Parasite Dolls

Parasite Dolls (パラサイトドールズ, Parasaito Dōruzu) is a three-part original video animation produced by the Anime International Company and IMAGICA Entertainment, and written by Chiaki J. Konaka and Kazuto Nakazawa. The series is set in the Bubblegum Crisis universe in the city of Megatokyo, focuses on a group of A.D. Police officers known as the Branch. They are tasked with stopping terrorist activities as well as Boomers (androids) that have become harmful to society.

Parasite Dolls
Parasite Dolls DVD cover in North America
パラサイトドールズ
(Parasaito Dōruzu)
GenreCyberpunk, Detective fiction
Original video animation
Directed byYoshinaga Naoyuki, Nakazawa Kazuto
StudioAnime International Company
Licensed by
AEsir Holdings (formerly ADV Films)
ADV Films UK (expired)
Released May 22, 2003 – July 24, 2003
Runtime30 minutes each
Episodes3

Characters
Basil "Buzz" Nikvest

Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue (Japanese); Mike Vance (English)Credits Lieutenant Basil "Buzz" Nikvest is a member of the Branch special task force of the AD Police. He was transferred to Branch five years before the story for shooting a child he thought was a boomer. Due to his mistake he is reluctant to carry a sidearm, despite being a gifted marksman. He was made a widower when his wife was killed by a rogue boomer.Ep. 1, 3

Reiko Michaelson

Voiced by: Akemi Okamura (Japanese); Monica Rial (English)Credits Sergeant Reiko Michaelson is the heavy weapons and vehicles expert in Branch. She flies a helicopter and is usually at the front lines for fighting Boomers.Ep. 1

Koji Takahashi

Voiced by: Masaru Ikeda (Japanese); Mike Kleinhenz (English)Credits Koji Takahashi is the Inspector in charge of Branch operations.Ep. 1

Rod Kimball

Voiced by: Somei Uchida (Japanese); Eric Chase (English)Credits Sergeant Rod Kimball is a Boomer who serves alongside Buzz in Branch.Ep. 1 While he cannot hold an official rank, he is treated as a Sergeant. He was also able to identify Reiko's romantic feelings for Buzz. He was killed while saving Reiko from a helicopter assassination.Ep. 3

Elza "Angel" Lynch

Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (Japanese); Heather LeMaster (English)Credits While technically a member of Branch, Lieutenant Elza "Angel" Lynch spends most of her time undercover, investigating the Genom Corporation. She has silver hair and a dark complexion.Ep. 1

Kester Moorehouse

Voiced by: Toshio Furukawa (Japanese); Mike McFarland (English)Credits An electronics and computer hacker, Kester Moorehouse serves as the Branch's Boomer expert. The only person he seems to get along with is Buzz.Ep. 1

Episode list
No. Title[lower-alpha 1] Directors Screenplay Original release date
1"A faint voice"Naoyuki Yoshinaga, Yoashiro Geshi (unit); Naoyuki Onda (animation)Chiaki KonakaMay 22, 2003 (2003-05-22)[2]
Buzz Nikvest, an A.D. Police officer in the secret division called the Branch, is called back to the office to look at a package, where he and Branch tech guy Bill Myers discover there will be a meet at a strip club. There, Buzz discovers a guy who was killed and a bag of capsule drugs, and is nearly killed by an attacking Boomer android until Kimball, his own partner who is also a Boomer, stops it. Despite orders from their boss to stop investigating, Buzz and Kimball discover the drugs were designed to fix Boomers from programming from going "rogue", or out of control. Michaelson, who has been tracking down rogue Boomers on the highways, discovers that the Boomers have been transmitting information to a mysterious client. Meanwhile, Chieko, a sultry-voiced radio personality is confronted by her audio engineer Boomer assistant Caine on her way home. Caine proposes to her but when she refuses, he becomes very agitated, chasing her to her apartment and pushing her down. Buzz and Kimball arrive and in the ensuing struggle, Chieko shoots Caine.
2"Dreamer"Hitoshi Saga (unit); Koichi Hashimoto (animation)Chiaki KonakaJune 25, 2003 (2003-06-25)
A year after the previous episode, Branch is called to investigate a series of murders of Boomers that were modified to be prostitutes. Eve, a high-society Boomer prostitute, starts having recurring visions of a young girl in a red dress. Michaelson goes undercover as a hooker to look for the Sex Boomer Crusher. Angel tells Buzz that the Boomer Crusher's master may be tied to Genom. Michaelson follows Eve on her next job to a hotel. After interrupting Eve and her client, Michaelson discovers the murdering Boomer is actually the stray cat she picked up which changes form into a larva and insect-like Boomer. Although Michaelson fights and defeats the Boomer, Eve is called away by the young girl and walks off a ledge to her death.
3"Knights of a roundtable"Kazuto Nakazawa (unit); Naoyuki Onda (animation)Chiaki Konaka, Kazuto NakazawaJuly 24, 2003 (2003-07-24)[2]
Five years after the previous episode, the A.D. Police and Branch are still investigating a rash of violent killings of Boomers. Kenji Sorime, the Minister of Justice and a presidential candidate, tells Takahashi he intends to destroy all Boomers as they have been the cause of society's problems. When Chief Takahashi goes missing, Buzz sends Michaelson and Kimball on a search for him while he has Myers (with the help with Angel) hack into the security systems. As Michaelson and Kimball travel they are attacked by a helicopter. Hundreds of bombs detonate all over Genom City, killing thousands of people and shutting down Boomer production. Buzz is put on the news as the primary suspect behind the terror attacks, which have also killed Myers, Angel, and Takahashi; the reason being that Buzz had previously worked out a domino theory on how to exploit the city's emergency power system to trigger a chain reaction explosion. When Buzz confronts Sorime that he will reveal video footage of the conspiracy, Sorime plans to shoot him, knowing Buzz won't shoot back because Buzz had accidentally killed a girl before and vowed never to use his pistol anymore. Michaelson, who was protected by Kimball, shoots Sorime first. Buzz then honors his fallen coworkers by shooting Sorime.

Reception

Nicoletta Christina Browne of THEM Anime Reviews found the installment to be "a good series that doesn't pull many surprises but does make a satisfying if sometimes a bit graphic watch. If one comes in without expectations of greatness and prepared for the violence, you'll likely enjoy it just fine." Browne recommended it for fans of cyberpunk, and also that it would be for mature teens and adults for its graphic violence and implicit sex.[3] Chris Beveridge of the Fandom Post found the audio and video for the collection to have no major issues, but disliked the cover artwork. He liked that the series featured some of the "dark underbelly" of the Bubblegum Crisis universe and without the bubblegum or the pop of the previous series and OVAs. He wrote: "This is a cop drama of a sort set in the future that tells three engaging tales and lets the third one really play with the world we’ve come to know. This is the kind of show I want to see as a series, not that other AD Police TV series. This is the good stuff."[4]

Notes
  1. Titles for this series are in English.[1]

References
  1. "PARASIDE DOLLS [劇場版]". mediaarts-db.jp. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  2. "PARASITE DOLLS". mediaarts-db.jp. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  3. "THEM Anime Reviews 4.0 - Parasite Dolls". themanime.org. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  4. "Parasite Dolls Complete Collection Anime DVD Review". fandompost.com. July 26, 2012. Retrieved January 9, 2017.


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