Mnemosyne

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File:Mnemosyne2.jpg
Rin, Mimi & Vodka russian water.

Template:Spoiler needed Also known as Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi (Daughters of Mnemosyne) and marketed in the United States as Rin -Daughters of Mnemosyne-, Mnemosyne is a six episode anime television series and light novel produced by Xebec that follows private investigator Rin Asougi, an immortal woman, as she takes odd jobs and tries to avoid the mysterious connections to her past.

All in all, the series is a total Seinen bait, featuring nigh everything older male audiences' hearts may desire: cute girls, respectable guys, Mind Screw of a plot, alcohol and blood in equal proportions, a considerable amount of Girls Love... and both types of sex, take your pick. And all of the above without ever going over the top with it. Be prepared to wince a couple of times, though.

Often confused for an OVA, thanks to its risque content, monthly airing rate, and modest episode number, when, in fact, it aired on AT-X network, whose tenth anniversary it was to commemorate.

Contains examples of
  • Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: "Alsatia", the opening theme: "It's Alsay-SHEE-a!"
  • Air Vent Escape: Subverted: Rin's tush, which is too big to fit under the lasers.
  • All Myths Are True: The story of Tajimamori, based on an actual Japanese legend (except that he searched for Mandarin oranges and not time spores) and considering the nature of the Guardian's castle, the story about the traveler, too.
  • Almost Dead Guy: Kamiyama and Yanagihara in episode 4.
  • Amateur Sleuth: Mishio Maeno talks to herself and in the process does a lot of Shout Outs to Sherlock Holmes as she investigates Rin. At best, though, she only tries to be this.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Apos. Which kind of makes sense, considering his true nature.
  • Anyone Can Die: Starting with The Reveal for episode two, it has been established that not even Immortals are safe. Maeno, Yanigahara, and Mimi's Dog, which is immortal.
  • Babies Ever After.
  • Bad Ass: Rin, by far - although she cheats a bit by being nearly invulnerable.
  • Badass Bookworm - Mimi, especially in Episode 6.
  • Bad Santa: Though Laura doesn't plan on stealing Christmas, she does blow up an apartment building and shoot Rin while wearing a Santa outfit, even shouting "Hohoho, Merry Christmas" while she's at it.
  • Bait And Switch Credits: The last portion of the opening credits shows Rin, alone and in the buff, leaning on a pillar in the middle of mossy ruins, with a swarm of angels descending on her in a buildup to a Bolivian Army Ending. This never happens, since the closest thing to that doesn't happen amidst ruins - the castle is still very intact - and Rin is screwing Tajimamori; therefore, she is neither alone nor standing.
  • Bait And Switch Lesbians: Despite a ton of implications about Rin's sexuality, the writers just had to go and pair her with Tajimamori, giving him the only explicit scene with Rin in the entire series (if you don't count Ihika's... which doesn't help any) and making her pregnant in the end. Of course, true fans still hope for a happy Rin/Mimi (or even Rin/Mimi/Mishio) ending but sadly, that would have to happen only in continuation slashfics...
    • Given this reaction, it seems that this is a Real Life example of No Bisexuals...
    • It could be interpreted as Rin is bisexual with Tajimamori being her first lover, as she wasn't exactly averse to romping with women and other men. Don't forget, she's also slept with Yanagihara, Mimi, Ihika and all those informants.
      • It is unknown whether Rin ever slept with Ihika prior to the events of episode 5 but the two are never seen to have sex in the series (though Rin was certainly not opposed). It is also very questionable whether Rin and Yanagihara ever slept together either. (See: Cartwright Curse)
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Because Apos got exactly what he wanted, hysterical screams of terror notwithstanding.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Subverted. Rin arrives in time to save Mimi, only to get herself casually killed by Apos.
    • Played semi-straight in episode 6.
  • Big Friendly Dog: Mimi and Rin's dog Genta. Big friendly immortal dog.
  • Blind Without Em: Episode one hints that Rin had eye problems when she became immortal (and thus, can never be cured), so now she's forced to replace her Stoic Spectacles whenever they're destroyed. She seems to be able to see reasonably without them, but they're always the first things she goes for when retrieving her clothing.
  • Body Horror: The potent-and-bloody yet seamless blend of death and sexuality in Mnemosyne would make HR Giger himself proud.
  • Bottle Fairy: Rin and Mimi seem to spend much of their time drinking.
