Anime Review: Plastic Memories

In my pre-airing thoughts about Plastic Memories, I stated that it had the potential to be a good sci-fi, if it doesn’t turn into another romantic comedy, or at least a good dramedy if it focuses on its themes as Chobits did. Others had set their bars way higher and expected another Blade Runner or Time of Eve, claims I found ridiculous, judging from the promotional videos and posters. So when the show eventually aired, it only proved my predictions true as always: It was another romantic comedy.

To its defense, Plastic Memories is not completely comical and does have heavy doses of drama at points. The problem is, they are not that many, not that good, and do not blend well in with the romcom bits. Anime in general have a huge problem when it comes to tonal shifts; the creators either don’t know or don’t care about proper transitions from comedy to drama. One moment you are supposed to laugh, and the immediate next you are supposed to cry. It doesn’t work.

… Or at least it doesn’t work for a mature audience; I would be lying if I said nobody likes that sort of crap. Look around and you will find thousands of people who are crying their hearts out with overblown drama, despite the forced humor and the weak theme exploration. You are just left wondering why would the anime creators need to try harder, when a huge portion of the target audience will eat whatever shit they make, and call it exceptional. Thankfully, I am not a tasteless casual like the majority is, so you will get the truth about what this show actually is.

PREMISE

Pick your favorite human-shaped robot story, add a hint of romance, a pinch of terminal decease shenanigans, and Death Star sized classic romcom jokes. What you get is Plastic Memories. While it seems to be going for a Blade Runner type of story at first, it quickly throws that “what it means to be human” concept far in the background and focuses on your typical “Oh noes, my moe waifu is sick and sad, I gotta protect her” type of date simulation bullshit, in the likes of Clannad.

And ok, you could say that it is just another silly show that tries to hook you with an interesting premise in the first episodes, before forgetting it altogether and heading for slapstick humor or something. It’s a pretty standard trick most comedy and romance anime use all the time. I can even say that I found many who liked this overblown piece of garbage, telling the same things to those who were disappointed with it. “Hey guys, relax, just because you didn’t get what you expected, doesn’t mean the show is bad. Why weren’t you pleasantly surprised for getting something different instead?”

Good point; why weren’t I and others, not pleasantly surprised with it, for NOT getting what we expected? I can mention two simple reasons for that. First, because we were expecting something WAY better than yet another dramedy, and second, because the show itself is A PRETENTIOUS PIECE OF SHIT!

PRETENTIOUSNESS

Plastic Memories keeps trying to fool the viewer into thinking it is way more than what it is. Most anime drop the pretence after a couple of episodes and go on being the generic comedies or sols they are. Plastic Memories does NOT do that. It keeps throwing these hints at the viewer, making him assume that there has to be more than what it seems, down the line. If you check out the Reddit threads about it, you will find a dozen speculation topics. People were forming theories and trying to predict future plot twists based on these very distinctive hints the show was full of.

Some would simply label these speculations and predictions as over-thinking, where the viewer is making up crap out of nowhere, just because the themes of a series inspired him to think about stuff not found in the actual anime. Others would call all that wishful thinking, because the viewer is not willing to accept the predetermined sad ending the series is promising him in the very first episodes, and expects a twist that will change everything to a happy ending.

I on the other hand say that all that are caused intentionally by the show itself, and not by the viewer. They did not come out of nowhere; there are parts where Plastic Memories is copying the exact same scene composition of Neon Genesis. Also, the end credits show the lead female character having different expressions each time. There is also the notorious episode 5 that makes you think the show will turn really dark and violent afterwards. And of course there is Isla’s diary, where she keeps writing down everything she doesn’t want to forget. None of that led to something substantial. They were also not placed there simply as Easter eggs for those paying attention. They were placed so THE VIEWER WILL BE MADE TO THINK THERE IS MORE TO IT. This is why this anime is a pretentious piece of shit, instead of an honest dramedy. It trolls its audience into believing it is more than yet another forgettable mediocrity. And no, I will not call a show intelligent for managing to fool people into believing that. I will call it sleazy and manipulative.

