released 29 aug 04 / last mod 01 jun 07 / greg goebel / public domain
* SABRE MARIONETTE R (SMR) is an anime "mini-series" of three 40-minute-or-so episodes on one DVD. It takes place in the kingdom of Romana, a fantasy world with pastoral villages perched on top of columns of stone above a poison atmosphere. The evil Star Face decides to overthrow the monarchy and seeks to kill Junior, a sweet and kindly lad, the heir to the throne. Junior is protected by three femme androids: the powerful but immature Lime, the feminine Cherry, and the cool, mature Bloodberry. They must guard him against Star Face's malevolent "Sexadolls" and help him win back his country.
It becomes almost immediately apparent that SMR is an unimpressive production, and really targeted at a junior-high audience. It is of no great interest to adults. That isn't a problem in itself, and for a time it seems that SMR might be a worthwhile, if not inspired, video for that audience, with reasonable if conventional production values and a snappy script. However, it is somewhat too violent and definitely too sexually explicit for that audience -- they don't call them "Sexadolls" for nothing.
This makes it hard to recommend: not really for adults, too raunchy for adolescents. Of course I recognize that's sort of a recommendation in itself for adolescents, but I'm stuck with it.