The premise had me interested, i won't lie... NOT the anime itself, its was frankly dreadful, but the premise. Dreadful isn't the right word here though. It was bad... INTENTIONALLY bad, which doesn't make it less bad, don't get me wrong, but how well it relayed the feeling of 'something is wrong' and made it all look super nonsensical and cliche, driving one to think this is some kind of shitty full dive dating simulator is definitely impressive and deserves some points.
It also dropped clues to this not being real very generously, and so despite not really enjoying this, i kept watching, and questioning the people dropping the show without waiting for the big reveal to come, because it was clear it was coming! ... And waiting... And waiting. That's the first big problem i find with the show aside the obvious ones - they delayed said reveal for far too long. I understand there was a need to create more bond to the characters... But the ridiculous and fanservicy setup just made the upper limit to that far too low, so there really was no point, nor was there a point to introduce THAT many girls, 3 or even 2 would more than cut it, which would increase attachment even with 2~ less episodes of buildup.
The sad part is, when the reveal and development of the actual story and its resolution came, it ended up being far too badly executed and thought through to justify this show's existence, almost to the point the people dropping it in the beginning would be validated, but only almost, and for the wrong reasons... Because you see, the idea itself WAS somewhat interesting, its just the execution that failed horribly, the main reason behind that being the lack of central theme and uniting point to it all, it also made ZERO sense story wise.
The point of logging into the satellite and risking his life was to steady the global AI network, was it not? The greater good was also the argument that got him to decide going in... And yet the satellites FELL..? What the... Okay, let's pretend that wasn't the point. Maybe point was to save the 5 AI girls that gained proper sentience? Nope, wasn't the point either, they also got them deleted... And saved too..? Not sure how that works but whatever. Then WHAT was the point of it all? Helping mc move on and get closure, meet his dead childhood sweetheart and talk to her for 4 minutes..? I'm not sure.
It was nice and emotional, don't get me wrong, but it was pointless, and the story fell apart so bad i had no idea what the whole show was trying to achieve. If Ai was deleted and the satelites got saved for the system to stabilize, and/or if the girl got him to move on and taught him some valuable life lesson instead of extending the pain and disappearing as if it somehow solves anything in his head, i'd get it... But literally all the possible reasoning behind him being there and RISKING HIS LIFE was utterly destroyed, including the 5 girls, and the fact they somehow got saved changes nothing. There's a whole list of other things that could have been handled far better and developed to a far greater degree the show would benefit from but aren't there, but frankly, its not worth my, or anyone's time. So despite thinking it had the potential to do well, i hope there's no need to say i'm rather disappointed with how underwhelming it turned out to be?
Final verdict - 6/10, not recommended. Go watch plastic memories instead, while its not all that similar, it deals with the main issue of this show far better, and provides better insight and closure into the unpleasant, downright disgusting, and yet absolutely essential and necessary, scar rippling reality of having how to learn to let go and move on.