  • Bound And Gagged: Episode 1, Rin is strapped down and tortured by Sayara. Episode 3, Rin is bound to the handrails of sinking ship. Episode 6, Rin is chained to a table and ball-gagged in front of a chained Angel by Laura. Then there is Apos' torture victim in various episodes.
  • Brain Uploading: Ruon.
  • Brand X: Back in the 90's era, Rin and co. used pagers branded as 'Rocket Bell'.
    • The anime doesn't seem too shy about using things that are copyrighted almost to the letter.
  • Camera Abuse: The camera gets splattered with falling blood in the very first scene. It has also gotten wet during Shower Scenes.
  • Career Killers: Laura, and the stamp assassin or whatever the hell he's called, from episode two.
  • Cartwright Curse: Rin arguably qualifies for this. Yanigahara, who apparently bedded her before, and Ihika, her boyfriend in episode five.
    • It turns out Ihika is Not Quite Dead and Apos even gets Rin to kill him, by turning the guy into an angel and literally locking them in a room together.
    • And let's not forget Tajimamori himself, who gets stabbed by Apos while they're making out.
  • Chains Of Love: With the "love" being used in the most ironic sense possible.
  • Chekhov's Boomerang: A rather interesting case in episode three is that what the gun actually is isn't shown at all, and is only hinted at until The Reveal. Shuggo's Time Spore is kept in a jewelry case next to some pictures of him. After Maeno leaves to save Rin, all that's shown is the empty case, though from the shape of the cushion, it becomes evident that whatever was in there was small and round. It's eventually used again when Rin takes it from Mishio... and EATS IT.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Ivan.
  • The Chessmaster: It's hard to tell if Apos is one of these, or if he just plays chess to kill time.
  • Church Militant: Mimi's temple comes complete with a laser cage, pressure sensors, and nuns that use both guns and katanas.
  • Cloning Blues: Maeno.
  • Color Coded For Your Convenience: Time Spores from Immortals are blue, while Time Spores from Angels are red.
    • Furthermore, Yggdrasil's regular spores are dull and don't glow, while time spores that haven't touched mortals yet are yellow.
  • CompleteMonster:
    • Apos.
    • Sayara Yamanobe, too. She'd be Complete Monster enough in any other series, but Apos is even worse.
  • Contemplate Our Navels: Last episode, After Rin enters Yggdrasil's roots.
  • Contrived Coincidence: As of episode five, Rin and Mimi have gotten involved with three generations of Maeno. Then again, it might not be coincidental, as Rin has been acting as Teruki's Mysterious Protector ever since his father died. A more proper example would be Rin finding Maeno's Time Spore after getting shredded by a jet engine and spending 25 years at the bottom of the sea.
    • Naturally, it's no coincidence, since all Maenos are direct descendants of Tajimamori, Rin's immortal secret benefactor and lover (let alone, the former Guardian of Yggdrassil).
  • Cosplay Otaku Girl: Mimi wears a Meido outfit in the early 1990s, and in episode 4, after losing her clothes to an explosion, she wears a ridiculous Stripperiffic costume much longer than necessary.
  • Crosses The Line Twice:
    • Episodes 1 and 2 seem to be made to test just how far you can push the network executives before they bring the censors crashing down on you. And quite frankly, it seems to have succeeded, as the violence and sexuality of Episodes 3 and 4 are practically benign in comparison to their portrayals in Episodes 1 & 2.
    • Though almost as if flicking a giant middle finger at the networks for suppressing them for 2 Episodes, the Director crosses the line thrice with the nightmarish Episode 5.
  • Cry Cute: Rin.
  • Dashed Plot Line: Consists of six episodes, with 1/20/14/30 year skips between the first five episodes (the sixth follows the fifth immediately).
  • Dead Sidekick: Subverted. Apos kills Rin first when she comes to rescue Mimi and leaves the latter to her fate.
  • Deal With The Devil: Notable examples include Yuki's brother, Sayara, and Ivan from episodes five and six.
  • Depraved Bisexual.
  • Disconnected By Death: Subverted. Some several seconds after the sniper pulls the trigger and the phone line going quiet, Yanagihara reaches for the handset and give Rin his findings. Furthermore, he manages to mutter some Famous Last Words, and reminisce about that time he managed to bed Rin, before finally kicking the bucket.
