Episode 7 – Your Forma

“Oh, thank God the cat’s okay,” I thought during the opening moments of this latest episode. “At least Your Forma got me to care about something.” Ha ha, the joke’s on me, but more on that sadistic plot twist in a moment. Echika, Harold, and their boss Totoki reel from the consequences of cyber-terrorist E’s attack on Totoki’s apartment. It seems that E’s vendetta against anyone involved in the still-unexplained-in-the-anime “Perception Crime Case” (that novel readers know all about, those lucky, privileged beings) means they are all at risk, at any time. Even Echika switching hotels doesn’t prevent a random E-tattooed nutjob from assaulting her in public, in broad daylight.

It seems all of this is a mere distraction though, in order to smuggle Totoki’s conflagration-surviving cat into HQ… so that a bomb can be strapped to it and it can explode? Sorry, WTF? Not only does the cat not survive this episode (I doubt there’s even a body, the poor thing is likely atomized, and probably much of the carbon dioxide inhaled by Echika shortly after the explosion probably used to be cat), but it seems there’s a traitor in the department. My money’s on Harold’s new too-horny-for-robot French lady partner, who at one point is left in charge of the cat. “Never trust the French with androids or cats” seems to be today’s moral.

The main narrative purpose of this contrived series of events is to put Echika and Harold back together, in a locked room full of burning objects and a rapidly decreasing supply of breathable oxygen. Poisoned by cat-CO2, Echika starts rambling to Harold about how she can’t stop thinking about him, before utterly failing to shoot the doors off its hinges. For a
supposed protagonist, Echika’s been about as useful as a bacon sandwich at a Bar Mitzvah this entire series. Has anything she’s done affected the plot in any meaningful way? At least this causes Harold to ignore his programmed directives and wield a firearm in order to blast their way out. Now we know Harold is fully aware of his abilities to transcend standard Amicus restrictions, though he later feels the need to keep this from Echika, who already knows, but hasn’t told him she knows.

Harold and Echika have a sweet heart-to-heart where he essentially confesses his love to her, expressing his general disinterest in being equal to other humans, except when it comes to her, and oh, yes, he’s been thinking about her constantly too. Even when he was with his suspicious French hussy. At least that’s his story, and he’s sticking to it.
Unfortunately, lack of context once again robs what should be a heart-warming, even climactic scene, of any emotional power. Once again, Echika mentions some kind of event about her sister that seems likely to be utterly foundational to Your Forma’s plot, that once again director Takaharu Ozaki decides isn’t important enough for poor, lost anime-only
viewers. My ongoing frustration about this extends to the use of unexplained terminology – for example, what the hell is a “mnemosyne” in the Your Forma world, and how is it impossible for it to lie? The word’s been thrown around before, but without a hint of explanation. This sloppiness makes me want to scream.

Also, my previous wariness about random unexplained liability character Frigga and her shady “cartridges” is finally validated here. Of course her Q-Anon-addled conspiracy-nut father altered her PTSD-treatment cartridge in order to mess with Echika’s brain-diving ability, paving the way for Suspicious French Hussy Lady to take her place and seduce
Harold/explode a cat. Riiiiight.

While this was all probably entertainingly insane in the novel where character motivations and interactions hopefully made sense, Your Forma the anime merely seems idiotic. Sigh. I’d really hoped to enjoy this one.

Rating:

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

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