Sexually charged, dark and violent, if you are looking for a mature anime series on Blu-ray, definitely give “Rin ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~ – The Complete Series” a try!
Image courtesy of © 2007 XEBEC/GENCO. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Rin ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~ – The Complete Series
DURATION: 6 Episodes (270 Minutes)
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition 16×9 (SD Remaster), Dolby TrueHD English 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0, Subtitles: English
RATED: TV MA
COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment
RELEASE DATE: July 20, 2010
Directed by Shigeru Ueda
Screenplay by Hiroshi Ohnogi
Storyboard by Shigeru Ueda
Music by Takayuki Negishi
Original Character Design by Chuuouhigashiguchi
Character Design by Mitsuru Ishihara
Art Director: Yumiko Kondou
Animation Director: Mitsuru Ishihara
Anime Production by Xebec
Featuring the voices of:
Mamiko Noto/Colleen Clinkenbeard as Rin Asogi
Akira Ishida/Todd Haberkorn as APOS
Rie Kugimiya/Jamie Marchi as Mimi
Rie Tanaka/Monica Rial as Sayara Yamanobe
Sayaka Ohara/Clarine Harp as Laura
Yasunori Matsumoto/Christopher Bevins as Tamotsu Yanagihara
John Swasey as Tajimamori
Kaori Nazuka/Luci Christian as Mishio Maeno
Rin Asogi is an immortal private detective with a thirst for vodka and a talent for attracting things that go bump in the night. In a series of nightmarish vignettes spanning sixty-five years, Rin’s lush body is sadistically pierced, blown up, and mulched to a bloody pulp. The fiend behind her tortured existence is Apos, an eternal being obsessed with sacrificing Rin to Yggdrasil, the tree of all life.
While Rin struggles to unravel the secrets of her endless agony, Apos lurks in the shadows, eager to tear into her ripe body and devour the memories of her countless lives. Rin’s no stranger to the realm of the dead, but her next visit could last forever.
Sexually charged, dark and violent, “Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne” is a much more mature anime series on Blu-ray from FUNimation Entertainment.
Known as “Mnemosyne: Munemoshune no Musumetachi” (Daughters of Mnemosyne), the six-episode TV series premiered on AT-X in Japan in 2008 and was produced by Xebec (“Bleach”, “Love Hina”, “Arc the Lad”) and Genco and was released on DVD as a complete series by FUNimation Entertainment and an upscale Blu-ray release will be released on July 20th.
The series is directed by Shigeru Ueda (“Serial Experiments Lain”, “Tales of Eternia”, “UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie”), series composition by Hiroshi Ohnogi (“Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood”, “Aquarion”, “RahXephon”), music by Takayuki Negishi (“Cardcaptor Sakura”, “Bakugan Battle Brawlers”, “Ichigo 100%”), character design by Mitsuru Ishihara (“Rockman .EXE”, “Chosoku Spinner”) and art direction by Yumiko Kondou (“Halo Legends”, “Heroman”).
The series revolves around a busty, martial arts female protagonist named Rin Asogi. Rin runs a private investigation agency and takes on strange cases. But despite what cases she takes on, no matter how violent or grotesque, no matter how injured or close to death she may find herself in, Rin somehow finds a way to come back and making the viewer believe that there is more to this woman, possibly supernatural.
The series revolves around the concept of immortals and angels. Immortals who have a time spore which keeps them alive with regenerative abilities, while Angels are driven to consume an immortal (and an immortal is sexually aroused by their presence and want to be consumed to death). With Rin being an immortal, she does all she can to stay alive even trying to repress her sexual desires by eliminating Angels. Meanwhile, a being known as APOS wants her dead.
The main characters of “Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne” are:
- Rin Asogi – The main protagonist with a secret past who runs a private investigation agency.  A woman who has a “time spore” which has made her immortal, young and able to withstand and regenerate after being killed or losing a limb. Very smart, cunning and an awesome martial arts fighter willing to take on any case.
- Mimi – Rin’s assistant at the private investigation agency. Also an immortal like Rin, she has the appearance of a teenager despite being older. It is implied that both Rin and Mimi are intimate with each other.
