, also known as ''The Wind of Amnesia'' in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, is a Japanese novel authored by Hideyuki Kikuchi, originally published in 1983 by

Asahi Sonorama is the publishing arm of The Asahi Shimbun Company, publishing books, magazines, and manga. It replaced on 1 April 2008 just after it went bankrupt. History Asahi Sonorama was created as a division of Asahi Shimbunsha on September 9, 1959 ...

. An

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

film adaptation was released theatrically on December 22, 1990, directed by Kazuo Yamazaki. An English adaptation of the film was produced and released by Manga Entertainment on home video in Australia and the UK and by

Central Park Media Central Park Media, often abbreviated as CPM, was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York and was headquartered in the 250 West 57th Street building in Midtown Manhattan (on the corner of Central Park, henc ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

Plot

In the year 1999, the world has been reduced to an apocalyptic wasteland due to an inexplicable gust of wind that wiped even the most basic memories, such as

speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...

and

civility Civility comes from the word ''civis'', which in Latin means "citizen". Merriam Webster defines civility as civilized conduct (especially: courtesy or politeness) or a polite act or expression. Historically, civility also meant training in the hum ...

, from the minds of the world's populace. Wataru befriends a young man named Johnny who, prior to the incident, was part of a government experiment designed to expand the memory capacity of the

human mind The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...

and, therefore, was able to retain his memories. Johnny helps Wataru regain his speech and teaches him other basic functions. However, as a result of the physical toll his body endured due to the government experiments, Johnny dies after encouraging Wataru to travel the world. Wataru encounters a strange woman named Sophia after she helps him escape from an encounter with an unmanned Police Mech Unit and agrees to take Sophia to New York City. Together the two travel to Los Angeles where they help save Sue and her father, Little John, from a mob. Sue was to be offered as a bride to appease a "god", which in reality is a Construction Mech controlled by a man, but fled to escape her fate. However, upon realizing that if she were not sacrificed another woman would be in her stead, she flees from the group to rejoin her tribe. Wataru destroys the Construction Mech but Sue is killed in the conflict. Little John remains in Los Angeles to keep order of the tribe and rebuild society. Wataru and Sophia resume their travels only to be attacked once more by the Police Mech. Sophia rescues Wataru and brings him to an advanced city called Eternal Town for medical attention. When Wataru regains consciousness, he discovers that the city is run by a super computer that has brainwashed two of its original citizens into running the day-to-day operations of the city. The super computer attempts to persuade Sophia and Wataru into becoming citizens as well but the two escape with one of the original citizens, Lisa. As they depart from the city, Lisa begins to recall memories from her past including the fact that the other citizen who was brainwashed into running the city was her father. As a result, Lisa decides to remain in Eternal Town. Sophia then explains that she is a member of an alien race that is responsible for the wind that erased Earth's citizens' memories. Sophia makes a wager with Wataru that if he is able to convince another person to join him in his travels, she will return humanity's memory. Wataru and Sophia are chased across the country by the unrelenting Police Mech until they reach New York City. Upon arriving, Wataru drops Sophia off in order to defeat the Police Mech by himself. After destroying the Police Mech, Sophia saves Wataru as he falls from a building, and later the two kiss and have sex. Sophia leaves in order to rejoin her race and convince them that humanity deserves to have their memories.

Novel

; Japanese Version *Title: *Writer: Hideyuki Kikuchi *Artist: Yoshitaka Amano *Cover Artist: Yoshitaka Amano *Publication Date: October 31, 1983 * ; English Version *Title: A Wind Named Amnesia/Invader Summer *Cover Artist: Yoshitaka Amano *Publication Date: December 23, 2009 *

Movie

Voice cast

Staff

*Original Novel/Story: Hideyuki Kikuchi *Licensors:

, Manga Entertainment Ltd. (Australia and UK) *Producer: Tadao Masumizu, Tomirou Kuriyama, Shin Seya *Executive producer: Kosuke Kuri *Director:

Kazuo Yamazaki is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, wrestling instructor and commentator who is known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and shoot-style promotions Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) and UWF International (UWFi). He cur ...

Setting Setting may refer to: * A location (geography) where something is set * Set construction in theatrical scenery * Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction * Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to e ...

: Masao Maruyama *Script:

, Yoshiaki Kawajiri & Kenji Kurata *Supervisors: Rintaro & Yoshiaki Kawajiri *Character Design: Satoru Makamura *Art Director: Koseki Mutsuo *Mechanical Design: Morifumi Naka *Design of “Guardian”: Yoshitaka Amano *Production: Madhouse *Original Music: Hidenobu Takimoto &

Kazuhiko Toyama is a Japanese composer. Toyama is notable for creating music for ''Bikkuriman'', ''Cyber City Oedo 808'' and '' New Cutie Honey''. He is sometimes credited as Kazz Toyama. Music works *''Aconcagua'' *''Ai to ken Camelot: Mangaka Marina Time Sli ...

Reception

The film has garnered some praise years after its initial release. Raphael See of THEM Anime Reviews called the film a sleeper hit and "one of the best titles I've never heard of." Anime News Network in their review considered the film a classic, although noting the ending was weak. Bamboo Dong in her review wrote "Without a doubt, A Wind Named Amnesia is one of the most unique and creative post-apocalyptic tales ever woven. " Critics have praised the production values of the film, and generally considered it thought-provoking and cerebral. The original novel the film is based on has also recently received some praise. Fred Patten regards the novel as being derivative of ''Rebirth'' by Thomas Calvert McClary.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wind Named Amnesia, A 1983 Japanese novels 1990 films 1990 anime films Fiction set in 1999 1990s science fiction films Action anime and manga Adventure anime and manga Central Park Media Dark Horse Comics titles Discotek Media Japanese post-apocalyptic films Drama anime and manga Films set in New York City Films set in San Francisco Films set in the United States Films set in Washington, D.C. Madhouse (company) Mecha anime and manga Novels by Hideyuki Kikuchi Post-apocalyptic anime and manga Animated post-apocalyptic films Post-apocalyptic novels