Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Plastic Memories
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Cyclone1993
 Posts: 947 |
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Episode 5 was great, and easily the best episode of the series. However, I can't agree with the remarks about the comedy, because I found the first half of episode 3 to be quite funny. Maybe because the beating was never shown, it was just fun watching her reaction to misunderstandings. Sure, it doesn't hit the deep parts of the series, which I am loving by the way, but it was still highly enjoyable for me. But I would be okay if it was completely eschewed in future episodes.
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John Thacker
Posts: 1006 |
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FWIW, I know a variety of US companies and government offices (some mine, some customers') that use white boards and magnets to mark employees' location (In/Out, home or field offices, etc.) It does reduce the emotional impact if you don't realize it's how they're showing that she's absent. |
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Hameyadea
 Posts: 3679 |
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If we take that "Giftias are objects" mentality one step further, coupled with the apparent fact that the most opportune time to successfully "pull of a job" is by deceiving the Giftia owners into thinking that they (the owners) are sending their Giftias back to the manufacturer, and that the Giftias are presumebly among the Plastic Memories-verse most advanced robots/technology (and thus, probably, their make-up and production detail are a tightly-sealed trade secret), it won't surprise me if the Black Market fellas are sending Giftias to a Giftia Chop Shop for a hefty reward. That theory can be reinforced if you think on how does Black Market dealers know to which household to go, and when, and are successfully duplicating the snatch results enough for them to be mentioned during a corporate meeting. Currently, the most probable answers to "how those Black Market folks know what to do" are:
Last edited by Hameyadea on Sun May 03, 2015 6:41 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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kinghumanity
Posts: 365 |
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That's certainly one possible interpretation, and a good one. But I think expiring giftias go berserk when their deteriorating memories are summoned up again - for example, hearing the voices of the people they were close to. This could possibly be the reason why Isla is cold and distant - she doesn't want to be close enough to anyone for that to happen. Also Isla clearly had nothing to do with setting off Marcia. It was Souta who called out her name that triggered her.[/quote] |
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Ultimatum
 Posts: 162 |
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Hmmm, I just don't know what to think about this episode, actually. The drama itself was well-done, I think, since I wanted Marcia to snap out of the Wanderer mode and give us a happy ending, but while everything that was happening, I couldn't stop thinking "This is so stupid" to myself over and over.
Like: 1. Black-market Giftia thugs. What was their purpose in abducting Marcia? Were they there to break her down for spare parts? Then why not disassemble her (this lets her escape)? Why abduct her so close to doomday? If not for spare parts, what's their purpose? What does black-market mean in this context? Does the writer even know? Maybe it'll be answered later, but for now it seems like they're just seems like they used that word to sound edgy. 2. Why do Giftias have super-strength? Like, I get a need for adrenaline rushes to protect their "family," but adrenaline rushes don't let you rabbit-hop backwards up to the roof of a skyscraper. This just seems really dumb, especially considering how many owners aren't willing to give up their Giftias. Like, that's just asking for a situation like this to happen. Who the heck designed Giftias, anyway? There are so many design flaws... Honorable mention goes to Isla running in at the last second when the main character had almost fired his weapon. It's cheap drama, but I can't remember whether Isla's weapon was nonlethal or not. That could be why she jumped in. Anyway, just me venting. I'm mostly enjoying this show, but some parts of it just don't make sense. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11426 |
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How Souta got in is less an issue for me than how he knew where to go at all. Did he hire a taxi to follow them around town all day? Oo
Far from being a series-saver, this episode went a long way to driving the last nail in the coffin for me, with its ham-fisted stereotypes, conflicts and contrived drama. I feel my expiration date is approaching, and if the writing remains this dismal, I'll likely wander off and just forget this. |
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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Even Issac Asimov did this. Never did try to explain it. I guess robots were an exotic concept back then but even that fig-leaf no longer works. |
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Ultimatum
Posts: 162 |
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It's been a while since I read the I, Robot series (I meant to reread it, actually, since Time of Eve brought back all of my childhood nostalgia), but robots in that series had all kinds of functions, like factory workers, secret agents, etc. It made a bit more sense for them to have super-strength--and the three laws were supposed to make them harmless to humans (whether they did or not). I haven't seen the movie, so I can't say if there were any ridiculous stunts on par with the backwards roof-jumping there, but most of what I remember the robots did, even with their strength, wasn't so overblown. |
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MiloTheFirst
Posts: 429 |
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this episode was completly awfull, they sent all logic and comon sense down the toilet. i couldnt feel anything over how ridiculuos the setting was. first, how the hell did the little boy got into that closed zone, so the military like security guys have a closed perimeter and oops a little boy slips in off-camara, and how the hell did that boy transported himself there and knew she was there to begin with. he is a god-dam little kid he shouldnt even know how to correctly read public transportation maps, even less how to use it to get into what seemd to be a run-down district.
