Prima Doll

At first glance at Prima Doll, one might see the 6.92 average rating and the cursed words “multimedia project” in the synopsis and instantly cross this show off of their potential Plan to Watch list. However, the fact that you are here means that despite of all that, you decided to also scroll down to the review section to get an idea of how the show was received. If this is you, then you’ve come to the right place. This review is here to give a spoiler free synopsis of what to expect from Prima Doll and explain how the average score and some of ... the unfavorable reviews don’t do the show justice. Let’s begin.

If I had to describe Prima Doll in one phrase, it’d probably be “moe Violet Evergarden”. If you haven’t watched Violet Evergarden, then definitely go watch that first, because while I do like Prima Doll a lot, Violet Evergarden sits comfortably in my top 5 anime. Both Prima Doll and Violet Evergarden have extremely similar settings of a post-war steampunk European continent and similar character dilemmas of people losing their purpose with the end of the war or being unable to adjust to the abrupt advent of peace. Just like Violet Evergarden, Prima Doll will also sucker punch you right in the feels throughout the entire show. Both shows are very good at creating these episodic scenarios that draw you into the character narratives and get you to empathize with their situation. Even the term “doll” is used prolifically in both shows, furthering the theme of these mannequins that were used as tools of war learning how to live their own lives.

I think it is quite obvious how the description of “moe” plays into the show, with the color schemed moe blob cute anime girls and all. Moe has always been a big point of contention in the anime community, but for the love of Madokami it’s 2022 already. Love it or hate it, moe will have a perpetual influence on anime and just because you don’t like moe doesn’t mean all moe anime are automatically trash. As a resident of the moe trash can myself, I appreciated the moe parts of the show. The slice of life elements served as both a good foil for the emotional high points of the show as well as furthering the overarching theme of learning to live a life without strife. If you are also a cultured moe enjoyer who likes shows such as K-On, GochiUsa, Yuru Yuri, Blend S, Hinako Note, and Comic Girls among many others, then this aspect of Prima Doll should be an easy sell for you. As for comparing Prima Doll to a recent show, it really had a lot of similarities to RPG Real Estate from last season while also outperforming that show in almost every aspect. I feel the tone shift from slice of life to emotional was far less jarring in Prima Doll than RPG Real Estate, and Prima Doll’s character interactions were also more genuine and heartfelt as a whole. RPG Real Estate suffered from having a very weak connection between the overarching theme and what was usually occurring on screen; Prima Doll more deliberately built up its overarching theme throughout the show, making the narrative feel more natural because it was paced better.

The final part of the review will be dedicated to easing any remaining concerns about watching Prima Doll while concurrently refuting claims made against the show by some haters. The topic to address first is definitely the “multimedia project” aspect of the show. While I do understand why everyone hates multimedia projects because multimedia projects typically entail watching the anime, playing the mobile game that is most definitely going to be a gacha, buying merch, following the official twitter posts, and watching the official youtube channel to get the full “authentic” experience on the series. It’s essentially all one giant cash grab and a huge time sink that serves as an excuse for the anime being not very well produced because there’s also supposed to be the mobile game’s story, the character profile cards included with the albums you buy, and the bits of lore dropped from the official youtube channel that’s also supposed to supplement it. That generic umbrella of multimedia project is genuinely awful and I hate it too, but Prima Doll doesn’t fit under that. I was not shilled a mobile game when I finished the last episode in tears. All I saw was “Fin” and then the voice role credits started rolling as usual. There is an official youtube channel for prima doll, but outside of some 5 second clips of the VAs saying some cute stuff using a 3D avatar of their character, I didn’t dabble in it at all. There definitely are songs and albums available for purchase, but those are just for the fans that want to listen to more Chat-noir songs. You don’t tangibly lose out on any type of experience from not interacting with the other forms of Prima Doll media; I personally found that simply watching the anime by itself is a fulfilling standalone experience, so it makes no sense to hate on Prima Doll just for being a multimedia project. There isn’t some character that got their character development shafted on purpose because that’ll be covered in the upcoming mobile game, and the ending wasn’t some to be continued that’ll be picked up with the mobile game but only after you follow the twitter lore they drop over the course of 24 months. Prima Doll isn’t some incomplete halfass show that was only made to sell the mobile game, like Takt Op Destiny.