COMEDY

Leaving aside the trolling aspect, I can’t even call the whole get-up of the show successful. Even if you try to see it as a typical romcom, it just falls flat on its face the moment you realize it is about the sexual attraction between a human, and a toaster. No really, that is what the joke revolves around. A guy needs to live under the same roof with a house appliance that looks like a cute girl, and has lots of done to death sexual jokes going on. How fun is it to imagine this guy getting horny or embarrassed over a refrigerator? Yeah, ok, they do make it seem like the robots in the show think, act, and have the structure of real people. But down to it they are still not people, they are bolts and wires. I don’t know about your fetishes, but the idea of having sex with an inject printer is not sexy, nor funny.

DRAMA

And no, I am not a heartless person who doesn’t get that there is supposed to be drama going on. I fully understand that the main guy feels sorry for the female robot because she is running out of energy, and this eventually turned into love. I am just posing a very simple question regarding that: Would he fall in love with her, if instead of a cute girl, she had the appearance of a fat smelly male? Of course and he wouldn’t. Let me redirect the same question to you people. Would any of you find it cute, romantic, or tragic, if the lead guy was in love with a toaster that looks like a fat smelly male? Unless you are f*ed up beyond repair, of course and you wouldn’t. You would be grossed out, and would call this show deviant porn. That is why the show is again being pretentious, for trying to build a relationship based on how people and house appliances look, and not on how they are inside.

SETTING

Not even the world the story takes place in is done right. Aside from how the concept of Giftias was never explored, it is also never presented in a plausible way with the bits of information we were given. Ok, let’s accept that no robot can be recharged after it becomes 10 years old. Let’s also accept that shutting down means losing all your memories. Why the hell can’t they simply transfer memories from one robot to another? They are machines, so that would be a piece of cake and would solve all the problems in the show. Why don’t they make the robots ugly or emotionless, so people won’t be so emotionally attached to them? Why do they even allow the distribution of robots that go berserk and kill people? None of that are excused, so it is impossible to take the show, and by extension its conflict, seriously.

And let’s not overlook how it eventually came down to a sappy romantic drama tale, which renders the sci-fi setting completely meaningless. You could replace the lead robot with any generic moe girl that suffers from a mysterious incurable disease, throw the whole thing in a normal world like our own, and it wouldn’t make a difference. In fact, it would make the show better by not being about robots that make no sense. It would be a generic romcom.

CHARACTERS

I can’t even like the characters, even if I strip away the terrible romcom, and the nonsensical setting. They are nothing but archetypes, defined by a few very simple traits. I mean, really, what can you say about the main character that can differentiate him from any other harem protagonist out there? What can you say about any of the rest of them? Even worse than that, they end up being overshadowed by the drama surrounding them. You cease to see them as people, and instead view them as plot devices in the service of an overblown dramatic relationship, that built on sand. BOO HOO HOO, INCURABLE DECEASE, SO SAD! … What people? They all feel more robotic than Isla herself.

ENDING

The way the show ends is partly good, and partly bad. The good part is how it didn’t chicken out in the last moment and went for a happy ending. It really ended in the tragic way it promised it would. It’s so overused these days to use some BS reason for resurrecting the dead, turning back time, or jumping dimensions for the sake of magically undoing everything that was wrong. I can only applause this anime for not doing any of that crap.

On the other hand, the ending is also dull. Since we are told how it would be like, the whole thing was just a slow downhill towards a predictable destination. There isn’t much to build around this concept, so it fizzles away in interest after a few episodes, and yet it still keeps going. By the time it actually finishes, you don’t really care anymore. Grouped with how the setting is unexplored, the dramedy is one of the same, and the characters are bland as hell, you are left with nothing but disappointment. For a show titled Plastic Memories, you have close to nothing to remember it for (BA DUM TSSS).

PRODUCTION VALUES

They are ok.

… What, you expected me to say more? Why would I? No amount of pretty colors can make this anime better, and most of you would dislike it, or would cry about the dying moe chick, regardless of how badly animated it was. So let’s skip these completely unnecessary parts.

CONCLUSION

It sucks, and if you liked it you are contributing to the death of good anime. Plus, you would have bad taste.