Episodes 1-3 – Mechanical Marie

If you believe the current hype, almost all jobs will be replaced by artificial intelligence at some point in the next few years. Robot doctor. Automated lawyers. Computerized driver. Artificial intelligence has invaded the creative landscape, and the internet and social media are clogged with algorithmically generated effluent, a never-ending slurry of “good enough” generated AI “content” that can trick the unwary into believing it’s real. We know that some streaming services use machine translation to create subtitles because it’s cheaper than (god forbid) actually paying people who qualify. Even streaming animated content itself may have AI-generated aspects, such as backgrounds. But once cheap algorithms replace everyone and even entertainment no longer requires human input, who will pay anything to watch it but the robots themselves? Are we sleepwalking into a world where only AI algorithms produce and consume endless content, while humans are left with nothing but overworked, underpaid toilet cleaners while the population rapidly dwindles and dies of sheer boredom and existential despair?

Sorry, it’s a little dark for the moment, but this is my deep understanding of the anxiety attacks that engulf me in darkness and cause me to be drenched in cold sweat at 4am every day. This should be a review of an interesting anime. A fun anime starring a cute pink haired maid who is definitely no A robot, but her extremely dense employer would never realize it. Maybe Mechanical Mary offers us a way out of organic staleness – if only we could be like her, and pretend If we become ruthless jingles, then maybe our new, ruthless algorithmic overlords will let us survive. Maybe it’s just a fun animation meant to appease our inefficient monkey brains as the dominance of weak, fleshy humans on this planet has waned over the past few years.

Anyway, I’ve already read the first volume of Mechanical MaryI read the original manga last month and loved it, so I’m looking forward to the anime adaptation. It’s safe to say that my fellow preview guides’ thoughts on the first few episodes are mixed To say the least. I’m generally leaning towards the positive side, although I have to admit to being a bit disappointed in the purely aesthetic aspects. Mechanical MaryThe manga is a fairly simple romantic comedy with a very silly premise; it’s probably never going to get an action-packed adaptation filled with amazing drawing cuts, but I never expected anything so stodgy.

Mary herself was a championship-winning martial artist who struggled to express emotion. Her bizarre powers and robotic demeanor lead to her recruitment by Roy, the butler to wealthy industrialist heir Arthur Zetus. As his father’s favored heir, Arthur has grown tired of jealous family members constantly threatening his life and is desperate to usurp his place in the family hierarchy. The first few moments of the first episode demonstrate this by cramming in a clock bomb, a bug under a table, a potential sniper on a nearby rooftop, and a knife in a bouquet. Arthur turned a blind eye to all of these things as if they were an everyday occurrence and made sure to fire immediately any employee he suspected of being involved. It’s delightfully silly, as is his gleeful reaction to Roy introducing him to the incredibly stoic Mary.

“I only believe in emotionless, inanimate objects,” he declares, before imprinting himself like a chicken on the slightly confused Mary, who witnesses him vacillating between heartless employer and pampered child. Mary only took on the role to pay off her parents’ debts (I wonder what’s the story behind that?), and while the animation often uses small screen shots to show us her reflection, her appearance remains irreconcilable. real Emotional state. I love this conceit; it’s often funny and downright cute.

what is anime no Good at showing off Mary’s martial arts skills. Not at all. In these three episodes, anything approaching an action sequence is mostly done through the use of moving single frames or bizarre, over-stylized still images, which I think may be an homage to the greats. Osamu Dezakibut they get bored quickly. Their art style is extremely detailed, almost colorful, and has led to large numbers of viewers online claiming they were generated by artificial intelligence. Personally, I doubt it, but the fact that their dissonant nature invites such criticism suggests that their performance here is ill-conceived.

I had hoped that Mary, the high-kicking intruder, would be as dynamic as the character in the movie. gunslinger girlIn the first season, violent scenes are edited quickly, smoothly and effectively. But no. Only the brief rooftop battle scene with the mysterious Noah in episode three attempts any kind of action, and even then it’s filled with cheap shortcuts. At least the comic’s humor is intact, with plenty of visual gags and even some inspired use of sound. I particularly like the scene in episode two where Arthur buries his head in the metal legs of Mary 2, the real robot replacement, and she plays an 8-bit chiptune lullaby to soothe him. It’s a level of inspired absurdity that’s impossible to achieve on paper.

Marie 2’s appearance was a highlight of the second episode; she reminded me of a very similar character from the recent animated series Ninja and assassin under the same roof. She’s a comically basic, practically robotic replica of Mary, judging by her pink hairdo and maid costume, although she uses wheels instead of legs to keep herself moving and is much scarier. Arthur doesn’t seem as obsessed with Mary 2 as he was in the original, and of course there’s a climactic confrontation between the two maids, with the chivalrous Arthur protecting his true love. Not that he fired the metal murder maid and later quickly reformatted it while she continued to assist with housework, thankfully, the narrator assures us, that no The beginning of a new love triangle.

However, episode three’s new character Noah (an assassin hired by Arthur’s incompetent, murderous stepbrother Maynard) is something else entirely, declaring his love for Mary before pushing her off the church roof, as one often does during a perfectly normal courtship. What follows is a hilarious scene in which Arthur instructs Mary to enter “girlfriend mode,” which she is completely incapable of, either as a mechanical maid or as a human. Mary doesn’t know how to deal with other people, not even the one she’s clearly in love with, so she imitates all generative AI, copying what everyone else is doing. This resulted in an off-screen hug that sounded painful; we’re told Arthur suffered at least six broken ribs. But he still keeps going, what an actor. I also like the running joke that Arthur believes Mary is powered by AA batteries, which she sticks in her mouth like lollipops. That’s definitely not how electricity works, man. I can’t help but wonder maybe Arthur realized Mary was a human but was afraid to end the pretense for whatever reason? No. I think it would be more interesting if he stayed completely obsessed.

Arthur and Noah’s later fight over Mary’s ownership somehow turns into a competition over who can round up the most escaped chickens. It’s a completely insane illogical sequence, but nonetheless, it’s still pretty funny, especially since it doesn’t look like any of the artists involved in the show have ever seen a real chicken. Arthur giving up the fight to prioritize Mary’s safety was a very sweet gesture. It shows how much these two idiots love each other.

The quality of the first three episodes is definitely mixed, especially since they seem to be moving quickly through the existing material. Mary seems to have fallen in love with Arthur before she even met him, and while Arthur does too, we know this is because of the hurt his family has done to him. For Mary, this was largely due to simplified adaptation choices. Their relationship has the potential to become dangerously codependent, for Arthur, she is the first person/fake AI he can open up to, and for Mary, he is the first person she feels romantic attraction to. As a viewer, it’s easy to root for their happy future together, but they both have a lot of problems to solve before they can see each other’s true colors. While I suspect the production quality will improve significantly, I hope the rest of the season maintains the same level of fun screwball comedy and endearing romantic development. It’s by no means the best animation of the season, but twenty-four minutes of animation every week puts a smile on my face.

Episode 1 Rating: 3.5

Episode 2 Rating: 3.5

Episode 3 Rating:

Mechanical Mary Currently live broadcast
crunchy.