So when Aniplex pitched this anime at Anime Boston, they said it was an anime about love. Well they weren’t wrong when they said that. It’s a story about love up till the very end. Not just the love between Tsukasa and Isla either, but Isla’s love of the people she’d worked with and made memories with in her life. Let’s take a look at this last episode and then move onto my thoughts on it as a whole.
We begin this episode with Tsukasa and Isla watching the sun rise together, going over her diary and discussing her memories. Wait, stop episode, it’s too early for me to be getting misty eyed. So after the credits, we see Isla and Tsukasa cleaning their apartment, as this is the last day that they will be living there. They both get dirty and go take a bath together, then head out to work.
As they’re leaving, Isla leaves a note on the counter for Tsukasa. At the office, you see her writing up notes and leaving them for everyone else. Kazuki comes in early, despite always being a little late because she had a feeling that they would be there. Driving them out, they have the entire day to themselves to do something together.
They go and water the herbs, and then Tsukasa asks her where she would like to go. She asks Tsukasa the same, both of them knowing what the other is thinking, they count to 3 and both go “Amusement Park.” HEY, EPISODE, NO, BAD. Why are you doing this to me!? So we see them having fun all around the amusement park, well I guess if I had to choose a way to spend the last few hours of my life with my significant other, it’d be at a place that meant something to me.
This park is where they took their first date, where Isla used to sit and watch people. Where Tsukasa bought the key chain he got her to help her open up for the first time once they moved in together.
So it is a place of great meaning for the two of them, most important of all. The farris wheel, the thing that Tsukasa passed out on during their last date here. As the park is closing, Isla goes over to the attendant at the farris wheel and asks him to run it one more time for them.
They get on and begin their ride, and this is the part of the review I burst out into tears again. As they sit and tell each other why they love one another, how much Tsukasa sucks at it…how she wants him to end it before the ride ends. How he cries for the first time in front of her, and WHY DID I HAVE TO BE RIGHT ABOUT THE KISS?
I knew it, I knew they would do this. Wait until the moment before her memories were wiped to have their kiss. It’s not like I was already sobbing my eyes out or anything. Tsukasa carries her body to Kazuki.
The rest of the episode up till the credits is them reading the notes that she left behind. After the credits, we get a brief time skip to nine months later. Where Tsukasa had been off on a training program and is now returning to Terminal Services. He’s smiling, everyone is smiling. Life has gone on, the last image we see is him being introduced with a smile to his new partner.
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Alright, it’s time to talk about what I thought about the series as a whole and boy do I have a lot to say about this one. As I said at the beginning of this review, when Aniplex showcased this show at Anime Boston, they said it was a show about romance. They were absolutely right. However, on no site that I have seen has this show been classified as a romance anime. Normally, it’s only classification is Sci-fi which is very misleading. While yes, it does have some Sci-fi elements in the way of the giftia’s and how they work this is not solely a sci-fi show.
If you go in expecting one, you will be sorely disappointed. However, if you go in expecting a heart breaking romance, well you get your monies worth.
The best and worst thing about this show is that it spoils the ending for you in the first episode. You know, from episode 1 that Isla is on a time limit and that there will not be any sort of happily ever after no matter how much you may want it. Which made the heart wrenching scenes all the more heart wrenching, but at the same time. It made it hard for the show to be light hearted, in fact, when the show tried comedy. It often felt so out of place it felt almost as if you were watching a different show.
This anime is at it’s best when it’s being true to itself. Every retrieval scene, every time that Tsukasa and Isla are with each other and loving every minute of it. That’s when the show shines it’s brightest.
The largest issues I have with this series stand with it’s awful attempts at comedy and with just how short it is. At the end, I am upset that the other members of Terminal Service unit 1 aren’t as developed as they could be. I am sad that they did not do more with R.Security. I’m sad that we did not get to see more Giftia’s becoming wanderers. I am glad that, that’s not how they decided to go with Isla. If I had to watch Tsukasa gun her down I would of cried even more then I did at the series actual ending
Though, while I would of liked these things, I can’t complain with what I got. A love story that warmed my heart and placed the emphasis that memories are important and wonderful things, however, it’s alright to move on and continue smiling even after someone you love deeply is gone. I am glad that they did not Dues Ex a ending where they could be together.
Would I recommend other people watch Plastic Memories? Yes, absolutely. It may not be a perfect anime, however it is one certainly worth seeing at least once or twice. If only for it’s gorgeous animation and music, but most of all for the relationship between Tsukasa and Isla. Who stuck together until the bitter end. I give Plastic Memories a
-sobs my eyes out-/ 10
~Midnight
I agree, one of the downsides of Plamemo was the comedy, which was often misplaced. (That post-confession scene….) I also think the pacing was a little off at times. The romance between Tsukasa and Isla was sweet, but it was rushed, not only because of Isla’s time limit but also because it took place over two episodes. If that post-confession confusion hadn’t happened, they would have gotten one more entire episode to develop their relationship! That being said, I still think the goodbye scene was done really well. I wasn’t expecting to cry, but the shock of Isla suddenly wanting her life as a Giftia to end right on the ferris wheel tipped me over the edge. T_T