ShojiroKatsuragi

Introduction

Plastic Memories (PM for short) is an anime that one would classify as a slice of life romance.  It is one of the very few that has managed to hit the marks required of such an anime effectively, making you invest in the characters, and in the plot, containing heavy moments, yet balancing them with an overall lighthearted feel.  So let us look at this anime in more detail.

Story - 9.7

In a romance anime, the story is very important, more so than in any other anime.  Due to a romance's lack of action, combat or mistory, it is important that the story is delicately and thoughtfully written.  Plastic Memories achieves this in a rarely achieved elegance.

Romance - 10/10

There are two major step-falls for any romance anime.  The first is being cheesy.  Plastic Memories managed to avoid this very effectively.  It even managed to make fun of the cheesy moments most romances resort to.  It created new moments, and brought new ideas to romance and to what we consider to be romantic moments.  More than any of this, though, it used the few cheesy moments it contained, in such a way that they fit perfectly.  Everything felt natural and gentle, unforced and were clearly done very thoughtfully.

The second step-fall for a romance is having the same old basic plotline.  Boy meets, girl, falls for girl, confesses, they have a fight, they break up, they get together, and live happily ever after.  Plastic Memories threw a major spanner into the works.  That is all I'll say, as otherwise I would be spoiling a major element of the story.  Suffice to say that they turn the romance typical theme of love overcoming all on its head.  Showing us that reality is unfortunately just that, reality, whilst at the same time showing us that we can never lose hope in what the future may hold.

Balance - 9/10

There are only two words I have here, Plastic Memories.  For any romance balance is a very hard thing to find.  You need to find a way to make the romance progress in a way that both feels natural, yet doesn't drag out so long as the bore your audience, or force you to resort to using clichès and cheesy moments to fill screen time.  Plastic Memories is one of the very few anime that I think did well to be a half season.  If it had tried to push itself on to a full 24-26 episode anime it would have become too dragged out.

The creators of Plastic Memories knew the strengths of their story and used them well.  The progression feels natural, the interactions easy, and the growth of Tsukasa and Isla's relationship was perfectly paced.

Suprise - 10/10

Unless one is a die-hard Romance fanatic, the fact that an anime has romance in it isn't ever enough to sell one the anime.  The creators of Plastic Memories understand this and take you on a completely different journey.  In the early episodes of the anime, until you learn the horrible secret of Isla, you come to love the characters, and truly root for them.  You can see the sparks flying and just want to keep watching.  As the season matures and you realise what is bound to happen, you pray with all that you are worth that they find some way to overcome the obstacle in their way, that somehow what is predicted doesn't happen.

Plastic Memories is one of the anime that I found myself most compelled to watch.  Where Code Geass went with cliffhangers, Plastic Memories' story inherently compells you to watch.  You just can't get enough of Tsukasa and Isla.  You are simply hooked and addicted and never want the episode to end.  No matter how much you loathe knowing what is inevitably going to happen, you can't stop watching.

Plastic Memories has set a new president for Romance and Slice-of-life anime, a president that they will find very hard to follow.  But I do hope that the other anime out there take up the challenge, for even if they can only manage it half as well as Plastic Memories did, I'm certain we would have dozen more fantastic Romance/Slice-of-life anime every season.

Animation - 9.3/10

Anime has become a major market over the last couple of years.  We've seen many animation houses and companies jump up and a certain quality standard has been set up.  Even so it is still uncommon to find an anime that truly blows your mind.  Plastic Memories does that in such a delicate fashion you would hardly realise it.

Animation Style - 9/10

As I said, more and more anime are being produced every year that have high quality animation.  This is due not only to the fact that it is becoming cheaper and easier to produce high quality anime, but also because more and more companies and animation houses are investing more money in getting better quality animation.  This is a trend that I am only too happy has been going on.  Romance Anime have always been pulling the back-up wagon when it comes to budgets, so to speak.  They aren't as popular as Shounen Action or Mecha anime.  And as such aren't paid as much attention.

This is very sad, I personally believe that Romance anime are simply for a more refined audience.  It is an art to appreciate a good romance, and an even greater art to produce a good romance.  Thanks to the trend we have seen over the past couple of years, and because of the diligence and care of the creators of Plastic Memories, the anime has one of the better animation styles I've seen this season.  It may not be on par with anime like Kekkai Sensen, but it certainly is well above average, a beautiful style to compliment a beautiful story.

Colour - 10/10

Plastic Memories has a colour usage that is definitely on par with Kekkai Sensen.  It is colourful and beautiful beyond measure.  However, like many of the other facets, Plastic Memories doesn't just toss itself around without thought.  It's colour usage is very sparing and very delicate.  It knows exactly when to use a burst of colour, and when to use softer colours.  Often it plays the gloomy mood of a character against the beauty of the scene, a contrast it majestically achieves.

Where an anime like No Game No Life, overpowers you with it's use of colours, yelling at you at the top of its lungs, Plastic Memories whispers into your ear in soft and sweet tones that make you swoon at every turn.

