Anime 27775 Plastic Memories Reviews

When I first started watching Plastic Memories back in April I was immediately very impressed by it because the first episode was simply amazing. It forecasted an original anime with beautiful artwork, an ambient atmosphere, likeable characters and a lot of tragic drama. At the time, I really thought that it would become the next hidden gem, and the biggest surprise of the season.

As it turned out however, Plastic Memories instead ended up being one of the most misleading anime I've seen in quite some time. Unlike what the opening seemed to imply, in reality the show is mostly a cute and light-hearted slice of ... life comedy with quite a lot of romance in it. Now this doesn't mean the anime turned out poorly in the end, quite the opposite in fact, but it never reached the level that I thought it would have reached in the beginning.

The story takes place in a future world where humanoid androids are a common part of human society. The androids, named "Giftias", are fully equipped with human emotions, and help their respective human owners however possible. But the Giftias have very limited lifespans, and thus they need to be taken out of commission before too long. Enter Tsukasa, an 18-year-old boy whom is offered a position at the SAI Corporation; a group responsible for retrieving Giftias who are approaching the ends of their lifespans, and eventually scrap them. Right next to him, we have his fellow co-worker: the incredibly cute and loveable Isla, who is actually a Giftia herself despite her position. The two of them form a team by order of their boss, and they consequently start working together, socializing together, and of course fall in love with each other.

This is how Plastic Memories suddenly becomes something totally different from what it originally promised to be. Despite the premise, the anime is in fact not about the retrieval of various Giftias, nor is it about the SAI Corporation itself or any of the other people working there. Plastic Memories is about Tsukasa, and it is about Isla. That is all. And honestly, that's totally fine in and of itself because they make up one of the cutest couples I've seen in ages, and watching their awkward romance is surprisingly enjoyable no matter how much you see of it. But for a lot of people, this was nothing more than wasted potential because the cool and interesting premise of the story itself is heavily neglected in the process. For everyone who wanted to see a melancholic story about the tragedy of having to say goodbye to your loved ones and how they deal with it... you're probably going to be left disappointed, because Plastic Memories doesn't actually focus very much on that at all other than right at the very beginning. The only character the show ever really emphasizes this point for is Isla herself as her lifespan is of course also very limited due to being a Giftia, but for everyone else... not very much.

However if you can get past the fact that the show is more or less in disguise and try to see it for what it actually is (in other words a romantic slice of life story), then suddenly Plastic Memories is a very enjoyable anime again. Why? Because it actually has *proper romantic development*. Quite a lot of it in fact. This is not the kind of show which ends with a confession in the final episode and nothing more; no, there are actually things happening from very early on in a romantic sense, which is something that is unfortunately very rare in today's anime. Especially seeing Plastic Memories airing in the same season as Nisekoi was pretty amusing to me; they're like night and day in comparison as far romantic progression goes.

Overall, Plastic Memories is an anime which you will probably be given a very different impression of depending on your expectations on it. Is it a good anime? Yes, but it's a completely different anime from what you're most likely anticipating when you start watching it. That doesn't make it a bad show per se, but it feels a bit like false marketing. It's up to each and every viewer to do their best at adapting to what the anime has to offer.

If you're looking for a deeply touching and emotional melodrama like Clannad: After Story or Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, then sorry to say but you're looking in the wrong place. But for a cute yet beautiful story about young love, it's hard to find a better example than Plastic Memories.

Human/technology integration has always been a fascinating topic to me. Just thinking of humanity's next leap towards further development being aided by biomechanical intervention could cause even the cynical-minded to wax philosophical. It's a topic that's inspired countless debate and discussion for many; redefining the idea of what it means to be human with the continuously blurred line between man and machine. And what better way to view this delicate balancing act than by seeing it unfold through the guise of a romance. It's an interesting "what if" scenario, that, to those who share my fascination with the subject, could find many interesting facets on ... exploring that very idea.
Can such a nebulous idea of "true love" be found with a man-made being? Where do we draw the line between augmented reality and primal attraction? Many different forms of media have tried to tackle this intriguing concept; from movies like 2013's "Her" and 2015's "Ex Machina," to novels like Jonathan Lethem's "As She Climbed Across the Table." There are even a few anime titles that tackled this subject as well, such as Eve No Jikan, Armitage III, Chobits and many others. When this topic is done right, it can be a highly rewarding experience, leaving the viewer with something to wrap their heads around.
So when I sat down to watch Plastic Memories, a show that had the right ingredients to make something truly thought provoking, just flush this potential down the toilet, for what essentially was forced melodrama... let's just say I wasn't a happy camper when everything was said and done. Under normal circumstances, I would categorize shows with Plastic Memories's setup as a bait-and-switch, but from the way it was presented, it never seemed to care about, or even acknowledge the ideas it could have implemented. What we have here instead was a cookie cutter rom-com that was oblivious to its own potential.

So no, I didn't get what I wanted, but does that render the rom-com that took its place bad?... Unfortunately yes, it does. It's a show that forces a catch-22 on the audience with an inevitable conclusion spurred on by contrived logistics. It suffered from heavy-handed manipulation at the cost of proper buildup and engagement, which was made all the more noticeable when you take into consideration the setting the show presents everything in.
In the future, sentient androids known as "Giftias" has become incorporated into everyday society. However, like everything else that has a beginning, so too does the Giftias have a limited lifespan as well, with about a decade or so of functionality before they are decommissioned, resulting in their memories being erased (which is the android's equivalency of death). This, of course, becomes the core focus of the show, as we're introduced to our protagonist Tsukasa, a human, who finds himself involved with one of these Giftias named Isla. And from there onward, the show chronicles their daily interaction and growing relationship. And as you would guess, it becomes a tale of a fleeting would-be romance with only one possible outcome.

When trying to present a romance, there must be proper interaction between the main love interests in order to sell their position as lovers. We as viewers need to see this bond slowly form, see the chemistry that they share, and the mannerisms that they portray when expressing themselves to each other. To get down to brass tacks, we as viewers need to be convinced of their validity as a couple for it to feel organic. If this isn't handled properly, it can cause the relationship and development to feel forced or manipulated. This is Plastic Memories 1st noticeable blunder. It tries to build this chemistry on a premise that just screams victimizing; with a character predestined to be terminated from an expiration date, a protagonist that makes no visible effort in repealing the outcome, and a romance bound to go nowhere because of it. It isn't bittersweet nor is it heart-wrenching since the reason these androids expire is contrived and contradictory to the world setting presented. How may you ask? Well, let's explore the ill-defined logic the show tries to spoon feed us.

We're made to believe that this show takes place in a future where the creation and distribution of androids are a fairly commonplace occurrence. In other words, it's an advance society that's leagues ahead of us in terms of technological breakthrough and scientific advancement. But at the same time, the show wants us to believe that they have no methods of storing or switching memory from one device to another. And I shouldn't have to spell it out but do you see how this nonsensical explanation doesn't work? A society advance enough to have androids with empathy, but not advance enough to store memory or transfer it? So if you own a USB flash drive, then congrats, you've officially surpassed this society's current intellect. And that is just the tip of the iceberg when talking about this show's implausible setting. Later on, we find out that after an android passes its expiration date and isn't decommissioned, they take on a savage state, becoming dangerously violent against humans, escalating to the point of murder (in other words, they go ape-shit). Which begs the question, why in the hell would anyone endorse a machine that can go "Terminator" on citizens when they lose their memory? It's unfathomable to think any governing body with a modicum of common sense would allow such a hazardous time bomb to be integrated into society. There was even an episode dedicated to showing how such a terrible downside could reek havoc, or even worse, be exploited as a weapon, but like the setting it's a part of, it was never explored beyond that. It was simply brought up and never mentioned again by the next episode just so they could allow for more rom-com moments to continue undisturbed. Just look out for the 'Psycho-Pass' episode, you'll know it when you see it.

Tsukasa and Isla both work at the same job, and it's also the place they 1st make contact with each other. From what you can easily read in the synopsis, they both work for the Terminal Service Department: a subdivision of the larger company responsible for the distribution and recall of androids. They're tasked with retrieving androids that are approaching their expected expiration date from their owners. This, of course, brings up yet another question; why is the task of retrieving androids so primitive and counterproductive? Like I've stated, these androids are like ticking time bombs with the added bonus of being empathetic. You would think something as important as this would be tasked to a more organized unit, but what we're introduced to instead is a motley crew of quirky characters that only share one personality trait and act so outlandish that entrusting them with such a task is almost ludicrous. It's like handing police duty over to the circus. It's like the creators were dead-set on an end goal and didn't care how little sense it made getting there. On a whole, the sci-fi elements of this show were never explored or utilized. It was simply used for flavoring, and it quickly became apparent that they didn't care about common sense when they duct-taped the narrative and setting together.

The relationship was also diminished by the fact that 3/4ths of the show's run-time were dedicated to slapstick comedy and silly misunderstandings. Half of it was wasted away where it could have been used to develop the relationship between the characters, which was made even worse given the short episode count the show was already working with. While I'm not the biggest fan of shows like Clannad or Toradora, I at least acknowledge that it did this aspect correctly. It utilized its run-time by building the relationship between the characters, either by their direct contact with each other or the indirect result of their influence on each other. It allowed us as an audience to grow attached to their interaction and relationship.

Most of the characters, like I've already stated, are just a range of archetypes. From your tsunderes to your beta-male, they all follow one-note traits and won't be remembered for anything else. This also applies to our two main characters. Tsukasa is as generic as a protagonist can get, ripped right out of the pages of cliché-land. You've seen his type many times before, and to be quite frank about it, he's indistinguishable from the lot of them. Isla is yet another Rei Ayanami clone, completely packaged with the silver hair, red eyes, and the signature porcelain complexion. Dull, monotone and devoid of personality, the only good thing I can say about her is that she truly acts like an android. Outside of the main cast, we're occasionally introduced to androids and their masters that the team has to retrieve. But they're introduction is done more so for forced "feels" than for actual world building. Just toss in a sappy backstory and an unavoidable conclusion and it really becomes more annoying than anything.

And really, that's the main problem with this show in a nutshell: it's constantly trying to get the audience to care but doesn't seem to have any idea how to do so without coming across as fake. It's a show that forcefully tugs at your heart strings while thinking that people will easily be duped into falling for it. It thinks that simply playing melancholic music and animating tear ducts is more than enough to fool viewers, while forgetting that genuine character investment is what allows the audience to sympathize with hardships. And who knows, maybe this falsehood would fool some into buying the creator's snake oil. There are certainly viewers out there willing to suspend their disbelief, regardless of the amount of mental gymnastics required to do so. But for those well-versed enough to see past the smoke and mirrors, it's a detracting quality that causes the show and its conflict to implode on itself.

