With an absurd premise that requires suspension of disbelief on several levels, Mechanical Marie is nevertheless a delightfully sweet and funny high society romcom that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish, leaving me eagerly anticipating not only the remaining five volumes in this short series, but also Fall 2025's upcoming animated adaptation. Marie is one of those blank-faced kuudere protagonists whose expression changes only minimally, even in the face of extreme events. Think devoted maid Mahoro from Mahoromatic, by way of Violet Evergarden and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya's Yuki Nagato. Her stony-faced stoicism is the solid foundation upon which many of the frequent jokes and escalatingly bizarre situations are founded.

Even though we live in an age where artificial intelligence has begun to automate many previously white-collar jobs, we've thankfully not reached the stage where an embodied AI can hope to mimic a human being. Arthur hasn't received that memo, as he's probably been too busy dodging frequent poisonings and assassinations his entire life to worry about such things. So when his associate introduces the beautiful, graceful, hyper-competent, and martially terrifying Marie as his new automated maid, he accepts her with barely a question. After all, he deems robots less likely to deceive or attempt to murder him. Quickly opening up to Marie like he's never done with a human being before, the poor girl finds herself desperately trying to hide her flustered feelings and hammering heart as she begins to fall for her new master.

It's one of those manga where the status quo can't change too much without risking altering the entire premise, so of course, no matter how lovestruck and distracted Marie becomes, every little mistake must be chalked up to mechanical malfunction. She even manages to convince (the surely of significantly-less-than-average-intelligence) Arthur that she somehow recharges by popping AAA batteries into her mouth and sucking them like lollipops. Arthur, meanwhile, completely convinced of Marie's artificiality, lets his guard down around her, laying his head on her lap, or patting her head, often inhabiting her personal space as if with a close family member. This makes sense, as he's been starved of affection and touch his whole life, and Marie doesn't exactly find his closeness unwelcome.

Thankfully, there's very little in the way of intrusive or objectifying fan-service in Mechanical Marie. There are a couple of occasions when, during Gunslinger Girl-style lethal acrobatics, we see a flash of exposed thigh, but it's hardly objectionable, more deliberately humorous that she's high-kicking assassins during a garden tea party, while wearing an impractical maid outfit.

The art itself is functional, with very little in the way of background detail. Character designs are clean and attractive, however, often times cartoonish and exaggerated, befitting the irreverent and madcap tone. Despite her unsettling competence with extreme violence, Marie is extremely cute, which is of paramount importance with this kind of manga. She's both a formidable action lead and a vulnerable romantic protagonist. Always a sliver away from revealing her secret and spoiling her new perfect life with the boy she loves, the tension helps sustain the reader's emotional engagement.

Only one volume in, I'm already rooting for Marie and Arthur's future happiness together, even if she ends up needing to convince him she's a new biological version of Cylon, or a flesh-covered T-800 or something. I'm sure if she watches enough sci-fi during her recharge time, she'll learn a cover story to prevent her loving master from exposing her lies and murdering her in a rampage of perceived betrayal and heartbreak. Highly recommended. (The manga, not the rampage.)