Parasite Dolls

Publisher
ADV
Director
Naoyuki YoshinagaNaoyuki Yoshinaga, Kazuto Nakazawa
Production
AIC, Project Parasite Dolls
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
3 Episodes/ 30 minutes each
Year
2003

Parasite Dolls

By noghri
19th Apr 06

Based in the bubblegum crisis universe, parasite dolls manages to breathe a breath of fresh air into the series, set just after the events of bubblegum crisis. We follow the story of a group of detectives based in a secret specialist branch of the AD Police, inventively named ‘the Branch’. Being a fan of Ad Police and to a lesser extent bubblegum crisis. I had mixed feelings about this show, I had seen it before at the cinema., but this was before I had seen bubblegum crisis. I found it quite a bit different to AD police, a lot of the grittiness had been replaced by a much more refined kind of show.

What ADV says

Beauty is only skin deep, but when you can't see beneath the skin, how can you know what you're really dealing with? In a world where perfect androids called Boomers have infiltrated every aspect of society, it's the job of Branch to maintain peace between the people and the plastic. Unfortunately, not all boomers are created perfect, and when boomers go bad, people die. The thin blue line that separates man from machine is about to meet its most horrifying test in Parasite Dolls.

Review

Parasite Dolls welcomes us back to the world of Bubblegum Crisis and A.D. Police. This chapter of the Bubblegum Crisis Universe is told in three parts, which span six years starting in 2034, each episode involves an independent incident within the overall story line of violence against Boomers, which are amazingly life-like androids.
The Boomers have been designed to fill every aspect of life, which needs them. From construction boomers to sexaroids the boomers have filled every niche possible. The secret Branch section of A.D. Police, which investigates Boomer crimes, is now home to Basil "Buzz" Nikvest, who nearly lost his job before 2034 when he accidentally shot a young girl in the line of duty. His current partner, Kimball, is a Boomer himself which brings an interesting feel to the show, there is an awful lot of underlying tension between the two, but then work well together.

The rest of Branch's members consists of Angel, an undercover agent who is working at Genom, the mega-corporation responsible for the construction of Boomers and their general technology; Michaelson, the rookie girl who is more macho than any man in the show; Myers, the stereotypically geeky hacker; and their boss, Takahashi, who has many secrets of his own, some that will be explored throughout the OVA.

Episode Content (may contain spoilers)

The first episode opens with Buzz investigating a Boomer nano-machine drug that may be driving the robots to acts of suicide. However, it turns out that the drug and the violence are not connected at all. And the plot is a lot deeper than just illegal drugs for boomers.

The second episode occurs a year later, centring around The Boomer Crusher, who brutally kills Boomer prostitutes, apparently for no reason. Mainly through Michaelson's undercover work, Branch does find a reason and Eve, the Boomer who lies at the centre of these acts of corporate retribution, this was a really great episode with plenty of meaty plot to get your teeth into.

The third episode occurs five years after the second one, and Takahashi has gone missing. His absence seems to be linked with a growing anti-Boomer movement that is moving out of the underground and onto the streets. Branch has been ordered to confirm Takahashi's death, as it seems more likely that he is dead than alive in this world of futuristic tracking technology.

As Buzz looks for clues, he stumbles across Takahashi's greatest secret and witnesses a mad man destroying Genom City, the main site for Boomer production, in a domino effect of explosions, an undetectable set-up that Buzz had written about years before in a college paper on urban flaws. While Buzz is away, the rest of Branch is hunted down and killed, except one --Michaelson, who is protected by Kimball's steel body when their car is attacked by a helicopter.

The OVA ends with the message that Boomers are still achieving their original purpose: to protect humans. It's humans that pervert them for their own needs. Boomers are truly "parasite dolls": ultimately dependant on human beings, yet made in the image of humans to make us feel batter and our lives better. They can never become "real" humans, as any emotions or dreams that they possess are merely copies of human thoughts and emotions, never originals.

Thoughts

I'm a real fan of the cyberpunk genre. Having recently seen Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence and the beginning of the 2nd Gig of Stand alone complex, I found Parasite Dolls to be lacking a little in the philosophical department, but that did not detract too much from my enjoyment. In fact, it was nice to vocalize my own theories instead of being hand-fed psychobabble. To be honest this is one of my favourite stories from the bubblegum crisis universe, but I haven’t watched 2040 yet as I just haven’t had time.

As far as animation, Parasite Dolls embraces a retro feel, in that it easily fits alongside its predecessors, Bubblegum Crisis and A.D. Police, nearly twenty and over ten years old, respectively, yet this does not make the OVA feel like second-hand animation. In fact, the lack of the sharp, smooth graphics that populate most recent anime productions makes Parasite Dolls stand out as a masterpiece of story-telling, that you don't need shiny, detailed visuals to be successful.

The music is of really good quality, and the opening and closing songs reflect the polar sides of the future: a bright place of manic activity (the opening song) or a place of endless misery and darkness (the cheesy keyboard whines of the ending). Thus the duality of the future of humanity is realized within and outside of Parasite Dolls. It does have a very different feel to its predecessors and having not seen 2040 I cannot really compare it with that as yet.

Extras include a music video of the opening song, the promo video shown at Anime Fair 2002, the original Japanese promo video, production sketches, ADV previews and DVD credits. There is nudity and graphic violence in this OVA, but not anymore than in a horror movie or C.S.I., as all serious victims are Boomers. Familiarity with the Bubblegum Crisis world does add to your experience, but it is not necessary. Just sit back and let the stories unwind in your brain.

Overall, I would really recommend this to all fans of anime made in the late 90’s and especially anyone who enjoyed either AD police or Bubblegum Crash/ Crisis. But I feel that anyone can take something away from this OVA so why not give it a try.

R2 DVD Notes

Release information: ADV 17/04/06

Notes: Japanese 5.1 Language English 5.1 Language English Subtitles "Get on the Beat" music video Promo video shown at Anime Fair 2002 Original Japanese video promo Production sketches

-- noghri 19th Apr 06