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Plastic Memories (TV).

Remember that storage devices have limits to how fast they can read and write. The 81920 hours limit may very well be simply be design tolerance/maximum write speed, with the subsequent failures enforced by software as a public relations management technique.

As to why they would use a time-based expiration, I can think of two reasons:

First, giftias are physical things that move around on their own initiative--and from what we have seen thus far, unique objects whose users would not like to see cloned--, not a stationary device whose data is backed up in numerous other places. Ensuring recovery before failures occur is more important than in a standard computer. In "The Bicentennial Man", US Robots and Mechanical Men enforced a time-based obsolescence system because they greatly feared the negative PR associated with an actual failure of a robot.

Second, a time-based system is easier to administer than a wear based system. In real life, there's a fair amount of controversy associated with smart devices phoning home. Recall that Michiru mentioned that privacy concerns was the reason the owner must be present when the giftia is erased. It is unlikely, then, that SAI would include a system for reporting wear level to headquarters. A time-based system would permit them to track expiration without needing to connect to the giftias.

While these are ultimately motivated by the desire to protect the corporation, they are there to address public concerns. Even if the giftias expire so precisely because the company had included a kill switch unrelated to actual wear, the move need not be motivated by some sort of conspiracy. A conspiracy is certainly a possibility, but I'd like to see the story address the more mundane motivations for once.

The fact that SAI built a software kill switch into the giftia does not necessarily mean a sinister motive.

And what if that data wasn't actually deleted? All we know is what the Company PR has said occurs. If there were several companies able to create Giftia-level robots I would be far less inclined to look for sinister plot elements.

Damn i don't know if I can handle a tearjerker so soon after YLIA.

I'm also not clear on why the memories and "soul" can't be transferred to new storage media before the old hardware degrades. Raftina called them "unique objects whose users would not like to see cloned," but I don't see why not. People want to clone their pets, even knowing (or maybe not realizing) the clone won't be the same just because its genetics are, and I think a lot of people would be on board for their loved ones to continue if their personality, memories and "souls" could be transferred into new containers. If it could be done, I think the grandmother would have preferred the niece to be transferred rather than erased, so my question is why can't that be done?

As for the expiration date, I can see some reasoning for it outside of it being explained yet. It looks like kill switches are a very real possibility. In another sci-fie franchise, Halo, the human like "smart AI" like Cortana, last a measly 7 years, the idea being that the AI starts to think beyond the level the evolving program starts to fragment from overthinking. If along similar lines I can think that even if something bad seems to happen at the expiration date, it might well be done to prevent sudden unforeseeable and possibly dangerous actions that could harm people. It makes sense that a company that provides a companion that is safe and quite human would need it recovered before it starts deteriorating.

This series had elements that could potentially be good, but it wasted them with hamfisted attempts at emotion...

What was so hamfisted? I'm assuming you are referring to the scene with the little girl and the grandmother. I thought that was very well handled. Hamfisted to me indicates that there was something clunky about the execution or they gilded the lily by piling on pathos or over-extended an emotional beat, none of which happened, imo.

No one else has mentioned this yet, but if you listened closely to when Tsukasa was describing what little he knew of of the Company, he mentioned that the Giftia contained "artificial souls" which *only* SA Corp. knows how to make. Hmm... HMMM...

Now how, do you suppose, these souls are created? Why is the end date set so precisely? I mean, that would imply that there are no variations in wear or memory storage or whatever parameters they're using in determining that date. What if someone had a very boring, leisurely life and another Gifta had a frenetic, turbulent one?

In fact, what this show reminds me of, in a way, is Witch Hunter Robin. I have a sneaking suspicion that there are some very dark things awaiting us, but maybe I'm just being paranoid here.