Even though this isn't a particularly high score, this show really did exceed my expectations.
I'll get the major issues out of the way first.
Edit: sorry for not clarifying this out the gate everyone, there’s a few spoilers ahead though. Nothing too huge, but there are moments that I detail.
There are some out-of-fashion tropes as well as things that haven't aged particularly well. A lot of the technology really doesn't hold up by today's standards, which is to be expected from a 2002 show, but that'll be relevant later.
This is especially evident whenever the storybook sequences happen. It’s just waxing poetic to communicate a simple idea in way more sentences than necessary, and also sometimes accidentally contradicting itself because it gets too abstract. I also suspect it’s partly because the poeticism isn’t translating very gracefully.
This is partly due to the show’s age, as mentioned earlier, but also it’s not the most clever with its jokes. Quite a bit of reused stuff. It might’ve been more novel in 2002.
Like, it was probably fashionable in Japan, but it doesn’t change the fact that the main girl is not really the spitting image of “maturity”, especially when she’s chirping her name all the time like a Pokémon with dangerous appeal. I never wish to completely gloss over that as if it’s not a factor. At the very least, the main guy isn’t underage, although I don’t know if that makes it worse in this case.
Overall it isn’t really amazing. The plot points aren’t coherent and seamless like truly great shows have it; they settle a bit into a “establish the world, then reset after every episode” formula that a lot of shows that were designed for TV do, although it isn’t a particularly bad case of it.
You can kinda guage how “high-brow” a show considers itself based on how hard they’re trying to justify the things that are happening. At one point they just have a beach episode with all the characters they’ve established thus far, and you kinda recognise that they weren’t even trying to justify it. In the end it turns out that all the characters were interconnected in some way, but it’s still a tough sell.
You don’t really need to do too much active listening. They pull things out of their ass a fair bit. They aren’t always coming up with new, fresh and interesting ideas. And the early episodes can be egregious with their fan service. It has some of the hallmarks of a trashy anime, for sure.
This much I was expecting going in. However, there were a couple of things I was pleasantly surprised about.
I was so poised to write the OST off basically immediately, but against all odds, I gotta say, this shit slaps. The OP goes hard (I really like all the percussion at the beginning. Cutting the drum kit in and out like that sounds sick). The ED goes hard (the 3 bar phrases are really great with the progression they went with). There’s one point where they’re just cleaning and god DAMN the jazz ensemble is cooking. I’m such a funk junky. A fjunk. Jfunky?
We’re at a really weird point in time right now. This is also why this review is going to age pretty poorly.
The biggest technological breakthrough of the 2020s has been generative AI by a landslide. Artificial intelligence is all on our minds right now, it’s infiltrated everywhere and it’s done it fast. Nvidia’s valuation skyrocketed out of nowhere and I can’t even buy a new GPU anymore.
At some point, we’re probably going to need to ask these same questions. What does consciousness mean? Where do we draw a line? What does it mean to fall in love? Can you fall in love with a machine? People are already falling in love with generative AI and it’s nowhere near the level demonstrated in this show. But it just goes to show that love is human nature, and our minds are gullible.
Is it okay to fall in love with a machine? Can a machine fall in love?
This show taps into topics that are more relevant than ever. It particularly focuses on the idea that the AI has gotten to the point where the brains are so advanced that they’re already basically operating the same way humans do. I mean, that’s kinda my interpretation. They don’t really dive into the details, which is why I’m assuming they’re basically already learning like humans.
Now to be clear, it’s really not that deep an exploration of the idea. There are almost certainly better ways it could’ve been handled, and better ways it’s already been handled in other media. I still think it’s pretty decent for 2002. That does kind of bring me back to the issue of how it’s aged, though.
It’s hard to ignore the way this show is basically the early 2000s with quantum computers with portable nuclear generators. There’s clearly a sci-fi element here, but that doesn’t really help distract from the fact that these ultra-advanced computers are still using dial-up. This contrast makes it so that in 2025, it’s hard to believe that these robots are anything but human. All the other tech is so far behind that it’s hard to internalise them as anything but people cosplaying.
Moving past that though, the show still delivers on the main theme that rings true especially in current year. The main thing is that they really build up this conflict that you can only love humans, not robots, and then make this conflict worse by showing Chi and her feelings become increasingly real.
There’s this one moment in episode 18 where Chi is, not unusually for her, worried that Hideki looks down. But the way she stares at him for validation, then hugs him with a distressed look, and says she felt her heart twist, is just a really great moment. It’s a bit surprising for her to talk about her heart like that, you can see it on Hideki’s face. This moment really lets you feel the humanity in this robot. It’s literally so free, just such an interesting moment that you get just from the premise of it all. It’s not very “realistic” acting so to speak, but it’s not executed particularly poorly, and that’s all it needed to be to hit.
It’s a pretty simple overview here. The show is old, and nothing groundbreaking, but the music slaps and the message kinda hits in this generative-slop-powered world. Maybe you’ll find it kind of interesting too? Or maybe just have a listen of the OST. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to self-drive my GPT girlfriend and me down to generative stadium, she’s been obsessed with this AI-pop group lately and I got us some tickets. The JOI tonight is gonna be CRAZY
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