“Plastic Memories” – The Anime That Will Make You Weep
For the next few blog posts, I decided to switch things up a bit on the blog! I’m usually talking about anime series from the 80s which are directly related to Saint Seiya, in some way, and by “directly related” I mean they’re Hokuto no Ken. Well, even though I’d never get sick of writing about Seiya and Hokuto, but I’m fairly certain you guys might get sick of reading about them if I don’t mix things up, so why don’t we fast forward a bit in the timeline and talk about some current anime that I’d recommend? At the end of the day, while 80s anime had a certain charm to it, anime from the last 10 years is also pretty darn great!
The first series I’d like to talk about is “Plastic Memories”, which is notable for being one of the best dramedies I’ve ever seen in my life. And I’m not just talking about anime, I’m talking about any medium here. It manages to take a setup that is so utterly depressing and make the best of it, because the characters choose to make the best of it. The drama comes naturally, but the comedy is enforced by your typical wacky character archetypes (the normal guy protagonist, the shy, quirky romantic interest, the tsundere, the aloof superior, the womanizer – you know the drill) doing typical wacky things. It sounds like a weird, even inappropriate contrast, except it really, really works!
“Plastic Memories” is set in the not too distant future where lifelike robots named Giftias are the latest trend. The robots don’t age, obviously, but other than that look and act exactly the same as humans – they can learn, they develop a personality based on their environment, they gain their own dreams, wishes and aspirations, hell, they even have certain civil rights! The only thing that differentiates them from humans, aside from the whole “no aging” thing, is that their lifespan is only 81920 hours – roughly about 10 years. After that, their memory and personality starts to fall apart, and if they’re left to deteriorate completely very bad things will happen (suffice to say, having a super-strong automaton without memories or a personality roaming the streets is not a good idea). In order to prevent this from happening, units known as Terminal Services retrieve Giftias shortly before their expiration date, by erasing their memories and OS, essentially killing them and then recycling their body to be used for a reinstalled OS – though the new Giftia will have a significantly different personality and no memories of his or her past life.
In case you didn’t grasp that, let me put it this way – their job is to go to families and take away their children, husbands, wives, parents or siblings, euthanize them and then recycle their bodies. It’s the equivalent of working as a doctor whose job is to do nothing but tell people their loved ones have died. It’s heartbreaking, heartwrenching and not something that anyone should ever have to do, and yet certain people have to because it’s better than the alternative. One of those people is Tsukasa Mizugaki, a high school student who flunked his final exams because he developed appendicitis. On his first day of employment he gets paired up with Isla, a Giftia who’s set to train him in the best way to retrieve targets (sometimes all you have to do is ask, but other times families are quite reluctant to part with their Giftias) and to assist him in his job. Naturally, it’s not long before feelings between the two blossom.
This is sort of where the beauty of “Plastic Memories” lies – it’s a brilliant drama, a brilliant comedy, a brilliant romance and a brilliant sci-fi all rolled into one wonderful package, and it is beautiful. I was often surprised about just how much I laughed, considering the overall rather depressing setting. The characters are all funny and memorable, including the regular cast and the side characters that they encounter during their retrieval missions. I really loved how, in merely 13 episodes, we were able to examine realistically just how many uses society would potentially have for human-like robots. The most common ones are, of course, children, but on several occasions we’ve seen humans being raised by Giftias, or them being used to do certain jobs such as being a bodyguard. And of course the anime doesn’t shy away from the darker side of humanity, with a particular character being a black market dealer who steals Giftias and reinstalls their OS so they could presumably be used as sex slaves.
Honestly, the whole retrieval aspect of the anime was the most interesting part for me, personally, but for better or for worse in the latter half of the series that takes a backseat to the romance between Isla and Tsukasa. And don’t get me wrong, it’s a great romance – unlike so many other anime romances, it doesn’t end just as soon as they decide that they’re a couple, quite the opposite. Sure, there’s a bit of a “Will they, won’t they”, but the moment they decide that they do want to be together after all (um, spoilers, I guess?) they start going on dates, joking about at home, stuff that normal couples do. After all, a Giftia’s lifespan is pretty limited, and they know that better than anyone. It’s not about crafting a relationship that will last – it’s about crafting memories that will.
I honestly can’t recommend “Plastic Memories” enough. It’s got everything you might want from an anime – action, drama, comedy, romance, sci-fi, you name it. There’s no reason for you not to watch it, so stop reading and get on it, people!