Atri – My Dear Moments Ep 7 & 8

Episode 7 begins with Natsuki investigating further about Atri’s emotions, to figure out whether or not she has a “heart”. But there was one thing that Natsuki kept on overlooking when he was testing her: The clues she kept leaving about whether the way she responded made him happy.

In the beginning of the episode, Natsuki was struggling to understand how his memory worked with Atri being the supposed one to save him when he only recalls an older lady during his time of need. But Atri filling in the gaps that seemingly continue to prove that perhaps it really was her makes it confusing for him to the point that the visual of his memory is being “overwritten”. And in all fairness, it is confusing. How is it she is able to perfectly line up those memories and know that song, all while he himself doesn’t remember her as she is? This does make me wonder if Atri actually been modelled off that specific individual, and perhaps even been made to inherit her memories once when deceased. But until we figure out whether that’s a possibility or not, there’s a much more pressing issue at hand, and that’s whether Atri actually has a “heart” or not.

This whole episode was honestly awkward in a sense of, there was blatant writing on the wall that, no, contrary to what everyone (including Natsuki believes), Atri does not appear to have a “heart”. Honestly it was surprising to see Natsuki completely overlook some of the glaring red-flags that said otherwise, especially when he suspects her AI is just choosing reactions to her situation that’s been programmed into her.  Every single time Natsuki brought up the subject of ‘heart’, ’emotions’ and ‘love, it was very obvious that Atri knew that she couldn’t honestly give him the answer he wanted to hear. She has left a number of clues that pointed to her simply giving the answers he wants to hear, after all she said: “It would make you happier if I had a heart right?”

Then sure enough, Episode 8 ended with chucking everything that led them to believe Atri having a “heart” out the window. And ohhhhhhh boy, that was one hell of a bomb-shell to drop there, and I’m here for it.

When Natsuki finally got a glimpse at Atri’s journal consisting logging her daily observations, he made a very chilling discovery. Like seriously, I got goosebumps. It was quite disturbing to see how Atri’s “heart” that everyone was led into believing was somehow “real” turned out to be nothing more than an imitation— which is at the end of the day, is exactly what Atri is. A robot that bears the uncanny resemblance of a Human.

This is interesting considering we saw Catherine and Natsuki discussing how emotions makes robots dangerous, because here we are having the exact opposite effect. A robot that looked remarkably Human, creating an illusion based on studying Human interactions that it too has a “heart”. Rather than destruction, we have a situation of setting someone up for disappointment.

This right here, is probably the reason why Atri’s generation of robots were recalled in the first place. All Atri was doing is responding and intimidating Human actions. But without having a grasp on the emotions behind it, it her actions become meaningless. The moment people discovers this critical flaw– of lacking a true “heart”, it shatters the illusion and breaches trust between them.

Naturally, Natsuki’s horrified. I mean, how could he not be? This whole thing is super messed up. It just makes this happiness that has come from this relationship with Atri come off as superficial. The emotional connection of their relationship is essentially non-existent, nothing more than a illusion formed formed by mimicking others behaviours, and observing how they respond to when they do certain things. How is one supposed to maintain this relationship when they are conscious of the fact the other is simply responding to what the other party want, rather than driven by their own will? That’s not authentic feelings “from the heart” that he was led to believe he was getting from her.

That issue also validates an additional reason why seeing them kiss was terribly uncomfortable. Atri merely did it because she saw that’s what Natsuki wanted, and gave it to him. Oh and if that wasn’t bad enough? He fell asleep right before he could hear her wave that red flag in front of him: She only said those words to him back then because that was what she was taught to.

Hooooooohhhhh boy, with four episodes left I wonder how this is going to end because things sure got messy. Doesn’t help that the antagonists are on the prowl, just waiting for the prime opportunity to strike.

That said, I wonder what Minamo is going to think of this. She too was very convinced that Atri has a heart, though I wonder if she’ll have a different perspective on things than Natsuki does. I’m mostly curious if she’ll read the logs herself. This is probably going to be an awkward and difficult time considering she has chosen to selflessly take a step back because values her friendship and Natsuki’s happiness above everything else. Did I ever mention she’s the best girl? Like seriously, I love her. She’s an absolute sweetheart!

And then there’s still the issue with the antagonists who have taken a backseat until further notice, so who knows what they’ll do next.There’s not much time left, so they are bound to act within the next episode or two. Quite possibly next week if Natsuki orders Atri to disappear from his sight. That is certainly the window of opportunity they’d be waiting for. We still don’t know what they mean by “(claiming Atri) is their right” though.

With that said, I came into this week uncertain whether I was going to continue to coverage. I might just need to do double-posts for the remaining four though, varies how much there is to talk about. I’ll play it by ear and see how it goes.