension to his weaknesses -- an ideology that supports the "Theory of Grand Compensation". It pokes painfully at man's needs for human companionship, comfort, love... perfection. It paints a picture of our weaknesses when forced to deal with realism. Couple these plot-defining material with very good use of visuals, character design, and animation (early 90s standards), and you get a powerful surge of psychological electric shock that can send your senses reeling.

Unfortunately, the ending had a disappointing, forgettable cap to such a beautiful puzzle. Nothing is actually resolved, and Wataru, the protagonist, ends up just the way he started. It doesn't help that a certain love angle is haphazardly injected at the end; or that our main characters, Wataru and Sophia, are being chased from time to time by a whacked-out machine, whose purpose in the anime eludes more than just a few viewers. At least appreciate A Wind Named Amnesia for its direction and success at awakening the critical thinker, because these are its strongest points that can make one forget the unnecessary add-ons that might have left some undesirable loose ends.

Individual Rating: Art/Animation 7; Story 9; Characters 8; Sounds 8