  • Distaff Counterpart: Rin is this to Tatsuhiko Shido of Template:Nightwalker, even though he's a vampire and she's an immortal.
  • Distressed Damsel: Mimi depends on Rin and other immortals to protect her.
  • Does This Remind You Of Anything: The symbol of the Guardian resembles an uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes.
    • Also, Yggdrasil's talk about women eating 'white blood' to become pregnant.
      • And the way Apos/Rin/whoever act whenever they eat time spores.
  • The Dragon: Laura, but it only becomes evident when she starts ordering Angels around.
  • Dramatic Chase Opening: Rin, nearly-naked, being chased through a building by Laura. How they got there is never explained.
  • Dressing As The Enemy: But not for the purpose of disguise; Rin's hospital gown gets completely destroyed when she's trapped in a facility in one episode, so she borrows the clothes of one of the two guards who she just killed. It fits surprisingly well.
  • Drink Order: The nameless Information Broker and her successors always introduce themselves by ordering a Grasshopper from the bar.
  • DVD Commentary: FUNimation provides a commentary for episode 2, with J Michael Tatum (the ADR director, plus the voice of Ihika), Colleen Clinkenbeard (Rin), JamieMarchi (Mimi) and Robert McCollum (Kouki). It has a "titular" pun and random profanity ("Fuck!" "Oh dear.") before the opening credits are even over, and continues on from there.
  • Eat My Flesh: When close to Angels, Immortals feel the need to be eaten, and the angels oblige.
  • Emotion Eater: The Big Bad likes the taste of suffering. He also has an army of monstrous angels and godlike powers at his command. Not a good mix.
  • Erotic Eating: A woman orders a drink at a bar, but instead of sipping it normally, she dips two fingers into it and then licks the liquid off them.
  • Eternal Love: Between Rin and Tajimamori.
  • Everyone Is Bi.
  • Evil Detecting Dog: In episode 5, Genta growls at Laura after she gets a cyborg body that looks just like Rin.
  • Evil Tastes Good: Aipos' entire reason of dicking the world over is because the resulting time spores containing pain and suffering tastes good.
  • Evil Twin: Laura is eventually redesigned to look like Rin. Apos even uses her as a Replacement Sex Toy err... Goldfish.
  • The Faceless: Tajimamori, the as-of-episode-4 unnamed man with a beard shown in the opening and closing credits. Is also He Who Must Not Be Seen when it is revealed that he is the person that Rin is always talking to on the phone. We get a full view of his face in episode five.
  • False Camera Effects: Lens Flare.
  • Fan Disservice: Quite a bit of the "service" in this series arguably qualifies...
  • Fan Service: ...but then again, the non-violent Fan Service in this series is quite beautiful to watch.
  • Fast Roping: How the Self-Defense Force breaks into Rin's office.
  • Female Angel Male Demon.
  • Final Speech: Yanagihara gets a short one.
  • Fiery Coverup: Aoyama Pharmaceutical demolishes Sayara Yamanobe's secret lab soon after it is compromised in the first episode.
  • Flashback: Flashbacks generally have a sort of watery distortion to them both in terms of video, and audio, and are also seen from the perspective of whoever is experiencing them.
  • Flower Motifs: An image of a red spider lily against a black background represents biological weapons. (The red spider lily has associations with loss, abandonment and reincarnation, since they usually bloom near cemeteries around the autumnal equinox, they are described in Chinese and Japanese translations of the Lotus Sutra as ominous flowers that grow in Diyu, or Huángquán (Simplified Chinese: 黄泉; Traditional Chinese: 黃泉), and guide the dead into the next reincarnation.)
  • Forgotten Superweapon: Rin's Shotgun Glove doesn't appear again until episode five where she uses it to kill three Angels in Mimi's overrun temple.
  • Fridge Horror: If Genta the dog is an Immortal, and Immortals and Angels are driven to mate with each other...
  • Fridge Logic: Laura comments earlier in episode six that being closer to the Root of Yggdrasil allows immortals to regenerate almost instantaneously from their time spores. Yet when she is just feet away from the Root, not only does she not regenerate, she even lampshades living on as a Brain In A Jar. Considering immortals regenerate to the physical state they were in when they first touch a time spore, this would imply that Laura became immortal when only her head was left, and yet in episode two, it's clear that she still has a full body.
