What's My Name Again?

I thought today I would talk a little about my screen name and why I have chosen the name I have for my blog.

Anamnesis - A recalling to memory; recollection. (The remembrance of things past)

Quite a few years ago I was watching a show called "Millennium" on TV. It was one of a handful of shows that I would go out of my way to see. Way ahead of its time and unlike anything aired prior. During the second season an episode aired that did not feature the main character. Not only was this unusual, but to my surprise it ended up being one of my favourite episodes. It was titled Anamnesis. I won't go over the plot line in detail suffice to say that it was about recalling something from the past (or having the past thrust upon you) Two or so years later, I had forgotten about Millennium (the show having been canceled to my dismay) and I suddenly found myself caught up in a Japanese Anime turmoil. I had never much cared for anime, except maybe the odd Astroboy cartoon, but I received a promotional disc containing 6 various first episodes of some new anime series. With a few hours to spare, I placed the disc in my player and gave it a spin. The first series was called Full Metal Panic, and I did not care for it one bit....almost to the point of turning it off. I did not however, and the next series would change my view of anime forever. Not to mention put a massive dent into my savings account.

The series in question was called Noir. It starts with a character being invited to take a journey into her past and turns into a journey of incredible power, emotion and thought. I bought the entire series the day after watching this episode. I watched the whole thing in less than a week. I was amazed. How could something animated have such a profound effect on me. This was like nothing I had experienced before and I wanted more...I quickly turned to other Anime series...Haibane Renmei, Madlax, Kiddy Grade, Tsukuyomi Moon Phase...my lust for these was unquenchable. Then an interesting thing occurred to me. All of these series had a common thread...all had to do with people who could not remember their pasts or where running from it.

I couldn't believe it. I had somehow latched onto this theme without even realizing it. I started to look at other things in my collection and found the theme ran deep. How could I not have seen this?

I followed the theme right back to what I can only percieve as the original source...Anamnesis. This episode of Millennium. I am not sure how or why, but this episode appears to have steered my mind to look at things with respect to my past or seek out comfort in products, shows and others for whom the past is elusive or something to be remembered. I don't pretend that it is some amazing event, I am not religious so I don't read any "life Affirming" meaning. It is just something I noticed and decided to embrace about myself. It still amazes me to discover things I did not know about myself, that obviously my subconcious is controlling my choices and directing my actions I wonder what else I don't know??