In truth, I was heavily intrigued by the introduction presented by the first episode. Set in a fantasy world where magic and technology are fused together to form "Machinart" - Machine Magic. The core of Machinart is the development of Automatons, dolls made for battle, and our protagonist, Raishin Akabane is one of the many puppeteers out there: the ones who control the dolls, and fight alongside them.
At first, the plot focuses on Raishin trying to be the "Wise Man" by winning the "Night of Walpurgis" festival, held by the puppeteer academy he was enrolled into. Originally our hero was driven to be Wise Man by the need of vengeance where he vows to kill his brother, instead as the series progresses, Raishin was thrown around into the family feuds, interfering with automaton production in the world, and entering a mess of harem with almost all the girls in the series.
ART: 7/10 Good
Unbreakable Machine Doll features plenty of action scenes, and although some of them may be short, all of them are pretty well animated and will not leave action fans disappointed. Some of the character designs are awkward (Shoko and Frey take the cake) and some of the CGI used (particularly Sigmund) feel out of place as the rest of the artwork look so much different, as if two series from different times are put together as one.
That aside, the British sceneries seen in the series are definitely a delight to see.
My biggest complaint with the art would be the lower brightness used in the night scenes, my monitor was adjusted to its utmost brightness, yet many of the fighting scenes in the dark are a strain to watch. HD helps a bit, but if the night scenes are a bit brighter, it would’ve been much better.
SOUND: 8/10 Very Good
The soundtrack is pretty decent, particularly the battle scenes, where I am very fond of the use of string intruments into the theme. The piano tracks used in slower scenes are very nice as well.
OP is pretty average, in my opinion, it’s nothing more than a J-pop song where you can find in a lot of anime openings. ED, however, is probably the catchiest songs you can find this season, and admittedly, one of the main reasons I keep coming back every week.
The voice acting is fine and nothing much to say here.
CHARACTERS: 6/10 Fair
To sum things up, Unbreakable Machine Doll has stereotypical characters. Raishin is your typical never-give-up, never-say-die, always-helping-others, putting-others-in-front-of-himself type of wonderful man, at least he’s not protected by some heavy plot shield as he always end up in the hospital. Yaya the “strongest automaton in the world” is so crazy about Raishin, that she would do anything for him, anything indeed. Charlotte happens to be the loner, tsundere and a rather poor decision maker.
The rest of the cast isn’t particularly memorable, but they tend to act in a certain (awkward) manner, probably in the writer’s attempt to make them stand out more, but that makes them rather unreal as characters.
ENJOYMENT: 7/10 Good
The fighting scenes are nice to see; watching Yaya getting jealous whenever Raishin is together with another female is funny; and the ED is catchy as hell. But ultimately, I feel that the weak and often confusing story and the huge amount of very dark night scenes did take away some of the enjoyment from me.
OVERALL: 6/10 Fair
This series is far from over, hence the story is also left half-assed. But after watching Unbreakable Machine Doll, I feel as if we are only shown the appetizer, and the main course has yet to be served. Should Season 2 be aired sometime in the future, hopefully more things can be cleared up and we get to enjoy the whole picture.