The art and animation for Plastic Memories were above average and made the whole experience better than it would have been without it. It was bright, vivid and used a broad range of color palettes to convey whatever mood or tone they were going for. While it felt overdone at times, there were moments where it truly shined and help to sell the scene at hand; most notably the show's finale episodes and epilog. While the art and animation served their purpose, the character designs were a hit or miss. On one hand, a few had distinct features about them, but a lot were also cookie-cutter in a bad way as well. It helps to better personify their characteristics, but when they lack dimension and personality, it made them feel like carbon copies of other characters in the same vein as them. There was also moments where the show paid direct homage to Evangelion with certain scenes and shot compositions, which, while being a fun little tribute, didn't serve any purpose whatsoever. At best, they were Easter eggs for those that caught on to them.
The soundtrack was a mixture of pop and electronica flavoring. It was "fluffy" during the comedic bits and took on a more somber tone during the show's more "emotional" moments. While there weren't any noteworthy tracks, it was fine and served its purpose. Average but effective. The opening and ending themes were both fine and easy listens. Nothing that might stick with you but catchy and worked in unison with the show.

Like most titles of this nature, my problem doesn't stem from what it's trying to do, my problem comes from how poorly it goes about attempting it. If a show is aiming to get me as a viewer, emotionally invested, I expect it to do so in a manner that doesn't distract from its target intent. If I'm duped and fall for it, despite my better knowledge of its intent, I will credit it for its efforts. However, if I'm viewing the show and have to signal the "bullshit" flag every other minute, then as far as I'm concerned, that anime failed at its job.

Enjoyment: 4/10

My enjoyment of Plastic Memories was intermittent at best, but for the most part, the show was a face-palming experience. Because of the sloppy portrayal of its themes and forced melodrama, there was no engagement to speak of. The ending was decent, but the journey to said ending was buffoonish at best and can't be overlooked.

Overall: 4/10

Plastic Memories was an uninspired and underwhelming experience. It had the opportunity to craft a decent romance, or even better, a good sci-fi tale, but it did neither and ended up falling short of the mark. While some might find it touching, I simply couldn't buy into the dilemma for the reasons I've stated. If you decide to watch this show, do so with low expectations, for whatever it tried to do, have been done to a much higher and better degree somewhere else.

**SPOILER FREE REVIEW**

While Plastic Memories had the potential to be a unique and intelligent show, it instead managed to encompass all of the things that ruin dramas and cause them to fail every time. Forced plot devices that make no sense? Check. Inopportune comedy that ruins the show’s tone? Check. Shallow characters defined entirely by their archetypes or tragic backstories? Check. While this anime showed flashes of good ideas and has its moments, its poor execution dooms it to be lost among the sea of poorly written, mediocre emotion porn.

Synopsis: In the near future, technology has allowed for the invention humanoid-like robots known as “giftias”, ... who look, talk, feel, and emote exactly like actual humans do. The catch is that they can only operate for a little over a decade before they must be shut down, resulting in the loss of all their memories. The story follows Tsukasa, a human, and his relationship with Isla, a giftia.

The biggest and most obvious problems with this anime stem from its forced and melodramatic plot devices that range from just plain stupid to cringeworthy. For example, when Tsukasa and Isla first become partners at work, we are suddenly told that this means they have no choice but to live together! Because that makes total sense and is definitely not a lazy plot device to provide a setup for bonding and slice of life shenanigans! The other one that sticks out is the big “reveal” they make about what happens to giftias if they aren’t properly retrieved, which defies all notions of common sense and even basic science. That’s especially bad given that this show has a science-fiction setting for some reason. In fact… was there ANY reason for there to be robots in the first place? Literally the only difference between a human and a giftia is that giftias lose their memories after a certain period of time, so now that I think about it, that makes the entire sci-fi setting and concept of giftias in general completely pointless and nothing more than yet another contrived plot device for drama’s sake. They certainly didn’t explore any sort of difference between the two life forms; it’s very much an accepted fact that giftias are equal to humans, so why was everyone not just regular people to begin with? Was there no other scenario they could come with that incorporated death-like elements, like, y’know, DEATH? It’s this kind of thing that makes the show very difficult to take seriously.

There are other major issues with the show’s plot, namely how laughably predictable it is. You can LITERALLY guess every major plot point of the entire show by the end of the first episode, and I’m not exaggerating, because I literally did. I just kept waiting and waiting for something that I didn’t see coming a mile away to happen, and with the exception of a single contrived plot device which I already mentioned (a plot device that doesn’t even lead to anything…), it simply never does. Now, one thing that I will give the show credit for is that is has some genuinely sweet moments. The final stretch of the show made me feel something, at least. However, then it just sort of… ends. And it ends, like, EXACTLY how you would expect it to. I guess what I’m trying to get at here is that it left me with a feeling of “So what?” I mean, you told one of the most obvious and straightforward stories I’ve ever seen, so much so that I could have stopped watching after a single episode and gotten the gist of it, so what did you put into your show that justified the time it took to watch another 12 episodes? Were there any meaningful themes? No. Did the characters learn anything or change in any meaningful way? No. So why would anyone EVER want to watch the entirety of this show? *Sigh, I don’t know if this is making sense. Let’s just move on:

The last aspect of the plot that really bothered me was the random comedy that completely ruined the show’s tone by being interspersed throughout parts that are supposed to be serious. To give an example, the first episode of this show really hooked me. At the very end of the episode, there was a well-executed and genuinely emotional scene that was actually getting to me. I’m the kind of person who almost never gets legitimately emotional when watching a TV show, but this one scene was just hitting all the right notes for me. By the time it was over, I thought we had an extremely promising show on our hands. Now, guess what this beautiful, emotional scenario was immediately followed by: …A BATHROOM JOKE. That’s right. No relevance, no context. They just decided to throw in a random bathroom joke and ended the episode on a ridiculous note instead of a serious and powerful one. That, to me, is a decent microcosm of the entire show. Every time you might be about to get invested in a serious scene, WHAM! Random, generic, slice-of-life comedy comes out of nowhere and blindsides the plot. It’s just a disastrous display of a lack of tonal understanding and, ergo, bad writing.

I think the real thing that would have saved Plastic Memories for me was if the characters were given any form of depth whatsoever. Tsukasa, our protagonist, is a cardboard cutout straight from the generic, beta, male protagonists factory. My god, there was, nothing, NOTHING unique about him. I don’t think I’m alone in the sediment that I don’t care about other people’s relationships if I don’t know them, and I certainly didn’t feel like I knew Tsukasa, so how am I supposed to give a damn about him and Isla’s relationship? Speaking of Isla, talk about yet another shallow character. I put her squarely in the mary-sue category, given that she is an idealization of a pure, innocent, kawaii waifu with no real flaws whatsoever. Can she be funny at times? Sure. Does that mean I at all cared about her? No. As for the side characters? Boring. Bland. Generic. They are all basic stereotypes with nothing to distinguish them. I know they attempt to give a few of the side characters a backstory, but the backstories don’t actually accomplish anything other than just being sad. They do absolutely nothing to add a dimension to the character they are attached to and none of them are given any form of a story arc. I’ve seen casts like this a million times. The characters, to me, might be the biggest reason the show failed. I might have been able to overlook all the previously mentioned problems with the plot if this show actually gave me a reason to care about the couple of Tsukasa and Isla, but they simply don’t.

Pretty much the only thing I can definitively say I liked about Plastic Memories was the animation. It’s pretty fluid, but what really got me was the cinematography and shot composition. Besides the number of Evangelion references they threw in, there were a lot of well thought out and extremely well directed scenes that actually succeeded in conveying information and emotion without words. That’s VERY difficult for a show to do, so kudos for that. The settings were always detailed and full of bright colors as well. The world looked really cool, which is part of the reason I wanted them to actually tell me something about it. Like, literally anything would have been nice. Instead, the writing is so barebones that it could have taken place pretty much anywhere else, and that brings us full circle, doesn’t it?

I wanted to like Plastic Memories. Really, I did. It didn’t have to be some complex, philosophical inquiry into the definition of humanity and how it differs from artificial intelligence (which is the kind of show that many expected it to be); I would have been totally content with it just being a drama if they actually gave me a reason to care about its characters. If they didn’t ruin every moment they ever created with inopportune comedy. If they didn’t make the plot so damn predictable. If their plot devices weren’t so incredibly contrived. There were simply too many major problems to overlook, and that forces me to make the sad conclusion that Plastic Memories is a massive missed opportunity for what could have been a really enjoyable original anime. It lacked direction and coherent writing on all fronts, and I cannot recommend it to anybody.

Plastic memories will leave you crying like a baby, questioning your very existence. You ask yourself "How will I go on after watching this?", The answer is.. you don't. Just hide out in your pillow fort and wait for the day Giftia's are invented. Oh you came here for Action and Blood? This isn't Attack on Titan, but we'll let these feels kick you straight in the face. Watch Plastic Memories and cry your little heart out. Just when you think you are safe, BAM, the feels got you. Throw aside your happy tissues and bust out the Sad Tissues. The feels dont care about ... you.. You think you're safe? HA. You need to watch this, because if you don't, when you're old and gray and laying on a bed about to take your last breath You will ask yourself, "Did I really live life to its fullest?" and Naotaka Hayashi will bust through your wall and give you a much deserved swift punch to the kidneys.

If the memories you made while living faded after death, would you rather have not lived at all? Or would you cherish those memories to the very end?
Plastic Memories is a show that, while looking mediocre and somewhat generic on the surface, is willing to tackle some pretty heavy themes.

WARNING: This review will contain minor spoilers. Please keep in mind that it is difficult to write a wholesome review without revealing some of what happens.

Story- 9
The story can be considered as something that you're going to end up seeing a lot. Set in the future, Plastic Memories follows the protagonist, Tsukasa Mizugaki, who, ... due to circumstances, was not given the chance to enter college. As a result, he ends up getting a job retrieving Giftia. Giftia being a special type of Android loaded with a synthetic soul that display almost all the traits a living human does. You've almost definitely heard something resembling this plot before, although this show does it better, due to one plot point. The Giftia have an extremely limited lifespan of roughly 9 years and 4 months. And after that lifespan reaches 0 hours, the Giftia loses all personality and memories.
Here is where the the protagonist and his job step in. The job of Terminal Service, where Tsukasa is employed, is to retrieve those Giftia before their expiration date, as well as terminating the program and memories planted into that Giftia. This is where those heavy themes come into play. "Our job... Is tearing memories apart."

