Copyright © 1996 Takeuchi Sakura / Sanyo Goro /Shueisha / Victor Entertainment / Studio Pierrot
Released in North America by A.D.V. Films
VHSMD/001S
90 minutes
Subtitled
$29.95

The premise isn't terribly original: social misfit engineering genius builds himself a girlfriend. I had visions of a cross between VIDEO GIRL AI and CAT GIRL NUKU NUKU running through my head as I put this tape in the VCR, but I was surprised. MY DEAR MARIE manages to retain some unique qualities in a genre of seemingly endless mediocre videos and video games.
First of all, Karigari Hiroshi may be a social misfit, but he's definitely not a total loser. He builds Marie to look like the girl of his dreams, who happens to be named "Mari." The opening few scenes are of him gathering data on his dream woman so that he can get his android exactly right. After she self-activates, he runs off to a tennis game, telling her not to leave the house. But Marie, who is designed to be devoted to and dote on Karigari, brings him his tennis racket.
Of course, this results in the inevitable meeting of Marie and Mari, the girl who was the "template" for her. Marie introduces herself as Karigari's younger sister, and in a moment of plot convenience, everyone accepts that (1) he has a sister that no one has seen before, and (2) she looks just like Mari. But this scene is handled well and the leap of faith that is made by the other characters is readily accepted by the viewer.
However, once the android is out of the bag, so to speak, the relationship between Marie and Karigari changes. Where he designed her to be his perfect girlfriend, they both become caught up in their imaginary relationship as siblings, and he finds that his feelings for her are more fraternal than sexual. Marie, who is of course programmed to want her brother's happiness, does what she can to get Karigari and the real Mari together.
This show doesn't mire itself in romantic self-pity; nor does it fall into the "love triangle" formula that viewers would expect. Marie has no interest in Karigari except to see him happy; for her that of course means that he and Mari are together. Meanwhile, as Karigari's friendship with Mari deepens, he finds himself less concerned with romance and more concerned for his "little sister."
The episodes are all self-contained with rather simple plots, but they work. My personal favorite is the one where Marie decides she wants to dream and gets Karigari to install some software in her. The rest of the episode is a series of stream-of-consciousness dreams with talking tennis balls, giant animal suits, spy technology, and a host of other seemingly random elements.
The voice acting is good, with Miyamura Yuko (EVANGELION's Asuka) as Marie, and Iwata Mitsuo (the GOLDEN BOY) as Karigari Hiroshi. The two lead characters and how they interact forms the basis for the success of this show, and the actors play their parts skillfully. The animation is of good quality and the art is well done. The music fits the scenes but doesn't really stand out on its own.
I didn't think I would like this show very much; I was wrong. It is sweet without being saccharine or melodramatic and yet it still manages to be funny. Fans of the love comedy genre will definitely want to add MY DEAR MARIE to their collection.