Plastic Memories

Eighteen-year-old Tsukasa Mizugaki has failed his college entrance exams, but after pulling some strings, he manages to land a job at the Sion Artificial Intelligence Corporation. SAI Corp is responsible for the creation of "Giftias"—highly advanced androids which are almost indiscernible from normal humans. However, unlike humans, Giftias have a maximum lifespan of 81,920 hours, or around nine years and four months. Terminal Service One, the station Tsukasa was assigned to, is responsible for collecting Giftias that have met their expiration date, before they lose their memories and become hostile.

Promptly after joining Terminal Service One, Tsukasa is partnered with a beautiful Giftia named Isla. She is a Terminal Service veteran and considered the best in Giftia retrievals, contrary to her petite figure and placid nature. Time is fleeting though, and Tsukasa must come to terms with his feelings for Isla before her time is up. No matter how much someone desires it, nothing lasts forever.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Isla Main

Amamiya, Sora Japanese

Mizugaki, Tsukasa Main

Takumi, Yasuaki Japanese

Kinushima, Michiru Supporting

Akasaki, Chinatsu Japanese

Zack Supporting

Yahagi, Sayuri Japanese

Miru, Eru Supporting

Uesaka, Sumire Japanese

Hanada, Yasutaka Supporting

Tsuda, Kenjirou Japanese

Kuwanomi, Kazuki Supporting

Toyoguchi, Megumi Japanese

Sherry Supporting

Aimi Japanese

Constance Supporting

Hino, Satoshi Japanese

Nina Supporting

Kuno, Misaki Japanese

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Toba, Yousuke Producer

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Kamata, Hajime Producer

Reviews

Oct 18, 2024

737373elj

Recommended

Plastic Memories is not interested in questions of robot-human interaction and its consequences, or any question of technology even. What it instead wishes to discuss is the question of "Knowing our limited lifespan, how should we live?" More specifically, the show focuses on two questions: "How should we spend our final days?" and "How do we say goodbye?" In trying to answer these two questions, Plastic Memories creates a compelling message to live life to the fullest, however that may be.

It's not a perfect show. Particularly exasperating is the pacing, which oftentimes focuses a large amount of time ensuring each character's opinion is voiced and ... expressed, with the unnatural conversations that resulted being quite jarring. The characters are also all very simple, cardboard cutouts of character archetypes. The tsundere is obviously the tsundere, the older slightly lecherous old man can be identified easily. Even our main two protagonists are given very few details that would make them unique characters. While all are given a backstory, all supporting characters remain unchanged from start to finish. So if you're looking for compelling character analysis, this anime is not for you.

Our two leads are also quite immature, leading to plenty of moments that made me cringe or roll my eyes. But while their relationship could have been better handled, I find the concept of first love as presented here in its simplified form to be an effective method to discuss the questions the show primarily concerns itself with. As to how it does that, I leave for you to find out.

In terms of visuals and music, it is not particularly impressive. The simple artstyle focuses on the colors. Colors and light is what stands out the most when taking a simple glance at a frame of the show, creating a truly atmospheric background. Its soundtrack is nothing inspired, but it knows when to leave silence, and in doing so effectively heightens the emotions and atmosphere of the scene.

All in all, Plastic Memories chooses to dedicate most of its effort to conveying its story. It's not a fast-paced series, and the show takes its time to let you appreciate each moment. It's definitely a deliberate choice. Amidst many stories of characters at the edge of death, what is common is always the idea of appreciating every moment of life, no matter how ordinary, and to spend time with those you love, again, no matter how ordinary such a moment may be. In a way, the simplicity of our lead characters enhances their relatability, and argues for the universality of this message. And the beautiful and delicate way plot and scenes are handled gives this message much emotional weight. The Plastic Memories immerses you in the everyday moment.

So I do recommend this anime, and while it may not be one of those truly great anime, the timelessness of its message has allowed new viewers to find and watch this again, which I consider a testament to its quality. So give it a watch, and while doing so, pay attention particularly to how characters handle loss.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 26, 2024

FTxXTitaniaXxFT

Mixed Feelings

This anime was so hyped up in my generation. I remember everyone talking about this show as the show that would bring a tear to your eye, the show where you knew it was coming and it still got you anyway. I finally got around to watching it this year, and... It was a pretty big letdown.

