First Impression: Plastic Memories

                My cheeks feel wet. Most animes take an entire arc, season, or series to get its viewers to cry. We can all agree that Key’s Jun Maeda is a cruel and terrible person who knows how to get those tear ducts running in full force, but even he takes the time to develop his characters before punching you in the heart. Plastic Memories takes a different route. You’ll feel the feels before you can remember the main character’s name.

               In a near future Japan, androids are a commonplace in society. Think of the Persocoms from Chobits, only less gimmicky and indistinguishable from humans. The SAI Corp has produced an android called a Giftia, one with an artificial soul. Giftias can only remain active for 81920 hours before they are unable to resume their functions and it is up to the Terminal Service employees to retrieve the androids before their service life ends.

               Our hero, Tsukasa, begins to work for the Terminal Service without even knowing what it is they do. He is soon partnered up with the silver haired beauty named Isla, a Giftia. All Tsukasa has to do is watch Isla as she retrieves their targets and makes sure everything goes smoothly. Isla warns Tsukasa that the job is never satisfying and we soon see why.

 “In this moment, I think I've already fallen in love with you, without even knowing your name.”

               Plot: 5/5- The first episode shows two retrievals. Both are sad, but the second hit me right me right in the feel sac. Our main characters have a lot of potential for development and Isla seems pretty unique. I can’t classify her as one of the “deres” right now, so that’s a good thing. Tsukasa is our average run-of-the-mill “I feel a little bit more, and I’m going to protect you” MCs so far. I don’t see him changing much, but let’s be real, it’s all about the girl.

               Art: 3.5/5- The art is nothing too impressive, but it's nice to look at. Thankfully, there isn’t too much CGI except for the cars the characters drive, but it’s blended in pretty well. The lighting gets significantly better during emotional scenes, but other than that, the art is pretty average.

               Sound: 4/5- We don’t get an OP or an ED in this first episode, so I can’t judge that right now. However the BGM for the emotional scenes, especially the last one, are exactly what is needed to intensify the feels. Voice acting is pretty solid and no character made my ears bleed, so that’s a plus.

               Overall: 4/5- I can see this show being a 5/5 in the future, but I’ve had enough experience of a show starting strong and ending up pretty mediocre. Hopefully we can get a lot of character development between Isla and Tsukasa while maintaining the feel fest in the retrievals.

               TL;DR: If you like feel animes with romance, you should definitely give this show a shot. If you’re super manly and cool and you don’t like that bloodless pansy stuff, stay away.

               Watch the first episode here.