    • Well, presumably she didn't become immortal until after the claymore planted in her chest went off in episode 2. But then we have to assume Apos played chess with both Laura and someone else...
  • Friend On The Force: Tamo-chan Tamotsu Yanagihara.
  • From A Single Cell.
  • Gate Of Truth: Yggdrasil actively tries to become this by casting time spores on the world and using them to gather data.
  • Gender Restricted Ability: Only hermafrodites can effectively "run" Yggdrasil.
  • Girl Friday: Mimi for Rin.
  • A God Am I: Apos, and for good reason too, in a sick, twisted way.
    • He was preceded by his father, Tajimamori, and succeeded by Rin.
      • Presumably, anybody who becomes Guardian of Yggdrasil qualifies for this.
  • Good People Have Good Sex: Bad people have... something else entirely.
  • Good Thing You Can Heal.
  • Goo Goo God Like: Rin's son, who is a more subtle example. Instead of being all powerful, he is the first of a bloodline of humans who will be directly connected to Yggdrasil.
  • Gorn: The stuff that happens to Rin is at times quite gruesome.
    • And hot!
  • Gory Discretion Shot: Which actually makes it worse in a few cases. Surprisingly used often considering how violent this show is overall.
  • Gotterdammerung: By episode five, Laura has hunted the immortals down to near extinction, Yggdrasil hasn't made an appearance in thirty years, and Apos even mocks Tajimamori in his own room, calling him a 'former god'.
  • Gratuitous English: The Anime Theme Song Alsatia by Galneryus, which is known for writing their lyrics in English.
  • Guilty Pleasures: Watching this series equates to the pleasure of spelunking: to dive into the deepest of darkness and coming out exhilerated and more alive than you were before the jump.
  • The Gunslinger: Laura, though she also uses explosives without much reservation.
  • Handwave: What does the Guardian of Yggdrasil actually do, except siring the next Guardian?
    • Well, he's shown feeding Yggdrasil, if that counts for anything.
  • Healing Factor
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Maeno giving what was left of his humanity to save Rin's life.
    • Subverted when Mimi also pulls one of these, only to be saved by the person she was trying to save in the first place.
  • Hermaphrodite: Apos.
    • Presumably, Tajimamori is also one of these, considering they have the same job.
      • Since Rin grew wings, which are by established law exclusive to males, she would probably count, too.
    • It actually seems that to be Guardian you have to have aspects of both an Angel and an Immortal; Tajimamori was lucid and long-lived despite being an Angel, missing out on the healing ability, Apos is obvious in having literally everything, and Rin gained wings and the ability to affect Immortals.
  • He Who Must Not Be Seen: The person Rin talks to on the phone in every episode. Eventually revealed to be Tajimamori, The Faceless man with a beard from the credits. He was the Guardian of Yggdrasil, at least until Apos replaced him.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!
  • High Octane Nightmare Fuel: Full of it. But tastes great, for many parts involved...
  • High Pressure Blood: Oh deary me...
  • Hollywood Boardgames: Apos is occasionally seen playing chess against an immortal blindfolded, bound, gagged, and stabbed in several places to her chair, and using rather squicky-looking chess pieces at that.
  • Hollywood Cyborg: As Laura continues to get horribly maimed, she is eventually turned into one of these once the appropriate technology is developed.
    • Don't forget Sayara. Though her machinery may be just a Powered Armor.
  • Holographic Terminal: Everybody's using these by episode five.
  • HSQ: Though less "Holy Shit!" and more "What. The. FUCK!?"
  • Hot Chick In A Badass Suit: Rin, par excellence.
  • Hot Guys Are Bastards.
  • Hot Shounen Mom: Rin, for the rest of ETERNITY. 30 years from now, it's gonna be SO awkward for her son to be repeatedly asked "Is that your cute LITTLE sister?" again and again...
    • Her son? Think bigger: her entire bloodline will have to answer that question until the end of time!
  • HSQ: Though less "Holy Shit!" and more "What. The. FUCK!?"
  • Human Chess.
  • Humanoid Abomination.
  • Identity Amnesia: Rin loses her memory after being shred to pieces by a jet plane engine. After she gets shot again she gets a 'reset' to her old self.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: X(s) Don't/Doesn't X. Episode six is an Odd Name Out.