There are quite a lot of people saying that the ending of Prima Doll was rushed, but I can’t see what they’re talking about. Most people compared it to the likes of The Day I Became a God, which is also produced by Key and Visual Arts. While I haven’t watched that show, I can definitely point to another show done by Key which is Charlotte. Charlotte is infamous for absolute trash pacing for everything after episode 7, squeezing what a 12-episode season would barely be able to cover into the final episode. Prima Doll definitely did not have a Charlotte ending. I won’t get too much into it because having this be a spoiler free review is more important to me than refuting their claims in detail, but I thought Prima Doll’s ending was appropriately rewarding and moving for the amount of narrative buildup that was done with the storytelling.

The final thing I want to talk about with Prima Doll is the VAs. As a big Love Live fan, the first thing I noticed going into this show was Kusunoki Tomori (Setsuna Yuuki) as Karasuba and Kitou Akari (Kanata Konoe) as Retzel. If you’re a Genshin Impact player that plays with Japanese voiceover, then you’ll probably notice that Murase Ayumu doing Nagi in the show also does Venti, Kuno Misaki doing Chiyo in the show also does Klee, and Kitou Akari does Barbara. The VAs in Prima Doll are especially important due to the song segments of the show, as well as each main character singing the ED solo during their respective episode. All the VAs put in stellar work making the OP, ED, and all the insert songs all sound amazing while also bringing life to their characters. Playing Haizakura, Waki Azumi has had a plethora of experience singing theme songs for Blend S as Maika, Slime 300 as Flatorte, Noukin as Mile, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear as Fina, Senko-san as Senko, Ms. Vampire who lives nextdoor as Elly, and much more. Tomita Miyu’s noteable roles other than playing as Gekka include Iino from Kaguya-sama, Riko from Made in Abyss, Gabriel from Gabriel DropOut, and Kuina from Hinako Note among others. As Kitou Akari has had experience working together with Kusunoki Tomori for Nijigasaki concerts as well as Murase Ayumu and Kuno Misaki for Genshin, Waki Azumi and Tomita Miyu have also had very close roles together as a matter of fact, with Tomita Miyu being Fina’s younger sister Shuri in Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear as well as fellow vampires with Elly as Sophie in Ms. Vampire who lives nextdoor. Playing Houkiboushi, Nakashima Yuki definitely has had the fewest roles amongst all the other main members of the voice cast, but her roles as Lisa Imai in BanG Dream’s Roselia is a very engaging and demanding role that she has excelled in, not to mention has had lots of experience singing for. I want to specifically mention Kitou Akari again because I especially love her role as Chiyoda Momo in Machikado Mazoku. Kitou Akari-san is ridiculously talented for being able to pull off aloof and nonchalant characters like Chiyoda Momo as well as more breezy and witty characters like Retzel and Nijigasaki’s Kanata. Okay, rant over. Moral of the story: Prima Doll has an all-star lineup of voice talent. So when I hear haters say stuff about the voices being annoyingly squeaky, or the production forcing the voice talents to strain their voices to match the character, all I can do is scoff at their ignorance, and everyone else should brush off those baseless ramblings as well. It’s definitely one thing to have opinions of voice talents, but it’s another thing entirely to attack them for the roles they act out. I’ve seen some rude and undignified comments about Kuno Misaki’s role as Chiyo and I’m not going to stand for it. Her Chiyo voice is not some one-off fluke that was forced on the production side; she uses practically the same tone and pitch for Beni-enma in FGO and Klee in Genshin. The roles that Kuno Misaki chooses to play and the voices she uses to get into character are her WORK and her TALENT. People that want to attack that based on their own shit taste need to shut the fuck up.

Professor Nagi Tooma fixes up the dolls and runs the Black Cat Café because he believes in the potential of the dolls to move the hearts of others by preserving the peace, rather than fighting the war. Prima Doll was an extremely enjoyable show for me that definitely moved my heart. While part of that might be because I reside in the moe trash can, the show also undeniably has an engaging narrative even without the moe. I think that if you can at least tolerate the moe and are looking for a heartwarming and character-driven emotional rollercoaster, then Prima Doll should be the next thing you watch. Thanks for reading.

