My Dear Marie (Boku no Marie)

Genre: Sci-Fi / Comedy
Parental Guidance Recommended
1996. Sakura Takeuchi. Goro Sanyo. Shueisha. Victor Entertainment. Studio Pierrot.

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Cover Description:
Ever met the prefect girl? Did she have the perfect boyfriend? Feel like you can't compete? Why not build your own? When a mad scientist attempts to build a robotic duplicate of his dream girl, Marie is the result. Of course, there are the usual unexpected complications. He built her too well and Marie has a mind of her own and a whole host of questions to go with it. The same questions that each of us ask of life. Where did I come from? Why am I here? Why do I look just like that girl over there?! Well, perhaps we don't all have to worry about that, but Marie does! To make a good deal even better, My Dear Marie comes complete with all three episodes on a single tape!
Awkward Karigari imagines his problems are solved when he builds his own ideal android girlfriend. Things don't quite go as planned when Marie treats him like a brother, but maybe a female influence is just the thing to help Karigari find a real, human girlfriend.

(3 part OAV)

NOTE: Some of the reviews were written sometime in 2001 and was recorded in the classic Otaku Fridge as ??.??.2001. Unfortunately the database would not accept non-numerical values, so this review is now dated January 01, 2001 by default.

It came out highly recommended and it turned out sweet. >>> by firesenshi

I must admit that as a person who looks primarily for great characterization (or bishounen, whichever comes first) was turned-off by the likes of Hiroshi Karigari, this anime's lead character. Wearing glasses, he looks like a stereotype nerd who creates a robot in the likeness of his crush. Sounds like Pygmalion to you, doesn't it? Well, it is actually like that. The fact is that the storyline exactly doesn't hinge on appearances. Hiroshi's nerdiness and Marie's true likeness of Hiroshi's crush and being a real robot isn't the point. Their relationship where each one hides their own true emotions from each other is the highlight of this anime. It's exactly that part where you, as the audience, know exactly what's happening and what exactly they're feeling and you just want to bump their heads because you can't understand why the hell they can't get together. There's that element of excitement. And sweetness. Add to that a special element of conflict in the person of mischievous Hibiki will either make you like the lead characters more or figure... they just could be dense.

But why did I give this just a 7? Well, I'm not doing this just to be different from all the people who gave this high grades. One reason is that three episodes aren't just enough. Another one of those condensed manga stories... And also... as much as I think the story is sweet, the characters really didn't have that much of an impact on me.

Individual Rating: Art/Animation 8; Story 8; Characters 7; Sounds 7