  • Idiot Hair: Mimi
  • Implacable Woman: Laura. Subverted in that she actually gets wounded and the injuries' effects are dealt with realistically. She wears an eyepatch in episode two a year after Rin throws a bullet into her eye, which Rin caught earlier with a book when she is shot at, and becomes a cyborg in episode four, some three decades after blowing herself up along with Rin with a claymore mine.
  • Immortality: Any female who happens to get in contact with a Time Spore becomes this. This also applies to dogs, apparently. Furthermore, a recurring theme throughout the series is how humanity in general craves it.
  • Immortal Assassin.
  • Immortality Hurts: Seriously. The tagline for the English release of Mnemosyne even said, "It only hurts forever.
  • Immortal Life Is Cheap.
  • Immortal Procreation Clause.
  • Inside A Computer System: Deconstructed. '2.0' is highly addictive, and when it's introduced in episode 4, people can be seen lying around on sidewalks like a bunch of hobos while plugged into the network.
  • Invisible To Normals: The Time Spores.
    • And for that matter, Yggdrasil.
  • Jekyll And Hyde: Subverted when it turns out that the 'Rin' who killed immortals and tried to attack Mimi in episode five was actually Laura manning a cyborg copy of Rin.
  • Jerk With A Heart Of Gold: Rin and Mimi.
  • Just Between You And Me: Sayara does this in the first episode as well as the third, after it turns out that she also became immortal. In the fourth episode, the honor falls to Ruon.
  • Karmic Death: Sayara is killed by the zombies she created. Or so we thought...
  • Kick The Dog: Laura throwing Ihika's Time Spore out the window in episode six. Seriously, she's got issues...
  • Killed Off For Real: Mimi's dog.
    • And Laura, finally, in episode six.
  • Knife Nut: Rin has at least several push knives on hand at all times.
  • Kill Sat: Subverted. Mimi hacks into one of the Maeno Group's microwave satellites to try and stop Apos' plan, only to have the seraph's egg still standing there without a scratch as the flames die down.
  • Kiss Me I Am Virtual: Ruon.
  • Kiss Of Death: Rin giving Apos a taste of his father's time spore.
  • Knowledge Broker: An unnamed woman and two of her successors, who drink Grasshoppers and don't take cash, If You Know What I Mean.
  • Laser Hallway: Combined with Air Vent Escape.
  • Last Kiss: Rin's goodbye to Maeno.
  • Laser Guided Amnesia.
  • Legal Jailbait: Mimi, oh so very very much.
  • Les Yay: Cranked up from Subtext to text-text in the second episode. And it goes beyond that later, up to and including a full-blown lesbian orgy, with Mimi at the center.
    • Ironically, the most that ever happens between Rin and Mimi onscreen is some kissing and groping.
  • Library Of Babel: Yggdrasil appears on a regular basis and sheds time spores around the world, which it uses to collect 'memories' of whatever they touch. Immortals and angels get special mention.
  • Lolicon: Fan service involving Mimi, though somewhat subverted by the fact she is Really Seven Hundred Years Old.
  • Lock And Load Montage: Episode five has Rin buying a new suit and digs up a weapons cache she stored in her grave.
  • Locked Into Strangeness: Kouki gets a gray streak in his hair starting in the second episode, presumably at the same spot that he shoots himself in in episode one.
  • Lodged Blade Recycling: Rin does it in in episode three after being vivisected to death, killing her torturer with the scalpel he accidentally dropped inside her stomach.
  • Luke I Am Your Father: Inverted when Apos reveals that he is Tajimamori's son.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Apos, probably more so than being a chessmaster even though he plays chess every now and then. There's nothing magnificent about how he goes about doing it, either.
  • Market Based Title: In America, Funimation is marketing the series as RIN ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~.
  • Mayfly December Romance: Present (or at least Mayfly December UST), but it doesn't really come up. Thanks to the time scale of the series, mortals age and die, but nobody ever dwells on it.