then there is the issue of the gun thingies, so "oh, we have lives at stakes, lets better send this newbee that has no gun or physical training whatsoever to face a robot that can super jump and lift tones, and while we are at it lets also send the alredy-oficially-reported-as-defective giftia on the mission i am sure nothing bad will happen", was that even in his work description? where is the logic thought process on everycharacter in this episode?. why did the captain of the security guys even listen to the request of the retrieval team, guilt aside if someone dies is on his neck. why would the retrieval team be sent into battle when the giftia was alredy located? why is no character complaining that their desk-job is suddenly asking them to risk their life with no compensation? so now we have android-protection laws but no worker-protection laws? and what is the deal with the freaking "black market"? black markets exist because either it is profitable or the selling of the product is regulated by law. so are giftias so expensive that they have to risk being caught stealing them instead of buying them? i dont think so, the show has show us nothing but midle-class people as the owners. or is it because the company dont just sell them around to anyone and on unlimited quantities? why would they want overly dangerous dementous androids for anyway? unless they could reset them themselves but if they could then why would they wait for them to be about to expire to steal them? and where the hell was the goverment and real police in this whole episode? |
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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In "Risk" a robot test pilot's ability to crush a steel bar in its hands is a major plot point...I checked out the text and it is described as "perfectly generalized", so you could be right, but one character also considered it absurd that the robot was build with such strength. In one of his novels (I think The Naked Sun or The Robots of Dawn) it's a minor plot point that a human could not possibly commit suicide because a robot would prevent it. I think this implies a rather extreme level of reaction-time and speed. I guess it can be argued these robots are supposed to be capable of nearly anything as they pretty much run the nuts-and-bolts of the society, though. I still suspect a temptation to make robots cool by making them super-human. |
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Metal Fennrir
 Posts: 70 Location: Costa Rica |
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It would have been a really awesome, A+ episode... if not for Souta. Seriously, how is it that Souta managed to slip past the blockade and find Marcia at almost the SAME TIME than our dear useless MC and his I'm-running-out-of-time partner Isla? I get that the anime is trying to create high-tension drama but that plot hole is just ridiculous
I don't have a problem with the black market business because they haven't explained it yet. I'm sure they will, they must. But the Souta situation is unforgivable. And the way Tsukasa manages everything, I mean, you're a rookie but this is way too much dude. You waited like 5 seconds of Marcia strangling Souta before pointing a gun at her, what the hell man? Or even bringing the injured Isla into confronting a Wanderer, when you KNOW she's useless in that state. Are you that slow, or you just enjoy creating problems everywhere you go? I call BS if everything goes back to normal after that incident |
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Robeltharion
Posts: 9 |
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Lets just hope that they acknowledge the issue with Souta in the next episode with something logic, so far loving this series.
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2251 |
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Eh, I'm okay with Tsukasa taking a while to shoot if you frame it as him thinking of shooting another human. Coupled with no firearms training...yeah, most people wouldn't be quite that trigger happy and likely need to be compelled just to point a gun at someone else, let alone shoot it. As for the Isla bit, yeah, it's dumb, but Gabriella hit it on the nose with her "cruelty disguised as kindness" bit. If he doesn't bring Isla, or if he takes down Marcia himself, he's doing Isla's job for her, which basically gets rid of her reason to live; she lives to do her job, even if she majorly sucks at it. Take that away, and she's got nothing. 'Cept maybe tea. 
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anime_layer
 Posts: 50 |
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There's an earlier point regarding Souta that struck me more than him sneaking into the sealed of area and even knowing where Marcia was.
It was that they told a boy, whose practically foster mother was kidnapped, to stay put alone in his home. How they could leave anyone in such a distressing situation alone is beyond me, let alone a kid. I mean, they put a big emphasis on supporting people in a difficult time (when they have to take away and "kill" someone close to them) and then completely fail to take care of the basic psychological needs of a boy. No wonder did he go search Marcia on his own, how could he have beared to wait alone this whole time? |
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Nyaomix
 Posts: 127 |
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Episode 5 did indeed make the series more what I was looking for it to be, despite the issues. The michiru versus her rescuers thing can be chalked up to the target audience being more general. She is looking at the situation the same as a young teenager. While souta being there made no sense it is something that is extremly common to happen on tv shows, so I won`t complain as much as most. He needed to be there to really show that her memories were being rejected violently. A problem with television storytelling is that often they stick to convention to make sure a general audience is happy. This series wants to be smart, but it is afraid to take the idea further, and at the same time the writers arent really that smart it seems.`
The black market has no reason to be after anything other than memories. The retrievers have the owner view the shut down process to confirm the memories won`t be stolen. This was stated in the beginning, so obviously prior to deletion the memories are easy to access. Why they pose as retrievers would be so that they have no complications or cops. Yes the retrieval group will come after them, but they don`t want bad press hence their own PMC. If the Giftia was outright stolen without deception then there would be cops and investigations. I was happy they threw in the bit about giftia rights to not be tracked. That type of remark is what I want to hear. Something making the series more real. Glad to hear someone`s view on the board at the end. I was thinking they were saying something about Michiru. |
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