Tear Jerker / Plastic Memories

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

With death being a key theme of this series, it is inevitable that tears will be shed. Here are a few of these moments.

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Episode 1

• The very process of retrieving and deactivating Giftia itself. When an android reaches its expiration date, a human-Giftia pair from the SAI Corporation pays a visit and asks the family to sign forms to allow the corporation to take them away. By the time this happens, the android would have already formed deep bonds with the family and friends. Finally, after the android in question says his/her final goodbyes, the corporation's Giftia representative would terminate the personality of the android and deactivate the body before the adoptive family's eyes. It's no wonder why quite a few owners refuse to part with their Giftia even if they know what could happen to them after they pass their expiration dates.
• Being known in the company for retrieving the most Giftia, Isla attempts to perform alternative tasks such as serving tea to colleagues and take up hobbies such as growing herbs in the garden. While Isla attempts to keep her emotions to herself and distance herself from her old job, it is very clear that being involved in the terminal service department for years has taken its toll on her.
• Isla and Tsukasa retrieving and terminating Nina at the end of Episode 1, full stop.
  • Tsukasa attempts to reason with Chiku with compensation and upgrades to the customer's Giftia. Chiku refuses all of his offers, passionately stating that Nina is the only family member she's got and questioning whether Tsukasa sees Giftia like Nina as anything more than disposable items. An Armor-Piercing Question if there ever is one.
  • The will Nina gives to her adoptive grandmother just before Isla terminates her. Seeing the poor girl break down from knowing she's going to die is soul-crushing to witness.

Episode 2

• After all of her hard work in the Terminal Service department, Isla only has 2000 hours (about 83 days) left to live. While this is not exactly surprising, Tsukasa and Michiru are the only ones in the department who don't know that the former's partner has little time left, making this reveal even worse. Isla's silly antics from Episode 1 aren't so funny anymore, are they?

Episode 4

• The presence of "Android Children", or kids who end up being raised by Giftia when their parents are dead. One could only imagine the pain and emotional issues they could face once their adoptive siblings or parents run out of time to live (as seen with Souta and Michiru).
• Speaking of which, Isla's and Tsukasa's assignment in this episode was to convince Souta to sign papers so they could begin the process of retrieving Marcia (his Giftia). Problem is, Souta's no older than 9 years of age and Marcia is the only parental figure he has left after his parents passed away. How traumatized will the poor kid be? And who's going to take care of him afterwards?
  • As if losing an adoptive family member wasn't awful enough, the date Marcia is scheduled to be retrieved would be Souta's birthday. His breakdown during his last ever birthday party with his sister can make a grown-man tear up.
• While preparing to take a shower, Isla reminisces back to when Kazuki, her original human Spotter, ended their partnership. Her sad smile in the mirror is all you need to know how that particular moment has affected her life.

Episode 5

• The Reveal that Giftia become Wanderers when they pass their expiration date doubles as this and Nightmare Fuel. After the machines lose their personality, memories, and limits, they become machines driven solely by basic programming that can brutally kill or maim human beings. One could only imagine the emotional torment and the danger consumers could face if their Giftia becomes rampant...
• The Flash Back showing the death of Michiru's adoptive father. Already desperate to help her father after he exceeded his expiration date, Michiru is caught by Kazuki before the PMC soldiers show up. And then her father becomes a Wanderer and proceeds to beat a soldier holding Michiru and crush Kazuki's leg into a bloody pulp. This gives the R-Security goons the excuse to mercilessly shoot Michiru's father to death, much to her horror. With such a scarring memory, it's hardly a surprise that she passionately opposes any form of collaboration with R-Security.
• The sobering Cliffhanger at the end of the episode. Marcia loses all of her remaining memories and begins to strangle Souta, forcing Tsukasa to fire a virus that would wipe her out. At the same time, Isla recovers and charges to disable Marcia. While the aftermath is yet to be revealed, an attendance board shows Isla being marked absent...

Episode 6

• The episode opens with a Flash Back of a much happier Isla enjoying her time working with Kazuki. Her first partnership goes downhill after the disaster with Michiru's adoptive father forces Kazuki to amputate her leg. Eventually, Kazuki ends the partnership and cleans out their dorm, leaving poor Isla as an emotional wreck. And it's pretty clear that she finds herself at fault... can someone give her a hug already?!
• The Cliffhanger's resolution. Tsukasa's shot kills Marcia just as Isla removed her limiters to try to rescue Souta at the last second. As Marcia lifelessly collapses, her eyes turn back to their normal color and Tsukasa's emotionally wrecked from what had just happened in front of him. And then Isla collapses shortly thereafter, much to Tsukasa's distress. Thankfully Isla survives, albeit in need of repairs.
• Tsukasa checking up on Souta and apologizing for what happened to Marcia is an especially painful moment. As Souta is bringing a box filled with photos of him with Marcia from his old home, he finds Tsukasa and asks what happened to his older sister. All Tsukasa could do is tearfully apologize, leaving Souta completely broken. ;_;
• Kazuki finally tells Tsukasa the truth about Isla's lifespan, which has since dwindled to 1,000 hours left (no more than 42 days). While the truth hits him hard, it doesn't stop him from beautifully declaring his willingness to be with Isla until the end. Seeing Isla's surprised, joyful expression◊ as she listened to his response is enough to make even the most stoic viewers tear up.

Episode 8

• Tsukasa learning firsthand that Giftia who are reused no longer have any of their former personality or memories. Seeing repeated examples of this first with the customer, then Andie and Eru, only drives the point home.
• Andie forcefully separating a Giftia from his owner after having to hunt them down due to their attempt to runaway. When the owner pleads to at least be given her last week with him, Andie refuses, stating they may run away again. The Giftia seems resigned to his fate, while his owner can only watch helplessly as he's taken away. This causes problems for Tsukasa since Isla's time is nearly up as well, meaning he's going to have to deal with this same situation.

