My Dear Marie

Original Title: ぼくのマリー
Romanized: Boku no Marii
Literal: My Marie

Plot Synopsis

Geeky college student Hiroshi Karigari has a healthy interest in Marie, an attractive classmate. Unfortunately, like many geeks, he's also about as good at relating to women as a shy rock. Solution? Build a robotic copy of Marie, of course. Problem: Robo-Marie isn't about to just sit around the house doing nothing--she's up, about, asking questions, and of course going to meet the prototype Marie. Now instead of just longing for one Marie, he's got a "younger sister" who "mysteriously" looks just like his classmate to explain to the outside world, and what it means to live in the outside world and look exactly like another person to explain to an energetic robot. Be careful what you wish for before you build it.

Quick Review

Rating: 3.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2003-06-02

My Dear Marie looks like yet another story about a geek with the perfect robotic girlfriend, but in the end something about this cute little series kept me watching, enjoying, and for the most part even caring about the characters. On one hand, despite the wacky premise, the characters and their predicament are handled just a bit more realistically than most series of this type--from some half-decent sci-fi excuses to Marie's mechanical nature being very out in the open. On the other, the college-age characters are slightly more mature than the average anime romantic comedy, and their personalities are both more likable and even a bit more realistic than I'd have expected. Robo-Marie, in particular, is lively, pragmatic, and fun.

Combine that with nice animation, energetic acting, and some fun, if occasionally mature, situation comedy, and you've got a series that's a fun diversion for those who enjoy a wacky romantic romp. Just watch out for the last episode--on top of being an extended, rather uninteresting dream sequence, it's entirely inconclusive.

US DVD Review

ADV's DVD is a basic one, including English and Japanese audio and not a whole lot else.

Content Guide

Although ADV rated it 13-up, there is enough mature humor in the 2nd episode and nudity elsewhere that I think that is a bit leinent.

Violence: 1 - Some exaggerated but mildly serious brawling.

Nudity: 3 - Several characters are sans clothing more than once.

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - Nothing ends up happening, but there are some bluntly sexual jokes.

Language: 1 - Nothing noteworthy in the sub.

Notes and Trivia

Also known as "Metal Angel Marie," My Dear Marie is based on a 10-volume comic of the same name ("Boku no Marii," that is) by Takeuchi Sakura. The comic has similar character designs, but obviously a lot more story. It's not available in English as of this writing.

One interesting note about the names is that, although ADV didn't bother translating it, they're supposed to be slightly different. In the case of the human, her name is "Mari," a Japanese name. The robot, on the other hand, has the phonetic name "Marii," which is likely intended to be a Japanization of "Marie." Subtle, admittedly.

Availability

Available in the US from ADV on hybrid DVD (buy from RightStuf). Was previously available on subtitled or dubbed VHS (the dubbed version was titled "Metal Angel Marie").

Looking to buy? Try these stores: RightStuf (search) | AnimeNation | Akemi's a(nime)Store