Episode 6 – Your Forma

Any hopes I had retained that this latest Your Forma arc would be any more coherent than its predecessor for anime-only viewers were cruelly dashed in this episode by multiple characters’ repeated references to events and concepts from the skipped first novel. It’s not as if the show has made any attempt whatsoever to explain what happened in St. Petersburg, nor what relevance that has to whatever “the Perception Crime Case” was. Somehow all of this business with cyber-hacker/conspiracy theorist/social anarchist “E” is related to that case, and by extension Echika, Harold, and probably multiple other peripheral characters the show has failed to properly introduce.

I’ve tried giving Your Forma the benefit of the doubt, but I’m done with the charade now. As an anime-only watcher, this show is awful. While I can just about follow the basic thread of the current investigation, I’m forever second-guessing who knows what about whom, and what the viewer is supposed to know. It isn’t fun, and if anything, it’s boring. In the recently published interview with director Takaharu Ozaki here on ANN, he admitted to difficulties between the staff when deciding how to streamline the novels’ material for anime presentation. His conclusion was: ‘What is the most important thing? Let’s keep that vital part!’ and, well, that turned out to be the story’s drama—the connection between
Echika and Harold as people.”

While such a goal is entirely understandable, the manner in which Ozaki’s team tackled it is nothing short of bewildering. I don’t see how anyone can watch the six Your Forma episodes streamed so far and agree with Ozaki’s assertions that “we focused on depicting the relationship between two people rather than explaining sci-fi terminology at length. We’ve reached a point where I think this will be enough to convey the content of the work.” Focusing on character rather than technology is a valid choice in this kind of show – while it frustrates me that foundational information about the nature of the Your Forma tech is kept seemingly intentionally vague, I can live with that as long as the story is compelling and the characters easy to root for. However, by completely excising the foundational first novel that keeps getting referenced but not explained, a novel that apparently features relationship-defining character interactions and events, I don’t understand how Ozaki’s team (nor even Your Forma’s original author) can justify these baffling narrative choices. I get that I’m supposed to care about Harold and Echika, but they barely interact with one another in this episode. Am I supposed to feel bad they’re separated? I don’t. Harold’s new pretty French lady partner seems to be getting a little too handsy with him, what’s her motivation here? I don’t care. It seems she’s yet another person with links to volume one’s apparently very important (to everyone except the production staff) story.

Even potentially interesting plot points, like Bigga’s father being a Q-Anon-style conspiracy nut who first uses her as a human shield before then attempting brain-chip-assisted suicide in front of her, are rendered meaningless because we know nothing about Bigga. Why is she even helping Echika? She appears to be a child. Mostly she seems to rush in
headlong and cause havoc. What’s her background? She apparently lived in some kind of commune and her mother died from Luddite-itis? Okay…?

Background bad guy “E” exposing everyone’s identities online, including Echika’s boss’ home address, should be an “oh shit” moment for the viewer. Mostly I was concerned for the safety of her cat as the apartment explodes. It doesn’t help that the soundtrack errs on the soporific side of listless, even during supposedly dramatic events. Your Forma has earned the unenviable title of being this season’s Übel Blatt, and I dread enduring its second half.

Rating:

Your Forma is currently streaming on Samsung TV+ in the U.S., YouTube, and other services worldwide on Wednesdays.

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.