Reviews

Jun 17, 2019
Spoiler
Malice@Doll takes place sometime in the distant future in a world where humans have gone missing for an unknown reason and have left behind a civilization of different kinds of artificial intelligence/robots in which these AI go on day by day without their human creators without any sort of meaning. As summarized in the synopsis this 3 episode short series follows the journey of a robotic sex worker, known in this universe as simply "dolls" by the name of Malice.

Without giving away any major spoilers Malice begins to question the tedious everyday "life" of this civilization and although at this point in time she has no true feelings in a human sense we do see Malice early on begin to drip what is referred to as "cooling fluid" from her eyes which is of course very symbolic of actual tears and as the story progresses one will come to realize that this is quite appropriate considering what is to become of Malice in the near future. Malice seeks out a robot that has the function of repairing other machines as she believes that she is malfunctioning and instead encounters a strange creature which is implied to be some sort of symbol of a god of some kind, this proceeds into a scene in which Malice is attacked/violated by this enigma of a "creature" and wakes up with a human body.

After this transformation sequence of sorts we then get to see Malice struggle with the reality that is human emotion and for the first time truly feel sorrow for the state of the world as it is and she is even shown to cringe at the memories of the sexual acts that she once considered entirely normal as she is no longer numb to these sorts of things. Malice eventually realizes that she has gained an ability to create life out of the machines that inhabit the world such as she has become and seeks to change the world by creating as much life as she can without realizing that by creating life she has also created mortality and that she has also caused pain unto others unintentionally by doing so. The rest of the series focuses further on these concepts of mortality, human emotion as well as the confusion with one's very identity as such changes occur. I would also say that the naming of Malice to the protagonist is quite fitting given her apparent mental state after becoming human and the overwhelming feeling that she has to change the world around her even if that may not necessarily be what is best for the beings around her, thus she is pushing her will unto others which is why such a name was most likely given.

If you can get past the somewhat low quality CGI the story is actually quite thought provoking and well worth the time if you are the sort that enjoys the sort of psychological series that make you think after you have finished watching. The ending especially is interesting and very up for interpretation, the only real qualms I have with the story telling is that there are no explanations for the initial disappearance of humans whatsoever, although I suppose if you delve deep enough you can find some possible explanations but any that I could think of are pretty far guesses, that considered if you are into the sort of thing that makes you want to put pieces of a puzzle together than I would say this is definitely for you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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