Plastic Memories seems to be set in a future setting. In this time there are androids who are indistinguishable from normal people, they are called Giftia’s. A Giftia has a maximum lifespan of around 81.920 hours, when this time has lapsed they run the risk of showing defects and can be a danger to themselves and the people around them. It’s the job of the employees of the Terminal Service to deactivate a Giftia before this happens.
To be able to perform these tasks there are teams, consisting of one person and one Giftia. Mizugaki Tsukasa is a new employee of the Terminal Service and Isla is assigned to be his partner. As a newcomer Tsukasa knows very little about the job he is supposed to perform. He seems to have gotten the job through inside contacts. It doesn’t help that Isla doesn’t seem to be very handy and often shows how much of a klutz she can be. Despite the problems Isla seems to cause Tsukasa often stands up for her and often takes on the blame.
The creators of Plastic Memories quickly show that the viewers possibly won’t always become very cheerful from watching this anime. The way in which they portray the relationship between Giftia and people makes for a few emotional moments. The anime quickly shows in which direction it’s headed and does little to surprise the viewers. At the beginning it takes a little while before they are able to find themselves. The humor often feels forced, for instance, because the it doesn’t quite fit the characters themselves and interrupts some good moments between the characters. Later on in the anime they seem to let go of adding humor to it and replace this with a few more cheerful moments, which fits the anime a lot more.
In Plastic Memories they aren’t afraid to show in which direction they’re headed. This can quickly make the anime predictable to the viewer and takes away from the excitement of the experience of watching it. The emotions are portrayed well in Plastic Memories. During most of the anime you get a bad feeling about how it’s going to end. This feeling manages to make even the cheerful moments heavy and really makes you empathize with the characters. The characters also get the space to develop themselves. Especially Tsukasa and Isla grow a lot during this anime, but their human coworker Michiru also often gets the opportunity to show different aspects of herself. You are driven to watch more while wondering whether it’s really going to end the way you’re expecting it to end. To find out you’ll really have to watch the anime yourself.
Studios: Doga Kobo
Started airing: 5th of April 2015
Number of episodes: 13
Rating: 75/100