Prima dolls is one of those animes that makes their character so lovable and cute but decide to put them in a world where bad shit can happen anytime.Everyday you gonna hope that the next episode wouldn't be "that" episode and that is more thrilling than any horror anime.

It have a different thrill from most tragic or horror and dark.

In To Your Eternity, there's a lot of shock factor that occurs along the anime and the same goes to Made in Abyss, there are so many sad and disturbing things that happened on those animes but we know bad things will happen,sure we gonna get ... traumatized and that memory of some certain scene will stick in our head for weeks, MAYBE MONTH but we know bad things will finally happen,sometimes it's more than we predict but we knew there's definitely one or two tragic moments will occurs cause we knew that those anime is indeed a tragic, gritty and tear-inducing anime.

Prima Dolls in the other hand, NEVER makes itself looks like a dark,gritty and tragic anime but it also NEVER implied that it's just gonna be another cute girl doing cute things anime.

On some scene it's gonna be a very sweet,very tame scene but then the next scene you gonna see a scene that MIGHT be lead up to some bad things but turns out it's not a big deal,this kind of tone-changes will obviously occurs along the anime and this is what makes my enjoyment decreased by a bit cause that feeling of "that" kind of episode will somehow happens haunted you.

Some peoples might think that this is just a normal CGDCT anime but here's a little warning,if you really think it's just another normal CGDCT,you have to know that most of our chara are War Veteran Robot,war exist in this "cute" anime and most of our lovely heroine have gone through it,and war certainly isn't a cute things ,RIGHT?

So if you really think that this is just a "normal" CGDCT anime,that sole fact alone can already debunk it.

Other than those genuinely "terrifying" aspect,Prima dolls succeed in delivering a good slice of life story in the rage of wars story.It's make me at some point forgot that War still occurs in this anime.
The serene and joyful atmosphere really hooks me up and can't help but smile to some moments along the episode.

The music is good,the OP reminds me too much to some certain "war" romance,drama anime.

The character design is superb and very cosplayable,i find myself attached to some of the characters,all of them are cute and lovable especially Haizakura,cause i can never go wrong with a cheerful girl and also Chiyo which by the way was perfectly casted,cause I'm a sucker for cute fans,LONG LIVE CUTE FANGS LOLI.

Overall Prima dolls is a very very good CGDCT,sure it's not your usual CGDCT but it's still a good one nonetheless and the fact that I,a normal human being actually feels worried that bad things will happen to our chara on every episode proves my point even further.

Overall,very recommended

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting with Prima Doll, except maybe a bootleg Madoka Magica. Think of a mix between an automaton war and a coffee shop AU, and you have Prima Doll—plus Kuroneko-tei, which is an adorable name for a restaurant staffed by former doll soldiers.

Decades after automatons are introduced as apparent child soldiers for an imperial war, a very sweet, very pink automaton is re-purposed to work at a restaurant that specializes in omelets during an egg shortage. I’m not a fan of the abrupt timeskip after the prologue. The opening scene with the war prep is too short for me ... to care about, and it feels out of place with what follows. The slice-of-life atmosphere makes for a more fun beginning, and we can still see the war machines in the background so the setting isn’t as on-the-nose as the prologue makes it.

Meanwhile, the characters are insultingly plain. Yes, the girls are literal robots, but their personalities also feel programmed. It’s a common pitfall when a whole bunch of characters are introduced at the same time, and so far, each girl has One Personality Trait and maybe a promising albeit overused backstory. But I like the touch with dolls becoming “broken” as a nod to post-war trauma. Also, each girl’s outfit is wonderfully cosplayer-worthy. ^^

"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's ... where 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.

When I first saw Prima Doll, I thought it was going to be nothing but dark, but it's honestly slightly sweet. I think the best way to truly describe it, is that it's very deep and emotional. when it wants to be. If you take the whole of the first episode as a way of showing that. It's as if there is a deeper and inner tone hidden by a wall of cuteness and fun to this show, which is pretty well done.

Story and characters: 7
How precious are your memories to you? How deep do they run? How painful, or important are they to you? ... There is a lot to tell within a 'doll'.