Episode 9

• Michiru was on the verge of convincing Isla to express her feelings for Tsukasa before Isla states that she must stay away from him. As Michiru desperately tries to get her to change her mind, Isla only becomes more convinced in refusing to express her love. This leads to her confessing to Michiru that she only has a month left in her lifespan. Cue Michiru breaking down in the staircase not long afterwards.
  • The kicker? She had no idea that Isla only had a month to live. With Michiru regretting every single criticism she gave to Tsukasa and Isla, it's heavily implied she wouldn't have been nearly as strict to the two had she known just how little time Isla had left to live.
  • This directly leads to Tsukasa meeting a crying Michiru on the staircase. Her shock only gets worse when she realized that Tsukasa made his Love Confession despite him already knowing that Isla is going to expire soon.
    Michiru: So you knew and you confessed anyway?!? Haven't you learned anything from this job? It's not going to last! So why?! What were you trying to do?!
    Tsukasa: I want to make memories with Isla. And I want Isla to make memories too.
    Michiru: Even though she turned you down?
    Tsukasa: Even so, I still want to do something for her.
    Michiru: You know you’re just going to end up hurting yourself! You know there can’t be a good ending to this! Do you still think you can face it without running away?!? I… with my father… I just ran away… I couldn’t accept it. Because of that, a lot of people were hurt. Do you think you can take responsibility for this until the end?!
    Tsukasa: I decided that until her very last moment, I’m going to be Isla’s partner.
    Michiru: Responsibility, do you know what that means?! (Tsukasa stares at Michiru, she becomes resigned) I see… you’re nothing like I was back then.
• The end of the episode. When Tsukasa returns to his apartment, he runs into Kazuki before Isla steps in. Just when Isla and Tsukasa were ready to accept their relationship, Kazuki declares that the two can no longer work as partners. Talk about a shocking (and a depressing) Cliffhanger…

Episode 10

• While on an assignment with Isla, Kazuki comes to realize the truth behind the notion that nothing can make one happier than being with the one you love. This leads to Kazuki finally providing an explanation for her ending her partnership with Isla three years ago. After the disaster with Michiru’s father, Kazuki thought that she could prevent herself from emotionally tormenting Isla by leaving her partner. One look at Isla’s livid face, however, is enough to show how far their relationship and Isla’s memories of Kazuki have deteriorated as a result. It’s no wonder why Kazuki realized that forcefully separating Isla and Tsukasa would only destroy any chance of Tsukasa maintaining good memories of Isla and vice versa.
• Isla’s long-awaited Love Confession. Finally getting over her emotional doubts about the impact of her limited lifespan would have on Tsukasa, Isla reveals her true feelings for her partner in quite possibly the most tender and heart-rendering scene of the series yet. It helps to see the two's blossoming relationship receive overwhelming support from everyone in the Terminal Service Department. Seriously, you know this scene is gorgeous to look at when colleagues like Sherry, Michiru, and even Kazuki are tearing up from seeing the two finally being together.
  • This takes a darker turn once one recalls that Isla only has a month left to live. With three episodes yet to air, there are still unresolved plot threads such as the presence of R-Security and Kazuki's revelation that Isla is about to become a retrieval target to take into consideration. To put it bluntly, Episode 10's sweet ending heavily implies that things are about to go to hell for Isla and Tsukasa from this point onward.

Episode 11

• The episode, for the most part, was a lighthearted Breather Episode that concentrated on the growth of Isla's relationship with Tsukasa. The last line on her diary, however, is this. "Please let me spend another wonderful day with Tsukasa tomorrow." And when you keep in mind that Isla is a Giftia who's almost out of time... God...

Episode 12

• Tsukasa writing his name down for Isla's retrieval paperwork. He hints at the possibility of running away with Isla, as many other humans have tried to in the show. But Isla gives him a Cooldown Hug, and gives him approval to sign his name.
• Michiru noticing how sad Tsukasa has been the past few days, due to Isla's time nearly being up. She tries to throw them a party to help give Isla one last good memory, but Tsukasa still has that lingering thought of her retrieval day coming up.

Episode 13

• The finale's OP qualifies. After seeing Isla grow emotionally in the series and the opening itself, the viewer is treated to the final image of Isla in the OP. This time, she openly smiles and cries knowing what is awaiting her. This is pretty much proof that this series finale is going to make sure you don't walk away with dry eyes.
• And then, of course, there's the ending during which Tsukasa and Isla spend their last hours at the amusement park. At closing time they manage to fetch one last ride on the Ferris wheel, during which Isla asks Tsukasa to retrieve her before the ride goes all the way around. Any remaining hope for a last-minute happy ending gets crushed mercilessly the moment their gondola lights up with the familiar sparkles accompanying a retrieval.

Other

• The Visual Novel adaptation having Multiple Endings, in addition to adapting the canonical ending above and having a Golden Ending where Isla and Tsukasa live Happily Ever After, has an even worse ending than in canon. In effect, Tsukasa chooses to run away with Isla like many of their retrieval targets to avoid having to face retrieving Isla or letting someone else do it. Eventually, they arrive at a church to seek refuge and Tsukasa begins to read to her, only for Isla's lifespan to run out and for her to turn into a Wanderer. To make matters worse, rather than be a violent Wanderer, Isla's Wanderer form is an Empty Shell; Isla simply disappears without a word, leaving her now-mindless husk next to a Tsukasa having crossed the Despair Event Horizon.