Saber Marionette Ladies and gentlemen of the fandom.

I took the time to watch a few of my favorite SMJ episodes, some of the DVD extras, and of course the opening sequence (three times; shame (pride!) on me). After doing so, I am pleased to inform you all that the Gata is back in the fandom groove, ohyes~~ x_x;; ^_^

So now I take the time to ask a question that had always bothered me somewhat: If the marionettes are simply androids, why do they feel hunger and ingest food and drink? Is this used as a sort of fuel? And if so, what happens to the parts of the food that aren't necessary? Or are their systems so efficient that they use everything the marionettes ingest to make fuel?

I may have just answered my own question. And come up with another one. Whoo-hoo~!

Also, whenever marionettes are "killed", they appear to bleed. That would be more like a hydraulic fluid type thing, right? (I wouldn't know if "hydraulic fluid" is the right term. I wouldn't know if I'm not making sense, either. ^^)

Thanks in advance. ^_^

 

IMHO, yes, you're right at both.

food for Energy, and hydraulic fluid.

I've never seen marionettes get energy from outlets (tho I added this in one of my fics).

Still, I'd love to see the engineering blueprints for saber marionettes.

[EDIT]So, are you continuing your fanfics? ^^;;;
If you do, please tell us![/EDIT]

p.s. I'm searching for an english to spanish translator for my own fics... *wink wink nudge nudge* any hints?

 

Yes, but before that, Panther had REFUSED to take this. They were superior models.

MEANING!?!?!?!?

That's my point. If not from batteries, where do THEY get their energy from?

Must be food! Where else? Or maybe they're solar powered?
Who knows?

 

Those, and the ones for the otome cairo. Cause, having a marionette would be cool, but, if she didn't have a heart, what would be the point? Except maybe as a sophisticated servant/guard dog.

Yes, but that was an emergency measure. I'm sure they would have various other methods for less dire straits.

I thought of something, in Episode 2 of J, Lime, brings Otaru "his" breakfast and asks him if it looks good, saying she can't tell. Shortly after, I believe even as early as episode 3, she is clearly enjoying eating food. (See many, many examples) MY question is, how did she suddenly become able to taste/enjoy food? Was this a result of her growing maturity? Having re-watched SMJ recently, I can tell you that she can't tell the difference at the beginning of Episode 2, but she enjoys an ice cream cone at the beginning of Episode 3. How could she have matured enough in this short time to begin to taste and enjoy food?

As for the fuel question, I can honestly say: I don't know, but I would believe they do use it as a form of energy, otherwise it would go to waste. Perhaps it reflects their maturing, how they become more human as time goes on. I don't know, and I, for one, am not going to question.

 

Personally, I like the theory that Marionettes (apparently, only those who are equipped with Maiden Circuits) are able to replenish their energy through eating and drinking as an alternative to recharging or replacing their energy batteries. Which is rather natural, since I already have plans to employ this theory for my first (and unfortunately, so far only) SMJ-related fanfictional story.

Indeed, we have seen Saber Dolls replenishing their energy by simply replacing their exhausted energy batteries with those taken from recently "killed" marionettes, but then again, we have never seen Otaru's Marionettes recharging or replacing their energy batteries (in fact, I don't think that poor Otaru could actually afford this, at least for the first half of Saber Marionette J TV series), and they had to replenish their energy somehow. Of course, they could have been solar powered, as Luvweaver-sama suggested, but in that case I don't understand why Saber Dolls weren't made to be solar powered too, as IMHO, Gartlant has superior technology comparing to Japoness. Well, of course Japoness developed a superior combat vehicle in form of Japonessguar, but Gartlant developed a superior battle robot in form of Saber Beast Leopard...

Spoiler: Saber Marionette J

IMHO, if Mesopotamia wouldn't damage it with what seemed to be some kind
of discharge of plasma energy caused by one of Mesopotamia's cross-like missiles, Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry would have never get a chance to defeat Saber Beast Leopard.

And even so, IMHO, their victory over Saber Beast Leopard very unrealistic... "The Main Heroine Must Win!" thingy, you know? Saber Beast Leopard was perfectly able to simply tear Cherry and Bloodberry's (and Bloodberry is, IMHO, the most combat-capable of Otaru's marionettes!) Maiden Circuits out of them without having to damage them much, but in case with Lime, Saber Beast Leopard just kept hitting her without bothering to tear her Maiden Circuit out of her; and since Saber Beast Leopard was obviously victorious for the first part of its combat with Lime, I don't see what prevented it from simply tearing Lime's Maiden Circuit out of her... Well, actually I see, it's "The Main Heroine Must Win!" thingy!

...And, also it was Gartlant that developed Plasma Absorbtion System. And so, I very much doubt that Ieyasu made his Marionettes powered by solar power while Faust (with Dr. Hess on his side!) failed to do that.

I agree with Matt-sama here, the reason why Panther was initially against replacing their nearly exhausted energy batteries with those taken from recently "killed" Cherry Blossom Marionettes (or were those Orange Blossom Marionettes? I don't remember correctly...) was IMHO because it involved replacing their "superior" (and probably ineed superior; see my comment about Gartlant and Japoness' techologies) Gartlant-manufactured energy batteries with inferior energy batteries made in Japoness.

Well, actually, Matt-sama, I very much doubt that Saber Dolls could say to Baiko and Tamasaburo, "Hay, we are running outta energy right now. Mind waiting with pursuiting us for a couple of hours?", and then go to some local Japoness restaurant to have a nice big dinner.

 

This is why I looove your SMJ-related posts. ^_^ And I really mean looove.

I always imagined it as a battery, especially after episode 20, and since they are, in reality, machines. Also, I didn't think it strange that the saber dolls walk out of the river by the museum's ruins. I always thought, "They're not human, so they don't need to breathe."