There is always a story to tell. No matter if you are a human, or a doll, it always rings true. As explained, it really does seem with everything, no matter who you are, under all this seemingly fun and cute cafe. There is something more deep down deep inside. Which will keep this show going, as it'll make you want to see more, and what else is laid upon, or has been laid upon it's characters. It's as if this, with it's after war,or hidden war setting, really drags you in by te scruff of your neck, really hitting you where it hurts.

The first episode is a great showing of that. While it'll showcase very fun, happy, and cuteness. It'll then sucker punch you for everything you're wort, and that's the FIRST episode for crying out loud. Heavy hitting. With the hint that there is more to come, this isn't no cute cafe gacha level of anime with cute girls. This can also be quite some serious stuff, and speaking of the characters. As if there is someone for someone. But as I'll touch further in the next section, really well done art wise, that makes them stand out, and beautiful, with memorable personalities to boot. It honestly reminds me of a more serious RPG Fudousan mixed with Sakura wars, and it really shows.

Art and sound: 8
I'm a big lover of kimonos, but in general, there is something here that really makes the characters shine and look super stunning. But not just them, a lot of areas in the background seem like they've had attention to detail, and have really been coloured greatly. From how they look in light, or at night, or when certain scenes are happening. Combine that with a fitting and good sound design around it, and you've got a recipe for success. No matter how any of it's story is, the art is very pretty.

Prima doll is a cute, but also very deep product, that deserves some attention, so give it a watch!

I normally don't try to review an anime before it ends, as I prefer to watch it all the way through before sorting out my thoughts on it. But dear lord, Prima Doll as a show annoyed me so much that I honestly just can't hold my feelings on it back any longer. Prima Doll is a new multimedia franchise created by the company Visual Arts/Key, who many will know as the people who created beloved visual novels such as Air, Kanon, Clannad, and Little Busters. They're still making games to this day, and I remember watching the anime adaptations for Air, Kanon, and Clannad ... when they came out, and loving them, though if I were to watch them now, it's likely my feelings on them will change. But lately Key has wanted to expand their horizons, and I can understand wanting to try something new...though multimedia franchises usually don't fare well in this oversaturated market. Yet even by those standards, Prima Doll just absolutely screams shameless corporate artifice that's only there to sell products, and literally nothing else.

Long ago, there was a terrible war that ravaged the world, where autonomous mechanical robots made to resemble human beings, called automata, were used as weapons. Now, the war has thankfully ended, and automata are no longer used for wanton destruction. One establishment, the Black Cat Cafe, employs automata, with the cafe's owner, Nagi Touma, being determined to give them the best life possible. The story is told from the point of view of one automata, Haizakura, who's as sweet as can be but has no memories of the war and is terribly clumsy. But she settles into life at the cafe nicely, making all manner of new friends and searching for her place in an unfamiliar, peaceful world, alongside those closest to her. Just reading the premise, the concept of mechanical dolls being used for violence in an alternate universe steampunk war but searching for a new purpose is very interesting and there's a lot one can do with it. I can definitely get behind using that idea as a backdrop for a more character driven story about what happens when these humanoid robots have to find another function once the fighting is over. I'm sure there are probably stories out there that have done just that.

I would have loved for Prima Doll to do the same, and it seemed like it would...if it weren't so determined to be as saccharine, treacly, and aggressively moe as possible, so drenched in a thick layer of early 2000's syrupy sweet moe artifice that I'm pretty sure anyone who has diabetes would die just from looking at the character designs and hearing their ear-gratingly squeaky voices. None of the characters' have much in the way of depth and characterization to them other than "cute anime girl" or the one personality trait they have, and the show's attempts at giving them any kind of development just come off as shallow because even then, they still resort to insipid, tired cliches to force the audience to sympathize with them rather than, y'know, fleshing them out beyond their most basic character traits. Haizakura in particular is the biggest offender, which is really bad since she's the main character. She is so cloying and irritatingly cutesy, with the show trying so hard to make you like her and see her as sooooo pwecious with her overly pink design, inability to carry out even the most basic tasks, and gurgling "Myuuu!" every time she screws up like an idiot. And no, her being a robot only marginally excuses this, but the story doesn't bother to even do that much with her. The characters are so devoid of any depth to them that it's practically impossible to care about them. Seriously, it says a lot that a Pokemon short film managed to give its characters more depth, personality, and nuance in 13 minutes than this show could ever hope to do in 12 episodes.

