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1%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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3[[quoteright:235:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/melofoblivion.jpg]]
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5->''"A great war took place in the 20th century. It was a full-blown war between humans and monsters. Words alone could not describe the violent struggle that ensued. And in the end, [[TheBadGuyWins the monsters were victorious]]. Days passed and a new century began. And slowly, people began to forget that melody."''
6--> -- Melody of Oblivion
7
8Many years ago, there was a war between the humans and the Monsters. The Warriors of Melos fought valiantly, but in the end, the Monsters won, and rule from the shadows. The children of the current era are completely ignorant of the battles of the past, even as children mysteriously disappear, sacrifices to placate their Monster overlords.
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10''Melody of Oblivion'' chronicles the journey of Bocca and his allies as they fight Monsters and, more often, the humans of the Monster Union, searching for the truth behind the phantom girl called 'Melody of Oblivion' whom only Warriors of Melos can see.
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12An extremely surreal show full of flashbacks and flashes to symbolic portrayals of the action, strong themes of the show are the loose line between reality and fantasy and rebellion against society's mores.
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14A 24-episode anime series by Creator/JCStaff (with help from Creator/StudioGainax) that originally aired in 2004. There is also a six-volume manga adaptation produced by Kadokawa Comics.
15----
16!!This show provides examples of:
17
18* AfterTheEnd: The monster war ostensibly happened in the 20th century, and the technology we see matches this. However, the war itself has left relics that suggest they were actually far more advanced. Considering the level of reality warping the monsters do, the war may even be in the future.
19* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Members of the Monster Union do the Nazi salute as they recite "Viva Monster Union!"
20* AndTheAdventureContinues: The final scene (combined with [[spoiler: HereWeGoAgain and WhereItAllBegan]]).
21* AnimalThemeNaming: All of the Monster Union agents have one that reflects both their respective mecha and their personality.
22** They also correspond to pretty much everything in the EasternZodiac.
23* BadassAdorable: Let’s just say every hero is in a way.
24* BadassBiker: All the Melos Warriors, who ride around on Aibar Machines (basically mecha motorcycles).
25* BadassLongcoat: Bocca. He wears one and is a very good fighter.
26* BadassNormal: Sayoko doesn't have any Melos abilities. The only things she's good at are tricking and stealing. Which proves enough to save the whole bunch of Badasses from mortal peril.
27* BeingGoodSucks: Melos Warriors are unpopular with civilians, since taking down Monster society necessarily involves destroying the systems that humans now live in.
28* BlandNameProduct: Bocca buys Sayoko dinner at 'Starducks Coffee'.
29* BottomlessBladder: Averted by Coco using the "[[GratuitousEnglish Ladys]]" on the Mahoroba: "It's difficult to do this in Zero G."
30* ByThePowerOfGrayskull: "Echo, my Melos!", "Singing Chord, Feeling of {whatever}!", "Just Fit Rim!"
31%%* ByronicHero: Child Dragon is a perfect parody.
32* TheCape: Melos Warriors in the Space Arc. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, they don’t win and Coco and Toune as well as their Aibar Machines stay behind.]]
33* ChasteHero: Bocca takes this to the extreme, passing on both Elle's and [[spoiler:Sayoko's]] offers of sex to go adventuring.
34* ChildEater: The monsters accept children as sacrifices, although Horu is the only monster depicted as actually devouring his.
35* Myth/ClassicalMythology: The Monsters' names and themes are borrowed from Greek myths.
36* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:The Melody of Oblivion, or rather, the girl that the Melody is based off of. The 'Melody of Oblivion' that we see throughout the series appears to be a projection by the Monster King, albeit one with some sentience]].
37* DerangedAnimation: All scenes involving Monsters, especially The Labyrinth and Hecate's bowling.
38* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:In the epilogue, it's mentioned offhand that the Monster King survived, despite being dramatically shot by an arrow before]].
39* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Many things, but most notably bio concerto which looks like it make the user orgasm. Especially so with the bio concerto between Tone and Skyblue, which is treated almost exactly like a sex scene.
40* DressHitsFloor: Horu can snap his fingers to cause others' clothing to fall off instantly.
