StoryWhilst helping add new anime to the database, she-who-must-be-obeyed (sothis) pointed me in the direction of [email protected]
“It has tentacles and shit; your kind of thing!” was the foreboding
cry. Still not convinced, I sucked it up for the greater good, hoping
for another hidden gem to share with people. As you will see after
reading this review, a new love affair was sadly not to be.
Tagged as “horror” on most sites, there are actually very few
hair-raising screams and, instead, a boat-load of x-rated moans of
pleasure await. A story that held immense promise was spoiled by a
fetishist's wet dream, filled to the brim with tentacles and bondage.
Set in a futuristic world where humankind no longer exists, our robotic
creations continue to survive long after our eradication, desperate for
eventual evolution. The supposed heroine of the show, Malice, is a Doll
– a beautiful android girl who is a glorified fleshlight. Her numerous
flashbacks to the good old days see some rather perverted moments of
foot licking, ball gagging and erotic flesh cutting. It may sound like
a hentai production, and the boundaries are certainly blurred, but the
titillating action is mostly kept off screen with just some
hand-sweater action to drive the viewer to distraction. Even the
tentacle scenes are visually tame with a half-hearted limp worm
disappearing up a girls' skirt.
A flimsy offer of potential came from the transformation of the
surrounding characters into real-life beings. The thought of a man-made
creatures being left to run around Earth, whilst considering their
makers’ as God was fascinating. Unfortunately, this concept was nipped
in the bud and thrown by the wayside as a half naked creature paraded
onscreen, and a woman attempted to bring herself to orgasm atop a giant
insect. Yes, really.
I was hoping that the tame sexual content in [email protected] would take a secondary role to the sci-fi storyline that oozes
seductively with exciting promise, but this was sadly not to be. Any
semblance of a plot is buried underneath the utterly perverted ecchi.
The visuals take precedence as the creators spend too long showing off
their abilities with the computer graphics and not enough time thinking
about a narrative capable of carrying the viewers interest throughout
the 90-minute OVA.AnimationDespite sporting superb computer graphics for its day, [email protected] now looks decidedly dated. The PS2-esque depiction of a forgotten city
landscape is beautiful, if not a little self-contained. The animated
robots look gorgeous and skilfully crafted but beg an unflattering
comparison to more modern PS3 effects. Whilst Malice plays the part of
a glorified Barbie doll, the aged graphics suit her matte complexion
and soulless eyes. However, her transformation into a real, curvaceous
woman makes her appear flat and special effects seem overly forced. The
veins pulsating underneath her tongue are ugly and her lips in serious
need of a collagen injection. Any action scenes are jerky, adding a
comical twist to a damsel running away in despair and falling
helplessly to the ground.SoundI’m actually considering banning dubbed shows from my household. Watching two of the three episodes of [email protected] with excellent Japanese seiyuu and subtitles, I waded into dodgy waters
by switching to the English soundtrack for its finale. The once naive
Heather transformed into an even more vapid bint, and the sexually
husky Doris suddenly suffers from a transgendered problem. On the flip
side of the coin, the soundtrack was beautiful. Ranging from orchestral
vocals as a camera pans through a forgotten city, to an urban-techno
closing track, my ears pricked up at the amazing musical accompaniment.CharactersIgnoring the show's exorbitant amount of perversion, Malice is a
surprisingly likable character. It will take a cold hearted viewer to
not feel compassion for the poor girl who is thrust into an alien body
and shunned by her previous peers. The development from robotic android
to virgin female is not a sudden transformation, and the tentative
steps in new skin are well thought out by the writers. Unfortunately,
the focus soon veers away and gravitates to the lesbian tonsil-hockey
skills of the ex-sextoy. Malice is unfortunately shadowed by the other
Dolls discovering their own humanity and another unhealthy dose of
kinky scenes.
The rest of the supporting cast could be boiled down to the remainder
of the sex doll clique, as the other robots are insignificant. Of
those, only Heather and Doris stand out. Initially, as Doris, the
leader of the group, attempts to make a stand against Malice, her
traditional Japanese dress and authoritative role empowers her.
However, her failure sees her transformed into a nymphomaniac who wants
nothing but sexual pleasure, and it doesn’t matter where it comes from.
Heather is a typical girly character; kitted out in a slutty maid
outfit to please her patrons, she giggles and plays the part of the
annoying airhead extremely well.OverallDisclaimer: “Tentacles and shit” are *not* my thing. Perhaps I would
have lapped up this degrading ecchi anime a little more if I was heavily into
BDSM... or had an android fetish... or liked my girls to have a
six-foot-long monstrous arm. Sadly, I don’t. As it stands, the only
memorable thing about this show will be the terrible dub and apparent
ease in which a female can orgasm. All in all, [email protected] is not completely terrible, but it is seriously lacking in anything but twisted stimulation material.