  • Meaningful Name: With a little knowledge of Japanese, the Maeno (前, "in front of", 埜, "field, wilderness") family names suddenly start to make sense in context:
    Maeno Kouki (前埜光輝): "Brightness of the Field Before You"
    Maeno Yuki (前埜有紀): "Chronicle of the Existence of the Field Before You"
    Maeno Teruki (前埜輝紀): "Chronicle of the Radiance/Shine of the Field Before You"
    Maeno Mishio (前埜美汐): "Beauty of the Tide of the Field Before You"
    • Considering how closely tied to Rin's character and destiny the Maeno family ends up being, it's interesting to notice their names all correlate the owners to some important event or situation in Rin's life similar to what their name implies (Kouki showing Rin the bright side of life, Yuki raising Teruki alone, with Teruki later proving to be the initial trigger to Rin recovering her memories, and Mishio awakening Rin to the new and beautiful experience of parenthood). It's also interesting to note how the first kanji in their family name is precisely the kanji to indicate something in front of something else, alluding to the fact that they were always beside Rin, partly because of their destiny as descendants of Tajimamori.
  • Meganekko: Rin. Even though she very much subverts the "timid" meganekko stereotype, when she is nice she can also be a genuinely sweet, if not downright cute person.
  • Mundane Utility:
  • My Grandson Myself: Rin takes this route when visiting a person she met back in WWII.
    • Inverted in episode five, where Mishio considers the possibility of Rin being the daughter of the woman (also Rin) that she saw in a 30-year-old video.
  • Naughty Nuns: Mimi who actually looks like a real nun, until the point of the yuri orgy.
  • New Era Speech: Inverted, since it's Rin who does it in the end, and actually means what she says in a positive light.
  • The Nineties: The first two episodes.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Shotgun Gloves. And Rin herself. No, seriously.
  • No Name Given: Though a university lecture in episode five hints on the identity and name of the bearded man who Rin talks to on the phone Once An Episode, it's only revealed in episode six.
    • Also, Apos' immortal 'opponent' whenever he's playing chess. In episode five, it's hinted that she is actually Laura, and that the Laura that tries to kill Rin Once An Episode is in fact, an android being remote-controlled by her.
    • The show loves toying with this: none of the informants were ever named on-screen, and Laura's name is only given in episode six (unless you watched the trailer or the credits).
  • No One Could Survive That: Rin even survives falling into a running airplane jet engine, despite her doubts about her chances. It takes her decades though to get resurrected, with amnesia to boot.
    • She also survives getting her time spore pulled out, though it turns out that it's not-so-bad-as-it-apparently-seems.
  • Not Afraid Of You Anymore: The way Rin turned the tables on Apos in the very end.
  • Not Quite Dead: Presumably, unless their Time Spores are eaten/stepped on/whatever, immortals can regenerate entirely from just them. This probably explains how Rin survived after what happened in Episode five. Angels aren't so lucky, though.
    • The immortal who survives a nuclear explosion at ground zero in episode six.
  • Number One Dime: Yuki's Brother's Time Spore, which eventually becomes Maeno's Time Spore, which is eventually lost, and then later found by Rin when she washes up on the beach. Subverted in that even if she didn't forget everything, she probably wouldn't even know that the two of them were connected. Then again, it could probably be just some Angel Time Spore that fell into the water.
    • When Rin eats the time spore in episode 6, it's revealed that the spore was indeed Maeno's Time Spore and not just some random spore.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Though she seems carefree and happy-go-lucky, Rin instantly reveals herself to be one hell of a Badass the going gets tough.
  • Oedipus Rex: Apos and Tajimamori.
  • Oh Crap: Sayara gets three in a row. The first when Rin appears, unharmed, in Sayara's office after being tortured to death, the second when Rin gets up again after being shot to death, and the third when she hears a knock at the door and runs out of the room...into a mob of the zombies she created.
  • Ominous Latin Chanting: It's only soft, but since it was combined with the Ominous Pipe Organ, This Trope pretty much punctuates and intensifies the disturbing atmosphere of Apos raping Mimi while she is chained and nailed to a stone lamp post, revealing himself to be a hermaphrodite, and using Rin's own hand to dig her Time Spore out of her, all in the span of three minutes.
  • Ominous Pipe Organ: Whenever Apos and Rin are in proximity of each other in episode six.
  • Once An Episode: Rin, Mimi, and vodka threesome. This is not the case in episode five or six...
    • Not to mention Rin getting maimed/killed, which is actually closer to thrice an episode on average. Also, Rin talking to He Who Must Not Be Seen on the phone even after she gets amnesia. Though in that case, it was more of the phone line opening up so that He Who Must Not Be Seen can listen to her voice like some stalker.
