Impression
In the fantasy world of Unbreakable Machine-Doll, the 20th century features a combination of sophisticated magic and technology, the product of which is Machinart – presumably the art of controlling automatons. Unlike the puppets we’re familiar with, these automatons are alive, have personalities and are to be used as weapons, fighting alongside their puppeteer in battle. The story of Unbreakable Machine-Doll follows Akabane Raishin as he enrolls at the Walpurgis Royal Academy of Machinart, aiming to come out on top despite starting off with terrible grades.
An interesting premise, no? While a setting involving the integration of magic into everyday life is perhaps not too original (especially within the light novel market) the whole puppet automaton thing sounds quite intriguing. We don’t know too many details yet, but so far it’s clear that there are little similarities between them. There was a golem and a dragon… and one of them was even made out of water o.O Out of all the automatons we glimpsed, Yaya was probably one of the few that looked humanoid – and she was definitely the most human out of them all. She’s very cute, by the way. Doubtless there will be some who dislike her clingy behaviour, but I think her persistent (but seemingly futile) attempts are just adorable. Raishin’s very lucky to have her, and I can’t imagine why he keeps trying to maintain his distance all the time. Maybe it really is sexual frustration?
It looks like he’s one of those avenger types. You know, the kind who push themselves to their utmost limits in order to exact revenge for a dead family member or something. I’m pretty sure that’s what’s happened to Raishin, and the masked guy seems to be the person who did it. If we fall back on how these tropes usually progress, it’s likely that: in the short-term, he’ll suffer a humiliating defeat (next episode) and in the long-term, it’ll be revealed that the mask guy is actually his long-lost older brother. I’d actually prefer if that wasn’t the case, to be honest. Either way, it sounds like the “Walpurgis Night” festivities will be a good stage for them to duke it out! It almost reminded me of the Grail Wars with the way the teacher described it as a “bloody war where magi vie for supremacy”. Well… he won’t even make it in unless he climbs his way up from an abysmal second-last ranking. It’s highly unlikely to be a true indicator of his ability though, especially from what we saw today. Yaya can even stop trains with her bare hands!
We also had a side character introduced – the ojou-sama Charlotte Belew, who is secretly warming up to Raishin and being all tsundere about it. She’s one of the stronger puppeteers in the academy, which unfortunately made her the target of some cowardly fools who decided to gang up on her and try their hand at beating her in a group. While I’m pretty impartial towards her, it’s her dragon which annoys me. I’m definitely not a CG fan – if anything, I’d say that they’ve used a bit too much CG on the whole while mingling it with the art. Nonetheless, it’s a small gripe with what was otherwise a strong pilot episode. I’ll be happy to blog this; it gives me something to look forward to on Mondays as well.
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