'Dusk Maiden of Amnesia' tells the story of high-school student Teiichi Niiya, who can see and touch the ghost that haunts his school, Yuko Kanoe. The first few episodes of the show deal with the light-hearted shenanigans of Yuko and the Paranormal Investigations Club she forms, whereas the later episodes explore the surprisingly multi-faceted and heart-rending circumstances of Yuko's death.
While I'm personally not much a fan of romance shows, they're nice to watch every now and then. 'Dusk Maiden' really did an excellent job here, capturing both my interest and my heart. The first six of twelve episodes are admittedly not much more than fluff pieces, setting up the characters (though the episodes get progressively darker, with episode six being a full-blown psychological horror show, if one that is appropriate for teens). The last six episodes are more or less continuous, and this is where the show begins to truly shine. I'd say that the three final episodes are absolute masterpieces, revealing the truly horrific details of Yuka's death and the bittersweet (pre-) conclusion of Teiichi's and Yuka's romance.
From a technical standpoint, the show does pretty well. The animation is nothing to write home about, at least by today's standards, but neither does it give any reason for complaints. The direction is interesting and unique, especially in the later episodes when there are heavy topics to explore. The English dub is pretty good; IMHO the voice acting of the three female characters was excellent, whereas the male protagonist's voice was as generic as his character. The character design was interesting (modulo the generic protagonist), and the soundtrack did its job.
All in all, 'Dusk Maiden of Amnesia' is an excellent romantic comedy that becomes surprisingly serious in its final episodes. Not only fans of the genre but even a general audience should discover a great show here.
