Set in a not too distant future where humanoid androids with memories and emotions just like us protagonist Tsukasa Mizugaki gets a job at SAI Corp, one of the leading manufacturers. He won't be making androids though; his job will involve working at the other end of their 'lives' in the 'Terminal Services' division. Each of their androids, known as Giftias functions for 81,920 hours after which time it must be deactivated; if it isn't its memory will rapidly degrade and it may even become dangerous. The members of Terminal Services work in pairs, one human and one Giftia; when an Giftia's time is nearly over they go to the owners and erase the its memory before retrieving it. Inevitably owners have become attached to their Giftias and even consider them part of the family so this process is like a bereavement and not everybody readily accepts it. Tsukasa's partner is called Isla and as they work together they eventually form a relationship despite warnings from their colleagues and the fact that Isla only has two thousand hours left.
It is clear from the start that this series will be a bit of a tear-jerker
and that's before we learn that Isla has so little time left. I found the concept interesting and found the characters likable; especially the central pairing of Tsukasa and Isla. Some of the more comic moments felt a little misplaced but not enough to spoil the series for me; indeed at times they provided a nice distraction to the knowledge that there would almost certainly be a sad conclusion. Indeed the ending is a real tear-jerker that will probably have most viewers in tears
it was the right ending though and I thought it was beautifully handled. The characters are nicely designed and distinctive and the animation is of a high quality. Overall I found this series to be well worth watching.
These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.
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