'Your Forma' is one of the best sci-fi anime in recent years. It doesn't feel like an anime due to the setting. § Overview 'Your Forma' in the anime's universe was originally developed to treat a massive outbreak of encephalitis, but nowadays, it's used to record everything seen, heard, or felt by everyone. We follow Echika Hieda along with her partner, Harold Lucraft, as they investigate numerous incidents of crime.§ Notes

1. Let's address an elephant in the room. This anime reportedly omitted volume 1 of the light novels. A friend of mine who has read volume 1 reports to me that this volume includes background and motivation for Echika and Bigga.

To some people, this is a major sin. That's why they rated this anime so low.

I answer that, as an anime-only viewer, if this volume 1 were included, this anime would have been great. Its potential impact would have been greater. That I agree with the criticks.

I disagree that, without volume 1, you cannot enjoy this anime. You can still follow the story. You can still see the challenges and how Echika and Harold solve cases. You don't feel lost because the pacing is good.

It's just that it could have been better. The director chose to go straight to the cool parts and end the anime at a suitable ending at the cost of better backstories for Echika and others. It's unfortunate if you're limited to only 12 episodes.

1b. What I can see is that volume 1's omission leads to an uneven development between Echika and Harold. We see Harold's backstory, and we can sympathise with his actions. Echika is merely stern and badass, but there's nothing too deep about her. We often see her as uptight. Why she is uptight is not answered, except by assuming that's the way she is because she's a prodigy.

2. Aside from the dark but polished mise-en-scène, which complements the use of and signifies mature themes, included in the mise-en-scène is a futuristic interface. This is how we might see an interconnected world where we have access to communication and other technologies of the future if we were to have Your Forma installed. Taken together, its art direction is superb.

3. In the world of Your Forma, amicus robots are designed to blend with people. Since the word 'amicus' means friend in Latin, these robots are supposed to be entities that we don't treat as "others." To make sure these are friendly, they are programmed with the Laws of Respect, a spin on Isaac Asimov's Laws of Robotics, to wit: 1) to respect human beings, 2) to be obedient to human command, and 3) to never attack a human being.

A special type of amicus robot is called an RF Model unit to which Harold Lucraft belongs. Basically, RF Model units replicate the emotion and behaviour of real human beings.

4. I mentioned the amicus robots last because herein lie the ethical issues. The value of Your Forma doesn't lie in how good an action/procedural show it may be. Its value lies mainly in how it raises so many ethical issues:

* Should one give up privacy so that crime can be better solved?

— It's similar to the dilemma being commented on by this quote:

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." — Benjamin Franklin

The anime assumes it's worth it. It's appalling if you think about it.

* A corollary to the question above is, can we trust the government?

— This is something you should wrestle with as your answer really depends on your politickal persuasion.

* Can we trust that the development of robots will not ultimately harm us?

§ Conclusion

To be honest, the reason why I am giving this an 8 out of 10 is due to the weight I put on how it raises the ethickal issues as far as this anime is concerned. (It depends on the anime, which factors I put more weight on.) I also enjoyed the action despite numerous people pointing out the flaws.

If I'm only considering the story, it's only a 5 or 6.

NOTA BENE: A grade of 8 out of 10 means that I find this anime is very good and three notches above average. I enjoyed watching it.

My enjoyment spectrum lies from 4 to 10. If I have scored an anime below 4, I actively dislike it.