Oh, and I feel really bad for the voice actresses being made to overact and push their voices to almost unsustainable levels here. Because we can't have cute anime girls without making them sound like five-year-olds, right? And dear lord, Chiyo's voice actress in particular plays her with the most ear-splittingly chirpy chipmunk squeak that I'm pretty sure would break your ear drums. As someone with auditory sensory processing issues due to being autistic, Chiyo's voice really grated on my ears, and I can't imagine it being a pleasant experience for others either. I heard somebody else criticizing Misaki Kuno in another show she was in, and at fitst, I thought they were exaggerating with how bad her voice was, but...after hearing it here, I totally understand now. It's not the worst forced voice I've heard (Looking at you, Hikaru from Star Twinkle Pretty Cure), but it's up there. Misaki Kuno is much better taken in small doses, and...this is not one of her better performances by a long shot. I will say Prima Doll does have one thing going for it in this regard: I'm glad they didn't have Ayumu Murase pitch his voice so high that he sounds like a broken Elmo toy. Thank God. But considering this show in general, that's not saying much.

The piss-poor writing even extends to the overall story as well. Prima Doll's biggest problem is that it's convinced it's great at tragedy and pathos when anyone with half a brain can see its attempts at doing so for the half-assed, empty, shallow tragedy porn that it is. It's trying way too hard to make the audience want to sympathize with its characters, begging you to shed tears, like it's trying to beat you with a hammer and shouting at you "FEEL SAAAAAAD!!" Especially in episode 1, where the main conflict is a little girl reuniting with her beloved caretaker automata, only for it to be revealed that the robot in question is losing her memories, similar to a grandmother going through dementia and possibly dying. What's the show's solution to this problem? Instead of explaining to the child that their caretaker is suffering from a mental disease—or in this case malfunctioning—and working to manage the situation as best they can, the show decides to flat out lie to the child by saying the robot is going on a trip, and then lock her away in the basement, which is basically the equivalent of telling a kid that their grandmother is going on a trip, puttng her in a medically induced coma, and locking her in a hospital room forever. This is pretty shitty if you use your brain cells, but the show makes it seem like the right thing to do, complete with cheesy music and overwrought monologues from Haizakura, utterly convinced its pulling every heartstring on the planet, and as a result, any emotional beats the episode tries to hit fall completely flat on their face. Because of the terrible execution, the show's moral comes off more like "keep the dying or mentally enfeebled away and hide hard truths from children." Blegh. Bite me.

This shallow mean-spiritedness doesn't stop there, either. In episode 2, when Gekka tells Haizakura about her experiences in the war and how it affected her, Haizakura, in her infinite wisdom, just...tells Gekka to get over it. Like, what? She goes into a cutesy wootsy monologue about how Gekka can shape her life how she wants to after the war now that she's no longer fighting, and the show wants us to agree with her, but the way the show depicts Haizakura in that scene makes her come off as incredibly insensitive in how she just flat-out dismisses Gekka's very traumatizing war experiences, treating them like a switch she can just turn off and on. That's like telling a Holocaust survivor who lost their family and developed PTSD and health issues to just forget everything and move on, not taking into account how they're probably going to need therapy, counseling, and medical help for the rest of their life. The story itself has barely any stakes or tension, and you can predict every single story beat coming from a mile away. Oh, and do I even need to mention the utter trainwreck that's episode 6? Way to shoehorn in barely disguised nudity involving underage-looking girls and shoving them in skimpy outfits, producers!!

Honestly, the show's only real redeeming qualities are the animation and parts of the soundtrack. Bibury Animation has made several anime such as The Quintessential Quintuplets, Grisaia Phantom Trigger, Azur Lane, and Black Rock Shooter Dawn Fall. Their work here is...alright. The backgrounds are nicely detailed without being overbearing, and I do like the show's aesthetic of steampunk with kimonos. I want to like the character designs, but the main robot girls look more like overly designed plastic toys than anything else, and the show makes it clear it's mainly there to look pretty and sell products. The animation is at the very least competent and does its job. I admit, this is the first show I've seen that Bibury produced, so I can't comment on how it is compared to their other work. The background music is fine, but not very memorable, and many of the songs are well sung. Well, any song that's not Haizakura's unbearable squeaking, that is. Not gonna lie, Houkiboshi has the best song in the whole ensemble, with Karasuba's coming a close second.

