Saber Marionette What don't you like?

Well, IMHO it is very hard to guess whether some other Seiyuu will be able to do a good job voicing the particular character or no. And it is likewise very hard to judge Seiyuu by characters they are voicing, for many of Seiyuu are talented enough to voice characters with different (sometimes radically different) personalities very well.

For example, Hiramatsu Akiko isn't only tough and sexy Bloodberry from Saber Marionette J...







...She is also cute, romantic and somewhat immature (but still very good when it comes to hacking!) Nene Romanova from Bubblegum Crisis...







...As well as beautiful, but manipulating and somewhat treacherous (but we can't really blame her, she is just enjoying herself playing the game) BT from .hack/SIGN...







...But still, I must agree that Shiratori Yuri did an excellent job voicing Cherry, and I very much doubt that any other Seiyuu could have done a better work then Shiratori Yuri did. But we will never know for certain…

Returning to the topic…

What I don't like:

1) (Don't want to be copycat, but…) Too much attention on Lime!
While Lime is quite a lovable character, I would like to see some other marionettes (especially Cherry, Luchs and Panther) getting more attention and more development.

1.5) More scenes with both Cherry and Luchs! IMHO, they had too few scenes together, and I would have loved to see one more scene of Cherry and Luchs' virtual fighting (perhaps they could have inserted it into Program 19 of Saber Marionette J, when Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry were fighting damaged and poorly powered Saber Dolls; or into Saber Marionette J to X when Saber Dolls were forced into fighting Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry one more time), as well as one or more scenes of Cherry and Luchs fighting side by side (they made such an excellent fighting team in Saber Marionette J Again, and I would have loved to see them fighting side by side at least one more time, and such scene could have been inserted somewhere into Saber Marionette J to X quite easily). And finally, I would have loved to see Cherry and Luchs having more conversations together, which would naturally lead to the better development of their personalities.

2) In Saber Marionette J to X everybody just forgot Marine and the sacrifice she'd made to ensure their survival. Surprisingly, the only exception is Hanagata, who had courtesy to mention that there in fact were seven marionettes with Maiden Circuits; that's as much remembrance as Marine ever gets! Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry get a statue, even though in the end they returned back to Terra II safely; while Marine, who sacrificed herself once and for all, gets NOTHING!!!

3) More realism! I don't mind a lot of humor, but I just hate many unrealistic scenes; for example:

A) Beatings (and occasional blowing up) of Hanagata! Considering the force of marionettes' blows, Hanagata should be dead thousands of times! Not to mention that in Program 10 of Saber Marionette J Hanagata was blown up with a grenade and lived to tell the tale!

B) In the very same Program 10 of Saber Marionette J there is NO logical explanation of how all the main characters (Lime, Cherry, Bloodberry, Otaru, Tiger, Luchs and Panther) survived the explosion of the Gartlant's main computer. This especially goes to Lime, Otaru and Luchs, all three of whom were exactly atop the computer exactly in the moment of the explosion, and definately didn't hard time to get away. Considering the displayed force of the explosion, Lime, Otaru and Luchs had no chance of surviving it (all the others could possibly get away enough to sustain "just" some very serious damages, although considering the force of the explosion, I very much doubt it too)! I tried to think of some explanation of how it could have happened, but no matter how much I tried I couldn't come up with such an explanation…

C) Otaru's dodging of submachine-gun fire in Saber Marionette J to X! Marionettes definately could have done it, and I view Cherry's blocking of submachine-gun fire with a lightning speed (at the very same Program 10 of Saber Marionette J) as quite a logical thing, as in addition to her superhuman reflexes she had her advanced combat computer to coordinate her moves so that she wouldn't miss a single shot; but one the other hand, Otaru is a normal human… or is he? ?_?

If I tried hard, I could have probably think of some other unrealistic moments, but these three are more then enough to deliver my point, I'm thinking.

That's it.

Oh, one more thing to add! Despite these shortcoming, Saber Marionette J (if I must choose the best of the best, it would be Saber Marionette J to X) is definately my favorite animated series. Lovable and wonderfully developed characters, very interesting plots, a lot of wonderfully touching moments (especially in Saber Marionette J to X), and finally a lot of messages that are put into these series.

 

Well, BMS, you pretty much summed it all up, but I'm going to have to correct you.

That isn't quite right. For you see,

Spoiler: J Program 25 and J to X Phases 10-13

Luchs and Lorelei escaped in an escape pod. Lime, Cherry, and Bloodberry returned on the Japonesger.

If it had been otherwise, Lorelei would have known where the Japonesger lay in ruins, and Lime, Cherry, and Bloodberry wouldn't. Thus, they would not be able to find it after Copy Faust forced the knowledge from Lorelei, and he, along with Hess, would get exactly what they wanted.

As for Zanza's question,

Spoiler: Program 25

I believe that the Mesopotamia hated itself for being so selfish as to take the girls away from Otaru that it couldn't live with itself, and committed suicide. But maybe I'm wrong, maybe all those missiles and lasers it shot at them simply hit some vital component and blew itself up.

Any other ideas?

 

It didn't blow up...

The Mesopotamia was still functional in JtoX. In the last chapters, where Cherry attempts to make contact. And the *computer* responds.

Now that's a mystery...

where did the Mesopotamia's circuit go?

Because, obviously it could have feelings and everything. In JtoX we see no sign of this.

So - what happened to the Mesopotamia *the circuit* ?

Is it lying around near the Japonesswar?
Was it found by Hess in his experiments to reach the Mesopotamia passwords?

I guess the world shall never know.

 

Cherry accessed the *sub* computer. Something like a system backup or other such auxilary system I assume, not the main computer, where it's thoughts and emotions resided.