Plastic Memories (プラスティック・メモリーズ, Purasutikku Memorīzu) is a Japanese anime television series conceived and written by Naotaka Hayashi, produced by Doga Kobo. The work is original character designs by Okiura, music by Masaru Yokoyama, directed by Yoshiyuki Fujiwara. The series aired in Japan between April 5 and June 28, 2015.
Contents
Plot
Plastic Memories takes place in a futuristic city, modeled after Singapore, where which humans live alongside androids that look exactly like humans and have human emotion and memory. SAI Corp, the leading android production company, has introduced the Giftia, an advanced android model with the most human-like qualities of any model. However, there is a catch. The lifespan of a Giftia is determined beforehand, and a Giftia can only live for a maximum of 81,920 hours (roughly nine years and four months). If they pass their expiration date, it causes personality disintegration, memory loss, and outbreaks of violence; those who experience this are known as wanderers. Wanderers only act on instinct and can no longer recognize their owners. As a result, the Terminal Services are established with the duty of retrieving Giftias who are close to the end of their lifespans from their owners, and erasing the Giftias' memories. To perform this job, the Terminal Service employees work in teams consisting of a human (known as a "spotter") and a Giftia (known as a "marksman"). The story follows the work and life of such a team in SAI Corp's Terminal Service One office, consisting of the male (and human) protagonist, Tsukasa Mizugaki and a Giftia named Isla. Their relationship progresses, and as they both slowly fall in love, Isla is revealed to be nearing the end of her own lifespan.
Characters
Terminal Service One
Tsukasa Mizugaki (水柿 ツカサ, Mizugaki Tsukasa)
Voiced by: Yasuaki Takumi
Tsukasa is the 18-year-old male protagonist. After failing his college entrance exams due to medical problems, he eventually gets a job through his father on Terminal Service One, although he initially does not know what they do. He is assigned as Isla's spotter and soon becomes attached to her, unaware that she is at the end of her lifespan. When he finally finds out, he refuses to abandon Isla and continues to be her partner. He has developed feelings for Isla ever since their first encounter, but only realizes it during their partnership.
Isla (アイラ, Aira)
Voiced by: Sora Amamiya
Isla is a Giftia who is a beautiful young girl with long silver hair tied into twintails. She has a tendency to trip and fall on objects, and causes those around her to feel the fleetingness of life. She is said to be a veteran at the department and was once partnered with Kazuki as her marksman. After that, all she does is serve tea at SAI Corp, until Tsukasa arrives, to which she becomes his marksman and is put back in the field again, despite having less than 2,000 hours until the end of her lifespan. She eventually develops feelings for Tsukasa.
Michiru Kinushima (絹島 ミチル, Kinushima Michiru)
Voiced by: Chinatsu Akasaki
A 17-year-old employee who works at SAI Terminal Service One and is Tsukasa's superior by one year. She seems to be developing feelings for Tsukasa, but refuses to admit it. She was raised by a Giftia, so she empathizes with the "android children", people who were raised by Giftia or other androids. She had tried to protect her guardian from being retrieved, resulting in him becoming a "Wanderer", and he was later shot down by members of the private security firm R. Security, resulting in her longstanding hatred of them. This experience has since resulted in her joining Terminal Service One.
Zack (ザック, Zakku)
Other characters
Chizu Shirohana (白花 チヅ, Shirohana Chizu)
Voiced by: Reiko Suzuki
A stern elderly woman who was raising Nina, a Giftia, as her surrogate granddaughter.
Nina (ニーナ)
Voiced by: Misaki Kuno
A Giftia raised by Chizu.
Souta Wakanae (若苗 ソウタ, Wakanae Sōta)
Voiced by: Misato Fukuen
A young "android child" who was raised by Marcia, his family's Giftia. He is initially distrustful towards Giftias due to Marcia's impending retrieval and is willing to let Marcia go, but regains his love for her at the prodding of Tsukasa, Isla, and Michiru.
Marcia (マーシャ)
Voiced by: Mamiko Noto
A Giftia who has raised Souta in the role of an older sister.
Shinonome (東雲)
Voiced by: Kenta Miyake
A unit supervisor for R. Security, tasked with hunting down Giftias who turn into Wanderers after passing their expiration dates.
Andie (アンディ)
Voiced by: Mikako Komatsu
A marksman from the Terminal Service No. 3 office. She was once Olivia, a neighbor and friend of Eru's, but was retrieved by the Terminal Service. However, due to budget cuts, her OS was instead replaced and she was recycled under her current name.
Media
Anime
The 13-episode anime television series is produced by Doga Kobo and is directed by Yoshiyuki Fujiwara. The series was created and written by Naotaka Hayashi, and the music is produced by Mages. Okiura provides original character designs, which were later adapted by Chiaki Nakajima for the anime, while the backgrounds are made by Atelier Rourke 07, Gachi Production, and Nara Animation. The series aired from April 5 to June 28, 2015, on Tokyo MX. It aired on later dates on GYT, GTV, ABC, GBS, MTV, BS11, and AT-X. It also started broadcasting online on Niconico starting April 9, 2015. The opening theme is "Ring of Fortune" by Eri Sasaki and the ending theme is "Asayake no Starmine" (朝焼けのスターマイン; lit. 'Starmine of a Morning Glow') by Asami Imai. The first and seventh episodes feature the insert song "Again & Again" by Melody Chubak. The eighth episode uses "Ring of Fortune" as the ending theme instead of the opening theme. The tenth episode features an insert song sung by Isla's voice actress Sora Amamiya, titled "Suki nano de." (好きなので。; lit. 'I Love You.').
Crunchyroll streams the series in North America, Central America, South America, and most of Europe. Funimation previously streamed the series in United States and Canada with subtitles.
Manga
A spin-off manga adaptation, illustrated by Yūyū and titled Plastic Memories: Say to Good-bye (プラスティック・メモリーズ Say to good-bye), features Michiru Kinushima as the protagonist. It began serialization in the June 2015 issue of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Comic. The first tankōbon volume, which contains chapters published before the serialization, was published on April 27, 2015.
Video game
A video game adaptation developed by 5pb. for the PlayStation Vita was released in Japan on October 13, 2016.