- Laura – An assassin hired by APOS to kill Rin and is a constant rival for Rin.
- APOS – A being (or hermaphrodite) who is an angel and an immortal who has an interested in Rin and enjoys going after Angels and immortals to consume their “time spore”.
- Koki Maeno – A man saved by Rin who joins the private investigation agency.
- Sayara Yamanobe – The head of the Aoyama Pharmaceutical research lab. Sadistic, cold and the scientist responsible for using illegal cloning techniques to create the time spore.
VIDEO:
“Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne” is presented in 1080p High Definition 16×9. The series is an standard resolution upscaled to 1080p and I saw no major compression problems, edge enhancement haloing, blurring, etc. Blacks are nice and deep and colorful images were vibrant. But as mentioned, this is an upscale, you will see the edge enhancement stairstepping and some aliasing. But not as bad as other upscaled anime series on Blu-ray.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne” is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English and DolbyTrue HD Japanese 2.0. I did notice use of surround during the action sequences and center and front channels were crystal clear. I didn’t notice any major low frequency but did notice the surround channels more for its ambiance. But overall, a good soundtrack with the English dub track sounding much better with the lossless 5.1 track but for those with a modern receiver, can easily enjoy both soundtracks via stereo on all channels to make things a little more immersive. If anything, for those wanting the Japanese soundtrack to be included as a lossless track, should be happy.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne” comes with the following special features:
Disc 1:
- Episode 2 Commentary – Audio commentary featuring ADR director J. Michael Tatum and Rob McCollum, Jamie Marchi and Colleen Clinkenbeard.
Disc 2:
- Promotional Videos – (10:33) The Japanese promotional video for “Rin – Daughter of Mnemosyne”.
- Japanese Cast Interview – (13:48) Featuring the pre-AT-X interviews with the Japanese cast of “Rin – Daughter of Mnemosyne”:Â Mamiko Noto (Rin), Rie Kugimiya (Mimi), Sayaka Ohara (Laura) and Rie Tanaka (Sayara).
- Textless Closing Song – Cause Disarray – Featuring a closing theme performed by Galneryus.
- Textless Opening Song – Alsatia – Featuring a closing theme performed by Galneryus.
- Trailers – FUNimation Entertainment trailers
When I first watched “Rin”, the first thing that came to mind was Marvel’s “Weapon X” (for the X-Men fans) as the storyline of Rin’s regenerative abilities reminded me of Wolverine/Deadpool and the series has its share of violent moments in which Rin’s investigations lead her to dark situations that would lead to anyone’s death. But of course, Rin is not a normal being.
The first thing that caught my attention while watching this anime series is its use of sex and violence and aside from previous FUNimation Entertainment series liked “Speed Grapher”, it’s a been awhile since we have seen a series that combining sexual themes, bloody violence and action. In fact, the protagonist – Rin, is quite different from most leads. She is not perfect and in the first episode, we get a glimpse as she is running from her assassin and has her arm blown off and falls many floors down to the pavement. Of course, she has regenerative powers, so she can’t die.
Needless to say, the series has its interesting characters. Add the hermaphrodite antagonist, the sadistic scientist and immortals who also have their share of faults despite being killing machines, “Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne” is not really a story about good vs. evil but survival.
Characters that are not like other type of characters you would see in an anime series and a six-episode OVA series that can easily get complex (especially with its timeline) and may require several viewings. In fact, even during the audio commentary, the voice talent said they needed to rewatch it again.
Overall, “Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne” is one of those darker, action-driven series that people have wanted to see. FUNimation has had its share of violent anime series on Blu-ray such as “Afro Samurai” (action violence), Shigirui: Death Frenzy (action violence and a darker storyline) while “Rin” is much more accessible but has a more mature theme with its nudity and bloody violence, yuri themes but also often has its fine share of dark humor and not always bleak (especially earlier on in the series).
I do caution people that despite the earlier upbeat scenes, “Rin ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~” is a series that can really get disturbing with its depiction of S&M torture. This is one series that is definitely not for everyone and if you are looking for a romantic comedy or an uplifting anime series, “Rin ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~ – The Complete Series” is probably not for you. But if you are looking for a more mature, violent anime series, then definitely give this series on Blu-ray a try!