What’s it about? Cyber-Inspector Echika Hieda works in the Cybercrime Investigation Unit, assisted by her partner Harold—an android called an Amicus, one of many who work alongside humans. But when an Amicus in the same model as Harold breaks what should be unbreakable programming and harms a person, Echika finds herself wrapped up in an investigation against her very own right-hand-robot.
Apologies for the slight delay, folks. Working out where this one’s streaming was a more convoluted process than first anticipated. It is up on Billi Billi with English subtitles, however the videos themselves appear to be region locked in a way that inconveniences both our North American and Australian reviewers. Allegedly the best bet for the US and Canada is Samsung TV Plus, but when one of our staffers checked the app, Your Forma was nowhere to be seen—just an optimistic announcement that you could watch its content on your Samsung Smart Fridge. At time of writing, the official, accessible source of Your Forma seems to be distributor Remow’s YouTube channel in a video that refuses to go full-screen (of course, not every viewer might have this problem—my computer may just be joining the android revolution early and doing its best to annoy me).
Anyway, speaking of battles with technology, let’s dive into Your Forma, the latest in a genre of cyberpunk mysteries/police procedurals that ask big questions about humanity alongside cool gunfights. At least, I presume that’s where the show is heading: it’s certainly got all the hallmarks, from digital pop-ups directly in characters’ vision, to “Brain Dives” that let the Cyber-Inspector view someone else’s memories, to philosophical musing about whether androids really think for themselves or are just programmed to look like that’s what they’re doing. Between the musical cues and the establishing shot of a woman with short, dark hair on top of a building, it’s clearly paying homage—or at least borrowing blatantly from—iconic works like Ghost in the Shell that have come before.
It’s all pretty familiar stuff, and I think Your Forma knows this, because it skips a lot of exposition and chucks us right into daily life in this near-future world; and then chucks us straight into a somewhat clunky murder mystery. Part of me admires the writers cutting to the chase like this, but it also leaves the pacing feeling wonky. Don’t get me wrong, having to prove the innocence of your own robot buddy-cop is potentially a pretty interesting plotline. But the impact of a plot like that usually relies on the audience knowing these characters and rooting for them, both as individuals and as a team. Aside from a few minutes of subdued banter between Echika and Harold, there’s very little to establish their dynamic or who they are as people, so we don’t really know whether it’s a shock or not when Harold is arrested. This feels like a plotline better saved for the mid-point climax of a show, or even the season finale, as an escalation of the personal stakes for characters you’ve come to know and love.
That’s a bit baffling on a writing level, but it also has the knock-on effect of our female lead feeling flat and un-established. Which is a shame, because Echika’s potentially really interesting, and it’s cool in and of itself to see a woman in the role of hard-boiled sci-fi detective. Again, those few minutes of banter between her and Harold touch on and imply some greater depth—including a strained (?) relationship with her younger sister, who visits the episode to be cute before the plot kicks in—but it’s not much to hang onto. This premiere also hints at a deeper relationship with another female character, but she, too, is barely introduced before the plot boots her offscreen—in her case to get stabbed and rendered comatose by one of the rogue robots.
There are other female characters around, including the frazzled genius scientist the gang go to visit at the end of the episode (also kind of a cool flip of the usual gendered nature of that trope) but we haven’t been able to spend enough time with any of them to make a call on whether they’re well-constructed or not. This premiere moves at breakneck pace in some respects, but also feels very slow in others; it introduces what feels like a million side characters instead of putting in the work to get the audience invested in the supposed heart of the show, Echika and Harold. As it is, I have no idea if they’re going to be interesting characters or not.
I also have no idea how it’s going to tackle the issue of robots striking out in search of their own autonomy and the Big Questions this raises, all of which inevitably pitches androids as a kind of metaphorical subjugated, marginalized group… but it’s probably going to get there eventually, right? Most of these series do, and Your Forma seems like it’s cooking with all the usual ingredients. But, no word on that for now. If you like this subgenre and are keen to see the latest anime installment of it (and you can get your digital hands on the damned thing) check it out, but I’m sure there are rehashes of these ideas and concepts out there that are better executed from the get-go.
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