Saber Marionette Discussion: what kinds of Maiden Circuits Saber Dolls have?

As the title says, what kinds of Maiden Circuits Saber Dolls have?

It seems that many people assume, that because Tiger has primary attributes of speed and reflexes (like Lime), Luchs has primary attributes of intelligence and sensors (like Cherry), while Panther has primary attributes of strength and endurance (like Bloodberry), they have exactly same kinds of Maiden Circuits as marionettes from Japoness have; i.e. Tiger – Innocence, Luchs – Motherhood and Panther – Virtue. But is it really so?

In case with Panther, I must agree that she seem to have “Virtue” Maiden Circuit, just like Bloodberry have. Indeed, two of them are very much alike, although IMHO Bloodberry is more strong-willed then Panther, while Panther is more emotional then Bloodberry.

However, I believe that this isn’t so in the cases of Tiger and Luchs; as IMHO, Tiger has “Motherhood” Maiden Circuit, while Luchs has “Innocence” Maiden Circuit. I’ll try to explain.

In case of Tiger, IMHO, Tiger’s personality has very little common with Lime personality, and she is much closer to Cherry and Bloodberry. Indeed, Tiger has Bloodberry’s nearly unbreakable willpower, beneath which, however, she is very tender and caring, very much like Cherry. Also from Tiger’s flashbacks about the time she spent with young Faust, we can see that Tiger loves Faust with the same tender and caring kind of love that Cherry shows to Otaru. Also, while it is clear that Tiger loves Faust as woman loves man, she also cares about young Faust as if he was her beloved son. She plays with him as with a child, takes him to see the flowers, and calms him down when he scratched himself “I’ve cast a magical spell upon it. Now it will heal really quickly.” This surely shows Tiger’s motherly side, does it not?

By the way, some people would definitely point out that Lime also plays with Otaru, however, IMHO, the situations are dramatically different: in case of Tiger and young Faust, Tiger is an adult who plays with a child; while in case with Lime and Otaru, Lime is a child who plays with an adult.

As about Luchs… Well, it is somewhat difficult to judge Luchs’ personality mostly because she keeps a lot of her emotions to herself, hiding them under the mask of calmness and confidence. However, on the rare occasions when Luchs lets her emotion to show up, like while she participated in Marionettes Contest (of course, Tiger told Luchs to portrait a childish personality in there, but…), or when she was just beginning to live with Otaru, or when she took a job of TV reporter, Luchs shows personality which is very much alike to Lime’s childish personality. Heh, it looks almost as if Luchs have two dramatically different personalities: one is calm and intelligent analyzer, the other is mischievous child.

So, what do you think, people?

 

At the beginning, either the Japaness Saber Marionettes' maiden circuits and the Gartland Saber Dolls' ones were the same. Otaru makes the difference. While Faust treats their marionettes like machines, Otaru treats them like human beings, no matter that in fact they aren't.

Spoiler

In fact, Ieyasu takes the wise decision about letting another one to raise and let the three maiden circuits to evolve, because he knows that he wasn't able to do that. But then he assumes at the very end of J that he has used Otaru and fruit salad girls just for the same thing that Faust seeks, taking as "fair" his final death onboard Mesopotamia.

 

A good thought, kapitanbar! Indeed, the way Maiden Circuit Marionette's personality will develop seem to depend greatly upon how her master will treat her. After all, Maiden Circuit Marionettes are somewhat like children when they activate for the first time, and even though most of them (i.e. all except for Lime ^_^ ) are quite intelligent and knowledgeable even then, all of them are still somewhat immature. However, in case with Cherry and Bloodberry they seem to mature rather quickly.

Hmmm… By the way, this kinda explains why Luchs' personality isn't exactly innocent even though it is quite possible that she was originally equipped with "Innocence" Maiden Circuit (and I believe it to be so).

Indeed, it is rather difficult to consider Luchs being actually innocent. However, we cannot dismiss the possiblity, that Luchs was originally equipped with "Innocence" Maiden Circuit, but then her personality changed greatly because of the way already grown Faust treated her.

However, don't you agree, kapitanbar, that Tiger's personality was always (even when she was treated with affection by young Faust, who treated her somewhat like Otaru treats his marionettes) leaning towards "Motherhood" rather then towards "Innocence"?

 

Although Tiger=Lime, Luchs=Cherry and Panther=Bloodberry, it seems that it's only valid for the combat skills. As you say, Tiger developes more a motherly instinct than Luchs, but not a lot can't be said, just watching the anime series. In J the saber dolls simply don't develope their maiden circuits. In J Again up to the first half of the series they only seek to "be one" with Otaru and later they play such a secondary role that I don't remember about it. In the manga this issue about the character developement in the saberdolls is only present in a rather little way with Tiger and Otaru. It seems that in the novel (which I've never read, except for that part shown on Hanami's Saber Marionette world) Tiger show some kind of elder sister with Lime later on the story when the saber dolls join forces with Lime, Cherry Bloodberry and Otaru.

In one word, the saber dolls were always an under developed part of the story.

 

I have been doing a bit of thinking about Saber Dolls lately, and I thought...

..."What if" Fuast the First messed something up when he was making "Innocence" Maiden Circuit (he must have had REAL troubles doing this, even though he was actually following Hess' footsteps ^_^), and accidentely created "Mischief" Maiden Circuit instead of "Innocence" Maiden Circuit? The one who is equipped with "Mischief" Maiden Circuit is Luchs of course!

Okay, talking seriously, I don't belive that Satoru Akahori, Hiroshi Negishi and Tsukasa Kotobuku ever thought of anything like that, but this kinda explains why Luchs isn't exactly innocent even though she is supposed to be equipped with "Innocence" Maiden Circuit (Panther is definately equipped with "Virtue" Maiden Circuit, and I strongly belive that Tiger is equipped with "Motherhood" Maiden Circuit) doesn't it?

 

In the opening sequence, the Saber Dolls and the fruit salad girls (...aha) are put back to back at one point. I always took this as a flat-out proclamation of who's got which circuit. It was Lime-Tiger, Cherry-Luchs, Bloodberry-Panther. Therefore, I always assumed Tiger's maiden circuit was Innocence, Luchs' was Motherhood, and Panther's, Virtue.

Now, I won't say "This Is Law I Am Right Haha," because I was never convinced about Tiger's "Innocence". There is the fact that she naively continued to believe in Faust's love for her. However, there's also the flashback scene in episode 17. She looks very mother-ly there, y'know? I would just always go by the opening sequence, but I could be wrong. (Mattsu-san will have a better answer, I know it. XD *glomps*)