The premise was one that I had never seen in a long time. In the show, humans have invented ‘Giftia’s, androids that have emotions and feelings just like humans. They can laugh, cry, have emotional pain, and they can have relationship with others too. Giftias are so human-like to the extent that they can be part of someone’s family when a loved one is lost: they can be a daughter or son, a helper in a workshop, a parent or guardian, and even a lover! There is a catch however; Giftias have a fixed lifespan of 81920 hours, which is about 9 1/3 of a year. And after that period of time they would start to break down. This is where our heroes come in, the retrieval team. These people come to ‘retrieve’ or to take away the Giftias that are on the verge of their expiration date.
After reading the synopsis, few questions might pop out, should you make memories with someone that is going to be gone for good? Or would you distant yourself to avoid hurting both you and your loved one? Why would you love someone when you know that they would go away? Plastic Memories shine in these aspects, as you can see how different people react upon being contacted by the retrieval team to take back the Giftias, which are not just robots or androids but have become someone important in their lives. Some try to run away, some are always in denial, some have already prepared for the worst, these are very real emotions that shows how we react in the real world as well, when we know someone is going to be taken away? How would we react?
Time to introduce the characters, despite the unique premise, the characters are not. We have the main character, Tsukasa who is the all-round nice guy and tries his best for the people he cares about, we usually use the word nice when we don’t really have anything to say about him, and he’s just that, nice. We also have Isla who is the kuudere type of girl, and always distances herself from other people, not to mention she also have the cute girl doing cute things trope as well, as she is pretty nervous and confused when doing certain things. These two characters have the most character development, which is not saying much. I can’t even remember all the side character’s name because of how one dimensional they are. You have the tsundere, the big-breasted girl, the boss who always gets drunk, and so on and so forth. Plastic Memories is not very strong in its characters, but the show is all about Tsukasa and Isla and how their relationship goes, *minor spoiler*** Isla is a Giftia, which means she has a limited life span, you probably know which direction the show will take after knowing this. End of spoiler ***
This show had lots and lots of potential; however so many overused tropes are thrown in it that it became a generic slice-of-life sometimes, it also had moments where the show looked like it didn’t know which direction to take. Another thing that bugged me was due to it being a 13 episode anime, the Giftia concept was not fleshed out completely, we do not know why the Giftias break down, we don’t know whether humans are trying to think of a way to stop these Giftias from breaking down to avoid breaking the hearts of their loved ones that are left behind. Another logical question is what kind of masochist would want to have a friendship/relationship with someone that they know would die in less than 10 years!
Despite saying this show has characters/concepts that have not been fleshed out and they might need more episodes. I personally think Plastic Memories could have been a movie instead, as some episodes look like some stand-still waiting for something emotional to happen, it’s like watching an anime that you know has the feels but you have to wait for 1-2 episodes for the ‘feels’ moment to come.
For those looking for unique scientific concepts like Stein’s ; Gate, you’re out of luck. This show focuses more on how people cope with the loss when the Giftias are taken away from their lives
Plastic Memories is definitely one of the ‘feels’ anime out there, but I don’t think it would be one where it could rip your heartstrings to shreds like some anime do, having only 13 episodes it still made me felt emotional at its teary moments as I became attached to the main characters, but not to the extent where I might feel depressed for a few days.
Plastic memories is a great anime for newcomers too, it is not too weird of a concept, its premise is very refreshing, fan service is there but not overwhelming, and it is one that hits home if you are the emotional type. Though the tropes are there, but someone needs to introduce the tropes sooner or later.
TL,DR : Touchy anime that has character development flaws besides the main characters ,has a very good premise that wasn’t fleshed out enough, a good show to see if you want to challenge yourself to the ‘feels’ but don’t want to cry your eyeballs out.
