Stoic prince Oscar wanders the desert with his servant Lazar, who is endlessly critical of his every decision and would annoy a statue, but not his ever-patient liege. They’re searching together for the witch who lives in the Azure Tower and is said to grant you a wish if you overcome her challenge. They hope to use said wish to overcome the curse of the Witch of Silence, who announced to the King and his son that no woman would ever survive bearing children of their bloodline. After fighting gargoyles, beasts, and mathematical riddles, our hero arrives at the top, much to the surprise of Tinasha the witch and the suspiciously named “Litola”, her familiar. He is revealed as Crown Prince Oscar Lyeth Increatos Loz Farsas (if you think that’s long, King Philip John Paul Alphonse of All Saints of Borbon and Greece might like a word), and thus a descendant of King Regius, the last successful contender. As it turns out, not much can be done to lift this particular curse, except for choosing a queen who could defeat even the Witch of Silence. Tinasha offers a magical search for a suitable candidate, if there is one, but a somewhat different idea has occurred to Prince Oscar.
Unnamed Memory left a good taste in my mouth. If you can overcome the urge to strangle Lazar until he is mercifully out of the picture due to the witch’s sleeping spell, you’ll find an elegant, laid-back fairytale show full of fun banter and interesting ideas. I enjoyed the dry wit of the stoic prince and the frank, practical personality of the witch, neither of which was overdone. Their banter reminded me a little of the only episode of Spice and Wolf I’ve watched so far (I know, I know). The story rearranges some Beauty and the Beast themes, with the heroic prince deciding to bet his one chance at fatherhood on courting an immortal witch one step at a time, hoping that she will ultimately decide to marry him within the year. Better yet, so far the aforementioned witch takes a very long view of time, doesn’t contemplate a mortal romance at all, and sees the whole thing as a sort of wish-mandated vacation. The horror of the curse is also convincing: you see it in the eyes of the king, and Oscar’s mother might have died that night. The classification of blessings, spells and curses was interesting, and I hope it’ll come into play later. Throw in some small-kingdom fantasy politics implied by the characters who appear at the end, and you could have an intriguing story about romance, magic and kingship. So far, I’m in!
Unnamed Memory is available at Crunchyroll. And if you happen to be a fan of the original light novels, check our 2020 review by stardf29!