Art- 10
The way you judge the art all comes down to opinion. Plastic Memories has a definite style to the art as well as the general feel of the show. The way they went about animating captures the sci-fi aspect almost perfectly. Character movements are smooth and fluid, and the backgrounds are absolutely amazing. At some points, when characters are talking, the shading/background color will change to some other, vibrant color.
While it comes down to opinion, the art of this show is one of my favorites, and most likely will be for a long while.

Characters- 9
While only listed as a sci-fi show, Plastic Memories is also a slice of life, with a good dose of romance as well. Tsukasa is paired up with Isla, a Giftia nearing the end of her life span.
While Tsukasa has his own problems, and Isla attempts to come to terms with her gradual loss of functionality, they go about their job, retrieving Giftia- after understanding the feelings of the owner.

This is where the show really shines. The side characters, or the owners of the Giftia marked for retrieval. Giftia display almost, if not all, the emotions a human does. Love, fear, hate, regret. After living with an Android like that for nine years, how attached would you be? Would you love that Android? Would you hate to let it go? Would you hate it for imitating a human? Would you regret making memories with it, only to have them torn apart?
These are the heavy themes I was talking about. Almost all of the side characters are wonderfully developed, whether they are someone who refuses to let their Giftia be retrieved, or someone who hates their Giftia, calling her a liar.

And let's not forget the romance aspect of the show.
Tsukasa, as the official partner of Isla, the Giftia, is also her recognized owner.
Very quickly these two come to fall in love with each other. But in comes another one of these heavy themes.
If you had a month left to live, would you accept the feeling of the person you loved glad to make as many memories as possible?
Or would you not want to hurt them in only a month's time?
Like I said, this is a slice of life show. While being a cute and fluffy romance, extremely heavy themes are present.

Sound- 8
The soundtrack is able to capture the happy yet sad atmosphere of the show.
I really can't say much about the OP and ED, except that they fit the tone of the show. (Except I love the way they animated the ending.)
One thing I noticed only after rewatching the show, is that the end of the opening, Isla seems to change her reaction as the show and the relationship between her and Tsukasa progresses.

Enjoyment- 10
I love this show. It's also the only anime that almost made me cry. And I've watched Angel Beats, Clannad, and other shows that people claim made them bawl.
The ending is just so damn sad.

Overall- 9
Keep in mind this review is completely opinion-based, and if you disagree with me scoring it a 9, that's completely fine with me. Maybe I'm looking at the show too deeply, or I'm just a sucker for romances that develop like this, but I can honestly say that this is probably one of my favorite anime of all time. That might seem like a bold opinion, but hey, that's what it is. An opinion.
Anyways, I'd recommend this show to anyone who's looking for a decent romance, as this is one of the better ones that I personally have seen recently, and I'd recommend it to just about anyone who's looking for a good show.
Have a good day, MAL~

Ok, this is my very first review so do not expect too much of it.
Plastic Memories is a Drama, Comedy, Romance and Sci-fi style of anime.
Basically, there are robots named "giftias" that helps people domestically, or for others reasons. They have an operating period and as soon as this deadline ends, they start loosing its memory and end up becoming threats to people, so they have to be collected, but this time is about of nine years, more than enough time to develop a good relationship with your giftia, and that's the main purpose of the anime.

On the issue of drama, it can be a ... very dramatic anime, when you anxiously want to know what will happen in the next episode. The comedy is good, but is not the strongest point in the anime, it was a good point to create an affection with the characters, but as I said, it's not the strongest point of the anime. About the romance, there's that one typical problem faced by the protagonists in almost every romance anime, where they are concerned about frivolous things and end up taking many time to develop a relationship because of theirs shyness and other trivial reasons.

Here are my grades:
Story (9/10): For me the story is very good and with a good focus, it wanted to demonstrate that even having little time to create good memories to someone, it's better than have not created any. In the beggining, this anime presented all the plot and in my opinion the story became a little predictable, I mean, it became easy to know what would happen throughout the course of the anime, not as much as turning que anime less enjoyable, but that is a small negative point.

Art (10/10): The art of anime is very beautiful as well as most anime coming out, nothing important to say here.

Sound (10/10): As far as openings, sound effects and OST's are very well made and give pleasure to my ears, on openings and endings, I think it is something extremely important for an anime, and they pleased me a lot.

Character (9/10): There are several characters that have very different personalities, are typical characters of anime, but hefty well, everyone has their defects and their abilities.

Enjoyment(9/10): I have to admit that sometimes I felt very anxious to see the next episode, but there were also times when I had almost no desire to watch it, but the anime itself is very pleasurable to watch and so this grade is nine.

Overall: (10/10): I think the anime is really a masterpiece, the end is great and full of feelings, many people criticize the end saying it was very predictable and obvious, but in my opinion was a realistic end and so unexpected.

-POSSIBLE DANGER OF SPOILER-
The end of the anime is very criticized, because they say it was obvious and predictable, but the truth is that what was expected was to be a final in which everything would be fine and they would be happy in the end by some miracle, what would be technically impossible, so I do not think that was obvious and much less predictable, was a great, realistic and perfect end, Isla was happy and so was Tsukasa, they made what they wanted to do and Isla could rest in peace.

Watching Plastic Memories is like taking a science class. I don’t why but my professor used to assign these experiments for us to do and when we finish, he always asked what we learned. Plastic Memories has this experimental feel when it takes its story in a sci-fi direction with a utopia-like setting. In a place (I assume a fictional alternate Japan) where robotics has made advancements to a point where we humans rely on them, there’s all sorts of possibilities.

Directed by Yoshiyuki Fujiwara with Naotaka Hayashi writing the script, Plastic Memories is an original anime not based off any material. There’s a plus ... for this as it will leave the audience to expect the unexpected. Also, it’s studio Dogakobo’s first original work. Recently they have been involved in some slice of life anime series that may or may not left an impression. Nonetheless, Plastic Memories combines element of sci-fi, drama, and slice of life to craft this futuristic story – one where humans and robots co-exist as a sort of experiment.

A lot needs to be learned from the very few episodes. In fact, I think the first episode is one of the most important one of the series as it establishes many mechanics that carries their purpose throughout the whole duration. First, we have Giftia, a term to describe biological androids with capability to interact, understand, and function with humans. They even have emotional appeals to as seen constantly throughout the show. What makes this setup interesting is that they have a mind of their own rather than being just a mere program. Another interesting and more important element is that Gifitias have limited lifespans. According to the series, they can live up to approximately 81920 (9 years and 3 months). So when thinking about this, it can be made for a fact that the show spells out relationships that are doomed to end. What I find interesting about this addition is that the experiences the show tries to deliver will make more impact. And in a way, that’s something to think about.

Anyone who has seen Chobits or a show about human-robot relationships may be familiar with this premise. The main male protagonist Tsukasa Mizugaki becomes involved with SAI Corporation, a place where Gifitias are designed and made. His job is to actually retrieve Gifitias that are near the end of their lifespan. I guess what happens next could be fate or something but he is partnered with Isla, a Gifitia who is supposed to be “experienced” in doing the task. Little did we know…

In essence, Plastic Memories offers a little bit of everything except for giant robot wars or an android rebellion. No, what I find this series attractive in a few ways is how it handles each episode to add a little bit more and more to what it started off. Every episode shows development for our characters. In particular, Tsukasa and Isla’s relationship is a core element that seems to push forward the story. From the beginning, they are not particular close. Tsukasa is a newbie so he lacks experience while Isla herself also doesn’t seem to be skillful at retrieving Gifitias. So what do we have now? An unbalanced pair? Somewhat like that but there’s also an odd connection between the two. The pair has one human and one android capable of interacting in human-like behaviors. They are not programmed to act like zombies but instead actually has genuine emotions. In general, we see this throughout the story from a variety of perspectives. Especially in some of the later episodes, there are cases where Gifitias and their partners refuses to surrender themselves despite knowing that an everlasting relationship is non-existent. So when it comes to Tsukasa and Isla, it’s also obvious that one day, their relationship will cease to exist. That brings back to what I mentioned before as the show tests their relationship each episode. It’s kind of like an experiment where both characters learns about each other and perhaps even themselves.

While Tsukasa and Isla are the main focus of the show, there’s also other characters that play meaningful roles. Michiru, another employee and superior of Isla, brings into the show a harsher reality of their jobs. In essence, her past shows that violence and requisition also becomes part of their society when Gifitas are forcefully terminated when due time comes. In one of the mid-season episodes, it breaks down the barriers of lightheartedness and shows a darker side of their society. Then, there are other characters such as Zack, Kazuki, Yasutaka, among others. While their roles aren’t as significant as the main leads, they do also bring in a mixture of drama and comedy into the series.

Speaking of comedy, I have to say that Plastic Memories is a hit or miss. From the beginning, it can be pleasing especially with some of the jokes and dialogues between the main characters. Then, it gets repetitive. I mean repetitive as in the same type of recycled themes that you may find in harem-esque shows. While this series isn’t a harem, there are times when it resorts to similar antics. Also, timing is a key and only on occasions do I find some of the comedy appropriate as the series progresses. In short, a middling entertainment is how I can describe the comedy. On the other hand, there’s appreciation and effort given to the drama elements. Hints of romance are also evident while we see how much Tsukasa and Isla’s relationship develops. And while this isn’t a rom-com shoujo, there are moments that feels like so that’s nicely paced and well-acted. Otherwise, this isn’t at a level that will get so complex where you’ll spill your popcorn. The story itself also has a rather strange pacing at times. Sometimes, the standalone episodes feels little more than a waste of time while other others has a distinctive way of story building. Neither are a major impact to the overall series in general though.

Honestly, the artwork feels smooth. It works because of its charming visual feat and texture the studio puts into the character designs. The watercolor-like atmosphere also paints and communicates its point across; to get let the audience feel the portrayal of its setting. In fact, the setting of the series itself has credible artwork with its futuristic architecture, machinery, and of course the Gafitia. While there’s nothing special to say about Tsukasa, his partner Isla does have a few peculiar characteristics. Her expressions of a hybrid stoic/emotional/cluelessness can get the audience to be quite curious of her. Other characters also shows a good amount of texture with their design. It’s interesting to see how the Gafitia resemble so much like humans in physical design despite knowing that they have limited lifespans, far less than our own.