At this point, you're probably wondering "Wait, Julia. If you hate this show so much, why are you rating it higher than stuff like Lapis Re:Lights or Japan Sinks?" For the former, several reasons. One: Prima Doll doesn't have 24 main characters to follow, so it's not as cluttered as Lapis Re:Lights is, for what little that's worth. Two: as uninteresting as Prima Doll's story is, it at least has the wherewithal to adhere to its own rules and make sure its lore is consistent instead of going out of its way to contradict them for its own convenience. Three: There's no creepy siscon girl who gets off on stealing her younger sisters' panties. Petty reasons? Probably. I don't know. In the case of Japan Sinks, it promised a realistic character drama with a disaster backdrop but massively jumped the shark, was littered with pointless subplots, its characters were inconsistent and deplorable, and its animation was terrible. Plus, as one-note as the characters are, Karasuba was my favorite out of them, even though she's supposed to be seen as the Negative Nancy who's constantly exasperated by Haizakura's uselessness, though I actually sympathized with Karasuba, because her concerns about Haizakura were absolutely valid. So yeah, most of my ratings are based on my own feelings, thoughts, and personal preference. But yeah, the few positives Prima Doll has absolutely cannot make up for the huge flaws holding it back.

I really wanted to like this show, I really did. I never go into something wanting to hate it. But dear lord, Prima Doll was an absolute chore for me to go through. In the end, the show's just not for me. Is it somebody's cup of tea? Sure. If you like it, more power to you. Depending on how the final three episodes play out, I may or may not change the rating or add more details to my review. Who knows? There's probably a ton of stuff out there involving sentient robots that tackle this premise way better. Prima Doll is not one of them, and for anyone who can't handle over the top saccharine moeness, you'd best steer clear. Prima Doll is the very essence of cloying capitalism; cold, souless, and calculated, cynically produced by a production committee for the purpose of corporate satisfaction and nothing else.

Prima Doll is one of those yearly releases that fly below the radar. C'mon, you know it. Every year there is at least one title that people either ignore or don't really give its deserved value (considering one has taken its time to watch it weekly).

Prima Doll's setting is the Imperial Capital, that is under a conflict. Our main character attends by the name of Haizakura, a little Automata girl, who has little to no memories of her life before the first events of episode 1. All we know is that she was a war weapon, and after a siege she collapsed, waking up ... at Kuroneko-tei basement (cafe that is the core to a significant amount of events). Nagi, the owner of the place and specialist in Automatas. receives her, and we later find out that the cafe welcomes with arms open any doll that has lost use, so that they can have a new meaning in their existence.

Haizakura is friendly, and loves to sing. She also never judges the Automatas that show up, and instead tries to be friends with them. She is my favourite character in the series. Besides her, initially we have Gekka, a expressionless blonde Automata; Houkiboshi and Karasuba, two seniors that give support to the beginners in the duty; Chiyo a small outgoing girl by the same 'age' as Haizakura; and Retzel, hardworking and very fond to Haizakura, to the point that she is considered her sister. There is also Haikagura, a mysterious little one, who I won't go into more details since it is a spoiler.

Prima Doll's best feature is that it holds more than it seems, considering that it looks like your usual moe approach. However, the anime goes to an existential idea, showing how the life of the soldiers, the Automatas and Nagi (who is called every now and then to the battlefield to support) is tough. And since it is an original project by Visual Arts/Key (Clannad, Angel Beats!, Little Busters!), there is a significant level of emotion-driven moments. Even though the Automatas are finally free from the tragedy of the battle camp, some glimpses of what they went through tend to show. Prima Doll depicts how every different kind of citizen and being holds scars that will just be healed by time (at best).

The sound is composed of songs sung by our main characters, especially Haizakura. It enhances the experience, by the same way the animation does. It is brilliant and right to the turning of mood, that happen constantly (changing from the harsh battlefield to the warm and peaceful Kuroneko-tei).