41* EasternZodiac: The Monster Union agents are each themed after one of them.
42* EmpireWithADarkSecret: It seems like peace reigns in every day life... until you realize it's maintained by sacrificing the lives of children.
43* EvilGloating: Monster Union members revel in this. [[spoiler: Episode 23 consists of it almost entirely.]]
44* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: It’s there in most of the Monster Union’s names, but especially Flying Bunny.
45* ExplosionsInSpace: Lampshaded and handwaved; the villains note that sound shouldn't be able to travel in space, and blame the protagonists for this.
46-->? 'Echo, my Melos'? Is sound supposed to travel in space??
47-->? Boy, they just seem to lack the simple common sense...
48** Also subverted with the Singing Chord and Noise Cannon, which [[spoiler:are revealed to not truly be made of sound at all]].
49* FacelessGoons: Hordes of clerks working for Monster Union. Oh, wait... are ''those'' really tourists, or has a toy factory conveyor sprung a leak?
50* {{Fanservice}}: The girls' Melos Arrow firing are all - more than a little erotic, and this is just the ''beginning''. Other examples include Sayako's outfit and the cowgirls in the final four episodes.
51* GainaxEnding: The episodes in space dial up the theater elements in ways that bend the fourth wall more and more, and throughout both those and the final episode many strange revelations and implications are dropped. Subverted with the epilogue, however, which is so standard that it's almost weird itself.
52* HarbingerOfAsskicking: The same musical theme preceding each villain's appearance.
53%%* HaremAnime: Parodied by the Armed Theatrical Group Chentauro.
54* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Tone, Coco, and their Aibar Machines get voluntarily stuck in time and are left behind. Kurofune stays in the labyrinth to make sure Horu remains inside.]]
55%%* HitlerAteSugar: Taken ad absurdum in the "Monster Olympus" scene.
56* HollywoodToneDeaf: Child Dragon. His rendition of the show's ending theme is really awful.
57%%* HonorBeforeReason: Kurofune.
58* HumanSacrifice: What allows human society to continue existing under monsters: sacrificing a child a month, per municipality.
59* HumongousMecha: Each Monster Union agent has one, some bigger than others.
60* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies: Bocca is unable to fully commit to his relationship with Sayoko, and just as they're working it out, Bocca has to leave her to travel into space.
61* {{Joshikousei}}: Coco, and really all of the female Melos Warriors wear one at some point. That said, unlike Bocca, they never went to school. Sayoko is the right age, but never wears a uniform.
62* LimitedAnimation: There's lots of StockFootage, and it's somewhat obvious in general that the show didn't have a big animation budget.
63* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler: Sayoko has a brother in the Monster Union codenamed Lucky Thoroughbred, and Coco is the long-lost daughter of the Japanese Prime Minister.]]
64* LoveableRogue: Sayoko. She’s cheeky and mischievous, but she does love Bocca under it all.
65* MarkOfTheBeast: Monster Union agents get branded with one. It’s first shown with Millionaire Beaver.
66* TheMaze: The Labyrinth, an EldritchLocation maze which apparently doubles as the Minotaur's stomach.
67* MindScrew: What are the ape men? How did the war begin and end? [[spoiler:Why isn't Bocca the 4th monster king? Is Sayako still alive, or is she a Melody of Oblivion? Why is the "real world" a labyrinth? Is it even the real world?]] Even these questions aside, there are many moments of bizarre and jarring direction and imagery.
68* MomentKiller: Poor Bocca and Sayoko manage to turn into an OfficialCouple around halfway in the series, but never seem to progress beyond that due to interference (mostly type 2) from just about anything, including a goddess and the Prime Minister of Japan.
69* MotorcycleOnTheCoastRoad: As seen near the end of the ending.
70* PlayboyBunny: Monster Union agent Flying Bunny and her robot monster. Especially her space suit.
71* PlotBasedVoiceCancellation: When Sayoko is talking to Bocca as the door to the maze closes, and (audience only) what the Melody says to Bocca in the final episode.