Music has a stronger appeal to a show like this. It’s important to match the atmosphere to create a sensation and I think the show nailed it with its OST. Yokoyama Masaru (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, Joshiraku) composes of the music which delivers its purpose – creating a feel of sensation. I also have to give some credit to the voice actors and actresses for portraying the characters. It’s not always easy to play the role of a non-human character but Isla in particular has a voice that feels welcoming to this show. Similarly, the OP and ED theme songs are coordinated with a smooth delicacy and bits of charm.

In retrospect, Plastic Memories has a feeling of sensitivity behind it. It told a human story about a biological android and how Isla adapted and learned from a human. There are times when it can make you genuinely feel moved by its storytelling while other times are easily forgettable. I think most of that applies to the recurring jokes for the latter as this series’ comedy really feels lackluster. The romance itself, while innocent and charming, suffers from pacing. You’ll also have to keep an eye on the lookout for a lot of the mechanics that makes this series possible. However, this show does represent a cutting edge of sci-fi fiction with a good dose of slice of life. Life is just seriously full of surprises at times.

There is so much wrong with Plastic Memories that it should never have been created. It is literally about a dude who falls in love with a midget robot who also happens to be a minor.

Story 1/10 : The anime has no real plot progression because everything is pushed back to the beginning after the last episode. The show tries to have the audience learn some messages and themes through the experiences of Tsukasa and Isla, but Tsukasa is this basic dude who has no reason to be heavily impacted by these messages. "Giftias" are the focal point of the sci-fi setting, but they ... don't make any sense whatsoever. I don't believe one person would go to the pet store and decide to pick out the human.

Setting 5/10: The setting is the only decent thing about Plastic Memories is the futuristic atmosphere that is unfortunately overwhelmed by the stereotypical design choices

Characters -5/10: I don't even know what to say. Tsukasa is by far the worst main character I have ever seen in an anime who acts completely like an NPC throughout the entire show. Isla is a robot that you are supposed to care about because she is going out of commission in a year or so. Batteries die all the time and all you have to do is replace them.

*rest of the review here

Conclusion: If you want to sit down and actually enjoy a show, don't waste your time with Plastic Memories. Everyone says that it makes you "rethink your life", but the only thing you'll be rethinking was the last 4 hours you spent wasted on this show.

Have you ever seen an anime with a premise so uninspired and lacking in imagination that you know it's doomed for failure before it even gets a chance to show off? However, because you're an anime fan who finds it pointless to just watch stuff you like, you continue on out of sheer curiosity regarding how badly it'll be handled, only to realize you underestimated the depths a man can take to stretch said weak premise out in order to fit a full-series length? That's pretty much how I watch practically 90% of the anime I keep up with on a regular basis, and Plastic ... Memories happens to be one of said percentage.

Yes, trying to demand ambition from Dogakobo is like begging a grizzly bear to save you from hitmen despite the fact that he's a fucking corpse because you thought poisoning his berry patch would have been a funny to make on Facebook (you monster), so I wasn't too surprised that the show turned out as inane as it did. But whilst I've yet to meet a colleague who disagreed with me, the semi-good reaction this show has been getting from the overall community is more baffling than an Australian politician's general incompetence at being human. I know a lot of anime fans love “feels” and all, which makes these sort of shows both easy and difficult to criticize. Because whilst it’s easy to say what doesn’t work about ‘em, said method of storytelling is ultimately a style, the same way all music and humor is a style at the end of the day. It either works for you or it doesn’t, making any criticism you dish out being rendered ultimately pointless by the fact that your brain and childhood just isn’t hardwired to get it.

The thing is though, even by those incredibly irrational standards, Plastic Memories is pretty damn awful right down to the very concept. In some distant future exists humanoid androids called “Gifita” who only have a fixed lifespan of ten years, because any longer than that and they become more rabid than a pack of raccoons after being sprayed by a skunk. Just before said lifespan expires, they are retrieved by a group of "Retrievers" in order to be put to sleep, basically making them futuristic dogs except with the ability to talk and act out your pedophilic tendencies towards if you so choose. Except the show isn't really even about how dog retrieval life is like. It's about the actual partings and what they mean to people, with most of said story being told through an office worker and his "actually dog" partner. Reminds me of that awful era when Dogakobo was releasing visual novel adaptations that had decent premises on paper and proceeded to ignore ‘em completely in favor of either two things: shallow melodramatic shit and shallow melodramatic shit with poorly animated fight scenes.

Incidentally, the office workers in this anime look pretty damn young, don't they? I'm not expecting a huge growth spurt or anything after you leave high school, but the younger characters all look and act like the kouhai of the middle schoolers in Evangelion whilst the older ones are pretty much the grown-up Evangelion characters with some of the blandest designs you'll ever see. It would have been an improvement to just have them all wear black face.

The anime is written by Naotaka Hayashi, whose previous works were about taking high-concept sci-fi and proceeding to just throw it in the background whilst focusing on characterization that's basically just putting a bunch of nerd tropes together and giving them one gimmick that's not even all that important to the story half the time. But if those semicolon adaptations are the equivalent of a romance film starring Ryan O'Neal, Plastic Memories is the direct-to-video sequel that was never made because it was too stupid for the world to see. And it’s not just because I find the show overly manipulative. In fact, I think detractors in general overuse that criticism, never taking into consideration why and how something can even be considered overly manipulative in the first place. You can’t just say “I hate manipulation” because as I myself keep saying, ALL drama is manipulative. Even Mufasa’s death in The Lion King is manipulative, and it’s still considered by many to be one of the best achievements in western animation to this day.

But whilst it wasn’t the only reason why said scene was powerful for most people, at the end of the day, you can’t deny that The Lion King in general is a big film with grand ambitions beyond an annoying Jonathan Taylor-Thomas character crying over his dead daddy. Plastic Memories, on the other hand, is literally all about some bland guy we don’t even learn anything about getting sad about the fact that his dog is dying. Except in order to increase the manipulation, said dog is actually a small moe girl. I don’t claim to be an expert of the genre, but practically every single story about a dog from Old Yeller to that Silverfang anime from the 80s has always been sad, because they always involve parting with ‘em and...well...is there any way to spin a happy tale out of that? What matters is how you use said tragedy from representing growth to...erm...representing growth, and Plastic Memories doesn’t even do that.

By the end of this incredibly padded story - because someone thought that repeating the same toothless joke up to three times an episode at minimum and a random incident involving some black market dealers that’s never brought up again counts as a legitimate way to achieve a one-cour length from this - you know nothing new about anything. Only the main couple is important in the grand scheme of things, and they never grow up from where they started - something they were in dire need of because they have less maturity than a middle school kid who believes that Santa Claus is real and looks like Elmo from Sesame Street. There’s an ambiguous closing scene involving a Giftia whose face isn’t shown after a short time-skip following the final climax. And no matter how you spin it, said scene doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.

If the Giftia’s body is whose I think it is, that would ruin whatever character journey you can wring out of the main. And if it’s not, then what exactly is the dude going to apply in regards to this new being? The show refuses to accomplish more than the very basics of what you can achieve with visual novel-style writing and tragedy stories in general to the point that I’m practically convinced at this point that Naotaka Hayashi is less of a real person and more of an auto-generating machine when someone wants to release a VN-style anime. Bland nice guy schmuck? Check. Little moe love interest who can’t take care of herself? Check. Tsundere who not-so-secretly helps the couple whilst desiring “bland nice guy” cock? Check. Potentially interesting world buried under banal personal problems? Check. Reminding us that Evangelion exists? Every anime does that these days, but check anyways.

As a result, no one from the creators to the actual characters this show is supposed to be centered on seem to be into anything, and that’s pretty much why Plastic Memories fails. Even if you ignore the cardboard stereotypes, the cloying melodrama, the flat visuals, and forgettable music, this show just doesn’t accomplish anything it sets out to do at all. The decision to set the anime in a futuristic worlds adds nothing to the story, the working environment adds nothing to the characters, and whatever moral I’m supposed to get out of the story is buried under a lot of crappy cliches. Even Dreamworks’ movies have made their agendas clear underneath their crappy pop-culture referencing and animation hiccups. And when you have less going for you than Bee Movie and Shrek 3...well then I’ve got no more words to waste on you. You sad, pity party-seeking loser.

Often times, anime becomes an effective outlet for limitless fictional worlds, ones that reach out far beyond the norm to accurately portray the original vision of the worlds' creators. Often times, these worlds suffer from being too complicated, too busy and too cluttered with the many ideas that have no place in a twelve or thirteen episode run. Often times, these twelve or thirteen episodes are the cause to many, many headaches of mine.
And yet, Plastic Memories has me missing those headaches, the ones spawned from such an expansive world, because this is something Plastic Memories has failed to explore.

While the anime provides an interesting ... base concept and characters that are lovable on perhaps a surface level, it leaves much to be desired in that there are many existential questions left unexplored as they are deemed out of place in Plastic Memories' established rom-com genre.

Much like Chobits, Plastic Memories has the appeal of human/robot couple, but unlike Chobits, the pairing has almost nothing at stake.
During our thirteen episodes, we witness the awkward romance of Tsukasa and his robotic love interest, Isla, and throughout their narrative, nothing is pitted against them besides Isla's expiration date--an interesting aspect of the story that rarely comes up, replaced instead by a heap of filler episodes. In fact, besides this expiration date, the world of Plastic Memories has little to no conflict in it.
It's frustrating to watch, because there is a towering amount of set-up for a touching narrative on loss and acceptance, and that is never fully explored! There is set-up for some sort of commentary on humanity, and that isn't even touched on!
I find it a crime for a show to contain the same romantic dynamic of Chobits and fly so far from the meager philosophical commentary that Chobits provides. I find it a crime for a world to contain robots heavily integrated in society and not explore that aspect at all.

To continue down the path of minuscule fictional exploration, the characters in Plastic Memories are incredibly underdeveloped.
The show is more concerned with providing the cliches present in every rom-com than it is with differentiating itself from the other members of the genre. We know very little about Tsukasa, Isla and the many side characters, in favor of simple misunderstandings and the cookie-cutter tsundere yelling about something that hardly matters.
We are told things about Tsukasa and are expected to simply accept these aspects of his character, without so much as a flashback to back it up, making it very hard to sympathize with him. In fact, we get more background for the tsundere, Michiru, who receives more attention in terms of fleshing out the character than Isla, who is supposed to be the focus of the show.
As a result, the cast is very one note and forgettable, often tragically struggling to make the viewers care.