      • Yggdrasil showing up and shedding some Time Spores,]] with Rin and/or Mimi staring at the event for a couple of seconds. Averted in episode five, where the tree is only mentioned as a rumor/seen in the credits, and the only time spores shown are either from immortals, or already in the hands of Apos. Episode six makes this a borderline case. Five out of six ain't so bad, is it?
      • Borderline example: Laura showing up to shoot Rin full of holes then blowing herself up with Rin once that fails. She even starts using a sword in episode six.
    • Lesbian sex scenes.
  • One Gender Race: Immortals are Always Female, and Angels are Always Male. Unless you take the third option.
  • Our Angels Are Different: Very different.
  • Our Presidents Are Different: In this case, we have a President Buffoon, who allows Apos to manipulate him into starting some kind of war involving time spores. It was completely irrelevant to the plot, however, and it's only briefly mentioned in the epilogue that America has fallen into civil war.
  • Out Gambitted: When Apos has Laura killed when she tries to mess up his plan by attempting to feed Rin's time spore to angels.
  • Playing With Syringes: Sayara's cloning and immortality project. When she's not just doing it for fun, that is.
  • Precision F Strike: From the dub: "MERRY FUCKIN' CHRISTMAS!"
  • Private Detective: Rin, minus the Private Eye Monologue.
  • Psycho Lesbian: Sayara and especially Laura.
  • Rape Is Okay When Its Female On Male: Subverted, as Ruon is shown to be just as depraved and wrong as any male rapist.
    • The "payment for information" is implied to be rape, but it's not really discussed. The scenes after can be described as traumatic.
  • Razor Floss: Yet another piece of Rin's arsenal of concealable weapons.
  • Really Big Gun: Laura's handgun from episode four, which has enough recoil to blow Rin several feet back. The former has no problem using it one-handed, since by then, she's a cyborg.
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old: May be literally so with some of the girls. Rin at one time even says that it has been centuries since she had a lover (although it also raises the question what Mimi is to her then). In fact, Rin is at least a thousand years old in episode six while Mimi can't be much older than one and a half centuries - at the time Rin met her, she was already wearing her trademark killer suit which only went into fashion in the 20th century.
    • That, and Mimi didn't know the person Rin met back in WWII.
  • Rie Kugimiya: As the loli-genius Mimi.
  • Running Gag: Every episode but 5 has Rin wake up with a splitting headache (Usually a hangover) and yelling at Mimi to get her some water.
  • Save Point: Essentially how immortality works. Once a Time Spore enters your body, it records your physical condition at the time and then 'reloads' it whenever you're injured/killed/get a haircut/whatever.
  • Scenery Porn: To the point of sometimes being distracting.
  • Shout Out: In episode 1, the pharmaceutical company executive's laptop is named "cylon".
  • Shower Of Angst: Rin in episode 5.
  • Shower Scene: Rin from episode one, and the second informant in episode 3.
  • Show Some Leg.
  • Small Girl Big Gun: Mishio uses Laura's Really Big Gun to kill an angel.
    • A partial example would be Mimi using a Kill Sat. Guns don't really get much bigger than that...
  • Spoiler Opening: Subverted by the Root of Yggdrasil. Although in the opening credits, it appears with Rin, Mimi, and Laura at the top, it's Apos and Laura who end up topping it off. We also see all of the Maenos, as well as Sayara and both of the informants, however none of these really register until you've seen them in the episodes proper.
  • Spy Catsuit: Sort of:
  • Stalker With A Crush: Apos has a serious obsession with Rin, and of course, Squick in his own 'special' way. He goes so far as to remodel Laura to look just like Rin and even rapes her even though she's a cyborg. Even after he claims to be just after her time spore, it's strange that he doesn't just go out of his way to dig it out of her.
    • He does just that in episode five, and using Rin's own hand to do it, too.
    • Also, Ruon to Teruki in episode four.
  • The Stoic: Rin.
  • Stoic Spectacles: Rin's glasses are sure as hell not Nerd Glasses.
  • Strapped To An Operating Table: Someone gets tied to something nearly Once An Episode. Most notably, Rin is strapped to a chair and tortured in episode 1, and vivisected on an operating table in episode 3, both times by Sayara.
    • Episode 4: Ruon straps Teruki to a table. Episode 5: Apos chains Mimi to a rock. Episode 6: the Yggdrasil roots try to do this to Rin inside the egg.
  • Stripperific: Mishio Maeno's outfits.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: Courtesy of Laura.
