First Impression: Your Forma

Cyber Inspector Echika begins a brain dive. Her assistant, it seems, is an android—or rather, an Amicus—and as such, he is imprinted with the Laws of Respect, aka Asimov’s Laws of Robotics. Cut to a montage of confrontations in dark, seedy alleys and dead-end streets, and then to a St. Petersburg shopping mall, where Echika, her assistant (now identified as Harold), and a young woman try out pendants before dropping the woman off at the airport. Seems she and Echika didn’t always get along. Then Scotland Yard shows up and brings Harold to London for questioning. Apparently, a Royal Family Amicus has gone rogue, and being one of only two such models remaining, Harold is suspect number one among those fearing some bad coding. But such a thing is literally impossible, say the experts, since Amicus don’t actually “think,” they simply appear to think, while ultimately only doing what they are programmed to do. Besides, Harold is the only Amicus capable of keeping up with the insanely talented Echika when it comes to brain diving, and the world needs her skills, so he’s not about to get the ol’ power down anytime soon. But then Harold’s owner is attacked! And her final words, before slipping into a coma, compel Harold and Echika to dive into her brain to solve the mystery… What will they find there? And will they be able to handle the truth?

This was not what I was expecting, but not necessarily in a bad way. You see, I’m a Your Forma manga reader, and let’s just say…the manga (and light novel) don’t start like this! Instead, the anime adaptation begins with the second volume of the LN, well beyond the manga, so color me surprised! As a result, this feels more like the first episode of a second season rather than a series premiere. There is a sum total of zero infodumps—only a single sentence at the beginning of the OP defines Amicus and the Laws of Respect. Instead, we get mysterious montages and a great many visual clues as to how this version of the world is different from our own and the barest of hints as to why (I won’t spoil it!). In other words, the episode excels at the “show, don’t tell” approach to visual storytelling—and in this, as well as the cool brain diving sequence, it very much recalls that classic of anime sci-fi, Ghost in the Shell. You definitely need to pay attention as a viewer, and also be willing to sit with unknowns for the time being. Fortunately, the animation is of a quality that makes it easy to watch closely (and rewatch), with catchy layouts and fascinating reflection shots, while the background art is very well researched, making St Petersburg and London easily recognizable even without the location captions. (GeoGuessrs, assemble!) The voice acting is solid too, with Kana Hanazawa as Echika and Kensho Ono as Harold. The fact that the two are married in real life adds a bit of fun to their interactions, especially lines like the one below, from the cold professional Echika to puppy dog Harold. Teehee! The score is strong, capturing a kind of film noir meets cyberpunk vibe and making this episode a rewarding listen as well. I’m definitely in for the dive on this one; the fact that it didn’t start out how I expected has me all the more intrigued as to how the season will play out! Can’t wait.

Your Forma is streaming on Samsung TV Plus in the US and Canada (not yet aired?), and on It’s anime powered by REMOW on YouTube everywhere else.

claire
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