Plastic Memories | Episode 13 (Finale)
GingaDaiuchuu: Well it was inevitable after all its missteps that Plastic Memories as a whole would never be even close to the already only pretty good level it started at, but at least the finale was decently executed enough, as expected as it all was, that it brought it up to a much higher level than I had feared after its consistent downhill trend and the level it was at by the end of the penultimate episode. So yeah, I guess for what I was guessing, I’m happy enough with this ending. I guess the only thing that wasn’t just the most straightforward resolution to this story was the little tease at the end of Tsukasa ending up with a new partner who could possibly be the new resident of Isla’s body. There could’ve been a lot more commentary on whether or not it would be acceptable for a person to simply attempt the same relationship with a stranger who happens to inhabit the body of a former lover, but this show was all about missing opportunities. At least we got enough to make some amount of speculation and judgment from the one episode about meeting a new personality of the old Giftia you once knew.
Sensuifu: At least we have some real closure. The symbolic ferris wheel scene was somewhat bittersweet..though maybe a bit obvious in the ‘recycling’ of a giftia and all the memory making aspect that’s implied.
Library-chan: I like to think it’s Isla at the end. Time to make new memories.
Buckeye: I think it’s Isla as well, but this Isla has a new OS in her. So it’s a different person inside the same body being the most likely scenario as I can see it.
Overall, this show has a great story concept and some really nice, emotional moments that carry this show through. I just like the way this story is constructed in that Tsukasa and Isla are all about looking at life with a glass half-full rather than half-empty seeing that Isla’s time is almost up. The relationships grew close, and for that, this show is something I enjoyed. That said, this show really fumbles with some poorly-placed comedy here that ruins the mood of the story. It’s fine to have some funny stuff, but this show has way too much of it that puts a damper on this show.
Paranoia Gent: I really liked the finale – found it very affecting. The “A-team” must have been on deck for this one as opposed to the B-team that seemed in charge of too many of the episodes. Music was used very sparingly and when it was used, it was to good effect. I appreciated that the show didn’t flinch or wuss out and try to “save” Isla. I also loved the ambiguity of the last image where we don’t see the new Giftia – let’s us use our imagination. This show had its up and downs for sure but ultimately I found it a worthwhile and poignant watch.
Hitsugi Amachi: Just like Giftias, the whole thing feels artificial in the end. Why do Giftias only have a limited lifespan? Why do they go berserk if you don’t shut them down? Why can’t the memories be stored in a new body? Why is the personality completely dependent on the OS installed once? Are we to assume Giftias’ OS and memories are on one giant one-time only CD-R that breaks after 9 years or whatever it was again?
There was the possibility of doing more with this show, but the writer didn’t feel the need to do any of it. Instead, lots of maudlin “you must cry” drama and some badly timed piss jokes. Bleh…
Sensuifu: Yeah, the author dumping the technical aspects and instead filling that time with silly hijinks didn’t help in creating some significance to why we should empathize for the Giftias. Sure we may feel for them in some way, but it’s harder to take more seriously if all we saw were the consequences on failed, timely retrievals.
Hitsugi Amachi: The only thing “real” are the memories created by Giftias and the humans who share them…but with the Giftias being little better than disposable consumer goods…are those memories themselves nothing more than ephemeral consumer goods?
Yeah, I get some of the points the author seemed to be making with regard to some of these issues, but the wholly contrived nature of things ends up leaving me feeling somewhat empty afterward. Sure, when watching Isla right before her “retrieval,” I felt kind of sad. But now, much later in the day…the feeling has pretty much dissipated into the ether. It was a short-term disposable good and now that it has been consumed, it’s thrown away.
Sensuifu: This. And reason why I mentioned how this ‘recycling’ seems too convenient. Almost as though they’re treated like tools, and later recycled for the next batch of feelings. Seems like there’s very little sincerity considering they can always ‘reset’ every time. There is closure, however, seeing how Isla’s retrieval was exactly as planned, or at least expected by Tsukasa and the rest of SAI. But that closure doesn’t really give any strong emotional connection since both Isla and Tsukasa played it out like her next ‘iteration’ can make up for the loss. To replace her with other, newer memories (possibly using the same body) seems a bit insensitive and really impersonal.
Hitsugi Amachi: What makes it worse, when you think about it, is that they send Tsukasa away for nine months for “training” and he comes back all smiles and ready to work again. While I’m sure this isn’t what they intended, one way to look at this is that he was sent to…say…Tahiti or some similar “magical place” where he was mind-wiped and reprogrammed given some grief counseling which largely consisted of “they’re not really people, so don’t worry about it?” and then able to do this job again. Notice how Michiru seems quite blase about the whole thing currently where once she was invested enough in her Giftia “dad” to go on the run with tragic and traumatic results.
I know, this is not what happens in show, but this is not as far-fetched a little spinoff speculation as it might seem. Where is the evidence to contradict the idea that the humans, too, get some kind of reprogramming after losing their Giftia? They don’t lose their memories, of course, but somehow the emotional impact is blunted which can actually be done in the real world now with certain drugs and therapeutic techniques (usually employed to diminish panic attacks and serious symptoms caused by PTSD). With the gee-whiz tech of this shiny world, perhaps they have the “magical place” machine.
Sensuifu: That’s a dark and sinister angle on it, though pretty plausible seeing that manipulating memories, like you pointed out, isn’t exclusive to cybernetic beings. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Tsukasa really took ‘respite’ at some sort of facility resort to recondition his feelings.
Then again, all this lovey-dovey stuff was inevitably temporary, which brings us back to the question- why were the Giftias emulating human emotions only to be limited to a set expiry before turning berserk and posing a dangerous threat to their human friends? Wouldn’t having emotional attachment to such a potentially ‘hazardous’ thing pose more problems long term; both psychologically and emotionally (and maybe even physically as evident of Kazuki’s accident)? Is it really wise to endure such trauma after the fact…and then be costly to ‘recover/rehab’ to coverup the mess that probably shouldn’t have happened in the first place?
Seems like the author wasn’t sure what to make of this subject matter, whether it was meant to be up for debate, or whether it was just supposed to be taken as a false impression of artificial love. I’d like to think its the former, but the latter seems to fit the premise the show evolved into; which really though, contradicts everything by ending with the semi-happy conclusion all with smiles and giggles. 
Hitsugi Amachi: In the end, it appears to me he just has Jun Maeda-envy and wanted to create a “crying anime” that would force otaku to choke up over a cute moe moe girl “dying,” but instead of going for the cold and ruthless “kill,” he papers it over with a semi-Buddhist notion that she can be “reborn.” All of the emotional trauma and tear-inducing extortion, but no real bodies or blood by the end.
Which, as you were saying, makes the subplots concerning Giftias going nuts and harming people and the sad tale of Michiru and Kazuki all the more strange. Why tell us all this stuff, except as a bit of genuine authorial trolling (for those who mistake the author/writers doing something you personally don’t like as you being trolled, pay attention. This is real authorial trolling: when the author puts in crap to toy with your expectations for no reason other than just to toy with your expectations)? Sure, one can counter that actually this is just authorial misdirection, but at this point I don’t feel like I’ve been mislead. I feel like I was toyed with and had my chain yanked. These events were merely red herrings meant to worry us and nothing more.
Oh my god! Giftias can go nuts and kill everyone! Look out for what happens when Isla nears the end!!
……………psych. (Yeah, sorry for the very outdated style of saying this 
).
Subpar, in the end.