If you're searching for a story that not only has pure moe, but also makes you think about life in and the sudden turns that happen every now and then, give Prima Doll a try.

Thank you very much for reading.

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 to ... be 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 essentially ... nice 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 needs ... to 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.

Auto Memory Waitress Doll.

Prima Doll is a very pretty show set in a post war, steam punk, European inspired city about a group of former weaponised, autonomous mechanical dolls serving new roles as waitresses in a café.
We follow the exploits of the pink-haired, moé blob of a robot Haizakura. After she’s rebooted she gets to know her new autonomous friends who’ll she be working with at the café whilst she causes adorable havoc everywhere she goes. It’s your basic slice of life story with sci-fi elements and a twist of bittersweetness as the world and it’s war-torn people recover and adapt to peace.

You’ll note ... that this show is very pretty. Although not always well animated the background art, background cgi and lighting it always on point. The dolls personalities maybe very cliché, but their actual character designs are very appealing and it helps make them feel like original characters instead of the same copy-pasted moé blob personality we’ve seen in similar all girls anime every season.
I also like some of the world building. We see through flashbacks that the dolls are not only used as weapons, but are designed the way they are so the human troops can rally behind their kawaii-ness as moral boost or as spy doll that can more easily infiltrate enemy territory by looking as unthreatening and harmless as possible. Most anime that tell stories of war androids don’t try to give any explanation as to why they’re designed like anime waifu’s and I really appreciated this little attention to detail.

Unfortunately, where I think the show really slips up is with the script. Not only is the actual story very mediocre, but through it’s cast of robotic moé blobs it tries to tell a story of former soldiers getting over war trauma and readjusting into a normal life. If you’ve ever heard or talked to a veteran soldier who has experienced real, actual, literal war about their experiences they can tell how mentally challenging it can be to readjust back into society.
Using moé robots as a stand in for those people not only makes the narrative framework feel disingenuous, but also makes it hard to care for the plight of the girl of the week because she is a literal robot simulating emotions and none of it feels real. It’s similar to one of “Detroit Become Human’s” many, many, many problems as a story. You can’t really get away with using robots as a stand-in for those real, human experiences because they’re simply not human. They’re cold, calculating, moé code which can be reprogrammed or deleted so it feels uncanny valley like when theres a robot chief who can’t talk because of ptsd or an androids literal tears from crying over trauma described as “leaking”. I found that I just couldn’t connect to any of them because these thoughts were always in the back of my mind and it really ruins the show.
The one episode I actually really enjoyed with the episode introducing Reztel. I won’t spoil it if you’re planning on watching it, but it does manage to bland it’s themes of ‘suffering because of an inability to move on' with it’s robot narrative.

There’s a few other narrative dissonances that really stops the show from excelling, but I’ll admit I am an over thinker when it comes to these kind of stories, and there might be some of you who’ll enjoy a diet ‘what if “Violet Evergarden" but moé robots though?’
As literal manufactured moé blobs I can’t deny that the cast is adorable, but for the kind of story the show wants to tell, for me it just doesn’t work. I don’t hate Prima Doll, but if you’re going to write a story about soldiers getting over and moving on from war make sure your main characters are actually human because the human experience is the most important part.

5/10 Mediocre.

dont judge only from cover is fit for this anime. Prima Doll is masterpiece underrated anime in this season, every episode is so many how meaning of life and how bad war is. The song and scene in prima doll make me happy and sad, those combination is good flavor for this anime. So if u doesnt watch primal doll u should watch it, is not waste your time

you can look relationship haizakura and other work in kuroneko cafe with happiness and cuteness. all member kuroneko have back story and all story is so meaningful make you want cry . is my review for prima ... doll hehehe

Prima Doll was an anime I was looking forward to as a Key anime fan and have to say they still are masters of making sad scenes.
The story and the world have flaws or stupid things which don't make sense but the anime still manages to make the episodes make you feel sad when it wants you to.
The Ost is a big part of the reason it is able to do so. The ost was my favorite part of the show.
The animation and background art is also good and beautiful respectively.
The characters are all good and there is no one I hated. The ... are cute and cool when the need to be.
This anime will not be liked by everyone but might be liked by fans Key anime or SOL anime. My score is: 7/10

Okay, so I'm gonna be very biased with this, but man, I'm loving this anime as a huge fan of the moe "cute girls doing cute things" and the sub genre of "cute girls doing military things".

