Opening Songs
OP 1 - Anicca (Hitomi Harada)
Ending Songs
ED 1 - Maware! Setsugetsuka (Ai Kayano, Hitomi Harada, Yui Ogura)
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Fantasy, Sci-fi
Episodes: 12
"Unbreakable Machine Doll" is easily one of the sleeper hits of the year. It hit late in 2013, and apparently it wasn't all too popular. However, deep within is a great fan service/harem/action hybrid with tons of other great themes thrown in. Fan service is but the cherry on top of the cake, since the anime provides excellent fight scenes, a great concept about dolls, masters, and a school which holds a tournament to determine the strongest puppeteer. The standard plot is solid as hell, though its very obvious that this season is just a minor showing of the series' true potential. There is a lot that can be improved upon, and that's the best part, because "Unbreakable Machine Doll" already has a solid foreground built before it with the incredibly interesting lore of its universe. Also, if you're a sucker for school life animes that feature fantasy settings, this one is definitely another one you'll love.
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| Frey and Charles are sexy as hell :) |
The opening theme is "Anicca" by Hitomi Harada, and since Hitomi Harada is known for singing many anime related theme songs, her expertise in this area is undeniable. "Anicca" is one of her better songs, since it goes so well with the anime and has a nice tune to boot. It's not hardy like her opening theme for "Arcana Famiglia", and has a more fantasy feel to it...which fits nicely. The ending theme is "Maware! Setsugetsuka" by Ai Kayano, Hitomi Harada and Yui Ogura, the seiyuus of Shoko's three sister dolls. It's a nice catchy ending theme, and it has this "Hyakka Ryouran" feel to it that fits surprisingly well...
Rating: 8.0/10
"Unbreakable Machine Doll" is just awesome to watch. As I mentioned earlier, if you like high school esque animes with a fantasy theme ("Tenchi Muyo: War On Geminar", "Zero No Tsukaima", "Hagure Yusha"), then "Unbreakable Machine Doll " will feel right at home. It's not so much as a harem than the titles that I listed up above, but many other factors more than make up for it. Despite the sexy image above, the fan service isn't exactly on the heavy side, the most we'll get to see is Yaya desperately trying to strip but failing. The action scenes are presented well with the interesting puppet battles, the overall story and lore is just fantastic (though there's a lot left to be explained). The characters are fine, though the girls are pretty much eye candy for the most part (Charles is annoying as hell 75% of the time, and Frey is just Frey...nothing too special about her, Yaya is great comical relief and is always energetic as hell).
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| That seems forced, no? |
The story stars Raishin Akabane as the protagonist, a Japanese puppeteer that came over to the Walpurgis Royal Academy to participate in its carnivals and festives. The academy works in a way such that the best 100 students will face off against one another in a carnival, and that the winner of the battle royale gets to become the "Wiseman", a title given to those who will have supreme knowledge, authority and power given to them. Raishin and his puppet, Yaya, both get enrolled to the academy, only to be placed at the rank 1235, which in theory marks him as the 2nd weakest student in the academy upon his transfer. Of course, Raishin is here on a mission, to avenge his fallen family, so he won't take that for an answer...he needs to become the "Wiseman". On his very first day, he challenges Charlotte Belew, the 6th ranked student of the academy, into a battle to steal her ranking so that he can participate in the carnival, and from there, things go south...
"Unbreakable Machine Doll" shows a lot of potential with just these 12 episodes alone. I was so engrossed in the world of puppets and their masters, the characters played some part in these, but it was mostly because of how well the lore was presented. This is easily one of my favorites of the year, and hopefully we get another season of this, because there were many things left unexplained that I would REALLY love to find out.
Peace.
