Prima Doll

"Metal statues which resemble living human girls. They understand the mind and have an inner voice." This is the tagline for Prima Doll, one of the more recent mixed-media projects to come out of the legendary VN studio that is Key/Visual Arts that has little to no Jun Maeda involvement with it, most certainly after the disastrous Kamisama ni Natta Hi that just broke the good streak like wildfire. But, even with or without Jun Maeda, Key itself as a name has already been driven to the ground and never been the same since the somewhat tumultuous premise of an outer-world space with Rewrite, and that'swhere Prima Doll comes in with one particular common novelty that I'll get into later in the review. But first, let's not get too deep yet, and understand what Prima Doll is all about. It's basically mechanical dolls (known as Automata) that was created to be in aid to fight against a war, and that war has long since passed and gone for good (with remnants awaiting their time of resurgence). Beneath those cracks, however, is an army of Automata restored and repurposed for this somewhat out-of-place cafe called the Kurotantei a.k.a The Black Cat Café and relegated to wearing kimonos and serving duties just like your typical cafe, supposedly helping these Automata to let go of their past and embrace the new life they're called to do. Have some fun, sing, and serve people, that's the goal of the Black Cat Cafe with its owner Nagi Touma, who's an engineer whom knows his (or rather her) ways of restoring broken Automata and giving them a new sense of purpose, one reset and reprogram at a time. And the Black Cat Cafe display no short of its CGDCT moments, which I'd argue that it while it doesn't proclaim itself as one, it helps to bring people into a post-war congruity back into the new normal. It's a see-saw case of "seeing is believing" that the overall impression can sweeten or sour the show's antics in the long run. And this aspect is where it makes AND breaks the experience of Prima Doll, as shown by the various Automata that got restored through Nagi's delicate engineering craftsmanship: the pink-haired Haizakura with an overwhelmingly positive spirit to sing her heart out; the black-haired Karasuba which has the potentials of a combat doll and a loyalty-based one at that; the white-haired Retzel who's more of a casual smug than anything; the blonde-haired Gekka whom is akin to a kid being transferred to foster families to only know of their real existence as not they are whom she thinks; and finally the blue-haired Houkiboshi, the "mother" caretaker status of the mechanical dolls. Together with Nagi and its helper the orange-haired kid Chiyo, their new livelihood days at The Black Cat Cafe shaping their new memories, certainly everything has it going for them in the new peacekeeping regime. But as is Prima Doll's existence to justify its tagline, the "metal statues which resemble living human girls" and "understand the mind and have an inner voice", this is where its plot that's written by the serial novel authors Kai and Toya Akano really comes into play. The metal statues obviously signify the mechanical dolls a.k.a Automata which have a semblance to ordinary living human beings, girls for that matter which are raised under the environment that is unfamiliar to them that takes Nagi's toll to reset them, nothing is ever perfect, and some like Haizakura has memories of the war lingering in the back of their minds, though she tries her very best to put the past behind her, which is a good thing. This is where the understanding and inner voice rhetoric comes from and is basically their character development in the entire anime. And for better or worse, it looks and sounds like fuzzy balls trying to create the impression of a post-war situation where peace has finally come to drag its paces, until someone has to instigate the war again in their disbelief. Nevertheless, its justification of the CGDCT moments create both a good distraction and a newfound sense of purpose for these mechanical dolls, barring their manufacture within a class/generation of Automata that are designed like a rank-and-file system to take command and control of when things go south. For that to match, I think that the character cast did their roles very well, and that's the performance of veteran Seiyuus to invoke both moments of sheer happiness to downright despair. The common novelty that I presurfaced in the beginning of the review is thanks to director Tensho, who last directed the 2016-2017 anime adaptation of one of Key's now-dated VN Rewrite, that at the time, was produced with 8bit. Now that he has his own studio in the form of Bibury Animation Studios, Tensho is able to truly make this show his very own, adding his stereotypical flare into the show. But as just it is with last season's Black Rock Shooter: Down Fall that garnered more negativity than positivity, and if you look close enough at the decisions made between both shows, I'd argue that both are one and done the exact same, where feelings and emotions completely overshadow the plot, and most certainly one of Key's mainstay tropes of "hitting hard and crying onion tears" where it matters the most. Otherwise, the production is fairly consistent for the most part, and while the OP is a nice melodrama of a song, the various EDs however, I get that notion that while they are nice character songs for the most part (composed by Jun Maeda himself), it felt lacking. And I think that where the Achilles' Heel lies for Prima Doll is that it's trying way too hard to be a Key/Visual Arts title that sticks to its tried-and-true guns of methodological storytelling that has worked for years. That, with Tensho's directing (that honestly has gone from bad to worse), it makes you feel that the show desperately NEEDS to garner attention, and then forgetting to lay the rest of the foundation with that one permeating ability to buy into the hearts of the audience through the overflowing of emotions. It certainly worked before, but times have changed, and that formula does not work now. Getting sideswiped as a mixed-media project and with a director that seemingly know what's he's doing, it's a shame that it could've been better, but trying hard is never enough in this day and age. Simply put, Prima Doll has a hook, but it constantly misses the target and its objective so much that the evoking meaning of happiness turns into straight-up stupefying boredom. Love it or hate it, make your choice. Prima Doll has Key's stereotypical emotions no doubt, but everything else was lackluster.