Unfortunately, I don't care.

When I was first introduced to the series, I was prepared to be emotionally torn to pieces by Isla's death looming over her; I was prepared for each new episode to be more painful than the last, for the tragedy of the series to be dragged out until the very last episode when mortality came to claim its eventual prize.
I was prepared, and instead I got romantic filler. Episode after episode features Tsukasa getting embarrassed about something new, with maybe a minute or two of screen time dedicated to the actual plot. Three episodes before the finale is a filler, and as a result, everything afterwards seems rushed and out of place.
The whole tone of the show can't decide whether it wants to be depressing or silly, and while I have seen other series where both are juggled successfully, Plastic Memories is not one of them.

To conclude, as a romantic comedy, Plastic Memories has all the essentials to carry it through from episode one to episode thirteen.
As a new, memorable and touching story, as a tragedy about a girl with so little time left, it has nothing.

Similar to a sandwich missing everything except the bread, Plastic Memories leaves me unsatisfied.

[Spoiler Warning]

Plastic Memories is a show that very few people will be able to fully understand, emphasize with, and appreciate. It is a story about love, family, memories, loss, but most of all, it is a story about smiling through pain and understanding yourself.

The story is nothing amazing, as this is very much a character focused sci-fi love story with some light comedy touches. Many have complained about how the comedy takes away from the tone of the series, and while I can see that, you do have to appreciate how through the comedy, you see more about the characters than ever before. For example, ... in episode three, Tsukasa Mizugaki and Isla start living together. Isla won't talk to Tsukasa, so Tsukasa does everything in his power to make Isla talk to him. While this is very much a comedic episode, it highlights two things: 1: How Isla is so disconnected from everything in her life and the world, and 2: Tsukasa's love for Isla. This is something people often forget about when criticizing this show. Another brilliant thing this comedy does for you on rewatches is to highlight the sadness of the show after you learn more about Isla.

The art and music of this show are also fantastic. The art design looks absolutely beautiful, with gorgeous lighting and environments, and the music often shakes you to the core.

And then there's the ending scene. This is the most I've ever cried watching a form of medium... ever. Nothing even comes close. You can see the shows I've seen on my list.

I mentioned before how very few people will, essentially, understand this anime. And this is it: It's because you can't really empathize with the characters of this show unless you are a specific type of person. I can't really go into more detail unless you've seen the show to the end. Just know this: this show is among the best I've ever seen.

Overall, this show made me cry, smile, laugh, glare, and through it all, I was feeling such a storm of emotion and connection very few anime (or mediums) strive to create. I can't recommend this show enough.

Edit: Okay, so I know saying some pretty pretentious stuff here, but going any more in-depth here will spoil the series. Just trust me on that.

So now that Spring season basically ended, it's time to review anime. Plastic Memories is an anime by Aniplex about this Corporation that is known for taking back these robots with human emotions called "Giftia" once it is time to take them back.

Before we get right into Plastic Memories, I would like point out something about Aniplex.
Aniplex is known for working on Angels Beats and Anohana. Just by me mentioning those two, you pretty much know what to expect from Plastic Memories.
I thought Angel Beats was alright, but it's praised for having such a sad ending and many tragic moments. I found the ... show to lack character development and the pacing was awfully rushed. It would've been a great show if it took its time to present the story in a better way and if the show was 24 episodes. Worst of all, I didn't find it to be really all that sad.
I can't say much about Anohana; I watched 3 episodes and it's now on-hold, but for what I've heard, it has
"The saddest animu ending evaaa!!"
For what I watched in those 3 episodes, it felt like nothing was really happening and it was all just a build up to a sad ending.
And now we have Plastic Memories, which is being called the "saddest animu of this year!!"
Where do I stand with this
judgement? Well...

Plastic Memories wasn't good, it was pretty bland. The first episode was actually pretty good, I was very interested in the story and the concept it presented. Though, the characters looked extremely generic and boring, they weren't too bad in the first episode. But then the show took this really weird direction, for some reason.

Plastic Memories has only one tag and that tag is "Sci-fi." I can understand if this was the tag for the first episode and maybe the second, but everything after it isn't a sci-fi at all. It's a complete RomCom that has some sci-fi elements from time to time, but nothing to call the whole show just a "sci-fi" anime.
The story is actually pretty interesting and something I wanted to see play out well, but it was never focused on it. It all just feels like the show had a great direction, but then an idiot changed the script. Episode 3 is the start of this series starting to build this RomCom and drifting away from the plot we were supposed to be focusing on. Lots of stuff are introduced throughout the series when it tries to go back to the actual plot, but they barely explain it and it ends up leaving a few plot holes. I think Plastic Memories should've balanced the plot with the romance instead of just ignoring the plot entirely, just to focus on the very generic and boring romance.

The characters were all dull and none of them felt like real people. If the show is not gonna focus on the plot much, then they need great characters to keep the show going. Unfortunately, this was a complete waste. The dialog in the show was very standard and made the humans feels like robots more than the actual robots. The characters are utterly bland and are flatter than a 4 year-old's ass.

Isla is one of the Giftia's that is working with our male main character, Tsukasa. Isla is simply a loli and there isn't much to say about her. She's the typical shy girl that slowly opens up to the main character. She's not well developed and she's not interesting at all.

Tsukasa is super generic, bland and just very uninteresting. He's the nice main character that is very shy. You never really care for him and I never found myself liking his character at all. I didn't hate him, I was just not invested in his character.

The other characters simply feel like plot devices to get our main characters together before the ending. Also, most of them are characters you would expect in a generic RomCom, like the typical Tsundere. The whole show is just one build up to the ending, that you can predict after watching 2 or 3 episodes. Everything that happens can be predicted easily, not only because it's very easy to spot and they make it extremely noticeable, but also, because it has been done to death already. It's not unique in any way and has nothing new going for it. Now, I'm not saying that you have to be completely original and not do something that has been done before, but at least give it a new spin instead of making me watch the same show I've watched before. I mention this because some people would bring up that making something original these days is very hard, and I completely agree, but making the exact same show with very little change to it is kinda lazy. I mean, Plastic Memories tried to do something new with the plot, but it never focused on it well after the first 2 episodes.

The animation was pretty standard Romantic Comedy kind of animation. Nothing really stands out and it never impressed me, it was just pretty average. The soundtrack is not really worth mentioning. It's alright, the OP is good and the ED is good, but the score is pretty average. The character designs were completely generic. The thing that bothered me so much about them, is that the mains looked exactly like the mains in Absolute Duo, which I just wanna forget about by now.

The comedic episode in Plastic Memories never felt like they belonged in the show. Especially just little moments in the show where they just make a very out of placed joke, that wasn't really funny at all. Like, yeah, that is completely subjective, you might find it hilarious, but you're supposed to know when to place the comedy. You're not supposed to place comedy seconds after a very serious and dramatic scene. It's very unbalanced and it ruins every sense of emotion behind it. It's like a bipolar person wrote the script at times, and said, "Well, fuck this guy, let's kill off everyone and now, for a very well placed joke to make everyone feel better."
It just ends up reminding me of the comedy in Your Lie in April. Only that in Your Lie in April, the comedy is sometimes delivered in a good moment, but Plastic Memories has no idea when it's time for a good moment.

Overall, Plastic Memories is a huge disappointment for people that liked the first episode like I did. The whole thing is a build up to the ending, which actually wasn't bad, but the journey to get to that ending kinda was. I would be lying if I said I wasn't entertained while watching it, but it's mostly because I had nothing else to do. Now, I'm aware that some people will enjoy this show, and that's not a bad thing. I'm only saying how I feel about this anime, and if you're a person that would be bothered by the things I mentioned in my review, then I would suggest you skip this one. I'm pretty sure that most of us can agree that this had potential to be better, and I'm gonna give Plastic Memories a 4/10.

🚨🚨🚨Spoiler Section🚨🚨🚨
This is gonna be a quick spoiler section for the ending. If you don't want the ending spoiled, then please skip this, if you already watched the show or you don't plan on watching it, then keep reading.

Why the fuck didn't Tsukasa do anything about Isla at the end of the show? If you don't know, Isla basically dies or they simply take her back. But I mean, Tsukasa didn't try to somehow save her? She's not dead, she's just sleeping forever. There was so much potential to be had with this anime, but the writers didn't care. After the credits of the last episode, we see Tsukasa coming back months after to work with this new person. Exactly when that happened, it reminded me of the ending for Angel Beats.
Really, Aniplex? No fucking creativity at all?
"Oh, it's supposed to be sad, because she dies."
The only thing that died was the potential for an anime that could've been alright.
🚨🚨🚨 End of Spoilers 🚨🚨🚨

"There's one thing about this job you need to remember: doing this job never feels rewarding." -Isla

Well thanks for that, Isla. Sometimes that's the reviewer's life too.

Onto Plastic Memories-


The Good Stuff:

Sound and Voice Acting: 7
...
So, we've got some super veterans like the awesome Megumi Toyoguchi (Revy, Black Lagoon, Winry, FMA/B) as the underutilized, but funny psycho boss, Kazuki. Sora Amamiya (Touka, Tokyo Ghoul) also heads up as Isla, and does a good job playing the airhead, naive character. There's also Mr. "Screw The Rules" Seto Kaiba himself, Kenjirou Tsuda. The OST is a bit underwhelming, and during some key moments is actually silent. Very forgettable.


The Aight Stuff:

Artwork and Animation: 5

Pretty plain, run of the mill animation. Nothing flashy, nothing outstanding, just does what it does. You've got the different characters you can tell apart by their hair color, and pretty much everyone else fades to the background in shades of brown and gray. Chibi faces, blue with shock, and all kinds of blushing are here, and teasing the girl with big boobs, if that kind of stuff appeals to you.


The Rest (Rest in RIP, more like):

Story and Characters: 2, 1

I'm going to be frank- Plastic Memories is a case of false advertising. Oh but the fanboys will cry foul with how "feelsy" and "sad" it is. Yeah, it's "feelsy" and heartfelt if you're a complete sap sucker. Anime fans seem to be drawn to this nebulous and utterly trite idea of "feels" over and over in these pathetically thin "tragic love stories", and for no good reason. It's turning into a genre of its own, this recycled tugging-at-heartstrings narrative- so much to the point where we're literally watching the same kid and his dog die every week, with a slightly different coat of paint. If I want to watch that crap, I'll go to the Hallmark channel, dang. This show is grasping at straws for a romance narrative after starting out onto the path of what seemed to be an interesting psychological show.

