Worst Anime Of This Winter Season? | Pastel Memories First Impressions

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Pastel Memories first impressions is going to be part of my Ultimate Guide for the 2019 Anime Winter Season. A guide where you can find the first impressions for all the Anime shows coming out. If you want to get it as soon as possible, please subscribe to my newsletter (it’s in the sidebar).

Title: Pastel Memories (MAL Page)

MAL Score: 4.75

Genres: CGDCT, Fantasy, Action

Number of Episodes: 12

Broadcast: Tuesdays (JST)

Studios: Project No.9

Source: Game

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13

Synopsis

Pastel Memories happen in a future where most people got tired of Manga/Anime, making all the industry going bankrupt. The story follows 9 (maybe 12) girls who work in one of the last manga cafes where people can go have a drink and read manga which have been put out of print. However, at the same time, there is something called viruses which are entering these manga stories and making people forget all about these stories. This way, the girls also have the job to enter in these different dimensions and save the worlds from collapsing.

Story

Does the synopsis seem cool and promising? Well, I’m sad to tell you that it is one of the most wasted potentials I’ve ever seen. Due to lazy writing, Plastic Memories end up being so freaking boring!

And I’m not even kidding! I’ve watched the first episode 1, or better yet, I dragged and forced myself to watch the first episode a month ago and then watched the last 2 this weekend. Well, I’ve watched the two episodes in the middle of Sunday afternoon and I was ironing at the same time (multitasking for the win)… Well, 10 minutes in the second episode and I just started to yawning like crazy. It’s the freaking Jigglypuff of Anime shows!

I’m not gonna talk about episode 1 again since I already did it (you can read it here). But well, the second episode is passed in a manga series which focuses on a specific coffee shop. The virus is attacking and the story is now upside down. What was before a rabbit on the coffee shop is now an eel. Moreover, everyone is being transformed into eels (which basically means they have a different skin colour) and that’s it! How lazy can you get? I mean, even the creators know this since the main characters tell the antagonist that their “evil” is way too predictable.

But… It gets worse! Next episode we go to another Anime series which main plot I can no longer remember. But, in a nutshell, the main characters should have both cute outfits. Well, the viruses came and guess what!? Their clothes were transformed into gym clothes and they are no longer cute! Yeap, that’s it! Come on guys, where is the Oscar for this extremely well-written plot?

Now, everything was ok if this was targeted to small kids… I mean, really small kids. However, with all the fanservice in place, it just makes me believe the target is, at least, male teenagers which, come on, who is going to actually find that kind of plot any interesting when you are around 13?

Characters

Well, if the story has such lazy writing, maybe it’s the characters where it was put more time to make it interesting… Well, no at all! There around 9-12 girls on this story and I believe I can only remember one, Irina. And that’s only because she has the same name has our dear Irina from I watch and Drink Anime blog!

So, yeah, the presentation for each character is not really that good, I would say unexistent even. You could say that they are using each episode to present a different group of 3 girls, which is correct, but end up not showing that much of the girls. This because most of the episodes are just way too straightforward and the holes are filled with uninteresting clips or fanservice (which is also not really that good).

But well, the characters’ writing is also lazy. Let’s take Irina for example. As you probably know Irina is somewhat a common name for Russian. Therefore, Irina has blond hair and, surprise surprise she just loves guns! Because that’s it! Russian girls are always blond and always love guns because that’s how Russian people are… All the time. Now, taking this kind of idea would be ok, if were a decade ago where we have never seen this type of character. However, when something has been used and overused, you add that something to a story and don’t make any tweak to show any difference when compared to the troupe, then it’s just lazy writing. At least, in my opinion.

Animation

When it comes to animation I need to talk about the fanservice because it seems that’s the only thing that this Anime could give you. If you are interested in fanservice that is.

Well, it’s way too on your face and uncalled for. I don’t really mind fanservice, if it’s done is a way that blends well with whatever is happening on the overall story. However, in this case, what you have is static frames with pics showing their breast size, panties, or something like that when there is no reason at all to show it.

To be honest, you would be better off just trying to find those pictures on the internet and bypass the Anime entirely. Since its source is a game I’m pretty sure you will find something.

The overall look is decent enough, but nothing new for a 2019 Anime.

Audio

The audio is probably the only thing good about Pastel Memories. The intro music is catchy, the voice acting is also decent and the background soundtrack also goes well with whatever is happening… Though let’s face it, there’s just that much audio can do to increase an Anime quality.

Final Verdict

Are you having insomnia lately? Then, this is the Anime for you to watch when you go to bed. It just doesn’t work in any sort of way. The story and characters are badly written and plain boring. There is not really anything that would salvage this one. My question is, why would you for such a childish plot and characters when you have fanservice all around the episodes? I mean, come on, with so many Anime shows out there, do you really think people will stay and watch your Anime because of the arguably mediocre fanservice?

Well, the message you need to have is, if you were thinking on trying this one, just pass it and go watch something else. And no, it’s not one of those Anime shows that are so bad that it gets funny because of how bad it is. It’s just plain boring and uninspired!

Final Score: Bad!