This anime is really nice. It starts off seeming like a nice slice-of-life anime, allowing you to get connected to the characters before plot gets in the way. The plot is incredible, with twists you can kinda see coming but you can't really be sure till you see it, giving you that nice feeling of being right. The characters also look and sound amazing, each character's personality is developed well, if the voice and body for each character was swapped to something completely new you could still tell just by their actions alone. The characters interact in a nice way, each one's personality seem tobe consistent, but not drawn to fit consistency. They're realistic in the way they aren't just about one thing and one thing alone, even if their personality usually tends to reflect that. Someone who can have their gaurd down most of the time can put it up, and the other way around, someone who's usually very vigilant can be vulnerable, but it's always in a way that makes sense. There aren't things that you're forced to believe or trust because it all works together in such a nice way.

When the show wanted to incorporate themes and concepts from multiple shows (Violet Evergarden, Vivy, and Sound of the Sky), but... ended up failing miserably. One of the could have been if the show had been properly executed. At the very least, the songs were enjoyable, and you could feel for the characters at times. Honestly, the story felt all over the place from the start, and at times felt rushed and forced, as did the drama, which ended up not adding much to the overall experience of the viewers and is the show's major flaw. The show had a very interesting premise and an essentiallynice start, albeit the story resembling that of shows like Vivy with the AIs, but referred to here in the show as the automata, and the conflict, and Violet Evergarden with the episodic sad encounters and emotional inducing factors from learning about the living dolls, their past traumatic experiences to their current role, and the occasional CGDCT from a supposedly dire and warlike environment like that of Sound of the Sky, though the CGDCT events do feel off at times. The latter half of the show is where the show started to fall off, where the story didn't really hook the viewers in the first place with the war and all, and as I previously stated, the ending felt rushed and very anticlimactic, to what was already a lackluster build up, severely hindering the enjoyment factor of most of the viewers. The show essentially played it safe rather than utilizing the darker side of its premise to create an essentially better story and hook, though the ending with Haizakura was bittersweet and managed to shed some tears from its viewers. The main casts, with their endearing personalities, decent character development, and good knowledge of their pasts, as well as the sounds, from the songs they sing to the OP and several ED versions, are essentially the show's winners. The art is paired with what the show was aiming for, so it is nice and meets the criteria. Aside from Chiyo, who actually helped elevate Haizakura's charms and helped set the tone and vibe the show was going for, and Profesor Touma with his knowledge on automata to learning about his past and his impact on the main casts of the show, the side casts are decent at best and not particularly noteworthy aside from the role they're tasked with. Personally, I believe that if the show had reduced the number of characters and focused on the premise of the show, or if there had been more episodes to work with and a different path for the show's middle and ending, it could have been a lot better, but it wasn't. This show is for you if you like sad shows mixed with CGDCT to increase the cutesy and happiness factor. However, if you're looking for a deep, engaging, and well-executed story and aren't interested in inserting cute girls vibes into what is supposed to be a sad and depressing show, this isn't for you. To be honest, I was disappointed by what could have been the season's hidden gem.

