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.

Review

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

Oh, no, another story about a geek with the perfect robotic girlfriend. Not only has that premise been done to death, it wasn't even very good to begin with. Needless to say, I wasn't exactly expecting to like My Dear Marie (particularly given its similarity to the spectacularly bad Don't Leave Me Alone Daisy). Thankfully, it surprised me. It's not high art, but in the end something about this cute little series kept me watching, enjoying, and for the most part even caring about the characters.

The idea is pretty basic, but mildly amusing: A guy so shy he'd rather build a robotic copy of a girl than ask the real one out on a date. Sure. But the finished robo-Marie is most definitely not another empty-headed toy devoted to the service of her creator. For one, Marie's pretty sharp, strong willed, and she has a lot of questions for Hiroshi. More interesting still, instead of a surrogate girlfriend, she becomes more of a brave younger sister, determined to get him to date the other Marie and do a good job of it at that.

The characters are a big part of why the whole series works, but it has more going for it: Despite the premise, the world of My Dear Marie is relatively solid (and, all things considered, believable), and the series has a bit more maturity than most of its kin. I particularly enjoyed the way the robotics are handled. From scenes with access panels open and metal parts hanging out to a bit of superhero-style part-time work (just because she couldn't say no), no effort is made to soften Marie's mecha-ness. Even from a science fiction standpoint, there are enough good excuses to make a lot of it work--from why the copy isn't quite like the real one to programming her dreams (look for the Phillip K. Dick reference).

On the flip side, the characters are mostly college students, so for once I wasn't wondering where everyone's parents are, and the relationships have just a bit of a mature air that usually isn't present in series like this. Some of the humor is also more bluntly adult-oriented than average, though far from shocking.

Anyway, getting back to the characters, the robotic Marie steals the show. Despite not breaking any molds, her combination of sweet nature and direct, pragmatic way of going about things makes her a likable and pleasingly fresh character. The other characters aren't at all bad either. Hiroshi, though amusingly shy, isn't the total loser geek I was expecting--he actually turns out to be something of a nice guy, and has a bit of realistic personality in there as well. The original Marie has a surprisingly small role, but she and the one other female character are marginally more mature than the generic anime babe (as is Hiroshi), making for a reasonably interesting cast.

The dynamic this sets up works surprisingly well; Marie (the robot), despite her appealingly sweet born-yesterday naivete, is often more mature than her supposed master, and at times has an almost motherly concern for Hiroshi. Lots of room for fun "learning about life" situations, some good situation comedy, some light romance, and even a bit of drama to round it out. There are hints at more--Marie gets along quite well with the original Marie and also may have some interest in Hiroshi herself--but the series unfortunately doesn't get around to playing up that love triangle angle.

That brings us to the series' one rather large weak point, which was summed up pretty well by Marie herself when she says "Hearing about someone else's dream is the most boring thing in the world." Perhaps the writer should've taken his own words to heart before he decided to make the final episode--meaning a full third of the series--an extended dream sequence. To its credit, this episode does have the meandering feel and unstable reality of real dreams, and it's intended to indirectly lay out some of the emotional conundrums facing the mechanical Marie, which it does effectively enough.

Unfortunately, it also provides about as inconclusive and unsatisfying an end to the series as would've been possible, and is boring compared to the other two episodes on top of it. Had the series been quite a bit longer, letting the viewer quite literally get inside Marie's head could've worked (though it would still be too long and repetitive). But, it's a terrible way to conclude the series, and you haven't spent nearly enough time with the characters to care enough to sit through something like that. It also willfully throws out the solidity that is a big part of why I liked the rest of the series, making it all the more disappointing.

Visually, My Dear Marie is again surprising. The art is simple and makes heavy use of pastels, so I was expecting it to have the weak look of an inexpensive series from the early '90s. Instead, I found the character designs fun and just a bit better than average, and there are some nicely realistic touches with Marie. There's also plenty of expressive and appealing character animation--Marie's face, in particular, is fun to watch. There's even a bit of robotically-enhanced brawling action in episode 2. On the down side of the production values, the music is unmemorable, and although the end theme is cute, it's also badly sung and generic.

The acting in Japanese is all-around quite nice, although there aren't any particular standout performances. Hiroshi does manage to cover the ground between excitable loser and meek but relatively realistic-sounding normal college student, and even pulls off a couple of slightly emotional scenes. The two Maries (who aren't voiced by the same actor) are fine, with the robotic version being all-around cute, fun, and funny--a very likable performance to go with a likable character.

When you put it all together, My Dear Marie is not a particularly original series, but it has enough substance, creativity, humor, and likable characters to make it quite enjoyable for what it is. Add a more-solid-than-average handling of the premise, and you've got enough meat for just a bit of romance and drama that works, making the series as a whole a worthwhile diversion. Just be warned that it has no conclusion at all, and the last episode is sort of a waste, so it doesn't go as far as it could and isn't any more than a light little romp.

Related Recommendations

Don't Leave Me Alone Daisy is a sort-of reverse of the same concept, with a geeky genius fixating on a human and basically trying to enslave her. It's also really awful, and not worth looking for. Saber Marionette J and its sequels, though much more of a standard wild anime comedy, are more along the same lines--cute robots adopt a cute guy and cause destruction. In a very different vein, Metropolis has some of the Pinocchio themes in a much more serious story, and if you like the college-age romance, you might check out Sakura Diaries; it has a much more mature theme and a realistic setting, but it's got a similar look and some flavor in common. I'll also mention Birdy The Mighty, which has almost nothing to do with this series but for some reason comes to mind anyway.

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").

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