You see, the Plastic Memories fans have conveniently forgotten how terribly paced and off topic the first several episodes are compared to what it transitions to later in the show. In the beginning, Plastic Memories was dropping lines like "Ripping apart memories is our job" and "Having happy and beautiful memories won't always bring you salvation. The more beautiful a memory is, the more painful it can become". That's some dark and heavy shit. That's not romcom material.

Furthermore, the plot was asking questions of itself like, "what happens to these androids when they're retired?" and "why is it that science only allows for them to have this limited lifespan?" which are never addressed.

It's this taste of a psychological narrative about loss and the meaning of kinship and companionship that I thought this show was going to be about that interested me in it in the first place. If I were to infer what the story was about by the synopsis provided by MAL, I would not conclude that this was a story about loss and coping, along with maybe some action and a touch of comedy, mostly serious stuff. I never make note of the tags that shows are listed by, because they're irrelevant anyway, but Plastic Memories takes the irrelevance cake- it has one tag: Sci-Fi. Well Ho-lee crap, tell me something I don't know.

Kind of like the title implies, Plastic Memories has an identity crisis going on.

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The Giftias (the androids central to the show) are imprinted with varying personalities. One of the ones retrieved (the universe term for being disposed of when their predetermined lifespan runes out) was a bodyguard for a Mafia man, another was a child for a parent, one a parent to an orphan, and all sorts of other familial relations. The effect of the loss of what's effectively a close family member is touched upon early, but dumped in favor of yet another teen romance show.

While this could be a great setup for "is it human love that we require, or a sense of companionship?" or another existential theme about "are the androids capable of their own thought?" but no. They even touch on a deep political and sociological subject of "since the Giftias are owned, can they even become people?"

No, Plastic Memories is too heavy handed in exposition for that. Rather than leaving it up to the audience to decide, they just lay it all out there. Despite the completely arbitrary "Made For TV™" drama of a 10 year life span, it's explained that Giftia owners have the option to re-use the body of the Giftia when it's retired, and they can even REPLANT THE SAME PERSONALITY inside of it! There are murmurings of "Can the Giftias remember anything from their past incarnations?" But this is quickly dropped in favor of "OMG HOW SAD THE GIFTIAS ARE THIS POOR TIME BOMB OF FEELINGS WHAT DO YOU DOOOOO!?"

-----

So, despite the fact that you're hit with what you know to be end of the show in the first two episodes, and the solution is also already given... the authors decide to change gears to this melodramatic sob fest filled with tsundere side chick, overbearing people trying to live Tsukasa's life for him, and a general clusterf*ck of slice of life and cheap romance.

You can't even blame these plot holes on a crappy adaptation, because Plastic Memories is a WHOLLY ORIGINAL anime! The writers at Doga Kobo started off with a passable concept, and then passed the pen to somebody who just got done reading some garbage ass, written with an 8 year old's concept of love Twilight fanfic, and then tried desperately to plagiarize it while drunk!

-----

The characters, much like the story, fit the title perfectly. Plastic. Fake. Artificial. Phony.

What's perhaps the most damning part of how fake this show is, is that we're shown through Isla's words and actions that she, as a Giftia, has NO EMPATHY. (For the vocabulary challenged among us, empathy is being able to UNDERSTAND emotions, not feel sorry for someone- which is sympathy.) {Have sympathy for people who suffered through this show, but empathize that you understand their anger and frustration.}
That's right- Giftias can't understand human being's emotions. They MANUFACTURE their own """Plastic Feelings"""", emotions and moods and project that outwardly. Kazuki herself explains what the feeling of regret is to Isla in episode 10, on top of how many times we see "love" and "sadness" explained to the Giftias.

So my question to the plot and writers is now, "why the hell should anyone in the show {much less a viewer} even care about Giftias being taken away when their lives end?" Sure, something that's been a staple in your life for 10 years being excised one day could hurt, but they're not humans. They're basically just glorified pets. Doga Kobo makes NO attempt at trying to make the Giftias more human, particularly because the other Giftias in the show are even more robotic than Isla is! Guess what? The best part is that they replace the Giftia's personality with a new one, for FREE! Who's to say that Isla's body isn't someone else's long gone child or girlfriend??

Make some new memories, Tsukasa, preferably with a real person this time. They have OKCupid in this world, right? (Also, wtf happened to nepotism in the future?)
Tsukasa Mizugaki:
Age: 19
Sex: No
Location: Terminal Service (lol not the hospital morgue, but I want to kill myself)
Interests: crushing on robots, being a sappy, bumbling idiot, having no sense of social cues, and ignoring the advances of real women in favor of robots.
Looking For: A clumsy girl who refuses to talk to me and/or a hot and cold spicy redhead.


Overall and Recommendation: 3

If you want a really generic SOL romcom that starts like crap and ends with THA FEELS (or inversely, an interesting premise of a psychological show that goes Hindenburg after about 4 episodes)... Knock yourself out.

Drop me a line for whenever you feel that fanboy rage building up after reading this one- I look forward to it.

This is my first review. I tried my best to keep this as spoiler-free as possible. I felt compelled to write this because Pla-Memo is my favourite anime and I found it underrated, and the current reviews are also degrading its reputation. I watched Pla-Memo for the first time 3 months ago and after re-watching now I decided to write this review, I haven't changed my mind that this is my overall favourite anime.

Story: 10/10. First of all, the anime perfectly complies with its genres stated. The drama is really great, one can feel it even in the very first episode. Later on, the romance ... becomes also astonishingly remarkable. And of course the plot itself is Sci-Fi as the anime is being held in some future where the "Giftias" become fashionable. I found many people disliking the idea of the "Robot-human", yes it is over-powered and may be dangerous, but Giftias do have many advantages. Most importantly, Pla-Memo is different from any other drama anime, it is unique, the idea of giftias itself differentiates it from the mainstream drama like characters simply dying for instance. The plot is outstanding. There is also a very wide variety of events happening in merely 13 episodes, I was surprised the first time I completed the series. The first half of the season mainly focuses on introducing you to the life of the characters and their job at SAI Terminal Service. After this comes the more intense romance part, I found it just flawless. After watching the last episode you'll get me. Of course there were also comedy components in each episode.

Sound: 9/10. There is not a great range of music but quality is definitely present. The opening theme and ending theme have great potential of bringing tears after you completed the series. You can even notice slight changes after each episode if you watch closely. Of course as it is a drama, there are so many sad songs, they fit superbly though. The other sounds are also very well-organised; you can get chills, there are screams, cries, laughter, but very co-ordinated balance.

Character: 10/10. Isla and Tsukasa are in the spotlight for the anime. Isla is one of my favourite characters, she is a short and clumsy giftia but has human feelings. Her past is extremely riveting, and how it is revealed throughout the anime and how her character gradually changes is so satisfying to watch. Tsukasa is not really a superlative character but he is very considerate, he greatly cares for his partner. Besides the two leading characters, we have the duo of Michiru and Zack, if one has read the manga beforehand, the presence of these two fellows can be even more entertaining while watching the anime. Michiru, the classic tsundere, and Zack casually making fun of her is so fun to watch. I also liked all the other members of their circle, Yasutaka is here for the comedy, Sherry for the seriousness, Constance is a very nice guy... and Kazuki actually plays an exceptionally important role, both in guiding the main protagonists to do their job smoothly as well as in buttressing their personal relationship.

Enjoyment: 10/10. The first time I completed this anime was in one-sitting of about 4 hours (from 8pm to past-midnight more precisely). It was extraordinarily emotional, "the feels" were real ! I felt the "depression feeling" that I rarely get after watching a drama (until now, only Pla-Memo and Clannad: After-Story made me feel so, comparingly, Angel Beats, AnoHana and Your Lie in April are nothing, thats my opinion). You even realise some very true stuff about life itself, I can relate, for example, like Isla's quote: "Having happy and beautiful memories don't always bring you salvation. The more beautiful a memory is, the more painful it can become." That was deep. Yet, until now I did not come across any anime as beautiful as Pla-Memo, certainly that is my own idea, but all of this review is to encourage those who haven't checked the anime yet to go and watch it. However, if you do not wanna cry or get depressed, I may recommend you NOT to try this. Pla-Memo is a passionate drama, I privately love drama/romance genres like this (though this anime is distinctively special). Still, I am not saying that you are forced to cry while watching this, its all about opinions, but it is a fact that the emotions are greatly present and if you are a romantic-drama fan, it is definitely worth the try!

Overall 10/10

Prepare Your Tissues (for your tears, not R-18 lol)

Heartache! Heartache! Heartache! So, before embarking on this emotional journey, be sure to have a box of tissues handy. Plastic Memories is a bittersweet anime that will tug at your heartstrings and leave you with a lingering sense of melancholy.

Deep Meaning

Beyond the surface-level romance and sci-fi elements, Plastic Memories delves into profound themes of life, loss, and the ephemeral nature of memories. It explores the complexities of human relationships and the bittersweet beauty of fleeting connections.

Character Development

The characters in Plastic Memories are well-developed and relatable, each with their own unique personalities, struggles, and aspirations. The central pairing ... of Tsukasa and Isla forms the heart of the story, and their bond deepens as they navigate the challenges of their situation.

Beautiful Artworks

The anime's visuals are captivating, with vibrant colors and detailed backgrounds that bring the world of Plastic Memories to life. The character designs are expressive and appealing, adding depth to the emotional moments.

Young Lovey-Dovey Newlyweds

The dynamic between Tsukasa and Isla is heartwarming and endearing. Their interactions are filled with innocence, humor, and a touch of awkwardness, reminiscent of young love blossoming amidst uncertainty.

The Actual Story Begins after Episode 6

While the first few episodes introduce the characters and setting, the story truly takes off around episode six. The pace quickens, the emotions intensify, and the central conflict becomes more prominent.

Audio and Music

The anime's soundtrack complements the narrative perfectly, with emotional and evocative melodies that enhance the impact of key scenes. The sound design also plays a significant role, creating an immersive atmosphere.

Its all about the Memories!!!

At its core, Plastic Memories is a story about the power of memories. It examines how our experiences, both positive and negative, shape us and define our existence. The anime reminds us to cherish the moments we share with loved ones, as they may fade away but their impact will remain.

