Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Mechanical Marie
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MFrontier
Posts: 20045 |
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I just love the idea of a stoic girl playing a robot maid and having to convincingly play a robot maid while also being partners with an actual robot designed after her.
But the romance is genuinely sweet too. And I love it whenever Marie kicks butt. And it's also just nice to see Nao Toyama as the lead in a romance anime instead of the Losing Heroine. |
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Troyen
Posts: 80 |
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The story itself is great fun. However, the animation keeps giving off the impression it's running on a shoestring budget.
The little cutouts showing character expressions are fine for showing Marie's inner emotions, but get distracting and weird when they're used just to magnify Arthur's face slightly. Like it's one thing to have a cutout when the subject is not on screen, but when the shot is centered on Arthur at his desk, it's odd to throw the magnified circle up there to show his face 1.5x larger. I know they used it a few times during the date sequence to hide complicated animation (like eating/drinking), so I just hope the production is able to make it through the season without completely falling apart. |
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LadyUranus
Posts: 34 |
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Maybe I’m just old, but this show feels like it’s moving too fast. It’s got a solid comedy setup and keeps adding incident when it doesn’t really need any— Marie is being replaced by a real robot! Someone is blackmailing Marie about her past! Marie realizes she loves Arthur! It’s episode 4, for goodness sakes.
It’s hard not to compare this to the Ranma 1/2 reboot due to its similar release schedule. Whereas I laugh out loud to Ranma at least once an episode, Marie has me fitfully amused. It does make me interested I knowing if the manga is better, which maybe was their hope all along. I think I’m done with this show but if it picks up later I might revisit. |
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SaiyanHeretic
Posts: 108 |
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I get what you're saying and maybe classic serialized storytelling is a lost art, but on the flipside, I'm only getting older and I no longer have much patience for dozens of episodes of will-they-won't-they. (And it looks like this production certainly couldn't afford more than a single cour for this anime.) So I appreciate series like Mechanical Marie and With You, Our Love Will Make It Through that show character relationships actually developing in appreciable ways on an episode-to-episode basis. |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2561 Location: Online Terminal |
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Yeah, I really get into shows where it's clear the characters are openly affectionate towards each other. It makes for a much more believable relationship that's easy to root for. You can still have the tension of will/won't, but the barriers are much more personal vs the standard "how long will they be this stupid?" |
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MFrontier
Posts: 20045 |
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I feel like Marie realizing she's in love has definitely made the show more entertaining as she's had to balance her feelings with being a robotic maid and the fact that she's lying to Arthur...but can't help but want to be with him.
Marie 2 coming in as the MVP robot partner/wingwoman has also been a really nice surprise. |
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Gina Szanboti
 Posts: 12754 |
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I'm not sure if the show is really deep enough to actually be setting this up, but it strikes me that the incident with Daryl could be the foundation of his accepting Marie when she finally comes out to him. Even though he eventually knew Daryl was lying about being his friend, he still felt he'd been saved by his lies and treasured those memories. So he ought to be able to feel the same about Marie's well-intentioned lies once the truth is revealed. It remains to be seen if they use this to play out the endgame (if it's even mentioned again), or if it will be as simple as he loves her so much he just doesn't care that she lied.
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MFrontier
Posts: 20045 |
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Seems like Marie is becoming more torn about keeping up the lie, and being able to only express her feelings through said lie, while Arthur is clearly in love with her and trying to rationalize everything even though on some level he doesn't mind the idea of her being human.
But in-between all of that we've got a beach episode! Marie in a bikini! Marie 2 fighting a giant robot prototype version of herself! Marie getting a study session with two hot guys! This is why I love this show. |
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SaiyanHeretic
Posts: 108 |
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I was struck by three things in this episode:
(1) I find myself wishing these characters were working adults in an office setting instead of a bog standard rich kid academy. The elements of cutthroat corporate culture and salaried workers as cogs in the relentless mechanisms of business would have both done a lot to add some thematic meat to this story. (2) For a guy who is constantly under threat of assassination, they sure do let Arthur wander around unaccompanied a lot! More than once, Marie has been sent away to do housework or somesuch. Wasn't the whole point of hiring her to be his secret bodyguard, and the "robot maid" part was just her cover story???? (3) Not gonna lie, Arthur should have realized Marie was human a lot sooner, and I don't mean because he's been an oblivious dolt this whole time. He's very clearly in love with her and the sly reversal of him now playing along with the charade because he's afraid that she's just faking it all for the job would have been delicious melodrama, if we'd gotten more time to explore that than just the last couple episodes. There are easily two eps worth of filler material doing nothing to advance the plot or relationship which could have been cut out, and I can't imagine this series is getting a second cour. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 20045 |
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Honestly I have to applaud how the next phase of the plot involves Arthur finding out the secret, realizing he's okay with the truth, but not letting everyone else knows he knows because he's afraid Marie will leave him if the truth comes out...so everyone is trying to maintain a secret that is already out in the open.
Marie in ojousama mode...not every effective, but nevertheless quite fun. I'm glad she's made peace with the Arthur Fan Club. Those photoshopped Marie 2 images...priceless. Honestly Roy being willing to put his butt on the line once Marie is exposed gained me new respect for him. Sorry Noah, Marie might give you her winning smile, but she only makes longing eyes for Arthur. |
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IronWish
 Posts: 242 Location: Ukraine |
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I wish this basically for every other high school anime romcom, but quite often we are in a monkey paw situation, since your average mangaka has zero frame of reference for what an office job is and how actual adults interact in this setting. So we just end up having all your typical blushy-gushy high school bullshit with Valentine's chocolate and other tropes from the tired checklist. Also job is kept hilariously vague. My Senpai is Annoying is a typical example of such story from a recent memory (OMG what do you mean it aired 4 years ago, WTF). There are of course ones which utilise office setting well, like more recent I Have a Crush at Work. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 20045 |
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It's actually kind of hilarious how Arthur only realizes he's been taking advantage of/sexually harassing Marie only after realizing she's human. And now he's suddenly trying to distance himself from her when she's the one initiating flirting/intimacy between them.
If there's one thing you can count on, it's that Marie 2 is going to have a scene that steals the entire show. Marie is even breaking the fourth wall and mentioning what episode a character last appeared in! I don't know why the amusement park needed everyone in costumes, but I won't complain about fun cosplay. I can't believe there's a girl in love with Maynard let alone that Maynard of all characters would get a side-ship. Is Isabelle going to be what redeems him? It's funny how they've put in so much effort on both sides to maintain the secret...and it all comes apart because he walks in on her in the shower while also naked himself. Romcom hijinks at their finest. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 12754 |
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Wow, they did bring up Daryl again, but only from Marie's pov of the damage he did, not what Arthur got out of it. Maybe we'll get that next week. I'm surprised she didn't take this opportunity to dispense with the batteries and explain she's solar powered or something. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 20045 |
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I have to commend them for a more on-point excuse for Arthur's amnesia than him just bumping his head in the bathroom. Also that Marie immediately caught on that Arthur had discovered her secret when most characters would probably have gone "huh, did you say something?" after the character who blabbed caught themselves.
I wonder if there's a story reason why they never report Maynard to the police. Marie in black hair and a suit! |
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