72* PoweredByAForsakenChild: Metaphorically, the whole society. Literally, the robot factory.
73* RealityWarper: The monsters. Whenever they're around, reality and even the show's direction goes all screwy.
74* RuleOfCool: Sentient flying motorcycles? Why not? Sentient flying motorcycles that transform into {{Bishounen}}? Even better!
75%%* RocketJump: How about a ''Crossbow Jump''?
76* RocketPunch: Wrench Monkey's ape mecha can do this.
77* SceneryPorn: Melody Of Oblivion's water color style backgrounds are very beautiful, although because of the rich symbolism and strange locations, they often are important to the plot.
78* ScrewDestiny: Bocca uses it [[spoiler: to escape from Minotaur]].
79* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: The Monster Union remembers about this in the last two story arcs. Apparently the remaining Agents {{Took A Level In Badass}} over the preceding series.
80* ShoutOut: The opening soundtrack of the space episodes is a blatant rip-off of ''Franchise/StarWars''.
81** The famous ''AKIRA'' bike-slide is used at one point.
82** Flying Bunny and her airboard is an obvious reference to Creator/StudioGainax[='=]s ''[[Anime/DaiconIIIAndIV Daicon IV]]''. Child Dragon, on the other hand, is a parody of ''Anime/CaptainHarlock''.
83** Many plot points and themes are re-used from ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', which much of the staff worked on previous. Sayoko's chain, on the other hand, appears to be re-used from ''Anime/FLCL''.
84* SpaceIsAnOcean: Child Dragon goes on about this comparison at length.
85* SpaceIsNoisy: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Flying Bunny - "Did she just say 'Ring out! My Melos!'? In the vacuum of space, where no sound travels?"
86* SpellMyNameWithAnS: In the fansub all the Melos attacks coincide with poker hands, but in the official translation Bocca's 'Flush' is changed to 'Flash'. The anime also bleeds musical terminology (as per the title), but the official translation oddly changes 'Bio Concerto' to 'Bio Co-ordination'.
87** The Geneon subs have "Bio Concerto", and only use "Flash" in some early episodes (switching to "Flush" later).
88* TheStarscream: Lucky Thoroughbred ''wants'' to be this, but Child Dragon is fully aware that he's lying to him, and Thoroughbred is defeated by the heroes anyway.
89* StartOfDarkness: We get to see the tragic backstories of the first couple Monster Union agents.
90* StoryArc: The episodes are grouped into three episode arcs except for the first two episodes and last episode.
91%%* SuckingInLines: Child Dragon's Robot Monster.
92* SuperRobot: Each Monster Union agent rides in one.
93* TakingTheBullet: In the final battle, [[spoiler:both Sayoko and the Melody of Oblivion attempt this at the same time. Of course, as the Melody of Oblivion doesn't exist, the arrow goes right through her]].
94* TalkingAnimal: The true-false parrot who passes on messages to Monster Union agents from fellow agents[[spoiler:, although it's really Solo, a.k.a. the Monster King, doing a ventriloquist act.]]
95* TravelCool: A four-legged horned bus. And a ship going through forests. And, of course, sentient flying motorbikes.
96* {{Tsundere}}: Tone is a "Type Tsun" one, reserving her "deredere" exclusively for Sky Blue.
97* TheUnfought: Contrary to expectations, the vast majority of antagonists are ''not'' monsters, but the humans supporting them and their "robot monsters". The only monster Bocca fights for most of the series is Horu. [[spoiler:He fights Hecate, the Monster King and Pan in the final episode]].
98%%* {{Unobtainium}}: The Omotenium Bomb.
99* TheUnfavorite: Sayako was neglected harshly as a child due to her brother's talents.
100* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Humanity as a whole abides by this, but especially the Monster Union Agents.
101* VillainOfTheWeek: Monster Union agents in most arcs.
102%%* VillainousDemotivator: "Arukoto Naikoto!!"
103* WingedHumanoid: [[spoiler: Elan Vital. As if being a flying sentient bishounen motorcycle is [[RuleOfCool not enough]].]]
104* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: If a normal human sees a monster's "true form", they will instantly turn into an inanimate object.

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