Motion - 9/10

Motion isn't the forte of Plastic Memories, not because it isn't done well, but because it doesn't feature as much as in other anime.  There is only one fight scene in the entire anime, that between Marcia and Isla.  However, in this one moment, we see that no detail has been overlooked by the anime's creators.  The motion is fluid, realistic and is over before you know it.  In the bursts of speed here and there when a character runs you can see careful attention to detail that many other anime overlook.  It is certain that this anime was created as a labour of love, more than just another commercial product to rack in some money.

Sound - 9.5/10

There isn't very much to say about the sound in the anime, other than it was very well done.  Once again, Plastic Memories was very careful, tactful and gentle.  It made sure to play the sounds and music as an afterthought, letting it sink into your subconscious and play beautiful tricks with your mind without you even noticing.  The subtle and muted flavours in the background sounds, and the subtle tones in the characters voices were like the gentle aromas of early spring.  They dance and play around you, softly nudging your senses in such a way that you a pushed to ecstasy before you can close your eyes.

Music - 9.5/10

I have a confession to make.  I had to go back and listen to the songs when I started this review.  I was so enthralled with the story that I skipped the opening themes and ending themes to be able to spend more time watching the story.  I was just too hooked on what was happening to care.  But when I went back I was stupified as to why I would want to skip the songs in the first place.  They were, like everything else in the anime, soft, gentle, thoughtful and majestically done.  They match perfectly with the anime, gearing you up for the episode, and letting your get your thoughts in order afterwards.  Works of art in their own right.

Characters - 9.8/10

The characters, along with the story, are the great forte of Plastic Memories.  Once again, thoughtfully and carefully assembled to be both realistic and dream like at the same time.  A balance hard to strike, and even harder to keep once established.

Motivation - 9/10

With a romance, motivation fades a little to the background.  The whole point of the anime is not to tell you why a character is in the situation that it is, but to show you how he finds his motivation, how he finds his reason to live, namely, through the love of his life.

However, this love is very hard to do right.  Many romances feel forced, unrealistic, too quick to form, to easy to change, and too fleeting to ever have been love.  But the love in Plastic Memories is very different.  The anime does a brilliant job of setting up the various reasons characters act as they do, and at the same time believably alters those motivations as the story progresses.  The changes feel natural, even and steady.  Characters don't act one way the one episode, and then completely differently the next.  They don't forget their motivation when it is convenient for the story, instead, the story is written around the motivation, taking them into account and staying true to the characters.

Breaking from Archetypes - 10/10

Here Plastic Memories does a brilliant job.  Every character is unique.  I could honestly not find any one archetype in the entire anime.  The character that comes the closest would be Yasutaka Hanada, yet he is developed in such a way as to truly come into his own that one can't really say that he falls into the archetype one would otherwise categorise him under.

Each character feels real and whole, carefully assembled in such a way that you can see who they are, and you come to love each and every one of them for being exactly that, who they are.

Main Characters - 10/10

Isla and Tsukasa are two of the best main characters I have ever seen.  Not only is each perfectly balanced, uniquely assembled as an individual, but their interactions are so beautifully orchestrated, their relationship so brilliantly crafted that I honestly couldn't find anything to fault the creators on.  I found myself bawling my eyes out like a kitten when they cried, and secretly smirking when something good happened to one of them, or I found them smiling.  I felt like a kid in a candy store, I simply just couldn't get enough.

Supporting Characters - 10/10

Plastic Memories contains a truly beautiful cast of supporting characters.  It is one of the few anime I have seen that flushes the supporting characters and main characters out in equal measures.  It establishes each as it's own person, with it's own story.  You honestly don't feel like any one of them is a supporting character, but is a main character of his/her own life, who just happens to not be focused on during the anime.  Each is beautifully crafted and lovingly made.

Importance to Story - 10/10

Both the Main and supporting characters in Plastic Memories are of great importance to the story.  Though they aren't necessary all as cardinal to the development of the plot, they each have an important role to play in setting up the mood, the environment and building each other up, especially the main characters.  Both due to their history with the characters prior to the beginning of the story, and through their continued contributions throughout.  Many of their actions are done subtly and only come to light upon a second or third rewatch of the anime.  Truly everything in this anime is handled as a whisper, instead of a shout.

Conclusion

For some reason I put this anime off till yesterday to watch it, and I'm actually glad I did.  If I had to wait a weak between each episode I might well have committed suicide.   The anime is so addictive and so compelling that I would likely not have made it.  It is brilliant, truly a gem that is worth it's weight in platinum.  A work of art that was done with almost as much love as the two main characters feel for one another.

The characters and the story are so well done and carefully developed that I found myself honestly sobbing during their moments of sadness and praying with all my heart that they find happiness.  The ending tore my heart to shreds, luckily I held on though, as after the credits were done rolling on screen, a scene played that made me smile and cry all over again with happiness and hope.

As I said in the beginning, the anime shows you that reality is just that, reality, but that you can never lose hope in what the future can, and may, hold.  The ending was beautiful and truly poetic.  Plastic Memories is an anime that I will be watching and rewatching for many years to come.

If you are looking for a beautiful, caring and gentle anime that will pull at every heart string you didn't even know you had, then watch this anime, and keep the tissues close by.

Naotaka Hayashi, well done.