The show’s visual and design easily sustained a baseline of 9 with full potential to top a 10, but never in my life have I seen it lose all its score’s so fast through each episode. The bad: The biggest problem is by far the content. Shallow. Each character’s theme story feels shallow and unfulfilling, and even the main line story has no substance in it. The challenges and sad moment is over forcefully engineered, and each story is just as predictably boring as the next. The show also prides itself by being heavily music focused. The show seems to have forgotten the fact that the music needsto be actually good. Almost all the songs are forgettable and blend together, with the main reason being that it doesn’t fit the theme of the character. The only exception to this is Houkiboshi’s song, which was absolutely phenomenal, and perfected fitted her theme and encapsulated her story and the emotions of the soldiers in it. Finally, the show wants to portray the grimness of war, so it prepares these menacing robotic war machines and… doesn’t use them? In pretty much any flashback or conflict, pretty much all the robots do is charge at people. The missile launcher and machine guns are I guess only for display, and the “chaotic battlefield” just feel like a street brawl with how little effort was put into crafting those scenes. The mixed: The personality of each character is very distinct, but not always memorable. Half of the shows main cast (Gekka, Karasuba and Houkiboshi) just “was there” and didn’t feel like any interactions they had made any impact on the show. Haizakura, our main lead, has a very vibrant and energetic personality. For the most part this is done quite well. The show makes it deliberate to over-demonstrate her cutesy “I’ll give it my best” effort, and that vibe is present in all her actions and interactions, but sometimes it feels repetitive and goes too far. Her personality and vibe is mostly enjoyable and well suited to her design, but I would say if this is toned down perhaps just half a notch, she still would have the same unique personality, but it would feel much less jarring. On the other hand, the show desperately tries to push Chiyo into the role of the shows second main character and Haizakura’s best friend. Unfortunately, Chiyo brings nothing to the table and her personality consists of basically nothing. The show would have been better had she just not been a character. The good: You may have noticed there was someone I didn’t mention in the above section, and that is the actual best girl of the series: Retzel. Not only does she have top tier outwards design that instantly picks her out from the rest of the cast, her distinct two personalities (before and after her story), are both interest and portrayed splendidly. On top of this, her interactions with Haizakura, albeit very little, are the highlights of this show. She even had the most promising storyline, had it not been butchered for being rushed in one episode. The moe: I will be honest. I joined this show 100% for the moe and would have been fine if this was all there is to it. Unfortunately when I watch a moe anime I don’t mean all I want is a moe characters and that’s it (if I wanted that I would just look at a picture). An anime can convey this aspect through story, dialogue, and interactions, almost all of which the show fails catastrophically. The lack of story is already mentioned above (not to mention they don’t really related to this aspect anyways). But 90% of the interaction and dialogue are flat or over-engineered to the point of being uncomfortable. The show doesn’t understand demonstrating moe through subtleness and tries too hard to push it into your face. The only place where this is done right is through Retzel. She demonstrates the perfect way to present a dynamic between her and the MC to show CGDCT whilst maintaining naturalness. Now for what the show is really good at: the art-style. Whilst moe-through-subtleness was non-existent in other aspects, the artists (unfortunately not the animators. Whilst they did a fine job they didn’t amplify anything through their actions) was god-tier in encapsulating that feeling through their designs. Some signs that I have picked up include slightly fleshy/chubby (but in a very good way!) design around the face and joints, or pinkness on the fingertips. They go a long way to fully bring out the appeal in these characters, and these are the techniques I often see in other highly prominent works. Haizakura, Retzel and Haikagura all are examples of how outstanding this design philosophy has been applied. Gekka also to a lesser extent, and we don’t talk about Chiyo. Conclusion: I saw the visual. I saw the character. I was preparing myself for a 9-10 show as I thought to myself “there’s no way this can go that badly.” The show proved me wrong by doing everything incorrectly. The saving grace is that at least the show did didn’t actually turn it into unenjoyable, just unreasonably boring. Watching for the subpar moe that happened every so often, the show quickly lost its score to a 6-7, and I’m certain I only put it in this range and not much lower due to a unreasonable bias I have with a certain aspect in this show. Despite this, the show managed to spit in your face one last time with the ending, which confirmed a score of 6 for me. The show felt perfect for me and had everything I wanted to see in an anime, until I actually watched it.

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