Plastic Memories Parts 1 & 2 (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

Plastic Memories (プラスティック・メモリーズ) is a 2015 original television anime series directed by Yoshiyuki Fujiwara, and produced by studio Doga Kobo. Staff credits also include series composition writer Naotaka Hayashi, character designer Chiaki Nakajima with original designer okiura, and music composer Masaru Yokoyama. The series first aired in Japan on April 2015, distributed by Aniplex and ABC Animation.

Note: This post has been updated in May 2024 to reflect the current blog layout and some minor tweaks to the original write-up.

Background:

“Tsukasa Mizugaki is a recent hire of the SAI Corporation, renown for its production and management of androids capable of feeling human emotions called “Giftia”. Assigned to the terminal service department, Tsukasa is tasked with recovering Giftias who are nearing their expiration from their owners before they corrupt.

But in this dead end department, Tsukasa is about to meet Isla, a female Giftia. Beneath her quiet exterior, she was once known as the best in Giftia retrievals and Tsukasa is determined to find out why she stopped.”

Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, February 2020.

While I didn’t watch the show when it had aired, I remembered a lot of people enjoyed watching Plastic Memories but because it was part of Aniplex’s catalog it didn’t gather enough attention as time went by. That’s right, Aniplex of America have the streaming and home video rights for the English speaking territories, and because of how their model works, they released the show in two subtitled only Blu-ray only releases for around $165 overall outside of shipping and customs costs.

Anime Limited were fortunate enough to acquire the UK & Ireland home video rights in May 2015 but since then we heard barely anything about the series other than it’s still being worked on. The good news is that it finally made its way to the UK, about almost 5 years after it first simulcasted on Crunchyroll. Because of Aniplex, the series is still split into two parts and they remain subtitled only. Those in Australia were able to own the series on Blu-ray thanks to distributor Hanabee.

Collector’s Edition Contents:

Due to licensing restrictions by Aniplex of America, Anime Limited had to release Plastic Memories into two parts and at semi-collector’s pricing. Though it’s not too bad as it could have been much worse.

For Part 1, this release is presented with a rigid box containing an Amaray case housing the Blu-ray discs. For Part 2, the release is presented with an Amaray case housing the rest of the Blu-ray discs but also bundled with 6 Art Cards and a Fold-Out Poster.

The artwork on the rigid box is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. Each collector’s edition Blu-ray part has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £39.99. A standard edition Blu-ray has yet to be planned.

The series was made available as an early bird with both parts together which is how I ordered them.

Physical Contents:

• Part 1 Collector’s Edition:
  • Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
  • Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
• Part 2 Collector’s Edition:
  • 6 Art Cards
  • Fold-out Poster

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 24th February 2020 (Part 1), 2nd March 2020 (Part 2)

The collector’s edition releases for Plastic Memories were released across two parts for the UK. The first part contains episodes 1 to 7 across two Blu-ray discs and the second part contains episodes 8 to 13 across another two Blu-ray discs. Despite sharing the same disc count as the Aniplex of America releases, these were encoded & authored by Australian distributor Hanabee so the quality is serviceable but not at the same level as the US release.

No English dub was produced for the series, so the audio options available are Japanese with English subtitles only. The white subtitles are locked during playback and the regions were locked with Blu-ray players set to B.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	Japanese
Audio	Japanese Linear PCM 2.0
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio
Region	B
Subtitles	English
Locked Subtitles	Yes
Discs	Part 1: 2 BD-25s Part 2: 2 BD-25s

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

Part 1 Disc 1:

• Staff and Cast Talk Session 1
• Web Previews #1
• Web Previews #2
• Web Previews #3
• Web Previews #4

Part 1 Disc 2:

• Staff and Cast Talk Session 2
• Web Previews #5
• Web Previews #6
• Web Previews #7
• Web Previews #8
• Hanabee Trailers

Part 2 Disc 1:

• Web Previews #9
• Web Previews #10
• Web Previews #11

Part 2 Disc 2:

• Web Previews #12
• Web Previews #13
• Textless Opening “Ring of Fortune”
• Textless Closing “Asayake no Starmine”
• Hanabee Trailers

Unboxing Photos:

Last but not least, here are photos of the two parts together for the series.

Final Notes:

Plastic Memories was available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland. The collector’s edition Blu-ray release for Part 1 & 2 are currently no longer in stock across many retailers.

(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)