Futuristic Androids

The futuristic setting and the presence of androids, known as Giftias, provide a unique backdrop for the exploration of human emotions and relationships. The concept of Giftias having limited lifespans adds a poignant dimension to the story.

Similar Concept to Alzheimer's or Memory Loss

Plastic Memories evokes themes similar to Alzheimer's disease or memory loss, highlighting the challenges of facing such conditions and the impact they have on loved ones.

Story: 10/10
Visual: 9/10
Detailed: 9/10
Characters: 8/10
Emotions: 10/10
Smoothness: 6/10
OP/ED: 4/10
Audio: 6/10
Originals: 7/10
Intense: 5/10
Uniqueness: 8/10
Fun/Laughter: 3/10
NSFW: 1/10
Boring/Idling: 2/10

Recommended to Watch

Plastic Memories is a must-watch for anime fans who appreciate emotional and thought-provoking stories. It offers a unique blend of romance, sci-fi, and heartwarming moments, guaranteed to leave a lasting impression.

Heres my Rating System
10- Probably the best and my favorites
9 - Best but not favorite
8 - Enjoyed it but not the best
7 - OK but not enjoy much, need to be improved
6 - OK but quite disappointed, has room for improvements
5 - Less like but chance dislike it but still has room for improvements
4 - Disappointed the way you produced the projects (anime/manga) but still considerable. / Might Dropped
3 - Trash but still considerable. / Might Dropped
2 - Trash in the Bin. / Dropped
1 - I just wasted my time. Better luck next time. / Dropped

Memories are the thing that we all impact us in different ways. Pleasant memories give us a feeling of warmth and comfort. Traumatic memories give us sadness and despair. And the memories of people that have long disappeared are the ones that cause us to have both kinds all at once. So when you lose the ones you cherish so much, how exactly would you react? Here, a review of Plastic Memories, an anime that deals with such a hard question with relative success.

Story (7.33/10): Plastic Memories, or Plamemo in the shorthanded version of the name, features a technologically advanced ... world. In this world, the corporation known as SAI Corp. have developed an android called a Giftia, that is so much like a human, that the two are almost indiscernible from one another. However, unlike humans, Giftias have one major flaw, they can only function for a maximum of 81,920 hours (roughly 9.3 years) until their programming starts to fail and they become corrupt and unable to function. (Although, I'm not really sure how specific we are here when it comes to indiscernible. Not quite sure if an android is capable of certain bodily functions like waste disposal or reproduction, because apparently the only real difference they have from humans is their lifespan.) As a result, a branch of the SAI Corp. called the Terminal Service goes and retrieves the Giftias that have their lives almost expired. Here, we follow the story of our main protagonist Tsukasa, as he starts his job in the terminal service, where he meets a Giftia known as Isla.

Quite simply, the entire runtime of the anime revolves around Tsukasa and the job of the Terminal Service, where our main protagonists Tsukasa and Isla go around the city and pick up Giftias that are almost expiring. However, that isn't all that the story has to offer. In addition to the retrieval stories where the show focuses on the lives and the memories that the characters witness as they retrieve the spent Giftias, it also puts a lot of time into Isla and her backstory since Isla is a veteran member of the Terminal service group. The issue with this is that there's an imbalance between these two, with the majority of the story focusing on Isla rather than the retrievals that was shown at the beginning to midway of the story. Personally, I would've preferred the stories about other Giftias more so than seeing an episode about Isla since a good chunk of those episodes that focus on Isla don't really have much impact in the long run. This is mostly due to the fact that the show spends essentially its second half on one character rather than side stories that could have had as good if not greater impact.

In addition, the show has a bit of a comedic issue with it. A lot of the time, Plamemo has a lot of more serious moments, tackling the issue of memories of other people and the morality of ripping away these people apart from one another, only leaving the memories behind as its main point. But it also has a lot of plot points that serve to be more comedic, some haha moments. This creates an issue because a lot of the comedy feels misplaced and completely out of left field. It doesn't really meld with the current situation as well as one might think, and it, in several instances, killed the mood that was going on.

Another problem I found was that the plot itself was actually rather predictable. We have an object that has limited lifespan, and we have the main heroine who is that kind of object. (I'll give you three guesses.) As such, the impact that the series had really didn't show all that much. There were moments which I felt in the series were really good and not that predictable, but those were the episodes and story points that focused on other Giftia, not Isla. Also, the show kind of turned table as to what kind of show it was towards the end, turning into more of a rom-com, so that was also a slight issue.

In the end though, I really didn't have a sense of satisfaction with the way Plamemo ended. It was a very anticlimactic ending and it just sort of...ends. Personally, I would've liked to have a little bit more drama or a little more something because everything just went far too smoothly, making me doubt that it was going to, only to see that it was actually going to end the way I thought it.

Overall, I felt that Plamemo had a very good direction that it was going in, but took a different route. The comedy felt out of place at times, the show was fairly predictable, and it didn't really stick with one direction to go towards, rather, going towards two directions in which both felt somewhat unsatisfying in the end. Regardless, with the areas of the plot that focused more on the side character stories, I felt like the show really excelled in that regard and brought the theme of memories and how they affect us forward in a great way.

Overview:
+ Great character side stories
+ Good expressiveness of themes
- Plot was predictable
- Show went two directions, resulting in unsatisfying storyline
- Comedy felt misplaced a lot and clashed with story

Characters (7.10/10): Characters in Plamemo are separated into three categories, the main characters, the terminal service characters, and the retrieval characters, each with their own plus and minuses to be had.

Let's start with our main protagonist, Tsukasa. Tsukasa as a new employee of the Terminal Service is shown in a fish out of water style, where he has zero clue as to what he's supposed to do and has to learn from the people already working there in order to properly do his job. As the series goes along, Tsukasa starts to gain a bit of character development, connecting and understanding with the people that he takes Giftias away from, even going to the extent of apologizing for what he has to do out of sympathy. While that's good and all, a lot of the time I feel like Tsukasa's really just an afterthought on account of the show focusing more on Isla and having Tsukasa rely on her for any semblance of character development. Because the series doesn't actually focus on Tsukasa specifically most of the time, the amount of development he gets doesn't really go much in depth as I would've liked, and as a result, has some points that really feel a bit unnatural. (Cue end of episode 8.)

And then, there's Isla. Isla as the main female protagonist in this series is a Giftia who hasn't been out in the field retrieving other Giftias on account of some events in the past. At first, she's shown to be very robotic, acting almost like an android rather than a person. But as the show goes on, we are revealed as to why she acts the way she does and we start to see the relationship between the two blossom, which actually does put some positive feeling back into the series. But the problem I have with this is the fact that the show doesn't really use the time between the characters as proficiently as it could've. Several scenes, and even episodes are devoted for these two characters, but doesn't actually have much of an impact, resulting in wasted time. I wish the show didn't begin focusing on strictly Isla till the very end, because like that, the show gets a progressional feel of character as you weave in points of character development through every episode.

And then, the side cast. As I had mentioned before, the side cast for Plamemo is separated into two groups, the Terminal Service, and the other families with Giftias ready for retrieval. When it comes to the latter, that's when I feel like the show really shines because we have these connections between these Giftias and these people that our main characters have to break, leading to some dramatic and well-written scenes and moments. It really ties into the show's central theme of memories and how they affect us, which is why I believe the show would've done better if it spent most of its time in that regard. It's a case of "you won't remember their names, but you will remember their stories", which is something about Plamemo that I really like. As for the terminal service people, they're really for the most part, comedic fodder. There are several characters within this group that do have plot significance, like Kazuki, but for the most part, they're really just there to either move some part of the plot along, or create comedic moments. I say this because a lot of them are pretty one-note. (Aka, Michiru with her tsundere personality, Eru, who's pretty much just a pervert, the Terminal Service chief who sort of just complains about his family problems, and Yatsuka who basically just tries to hook Tsukasa up with girls. Zack's teasing personality is great though.)

Overview:
+ Retrieval targets are great characters
+ Main character development is decent
- Main MC development felt like a bit of an afterthought
- Terminal Service crew mostly felt like comedic fodder

Art and Sound (8.28/10 and 7.45/10): The art for Plamemo was created by Doga Kobo, an animations studio that's been known to do a very specific style of animation involving a very light color palette and their signature adorable, pupiless eyes. Similarly, Plamemo has the same kind of artstyle that feature more of a neon palette of colors, with all of the scenery and characters exhibiting a very bright look to them. The show itself does look good, but it doesn't really scream to me that it's very outstanding for the most part. Still though, there are some moments where I feel like the art really does go into these great looking scenes which is always a nice plus.

In terms of sound, Plamemo showcases a very wishful and pleasant sounding OP which I personally feel is one of the better OP's in Spring 2015. It's a very calming song that really sings to the ideas of losing the ones whose memories you have while also having a very hopeful and mystical vibe to it, which brings it to be a decently memorable track to listen to. As for the ED, the ED just feels a bit generic, with the song being a happy-go-lucky sounding song that I feel doesn't really have much of an impact or is all that impressive. Good sounding, but it's not really all that memorable.

Overview:
+ Great moments in art in the show
+ Good OP
- Bit of a lackluster ED

Personal Enjoyment (7.01/10): When I first watched Plamemo in the beginning, I initially related it to Chobits, seeing as how both shows talk about the result of a super advanced android in the world where we see the effects that said android have on the state of the world overall, as seen with both shows utilizing stories of characters impacted by the androids. But as I continued watching Plamemo, I was a bit confused as to why the show changed focus and eventually, I found it to be a bit boring, since the information that was given in the beginning had already written out its ending.

Did I like this show?

I in fact did enjoy this show to an extent. As I have stated before, the parts where the show features stories of other Giftias and their lifespans were really I felt were the high point of the show. They really related to the theme of the show fantastically, and I felt like the show itself was at its best when those stories were being told. I also really liked the character Zack. He teases everyone, and it's funny to see him tease the characters and see him just give an expression of him just not caring about the situation. His comedy I think was the best.

What didn't I like about this show?

The biggest thing that I didn't like about this anime was the fact that the show focused on Isla way too early. The show flip flops with its plot focus, going from a random Giftia, to Isla, back to another Giftia, then back to Isla again before fixating itself on Isla for the rest of the show. Personally, I felt like this broke up the flow of the show because while the show finished up one thing, it changed its tone completely before switching again, making it a bit of a weird watch because it was hard to tell whether the show was going to focus on one thing or the other. The lack of development for the main characters also bothered me because I felt like the show should've put a bit more into Tsukasa given how he's not really all that well explained in the series and how he mostly relies on Isla to have any semblance of character development. I was also not really fond of the fact that the show ended up turning into a rom-com because it felt a bit sudden that it just completely changed.