Now, usually when shows are hyped up, I don't make the mistake of expecting a lot from them. People watch these overhyped shows as their first, second, or even 20th anime, while I'm on my 250th. I've seen all the tropes done before, I've seen other anime in ... that genre I like better, etc. That being said, usually overhyped anime has something about it that makes it special, something about it that makes all the suffering in boredom from overused tropes worth it. This show... Didn't really.

You can go as far into the themes that the show expresses as you want, but the reality is, everyone in this show had a deeper and more meaningful bond than the two main characters. There wasn't anything to hold the tension throughout the show; they basically ignored the fact that there even was a time limit. There was nothing more to the romance than "I like you because I like you," which is typical for a romance anime, but it's still a bit of a letdown that they never got more development than that, especially since there was plenty of space in the action part of the anime for some deeper development to happen.

To make matters worse, the main guy really doesn't have any good reason for liking our heroine. Their relationship is extremely surface-level. All the guy says is that he likes that she's clumsy. Short. A scardey cat. Typical anime guy behavior. You can make the excuse that he couldn't think of anything better to say at the time, or that this is how normal romance goes and that's what makes it special because it's so normal, but... That's it? Really?

The main character is also bland. Really bland. He has no past other than being late to his entrance exams for appendicitis, and I guess that makes him a little more relatable because he's "realistic" and doesn't stand out at all and has 0 motivation or goals other than to work so he doesn't disappoint his parents that are never brought up again after episode one but... He's got no embarrassing secrets, no tragic past, nothing. Just a plane dude. I'll admit, that does work when the show is based in a normal everyday life school setting. It just wasn't doing this story's dystopian sci-fi setting any favors.

When you first hear about the concept for this show, you'd think it's an angst, right? Nah. Not even close. There was this whole aspect of "let's spend our days like normal" that took all of the angst right out of the plot. Their job retrieving gifta's (the robots) from other families was a lot more depressing than the end game because you could see the bond those characters had built up over time and how impactful their time together was on the human's life, and how genuinely lonely they'd be once their robot was gone. I won't write the amount of time because I guess that's a spoiler, but I'll just say, the main characters weren't together long enough for the endgame to feel impactful for me.

And finally, the secondhand awkwardness was tough to endure. I'll just leave it at that.

Overall, the show was fine. It wasn't great, it wasn't bad, just a typical anime romance with a little twist to add a sense of urgency that was never really used other than to rush the confession scene. But there is a market for this kind of plain jane romance anime, and if that's your thing, I think you'll really enjoy it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 18, 2024

MrSlamboni

Not Recommended

Plastic Memories tries to tell a very serious story in the dumbest way possible, through very anime-esque tropes. Isla is the shy girl, Tsukasa is the very safely played dense protagonist who is polite and gets embarrassed, Michiru is the tsundere, so on and so forth. This usually isn't a problem when you're writing a trashy harem just to sell its porn afterwards. However, it is a problem when you want me to take the story as a very serious drama.

The show TRIES to tug on your heartstrings, but it's not possible to get attached to very cliche tropes. When you want me to be ... invested in a character, I have to see meaningful interactions and their relationship build up. I won't feel involved just because you slapped the main character tag on them and spent 90% of the screen time showing Isla being shy. I can't take the show as seriously as they want me to, especially when all Isla does is "uwu" and all Michiru does is "b-b-baka". The show has to make the characters feel like they matter. It has to show them do stuff, have dialogue, have experiences. It doesn't do much of that.

The two main characters are possibly the worst combo for a viewer experience. A shy girl and a polite, safe protagonist. Two character archetypes that avoid anything happening. Consequently, the romance is them being embarrassed on screen and not doing anything meaningful. I don't recall any meaningful conversations. There's one backstory that they tease the entire show for Isla. That backstory is so mediocre that once you reach its conclusion all you could think is "That's it? That's the crazy story I've been waiting for?"

It also feels like Tsukasa doesn't really feel any stakes. If you told Tsukasa you planted a bomb under his bed that will detonate in 3 days, he will spend 2 days doing his business as usual and then at the last 3 minutes he will panick that a bomb will blow up his bed. Tsukasa somehow feels less invested in his own life than the viewer.

For a romance show, I really did not feel like there was much romance. I can't remember any meaningful interaction between Tsukasa and Isla. Nothing moves their relationship forward. They don't try to move it forward. It feels like even after months of dating, they are still distant coworkers. Isla just goes "uwu Im shy" and Tsukasa says "haha ok I am polite and passive and will do nothing." After 13 episodes, it feels like not much has happened.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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