  • Take My Hand: A weird example, which starts with Rin and Tajimamori, then Maeno lends a hand, and then ends up being Rin and Mishio. Don't ask how, just Take Our Word For It.
    • This is symbolic of Tajimamori, Maeno, and their entire bloodline living through Mishio as Rin's sworn protectors.
  • Taking You With Me: Laura does this... a lot...
    • Subverted on one occasion. Rin runs away after seeing Laura's explosive vest, so Laura simply takes it off and throws it after her.
  • Tear Jerker: Maeno Kouki's Wife's reaction to his death in episode 3, as well as Ihika's death in episode 6.
  • Technology Marches On: Played for laughs in Episode 2, where Mimi retorts Koki's remark about screwing up a computer job by saying "This is a top of the line 16-bit 40MHz CPU and 128MB of RAM with a 300MB hard drive with all the bells and whistles."
  • Techno Wizard: Mimi has claimed to be capable of hacking into the CIA, MI6, and Special Forces Section II. Furthermore, in episode six, she hacks into a Kill Sat belonging to Teruki's company and tries to stop Apos with it.
  • Time Skip: Happens Once An Episode. Considering Rin and Mimi are immortal, it's not surprising that the series took place over a period of 65 years, with the epilogue taking place at least nine months after the climax.
  • To The Pain.
  • Torture Technician.
  • Turbine Blender: Rin lands inside a running airplane engine in episode four. Her last thoughts are "This may be too much even for me." Though, of course, she gets better... after 20 years of continuous regeneration.
  • Twenty Minutes Into The Future: Episodes 3-6, which are set in 2011, 2025, and 2055 respectively.
  • Unknown Rival: While Laura goes Psycho Lesbian with her obsession with Rin and spends considerable amounts of time thinking about how to kill her, the latter considers her nothing more than a nuisance.
  • Virtual Ghost: Ruon, and with a touch of AI Is A Crap Shoot, too.
  • Virtual Celebrity.
  • Waking Up At The Morgue.
  • Wallbangers:
    • The Reveal that Apos is a hermaphrodite was to some a Villain Decay moment.
      • Apos being a hermaphrodite shouldn't be a Wall Banger if you have even a cursory knowledge of mythology, especially concerning effeminite gods and angels. But these days, many people know only the Hollywood version.
    • The Bait And Switch Lesbians situation that put Rin with a guy in the end and made her pregnant.
      • What, you can't be Yuri if you are bi?
      • Most likely, the Yuri Fanboys were pissed that, once again, a lesbian Official Couple (threesome if you wanted Mishio in on it as well) didn't come to pass.
  • We Can Rebuild Him: Laura, after she gets dissected and made immortal by Apos.
  • Wham Episode: 4 already had some serious wham moments, but they upped the ante in 5. A lot.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Symbolic?: In the Downer Ending, Big Bad Apos rapes Rin's sidekick Mimi while she is chained and nailed to a stone lamp post as Ominous Latin Chanting and Ominous Pipe Organ plays in the background.
  • Who Wants To Live Forever: Amongst other catches, when you become immortal, your current physical state is sort of recorded, and you will forever return to it. Bad vision? You can't fix it with surgery. Virginity? You will be deflowered each time. Dying of grievous wounds in extreme pain? Yeah.
  • Why Wont You Die: Laura has done everything in her field of expertise to kill Rin, from blowing her to pieces with a shotgun, to doing a Taking You With Me with a claymore mine, to using high-tech large-bore bullets, to pouring acid on her. By the fifth episode, she even admits to have become obsessed with figuring out how to kill her.
  • A Wizard Did It: How did Rin regenerate from a single time spore within a few days? Yggdrasil did it!
  • The World Tree: Yggdrasil, source of Time Spores, is visible in the opening credits as an ominous background entity that easily dwarfs Tokyo skyscrapers.
  • Would Hit A Girl: Everyone, really. Of course, half of the hitters are women themselves.
  • Yakuza.
  • Yandere: Ruon.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Teruki's blonde hair is presumably a dye job, and Ruon's orange hair is justified since she exists in Cyberspace and uses a gynoid body in the real world, but there's no explanation for Rin, Mimi and Laura, whose hair is green, blue and red, respectively.
  • Zettai Ryouiki: Mishio Maeno
  • Zip Me Up: Rin, to tease Teruki
  • Zombie Gait: Sayara's zombies in episode 1.
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