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Plastic Memories
Episode 5

by Gabriella Ekens,

Now this is more like it: an entire episode without lame comedy or romantic teasing between Isla and Tsukasa! Instead, this was almost a pure exploration of the world that this show inhabits, the various institutions that exist around Giftia retrieval, and their various degrees of humanity.

After last episode's stinger, black market retrievers succeeded in kidnapping Marcia, and now our heroes need to retrieve her. This is actually pretty harrowing – we still don't know what the illegal retrievers want with nearly-expired Giftias. Marcia's situation seems to have been a gaffe. In the rush to escape R-security, they lost control of her and she wandered off.

The incident with Michiru's father is more important than just her backstory. It also permanently injured Kazuki, the current senior retriever. She arrived to retrieve Michiru's father when he was on the brink of becoming a Wanderer, only to be interrupted by a squad of armed R-Security agents. They provoked him into attacking the closest person, Kazuki, and then he was shot to death in front of his daughter. Michiru was traumatized, Kazuki's leg was permanently messed up, and something happened involving Isla. I'm sure that there's still more to be revealed about this incident, but right now, it's a revealing summation of the differences between two institutions for dealing with Giftias. Retrievers treat them like people, taking Giftias' safety and comfort into consideration even when they're far gone. R-Security, by contrast, treat them like objects, dangerous liabilities to be eliminated as quickly as possible, before they cause trouble for the company. Plastic Memories argues that treating people like threats turns them into threats, when there are more humane (if financially inefficient) solutions.

They do succeed in making the robot equivalent of senile escapees seem like a threat. Giftias have advanced physical capabilities, and as Wanderers their powers go into overdrive. Usually Giftias are equipped with limiters to keep them from becoming walking supermen, but those decay along with their mental faculties. Confused and afraid, they're violent to the people around them. It's understandable why people are afraid of unhinged Giftias, even if they're ultimately in the wrong.

I like the detail of there being a sort of Giftias' Rights Movement. Legislation requires that they're treated like humans and not hooked up with trackers, even if they'd be convenient during some situations. However, many humans don't understand this. R-Sec agents view Giftias as machines. Terminal Service No. 1 seems like an exceptional office in that they're committed to treating Giftias with decency.

This episode is more about Isla and Tsukasa's relationship as work partners than their romantic relationship. Everyone is concerned that Isla won't be able to perform on their combat mission, but Isla insists that Tsukasa trusts her. She's terrified of being silently taken off duty at work – a cruelty disguised as kindness. Terminal Service No. 1 may be the gold standard of humane client treatment, but they still can't deal with mortality within their own ranks.

Isla fails to take down Marcia on their first encounter. She's injured, but insists on accompanying Tsukasa as he goes to talk Marcia down. Marcia has absconded with Souta, who somehow sneaked into the militarized zone. Tsukasa almost succeeds at reaching Marcia, but Isla attacks to protect him just as Tsukasa is forced to shoot. That said, the biggest mistake of this episode was in the plotting. How on earth did Souta, a ten-year-old boy, get into an area that's “completely blocked off” by PMCs? It's not enough of a stretch to take me out of the story, but I'd prefer that Plastic Memories pay more attention to its suspension of disbelief. The ending was also too cryptic. We're treated to what appears to be Terminal Service No. 1's attendance board, where Isla is marked absent. It took me a while to even realize that this was supposed to be an attendance sheet. (Is this how they take attendance in Japan?)

This episode was the punch in the gut that Plastic Memories needed. There are plenty of remaining questions – who are the black market retrievers and what do they do with nearly-expired Giftias? Should Isla still be on the field? Her actions almost killed Souta and required Marcia's violent elimination. What was Isla's role in the incident three years ago? You've recovered from that fumble, Plastic Memories. Keep it up.

Grade: B+

Plastic Memories is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.


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