The setting is kind of an interesting yet bizarre mix between the mobile game "Girls Frontline", with the idea of cute anime girl androids used as military troops/commanders, the Imperial Japan Steampunk-mecha setting of the "Sakura Wars", and the slice of life moe of working at a cafe from "Is the order a rabbit?"/Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?. As such, it is partly a very classic cute girls ... doing cute things show, but also in the backdrop of a postwar setting, where all the main girls/robot "dolls" are basically retired from combat ala Girls Frontline, and there's still political powers at play, alongside a suspicion over the dangerous nature of the "dolls". It's not the MOST intriguing plot ever, but it's got really nice looking animation and budget (better looking than devil is a part timer s2 at least), plenty of moe comfy-cuteness, and just enough occasional action and mystery to pique your interest.

Of course, I do not recommend this show to everyone. If you ARE a big fan of those slice of life, CGDCT shows, and are perhaps ok with some occasional action and drama with this unique setting, then yeah, this is something you should check out.

I think this is one of the best anime i have watched till now as sometime the witty way the character back story was conveyed is one of the examples, it's deep but not everyone can get that.

I like to watched the anime which MCs are not mess and loud so this is the enjoyable anime for me, some of the characters could get more screen time.

The nature of the anime is good and can sometimes relate to the viewers. If you are looking for the Slice of life genre, you should give it a go. I like the way the anime is presented. Although ... the ending is a bit rushed, the rest of the anime is enjoyable.

2022 has a hidden gem with Prima Doll here. While it doesn't give the shock, euphoria, and overall BOOM of being over the top. It does well enough where you can find yourself enjoying the overall presence of the anime. I feel like with a slow, but overall genuine burn this anime could possibly have a season two with the right time. If this was twenty-four episodes in one season, then I feel like this anime could get a bit more love as a series. Nothing felt forced, over dramatic, and made me feel like I could be shaking my head. Not every anime has ... to be epic, unbelievable, or amazing to justify its place. Prima Doll does a good job of making you want to see more from itself. With more time, the characters can feel more fleshed out with bigger emotions. I do enjoy the fact that backstories do play an important part throughout each episode, as it should make you feel something for the characters themselves. It is a solid 7 out of 10 for me.

aisu kuriimu kita no kuni kara
oishisa wo todoke ni kita
aisu kuriimu marui shiawase
yoku hiete iru yo

A good thing from this anime is this song, the character design (I like the artstyle) and the seiyuu they use. I watching this show till the end. But I don't like the phase of this anime has, its's to fast for me. And the story is to mid even for the SoL genre. I thinks there is only a few people will take liking for this show. the main character well....... SHE'S SO CUTE!!! The artstyle really fitting this anime. Well just watch it. Maybe ... it ill fit's you.

Here is my review of this anime in 2022!

Story (8)
The story is about a doll which is mainly a girl that has a purpose for fighting in a war in the past. But when the war is over, the doll mostly dead and there is one person that can revive the doll but it must be reset so they didn't have any memories...
There is not much action in this anime since they are most focused on slice-of-life and singing. It becomes interesting when the first generation of the doll is being revived.


Art (9)
The art in this anime is actually very great! I love the ... background and art that they use such as shadow, glow, and small detail. But sadly, it has less animation...

Sound (10)
All the sounds that they used were suitable and adjusted to the animation. There is a lot of song in this anime.

Character (8)
The main and supporter character is very memorable since they have a unique personality.

Enjoyment (8)
It's very enjoyable to watch this movie in 2022.

Overall (8)
It's recommended to those who love dolls, minor mecha fans, slice-of-life, and music anime.

I think this anime is good but I think this anime wil be better if this anime is sequel. It's means the story not start from what this anime approched to audience. I think this anime will be better if this story of this anime tell about the war. How the era of robot's war and the sequel of the story is like now how this anime approch. Like Clannad which have 2 season first season Clannad and the sequel or second season is Clannad after story. That's why I gave this anime 7 from 10. This anime is good but not too good because ... How this anime start point of the story.