Would I recommend this show?

While Plamemo isn't entirely perfect, the show itself still does talk about the themes of memories and their impact to people which is well written in some parts of the show. It has some issues with the way it wants to structure itself, but it still is a good watch to one that enjoys a story of drama and loss. (Though personally, I feel like the show is less sad than people actually make it out to be.)

Overall Score: 7.42/10

I had high hopes for anime with this idea, but seeing how things are going its not looking good.
the company that our main character is working for is completely incompetent and would never work in real life what so ever. My case in point is their lack of a manual, a lack of a tour and explanation of their product and how things work to the new employes.
I can forgive the main character for not knowing anything about the giftia but for a company to not even have a manual for its new employes to read and find out how the giftia function and what ... is expected of both the human and giftia, on top of all this the company failed to notify the office that the main character will be working with so they did not have a partner for him.

Now on to the poor guys coworkers, who mind you are not any better then the higher ups. They fail to tell him that his partner has only so many hours of run time left and that is why she is messing up so much, as a matter of fact they seem to all be rather bland character just there to be in the background and do nothing but provide the info our main character needs when the plot demands it to be so.
This gives the whole show a rather scripted feel and I have no incentive to find out anything more about the world or the characters because of it, speaking of scripted.
It seems non of the people who buy Giftia know that those things have a 9 year and 4 month running time, if this is another poor choice of the company or just scripted to add more "emotion" to the other wise bland show. I do not know which it is but both are just as bad.

one good thing it has is its sound and art, the art really matches the little feeling there is and all the feelings you do get are from the sound which matches very nicely.
I would recomand this to any storyboard writer to know what not to do but that is about it.

If you have a companion that you can only be with for 9 years, supposing that you and him/her will be very close and be best friends, or even more than that, what will you do? Will you give up entirely? Will you cherish each moment with him/her? How about if his/her lifespan is only a mere 83.3333333 days left? Will you still make friends with him/her? Maybe take him/her into a relationship?

How about if I tell you that is the setting of the anime Plastic Memories? Although I am sure you already know that if you've read the sypnosis, but...

I was in rest of ... watching anime for at least 2 months when I come to know this. What made me watch this series is from a classmate's recommendation. I accepted his recommendation because at that time, I was finding for something sad. I don't know why but that's that. He said it was sad, so I played along and found another masterpiece made by the anime industry.

The story centers around Tsukasa, a man who failed in his work applications and started working in a company whose task is to retrieve Giftias, cyborgs who are the nearest imitations of human life (except reproduction. What a boring life they must lead. Joke.) and delete all data from them in order not to have complications. They bleed, they eat, they have emotions and have distinct personalities which makes them difficult to distinguish whether one is a Giftia or Homo sapiens.

There he meets Isla, his Giftia partner. That would be the start of series' story.

The story was quite tear-jerking fpr its dramatic scenes. Lots of events where some lost their beloved Giftias, which are certainly something to relate about, something that cannot be gotten over so easily. The story was purely outstanding, even though there is an obvious cliffhanger at the end. T-there a-are a-a-also some *hic* comedic rou-routines situated wi-wi-within, which makes it more sad in the end. Please give a me tissue. I-I'm c-crying over here. *hic*

The art utilized along with the character designs were purely amazing to my eyes, examples are the Giftia retrieving scenes and "THAT" scene in the last episode. I also found the portrayal of technologies and somehow, battles to be truly stunning. Well executed. Not lacking and never had a surplus. Just perfect.

The character designs are also perfect to consider. Especially that tsundere orange-haired woman, her Giftia partner, our main character and last but not the least, Isla herself who had one of the most pulchritudinous designs ever made in history (in my opinion, my biases and my thoughts) of anime. I don't know why I'm saying this, but nevermind that and move on to the next part.

The music and OSTs in this anime was also something that cannot be gotten over so easily. Especially its two themes: "Ring of Fortune" and "Asayake no Starmine." The latter was so good that I use it for alarms so that I wake up immediately. The OSTs situated in the anime was also great that it was used and blended perfectly upon the events currently happening in the story.

Now with the characters.

They each have distinct personalities, whether if they are humans or Giftia. Again, there is s jolly yellow-haired boy, a tsundere, a kuudere shirogami (white hair) and our main character. Each of them is unique in their own way and gradually develops as the story progresses. In other words, they are so well-made that they are some ones I cannot get over so easily. I might be saying this for a while now, but they are truly outstanding in my own accord.

I also enjoyed my time spent watching Plastic Memories. What I got was mixed emotions: happiness, sadness, enjoyment and utter satisfaction. The scenes were so great! Need I say more?

Overall, I would say Plastic Memories is one more masterpiece created by the anime industry. Great visuals, a great story, though I kind of need a second season in order to answer my questions. Great characters, great music, and excellent overall. I'd recommend this for someone who likes romances yet ends up as a tragedy.

Now, if your life was already predetermined...what will you do? Will you accept it? Or find ways in order to defy it? Me? I don't have an idea.

Am I supposed to cry at this show? I sure as hell didn't. It's not that I'm heartless or anything. I've cried watching other dramatic animes too but the show tried too hard to be dramatic.

(There will be some SPOILERS in my review)

[Story]: (4/10) (SPOILERS)
Plastic Memories takes place in a world where humans have created artificial souls and bodies. These beings are called Giftia and they are indistinguishable from humans. Tsukasa, an 18 year old who failed his college entrance exams has been offered a position at the renowned SAI corporation by his father's business friend. At this point, Tsukasa has been ordered to ... work with Isla, a female Gifita who has never been given other responsibilities besides serving tea.

The story, in my opinion, is an utter piece of crap. The show has an interesting concept and could have gone a different route but the execution is horrible. Just by watching the first episode, you already know what this show is going to be about. They're tearing up the relationship between the Giftia and a human being once "that" time comes and they can't really do anything about it(Hehe, not exactly). Am I supposed to cry at this point? This is the biggest problem. The show tried too hard to be dramatic without exploring some of the plot points. Ever wonder why some dramatic shows managed to make me cry? Because they're done well and executed well. The show also became a romantic drama. I wasn't even expecting romance in this show. I was expecting the show to explore the Giftia's and the breakups between the Giftia's and the Humans like what the first episode did.

The show also didn't answer some of my questions that I have for the Gifitas. Why are people buying the Giftias? What's up with the 9 year time limit? Why did they design it in the first place? What's the purpose?
I don't even know why people are buying Giftia's if they know that they're going to be separated after 9 years. These people are just asking for their hearts to be broken.

Hmm...the ending. One word. Predictable. Once you knew that Tsukasa is going to be dating Isla then you know that at some point, he's going to retrieve her. The events leading up to the ending, which is their romance, was so good. I actually enjoyed the romance between Tsukasa and Isla. However, the ending just blew it. It sucks donkey ass.
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[Art/Animation]: (9/10)
This is the year 2015 and the animation should be great. I don't tolerate animation that looks like it's made from the year 2012 or before. At least, the show managed to make a great animation. The animation looks great, the lighting also looks great and the environments are detailed. The character designs are good but could have been better and the character's facial expressions are spot on.
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[Sound]: (7/10)
The soundtrack is ok but nothing too great or special. The background theme (mostly the emotional themes) is ok and it fits with the scene that's playing on the screen. None of that really matters because majority of my score for this category comes from the OP and ED theme songs. The OP theme song is one of the most misleading song's I've ever seen. I was expecting the show to make my cry but failed to do so. The ED theme song is decent. Not bad but not great either. The VA sounds great to me but that doesn't matter either.
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[Character]: (7/10)
Ahh, the characters. I can't believe I enjoyed the characters more than I enjoyed the story. I mean, shouldn't it be the other way around? I'm not saying the characters were masterpiece but they were decent and I still enjoyed them.
The characters are.....let's say.....they're generic and they're not original. Tsukasa is your typical nice MC guy. What's up with this kinds of MC? I've seen his kind before and it is getting annoying. Isla is a Giftia, a nice girl who is shy but eventually opens up her feelings towards Tsukasa. What do you call them? Kuudere? Michiro, a girl who has been working on SAI for a long time and does not like amateurs like Tsukasa. Michiro is a tsundere who stayed on her tsun tsun side for the entirety of the show. Kazuki is an alcoholic girl who has always watched over Isla and even protected her for about 6 years before she called of the partnership. Yasutaka is a slacker and also an alcoholic. Yep, they're pretty generic. I've seen these tropes before.

The reason why I liked the characters is the interaction between these characters and, of course, the romance between Tsukasa and Isla. The story may be bad but you can't deny that the relationship between Tsukasa and Isla is great. Hell, the relationship development between these 2 are great too. I admit, the development was kind of rushed but considering that this is a 13 episode series, I gotta give the rushed relationship development a pass.
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[Enjoyment]: (7/10)
Like I said above, the story is an utter piece of crap and the ending is one of the worst I've seen but I still kind of enjoyed the show. The comedy is what prevented me from rating this show below 5. If it wasn't for the comedy then this show would have been a 3 or a 4.
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[OVERALL]: (7/10)
Some people might say that this is one of the anime that was created by Satan himself because of how bad it is. To me, the show is decent. It's not a masterpiece and it's not an utter garbage either. If you can get past the crappy story or the over-dramatic crap that they spew at you then you might like this show. However, if you're looking for an anime with a great story or a great dramatic shows like Clannad then don't bother watching this show.



Pros:
+Great Animation
+Good Soundtrack
+Decent Characters
+Great Romance between Tsukasa and Isla
+Funny moments

Cons:
-Story is poor
-Generic Characters
-Overdramatic moments
-Crappy Ending

Short review, There's no underlining meaning to my enjoyment of this one. Its quite simple, Plastic Memories hit me so hard in the feels I couldn't stop thinking about it for days. I loved the relationship between the two leads, It seemed so real and genuine to me. Their romance was a natural progression that felt satisfying and heartwarming, it was the most human relationship I've seen in anime so far. It really got me good. Would recommend to anyone looking for this kind of thing, it's a slow burner.

Also, in my opinion, I feel its best not to binge this one. Take your time ... with it, like one or two episodes a day, I think this helps build a familiarity between you and the characters, making the impact of the ending more powerful.