Mnemosyne (ムネモシュネの娘たち), also known as RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne, is a six-episode Japanese anime television series produced by Xebec and Genco. The anime was produced to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the AT-X network, which it originally aired on. Funimation licensed the series in North America. The plot, rich in the mix of murder and action, is set in modern and near-future Tokyo, and revolves around Rin Asougi, an immortal private investigator. A light novel and a manga adaptation have also been published.

Plot

A mysterious tree known as Yggdrasil would often appear in the world of the humans, releasing many small orbs into the human world. A small proportion of the orbs are special ones known as "Time Fruits". If a Time Fruit enters a female, she becomes Immortal. If a Time Fruit enters a male, he becomes a crazed winged being known as an "Angel". Rin Asougi is an immortal who runs a private investigation agency in Tokyo's Shinjuku district alongside her assistant, Mimi who is also immortal. Rin often converses with a mysterious unknown individual on the phone. She is often being hunted down by an assassin named Laura who was hired by Apos, an angel who persecutes immortals and is the current guardian of the Yggdrasil. The story begins in the year 1990. During a search for a missing cat, Rin instead finds Koki Maeno, a young man with distorted memories. As she investigates his past, she discovers that he is a clone created by Sayara Yamanobe, a woman searching for immortality. After discovering this, Koki decides to work for Rin in her agency. In 2011, Koki marries a former client, Yuki. Sayara Yamanobe returns, kidnaps Rin and attempts to attack Japan with biological weapons. Koki, after becoming an Angel, sacrifices himself to save Rin and Japan. In 2025, Rin ends up investigating a case involving Koki's son, Teruki, after he meets his long-term cyber girlfriend in reality. Rin manages to save Teruki; however, she ends up sacrificing herself. In the year 2055, Rin has lost her memory and goes by the name Tamaki Saito. She had fallen in love with a mortal man named Ihika. However, she regains her memories when Laura discovers she's alive and attempts to kill her. After Apos kidnaps Rin, Mimi and Teruki's daughter Mishio travel to Apos' castle to save her. Rin is locked in a room with an angel and kills him, later discovering him to be Ihika. It is revealed that the unknown man on the phone was Tajimamori, Rin's savior from a thousand years earlier, a former guardian of the Yggdrasil, and Apos' father. After impregnating Rin, he is killed by Apos, who is himself locked away in the roots of the Yggdrasil. Later, Rin gives birth to a baby boy, who will one day become the tree's new guardian.

Characters

Main characters

Maeno family

Antagonists

Others

Media

Print media

A light novel adaptation titled Mnemosyne no Musumetachi 2008 (ムネモシュネの娘たち2008) was serialized in Hobby Japan's light novel magazine Charano! between the January and September 2008 issues. The light novel is written by the writer of the anime, Hiroshi Ōnogi, and illustrated by Chūō Higashiguchi. A single volume containing five chapters was released on April 1, 2009. A manga adaptation illustrated by Miss Black serialized two chapters in Kill Time Communication's oriented manga magazine Comic Valkyrie volume 12 on May 27, 2008 and volume 13 on July 26, 2008, respectively.

Anime

Mnemosyne is a six-episode television series of 45-minute episodes directed by Shigeru Ueda and written by Hiroshi Ōnogi. The animation was handled by Xebec, but planning and production was shared with Genco, that also had a part in the original concept creation. Original character design is by Chūō Higashiguchi, and was used as a template by the character designer for the anime version, Mitsuru Ishihara. Music direction was headed by Takayuki Negishi. The series' opening theme is "Alsatia" and the ending theme is "Cause Disarray"; both songs were written by Yama-B, composed by Syu, and performed by Galneryus. Funimation licensed Mnemosyne in February 2009 for a North American release under the title RIN Daughters of Mnemosyne. The series was produced by the Yggdrasil Executive Committee which included Xebec and Genco. The plot of the episodes is set in Tokyo and revolves around Rin Asōgi, an immortal private investigator, as she explores the secrets of modern and near-future world and the supernatural events that surround the fictional society of immortals like herself. There are large time gaps in the internal chronology between the first five episodes, ranging from one to thirty years. The six episodes were broadcast monthly on AT-X channel in Japan, between February 3 and July 6, 2008. Each episode is 45 minutes long. Two pieces of theme music are used for the episodes: the opening theme "Alsatia" and the ending theme "Cause Disarray". Both were composed and performed by the Japanese metal band Galneryus. The series was produced to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the AT-X network it originally aired on.

Reception

Zac Bertschy from Anime News Network regards Mnemosyne as a "totally edgy anime for adults" that he felt "like halfway-decent dark erotica" that presents some unique ideas for the plot. He acknowledges that "it's difficult to honestly care about any of these characters" but its confusing and yet compelling aspects grasp the audience's attention. He criticized the amount of violence and sex that resulted in exhaustion and unpleasantness that led to "the whole trashy appeal". In conclusion, this is a series that should not be taken seriously and recommended it to those who are looking for "fun, weird, entertaining sleaze without a hint of irony or cutesiness". Others differ from Bertschy's interpretation. Tom Tonthat argues that Mnemosyne features animation which is memorable and tells a good story, with mundane cases spiraling into sinister plots that endanger humanity itself, but is also a clearly adult series due to the level of nudity and sex. He adds that while the anime series is an "erotic thriller" it has high production values with some beautifully animated and well-choreographed fights between characters. This is coupled with an engaging story and each episode representing a year of the timeline between 1990 and 2055, including different technological developments which either change characters or the plot. He ends the review by stating that this anime does a good job of telling a story, a "guilty pleasure anime" for which you should give much thought to the "blood smoothie or angel sex", concluding it is a form of "supernatural film noir" worth a look at, although hindered by the "heavy use of shocking sex and violence". On June 12, 2015, the Chinese Ministry of Culture listed Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne among 38 anime and manga titles banned in China.