Atri kicks things off on a really chilling note, with the first line being a child crying, “It hurts”. That was heck of a way to introduce Natsuki’s past and post-traumatic disorder that continues to plague him. When he was a child, he was caught in an earthquake, but his leg was pinned under debris and ended up losing it. Now he uses a prosthetic leg, which he needs to replace, but in order to do so, he needs the money to do it. However the only way he knows of to get the said money for it is to sell the treasures he retrieves from his grandmother’s place. In order to do so, he is partnering up with a (questionable) woman who goes by the name of Catherine.
Natsuki’s grandmother, Professor Nonko Yachigusa was a Marine Geologist. So was one would expect, Natsuki wasn’t exactly anticipating finding a humanoid robot in her home– much less that said robot to freaking wake up upon his arrival and scare him like a freaking ghost! That scene was really funny because of the ridiculousness of it all. Like girl, how the heck did you even exit the pod like that? And the impeccable timing of waking up– maybe it was the submarine light, who knows. Either way, poor Natsuki had it rough because he lost control of the craft and got himself in a pickle where his PTSD was triggered, but I digress.
It’s unclear whether she was involved in the creation of the humanoid robots like Atri, or she was simply purchased (as she is said to be a 4th Gen Yamasaki Factory model) and used as an assistant until she was put to sleep. Though why she was put to sleep in the first place is a mystery, but it may have been because all of robots were suddenly recalled– the reason for that is still unknown. That said, it is a little terrifying to imagine what happened to all those very human-like looking robots if they were disposed of… I kind of half expect us to find out what happened to them, and I can only imagine it would be very chilling to watch.
Unfortunately Natsuki’s in a tough position where he needs money to replace his prosthetic leg. He’s frustrated by his powerlessness, and hates that he needs to make hard choices that he doesn’t really want to make, which is selling Atri (for a good fortune no less). As result we could see he has been really wishy-washy with the way he goes about dealing with Atri, a part of him instinctively feels the need to take care of her, while the other is trying to keep his emotions separate and keep focused on the fact he needs to make a business transaction– even then though, it’s not without being weighed down by guilt about it.
As for Atri, a humanoid robot that she claims isn’t the right term for her because she’s a “high performance” type. She actually ended up helping Natsuki twice, once was re-attaching the crane hook to the craft, and two retrieving him after he fell into the waters and his prosthetic had fallen off. Though lets be real for a second here: it looked like she was a dead body with the way she was found at the surface, it’s no wonder is set Natsuki into a panic, which caused him to stumble into the water in the first place.
However Atri, while she doesn’t appear to think much of being sold (rather, she loves to boast about how “high performance” she is), she did make one request to them at the shop. She had asked them to put off selling her for a bit because there is one thing that Nonko (Natsuki’s grandmother and former master) had ordered her to do. But there’s one problem: She can’t remember the details of the order. So for the time being, it seems they will give her some time to figure it out, though I have no idea how long Catherine is willing to wait. That woman wants her money.
Speaking of Catherine, she’s certainly a sketchy lady. I mean, you’re taking a real gamble working with a stranger who approaches you with: Hey I heard your grandma has lots of treasures in her place, wanna retrieve it with my submarine split the profits? I feel like apprehension and skepticism is a given, so it’s no wonder Natsuki even describes her as a “con artist”. So I completely understand where Minamo’s concern for Natsuki, especially since “Catherine” isn’t even her real name. And not to mention, the woman carries around a pretty nasty dagger. Wouldn’t want to be in a position to be faced with that thing…Yeah, sorry Catherine. Gonna be on guard around you until you prove you’re truly trustworthy.
Speaking of which, I did find it rather rich of Catherine to even suggest she was concerned about Natsuki running off with Atri. Like where would he even go though? Take the boat? And then what? Be a sitting duck until he’s found? I don’t think he’s that stupid.
But while Natsuki had agreed to let Catherine to take Atri in, in the end Atri ended up going back to him– in the middle of the night no less. Let’s not even think about the logistics of how she got in the first place, but it was interesting to see she did technically defy his orders of “go with Catherine”, unless she’s using a loophole of simply “going to” with no further orders or whether or not she needed to “stay” with Catherine. Not to mention, when she came back, she tells him “she’ll be his leg”, so I do wonder a lot whether Atri’s really tied down to a scripted program as Natsuki had suggested her to be.
In all, this was really intriguing start! I’m really digging the world being set in the post-apocalyptic setting where sea level has risen and the ocean has been reclaiming the cities that were once thriving along the coastlines. It’s also interesting how the humanoid robots were once something that were mainstream, but were suddenly recalled for reasons unknown. It’s an interesting premise, and I’m really interested in seeing how it’ll unfold. Atri’s a ball of mystery and while it does feel like the more predictable guess that the order she had received was likely to stay by Natsuki’s side, I’m still interested in seeing how the story will evolve. So with that said, I think it’s safe to say I finally found a show to cover this season!
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As someone who played the original game this is based on, I’m looking forward to seeing how the anime adapts it, even if the game itself is pretty much a retread of all of Visual Arts/Key’s games from the storylines to the same exact character archetypes.