Parasite Dolls (パラサイトドールズ, Parasaito Dōruzu) is a three-part original video animation produced by AIC and Imagica Entertainment, and written by Chiaki J. Konaka and Kazuto Nakazawa. The series is set in the Bubblegum Crisis universe and takes place after the events of the original OVA series (ignoring Bubblegum Crash), from 2034 to 2040. It is set in the city of Megatokyo, and focuses on a division of A.D. Police known as Branch. They are tasked with stopping terrorist activities as well as Boomers (androids) that have become harmful to society.
Plot
Parasite Dolls is set in the original Bubblegum Crisis universe, taking place shortly after the events of the original OVA series. It focuses on a division of A.D. Police called Branch that is tasked with stopping terrorist activities and destroying Boomers that are a threat to society.
Characters
Basil "Buzz" Nikvest
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
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
Kouji Takahashi
Kouji Takahashi is the Inspector in charge of Branch operations.Ep. 1
Rod Kimball
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
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
Bill Myers
An electronics and computer hacker, Bill Myers serves as the Branch's Boomer expert. The only person he seems to get along with is Buzz.Ep. 1
Set in 2034, Buzz Nikvest is an A.D. Police officer in the secret division called Branch. He is called in on his day off to look at a package, where he and Branch tech analyst Bill Myers discover there will be an exchange at a strip club. There, Buzz discovers a dead body and a bag of capsule drugs, and is nearly killed by an attacking Boomer until Kimball, his Boomer partner, stops it. Despite orders from their boss to stop investigating, Buzz and Kimball discover the drugs were designed to prevent Boomers 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 Boomer audio engineer 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 with Kimball’s gun.
2
"Dreamer"
Hitoshi Saga (unit); Koichi Hashimoto (animation)
Chiaki Konaka
June 25, 2003 (2003-06-25)
In 2035, Branch is assigned to investigate a series of murders of Boomer 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 Hooker 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 a stray cat she picked up on the streets 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.
In 2040, the A.D. Police are still investigating a rash of Boomer murders. Kenji Sorime, the Minister of Justice and a presidential candidate, tells Chief Takahashi that he intends to destroy all Boomers, claiming they are the cause of society's problems. Takahashi goes missing shortly after. Buzz then has Michaelson and Kimball search for him while Myers and Angel dig up information via hacking. As Michaelson and Kimball are driving they are attacked by a helicopter. Only Michaelson survives as Kimball sacrifices himself to protect her from an oncoming missile. Then, hundreds of bombs detonate in Genom City, killing over 10,000 people and shutting down 90% of Boomer production. Buzz is framed for the attacks, the reason being that he submitted a paper in college on a domino theory on how to exploit Megatokyo’s emergency power system to trigger a chain reaction explosion, which Sorime read. Sorime has Angel, Takahashi and Myers killed, and Branch HQ destroyed. Sometime later, Buzz confronts Sorime in his apartment, telling him video footage of the conspiracy will be revealed on the news. Sorime plans to kill him, knowing Buzz won't shoot back as he accidentally killed a young girl before and vowed to never use a gun again. However, Michaelson shows up and kills Sorime. Buzz then honors his fallen partners by taking Michaelson’s Glock 17 and shooting Sorime’s corpse four more times.
Reception
Critical reception of Parasite Dolls has been generally positive. Nicole MacLean of THEM Anime Reviews gave the series a rating of 3 out of 5 stars. She 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.[1]
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."[5]
