Preface If youre here I assume one of two things happened you either fell down the Chiaki Konaka rabbit hole or went down the Recommendations path. My case was a mix of both since I started looking for Konakas stuff and remembered seeing Malicedoll somewhere which prompted me to look more into it. Before the actual review starts I want to preface it by saying you WILL be uncomfortable watching it it is not something you can really just prop up and watch whenever. This piece of media is not for everyone but I want you to know that if it IS for you and it hits you it feels like one of the most unique things youll get to experience. I dont have a scoring system so that is really arbitrary whatever it receives is what I think it should receive and thats that. Furthermore this is my first review so do tell me your opinion about it. Finally here are my somewhat disjointed thoughts on Malicedoll: Story This section contains spoilers for most of the story but its worth reading have you watched it or not youll understand why. Its not too difficult to grasp the general sense of what has happened in Malices world but the show doesnt really spells things out to the viewer past the The humans are gone and this is it idea Malices strong fort comes not necessarily from its narrative but through the ideas it conveys through it. https://i.yt.com/vi/pCuRIcoL0/hqdefault.jpg The main character Malice Doll is shown to be a sexual android now having her very existence and functionality put into question with the disappearance of her human masters. This is one of the main ideas the show puts forth with the humans gone all Malice really does is wander through the same places meet with the same dolls and robots and continue to live a meaningless life. Until while in one of those walks trying to find the repair robot since she was broken she encounters something which transforms her into a human at which point Malice doing The only thing she can do and thinking she is helping transmits this disease to all other beings in her world. Seeing what she has done and understanding the reality she has created she goes back to what transformed her into a human gets absorbed back into it and becomes an angel of pure light. http://pm1.narvii.com/5745/8fa0ddede9fd862fe6befa89a425824312fd2f9d00.jpg Now with the general story grasped what I want to talk the most about are the themes it presents because its easy to imagine there can be many different interpretations for it not only because its written by Konaka but because of how the story itself is presented. Sure you can theorize what may even be real in shows like Lain but in my opinion Malicedoll uses so much symbolism or vague abstractions in place of a straight forward story that its really hard to think about the story in the same sense that youd do otherwise. Malice is a tragic character from the get go we get to learn about how she unknowingly loathes her very condition. Her masters are gone she has naught to serve her very reason for existence is put into question with her unbecoming through the human transformation materializing the past trauma shes suffered but was unable to understand because of her lack of real feelings or her inability to grasp just how these same things could have been affecting her without her knowledge. Malice the human is nothing more than the voice on the back of the head for Malice the android theyre both sides of the same coin but the true challenge arises when human Malice has to understand her own condition and come to terms with her place in the world. This is her quest to find herself but above all find and understand love being an android up until this point had inhibited her from having an actual reason to live only repeating the same routine be there humans be there not. This really robotic duhlike function is what brings Malice to think what she is doing is right for it is the only thing she knows its the only thing she must do and in that delusion of well being augmented by the rampant trauma she herself suffered makes her think its the right decision to continue. Her body has changed yet her actions have not she hasnt adapted or evolved with it and thats what brings calamity to her world. Being the one to destroy everyone in her life the only one to truly accept her love out of his own love for her is Joe. Joe is a really interesting case since unlike Heather who blindly trusted human Malice from the very beginning Joe was skeptical after all there couldnt be a doll this warm. This Malice wasnt Malice doll right? After all she looked like a human like the very god that created them. https://i.yt.com/vi/EQzSNkCi7k8/hqdefault.jpg Now to help this make a bit more sense within the real world the most direct clue as to how connected to reality these allegories are is the fact that Malice is a sex worker. Think of all of this within that context once Malice gets a reality check her suppressed trauma hits her all at once. Joe the one person to truly love her by the end is skeptical of her very nature. Malice repeating the same pattern of actions she had until now only unknowingly made things worse for the ones she connected with the most. Now I can understand why with this in mind one might think the story is a veiled critique of sex work itself but I believe it to be a bit more nuanced than that. Its very foundation is based on understanding Malice and what she has gone through going by this idea the story is incredibly sympathetic with the struggles that come in this line of work. Be it the trauma that is shown mostly through Malice the blissful ignorance shown by Heather and the difficulty to adapt once things change for someone in this situation Malice not being accepted because of who she is now having even Joe doubt her and all of that besides the clear mental scars something like this can leave. Animation and aesthetics https://www.ganriki.org/media/2020/malice00.jpg I love this with my whole heart. It seems like Malice managed to combine these very specific generally appealing aspects of visual design I absolutely love and combine them with a rustpunk aesthetic really reminiscent from other shows I grew up with not only on this aspect but the general atmosphere and animation too. When it comes to something like Malicedoll I believe it to be incredibly reductive to dismiss it because of the animation itself when its done this well. This is incredibly impressive especially because of when it was made and the subtle details and choices when it comes to the animation and direction more specifically relating to the characters themselves are truly amazing and impressively immersive. https://i.pin.com/originals/ef/4b/b7/ef4bb75c00a3f16994137eaf4de46561.jpg Sound Its a real pity that I still havent managed to find the OST because its really good. It ranges from haunting to angelical and I wish I could find them. The voice acting is about equally as impressing I was saddened to see Yuki Yamada doesnt have that many roles besides this one because I truly believe she did a fantastic job with Malice Conclusion This is a really hard watch for the average person imo and I cant imagine most people even giving it a try but the ones that do might find something truly special that can really easily become incredibly nostalgic to them. Would I normally recommend this? No but if you like this kind of stuff PLEASE do watch this its a one of a kind experience