Power Dolls

In 2535 A.D., after decades of oppressive policies instituted by the Terran government, the people of the colony world Omni joined together to declare their independence from the tyranny of planet Earth. Lacking an established military or specialized weapons of warfare, the Omni rebellion seemed doomed to failure. However, by adapting the robotic Power Loaders used for unloading spaceships into man-like battle tanks, the Rebel forces instead introduced a whole new era of mechanized combat. Now, the future of the planet Omni rests upon a handful of young female pilots who serve in the special Detachment of Limited Line Service. Their code name: The Power Dolls!

(Source: AniDB)

Takasu, Nami Main

Yokoyama, Chisa Japanese

Pershing, Amy Main

Hikami, Kyouko Japanese

Evans, Millicent Main

Shiratori, Yuri Japanese

Knox, Alice Main

Takada, Yumi Japanese

Kuang-Mei, Huang Main

Neya, Michiko Japanese

Fei-Lung, Yao Main

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Scheele, Selma Main

Yukana Japanese

Newland, Hardy Main

Hisakawa, Aya Japanese

Younger Sister Supporting

Motoi, Emi Japanese

Older Brother Supporting

Shimamura, Kaoru Japanese

Greenfield, Matt Producer

Matsushita, Yukihiro Producer

Tominaga, Tsuneo Director, Storyboard

Hidaka, Masamitsu Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Aug 27, 2019

Voivodian

Recommended

Cool little MSF mecha based on a PC98 series of tactical turn based strategy games. The story is about as generic as you'd expect from a MSF but it does all it needs to: set the stage for some mecha battles. The gamut of the usual war related themes is only hinted at but this is for the best given the limited 2 OVA run of the anime.
Art is very standard fare for the 90s but a lot of detail has been put into the mechanical designs and they have been futurized to immerse into the interplanetary setting; unlike the games which depict very contemporary ... military units alongside the titular Power DOlls. The DOlls themselves are rendered very faithfully, down to the extreme level of loadout options available in the game. It is also fun to see the character portraits in the game fleshed out with surprisingly good facial animations and movement.

There wasn't as much mechanized firefights as I'd have liked given the screentime. The Enemy mechs turned out to be very mook-like but seeing the flakpanzer gepards (but in space) and the spider mechs in the second ova being taken down by the Power DOlls was quite satisfying. One thing to mention though; the second OVA has a striking artstyle change that makes it more reminiscent of how Silent Mobius/Gall Force Revolution looks.

I can confirm that at least some of the soundtrack are tracks from the games (not even rearranged I think, a testament to how good chiptunes were), its pretty glorious cyberpunky synth fusion jazz. Alas the sort of music the average person would dismiss as 80s cheese.

Overall, only people who like the game or love their fix of MSF anime would enjoy this short ova; appreciating how even a tiny bit of the extreme detail in the games was carried over to an anime adaptation helps too.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jan 17, 2025

Guthem

Recommended

I can assure you, it's a very good show, but I confess that I thought they were half robots :v

The script. There are 2 episodes, each one covers a mission. The first introduces us to the characters, personal characteristics and feelings, focusing on a character because the mission involves facts linked to him. The second episode is a more extreme mission, I imagined it would be more comprehensive in terms of the team, but (at a certain point) it returned to focusing on one character. But it’s really worth watching!

I love the design, I'm a penciller and I love old designs. The look of the ... Power Dolls' clothes is pretty cool, not too ecchi, but with the practicalities that fanservice always brings us. I thought the Power Loader PLD was really cool, very much so, and I feel a certain similarity (I didn't research the designer) with the MS from Fullmetal Panic

Right at the beginning there's a scene that surprised me, about firepower VS one of the PLD, and considering the fanservice in ep2 I found the x-plicit scene strange, it wasn't necessary

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Recommendations

	Poll: Power Dolls Episode 2 Discussion Dodecahedron-O24 - Sep 27, 2013	0 replies	by Dodecahedron-O24 »» Sep 27, 2013 6:38 PM
	Poll: Power Dolls Episode 1 Discussion Dodecahedron-O24 - Sep 27, 2013	0 replies	by Dodecahedron-O24 »» Sep 27, 2013 6:16 PM
	Horrible? T_T Sabinlerose - Sep 21, 2010	2 replies	by Graus »» Mar 20, 2011 3:27 AM