Plastic Memories – 06

I love cute feet, and I hate the animators for this shot…..

Welcome back to Shoehorn Memories! Nah, I kid around a bit. But I do want to explore some of the ups and downs this show like to take us on…

Learning how to smile again…

We begin with the most fragile of memories, Isla’s. She has been through some very happy times, and the rarity of her smile, the one we see fleeting glimpses of in the OP, is not so rare when she began her partnership with Kazuki. But that fateful evening, when Michuru’s father went Wanderer, took it’s turn, and then it’s toil. Isla broke down, and wasn’t there for her partner. It speaks well of the emotional impact the story is trying to make, but as is usual with this show, leaves some dangling threads that need to be pieced together. The chiefest of them is, if Isla’s partnership with Kazuki was so fragile, depending on the Giftia relative strength, and with the veteran retriever’s relative strength, why is the new partnership with Tsukasa given a blessing?

I loved this scene to bits

I feel the story is quite ambitious in it’s own right, but cannot seem to keep from making melodramatic leaps to get where it wants to, or needs to go. Tsukasa’s character is part of that process. He’s our in; our eyes and ears into the new world, and shares a great many features of the Bland Main Character trope by design, for that specific reason. He has been given some of the easier jobs, as a newbie to the business. But I feel that can only go so far. I am hoping this episode is the turning point for him, and he can emerge as a character this story really needs him to be.

This scene did me no favors

I was actually quite surprised to see how the handled the end of the Marica arc. I was prepared for it to be handled largely in flashback, mostly because of how they handled the end of the last episode, but really because that is what I suspect a show that deals with memories to do. But regardless of placement, the scene played out in a heart-breaking manner. Marcia left with very little dignity, and even though we’ve seen the Giftia pass on in peace, we now know that there truly horrible ways to go. What really got me was how they handled Souta’s departure from the story. That was a bit to much in both directions. One in that it was heart-breaking in it’s own right, and second, where we the people who are taking care of him now when Marica was appointed his guardian? Again, I feel the story forces this sort of thing on us a bit to much.

Don’t worry, it’s just checking out a lifestyle!

But the true thrust of this episode was reserved for Isla’s emergence. She’s been largely treated as emotionless, mostly because that is how she has let herself be treated, and also because that is how she wants it. We’ve seen the Giftia become human in all but word in the course of the program, and like many humans, after defeat, they turn inward. Also, like many humans, they find the will to push out of that when worse comes to worse. Even if, officially, neither she nor Tsukasa are at fault over the Marica affair, they both blames themselves for it. But with tragedy, we learn to compartmentalize, and move on. We learn to smile despite it all, and we smile because we know we can.

Tsukasa is going to be a valuable touchstone for her and her need to compartmentalize her own past. She see’s him, and cannot help but think of him in nearly every waking moment. Of course, she handles it as expected. She feels little need for shame or embarrassment, as she has Michuru to do that for her if need be. For Isla it’s obvious, even if she does go a bit off the rails with “bath, dinner, or me”. She needs him. And perhaps he needs her.

Sometimes you just really need some great news

Just like some of the melodrama sticks out, the humor in this episode took a turn to the broadly wacky. I don’t hold Eru to badly though, as she was trying her best to get Isla out of a funk and back into the swing of things. Besides, Eru is a huge romance otaku, and cannot help herself. Besides, seeing Isla is clothing that isn’t her standard uniform was a refreshing sight. A few issues do stick out with me on future considerations. We now know that Tsukasa knows of Isla run-down on her lifespan, and like a dude he is standing with her. But we also see a bit of a deepening scar that is SAI’s president doing what it takes to contain bad issues. I don’t know if this series is predictable enough to riff on it’s own material overmuch, but I’m hoping Isla doesn’t go Wanderer; even if it means a possible solution to the “problem”. Well, I guess that depends on how they handle it. Given my feelings for the show so far, it’s even money as of right now.