...now that brings to mind, Can they swim? I suppose they could, but floating is probably out of the question. They don't exactly have lungs, either, so there wouldn't be any air to keep them floating.

But then, what would Gata know? Her resources on the series are li-mi-ted. ^^;

And yes, luvweaver~~~ I'm continuing my fanfics... eventually! (Hopefully sooner than my "eventually" usually is! ^_~)

 

Personally, I believe that marionettes are capable of swimming, Gata-san. It seems that they are made not from steel, but rather from some kind of very light metal (or possibly some other matherial), as on a few ocassions Otaru had no problems with carrying Lime or Cherry. And since all the marionettes are very strong, I believe that they are capable to support their weight in water quite easily.

As about floating... Well, I am not good with physics or biology (fortunately/unfortunately I don't have these subjects at my academy), but I've always imagined that marionettes' bodies don't float naturally. I can't provide any good explanation about the second point, though...

 

Yes, it's likely that the marionettes are made of some very light material. In fact, they have to be. If you look at the character specs, none of them are over 60 kg. That's about 120 pounds.

But I don't pay attention to the mechanics, I watch for the emotion, and the humour.

 

I don't look at the technical stuff either, it just makes me wonder. ^^; And I completely forgot that bit about Otaru carrying them. He would have to be superhuman to carry all-steel machines.

In respect to the thing about bleeding -- if I may present an example from another, entirely different place, in Terminator 2 (or 1... whichever), the Terminator (...leave me alone, okay? I don't remember these things! XD) cuts his forearm to show that he has no muscles, but machinery, and when he does so, he bleeds. The mechanisms that make his arm work are covered in blood, too. How that's plausible is beyond me, because the way I see it, hydraulic fluid is the only kind of inner fluid an android would need.

The point is I'm not crazy. XD

And -- the marionettes shed tears! (I'm being so nit-picky, I know it, I'm so sorry for making you all think about mostly-useless things! ^__^;; *can't help but think!*) Where do these tears come from? I'm guessing this has more to do with their almost-human aspect than their mechanical one. (That would also include facial expressions, when you think about it. Androids are supposed to be emotionless, and they wouldn't really have muscles, much less facial ones that allow them to smile and frown. I'm assuming this is Very Advanced Science and A Lot to Do with the Maiden Circuits.)

Bwahahaa, I pester you all with my nit-picky-ness~~ XD (I love y'all, you guys know that, right? ^_~)

 

Yes, but the Terminators are not only androids. They're cyborgs, too. (cybernetic organism). It's living tissue what they have in there.

On the contrary case, marionettes are just androids. (Or gynoids, in this case? andros = man, gynos= woman, if i remember right). ANYWAY... they do have a skin - artificial, but still. Remember that Gemini has her "skin as soft as a cloud" (and can clean ears, too! )

Yes, they were designed to be almost exactly as a human. They can breathe (in SMJA Lime chokes with the food and Marine hits her so hard that throws her to the ground :anime: ), cry, eat, drink....

so I guess they get their energy from food (Hmmm that would explain why they eat SO MUCH).

Lime:More!!!! ^_^
Bberryhiccup) more!!! ^^;;;

Yes, I do guess they have artificial muscles. How else would their legs look so .... :bleed2: *ahem* you get my point.

 

Indeed, emotions are the reason why I like Saber Marionette J more then any other animated series. However, when you are writing a more or less serious fanfictional story, you actually need to understand technical aspects of the series too. That's why we are getting "technical" in this topic.

When it comes to tears, I believe that Marionettes have some kind of build-in device that generates tears according to signals that come from their Maiden Circuits.

Hmmm... Possibly this is why Marionettes need to drink; maybe the water and other drinks they consume are then made into tears?

 

One thing that makes me think a lot (yeah, I do too much of this... haa XD) is that in episode 14, Bloodberry gets drunk off what may or may not be sake. Again, this probably has to do with the way they were built, to be more realistic and human, because otherwise I doubt something mechanical can get drunk (unless the alcohol messes around with their systems... which isn't entirely impossible).

And yes. All these questions come from a fanfiction (and fiction, period) author who wants to know the laws that govern the SMJ universe.

Whenever there's something I can't understand, I just leave it as pertaining to complex sciences I can't understand as yet. ^^;;

Also, on the note of breathing -- maybe it's not so much the need of oxygen as in humans, but perhaps their inner workings need air for something?

 

.. It's been a while since I saw SMJ Again so I don't remember it well at all. Marine had a lto do do with the ocean, and didn't they visit the ocean at least once in the OAVs? There is artwork of them in swimsuits anyways.

I would say the answer to that is an unqualified yes. Products line the QRIO notwithstanding, gears and pistons and wheels etc are really not sufficient to give a robot lifelike movement. There was an article in the latest issue of Discover that talked about the limitations of lifelike mechanical movement and research on artificial muscles (fibers that contract under current) and their application in walking robots. Some of them were 6 legged, like a miniature Krabbensteif

 

Well, yeah. I expect nanotechnology to play a big role in the development of artificial muscles, afer research regarding carbon nanotubes.

 

Another question!

Another question!

Bloodberry sure drinks a lot of sake (and Panther seemed to eventually take after her), but I wonder... Can Bloodberry (or any other marionette for that matter) really get drunk? Scientifically, of course no, but I wonder, if Bloodberry's Maiden Circuit will create a drunkness-like state for Bloodberry if she drinks one too many bottle of sake?

 

From what little I know of the novels, apparently the girls' character changes entirely when they get drunk. Hmm... What could this mean? Perhaps a broody, sulky, Lime? A slutty, vulgar, violent Cherry? A kind, polite, quiet Bloodberry?

Aww, now I want to read the novels even more...