Your Forma
Entry updated 10 November 2025. Tagged: TV.
Japanese animated tv series (2025). Geno Studio. Based on the Light Novel by Mareho Kikuishi (illustrated by Tsubata Nozaki). Directed by Takaharu Ozaki. Written by Kazuyuki Fudeyasu. Voice cast includes Kana Hanazawa, Kensho Ono and Chiwa Saitō. Thirteen 24-minute episodes. Colour.
In an Alternate History 2023 most people wear "Smart Thread" Technology known as Your Forma, which records the Memories and emotions of their wearer. Echika Hieda (Hanazawa) works for the Cybercrime Investigation Department (see Crime and Punishment) in St Petersburg – though cases take her all over Europe – performing "brain dives" whereby through leads connecting her to another's Your Forma she can roam their memories (see Dream Hacking). She is accompanied by her Cyber-Inspection Assistant, Harold W Lucraft (Ono), an Android who sometimes makes Sherlock Holmes-like deductions. He is an Amicus Robot: "Mechanical Friends ... imprinted with the Laws of Respect ... to respect human beings, to be obedient to human commands, to never attack a human being".
Harold is an advanced RF Model made by Novae Robotics. There are concerns over whether the RM are truly conscious AI; Novae Robotics acknowledges if this were so, there is no guarantee they would not be capable of harming people, but insists that "an Amicus only feigns the act of thinking"; it is humans who infer from their speech and actions they have a soul. Nonetheless, there appears to be an RM Model attacking people; Dr Lexie (Saitō), the Scientist who designed the RM, states that unlike other Amicus this model does truly think for itself. The perpetrator is caught, an ex-employee of Novae Robotics who was used as the model for the RMs' appearance (and thus able to impersonate them). He had grown worried over Dr Lexie's recklessness in developing the RM's Neural Emulation System, arguing their thoughts are incomprehensible to humanity and might pose a threat; Dr Lexie agrees they do not think like people but does not feel this is a cause for concern. The robots' minds are referred to as "black boxes", and the discussion echoes concerns over what is known as the "Black Box Problem" regarding AI. The RM impersonator dies and, to ensure Harold will not be decommissioned, Echika distorts their motives in her report.
This is followed by a story involving Luddite terrorists and conspiracy theorists (see Paranoia) who have infiltrated the Cybercrime Investigation Department: their leader "E" turns out to be an AI program, but the programmer is not known. Next we learn some of Harold's backstory: he was forced to watch the brutal murder (see Horror) of a close colleague, with the culprit escaping. The case now reopens in the present day: a serial killer is caught when he attempts to force Harold to witness him killing Echika, believing the Laws of Respect will prevent the other from interfering: however – as we have seen in previous episodes – the laws no longer control Harold, a result of his trauma at not being able to prevent his first partner's death. Matters are complicated by a brain dive revealing this earlier murder was actually by a copycat killer, not the captured serial killer as believed – so, like E's programmer, the murderer is still free at the end of the season.
This 2023 is a high-surveillance Cyberpunk world, with implants worn by most (we see pop-ups regularly appear in Echika's vision); the police use insect-like robots at crime scenes. There are also "digital Clones", downloaded copies made of a person's memories. This is not embraced by everyone: Luddite communities exist – we learn the Cotswolds is a "dead zone ... most of the residents are Luddites and the internet is blocked". Influences include Masamune Shirow's manga Ghost in the Shell (1989-1991) (see Ghost in the Shell) and Isaac Asimov; aside from the human/robot partnership echoing that of Elijah Baley and R Daneel Olivaw, the Laws of Respect are based on the Laws of Robotics, though here they have the perverse but plot-convenient effect of preventing robots from stopping humans killing other humans.
Though dealing with interesting themes, Your Forma is a minor Anime: watchable, but the characters lack depth and the plots are a little slack. The former is partially due to the decision to omit the early parts of the manga with Echika initially disliking robots but eventually warming to Harold; the moments that establish their relationship are not seen, and the production is not strong enough to overcome this. [SP]
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