Marie and Gali
Number of episodes: TBA
Production Studio: Toei Animation
Fansub Release Viewed: SFW
Likelihood of US Release: Low
Marika is a gothic lolita with a disinterest in science. One day she takes the train and ends up in a strange place named Galihabara, and meets the scientist Galileo, along with history’s other famous scientists.
Episode Summary
This Summary covers episodes 1 and 2
Marika, a spoiled rich girl, falls asleep on a train, and awakens to find herself on a strange island. Her plush toy, named Pet, comes to life and runs away, so she chases after it. She finds herself inside a tower which seems very familiar (it is, in fact, the Leaning Tower of Pisa), and meets a man who claims to be the scientist Galileo. The two of them use a rocket skateboard to chase Pet up the tower, and finally catch him. However, they have now burst through the side and are falling to the ground. Here the two learn a lesson about the effects of wind resistance on the rate of an object’s descent, as Galileo falls straight down like a rock, and Marika uses her parasol to float down and land softly.
Later, the two join Madame Curie for tea, and Marika learns that returning to her own home might be a problem, since the bridge she came in on has disappeared for the time being. During a tram ride around the town, Galileo points out some of the other famous residents of the island, called “Galihabara.” There’s the apple seller, Newton, the owner of the electricity store, Fleming, and the all-around artist and smart guy, DaVinci. Though Marika is sad that she might not get the chance to go home as soon as she had planned, she seems intrigued by all these new people she can meet.
Thoughts
I think I was sort of fooled by what I read during my research period on this show, because I expected a bit more science and a bit less slapstick comedy. Granted, five minutes an episode isn’t a whole lot to work with, and I suppose the creators might have wanted just a bit of world-building to take place before diving right into the more science-oriented bits, but I felt a bit unsatisfied. I would like to think that Galileo might be portrayed as more than just a buffoon, and that Madame Curie be more than just there to kick him in the head. But knowing how much Japan likes to mess around with the Christian religion in anime, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a tendency to mess around with historical figures as well.
The most notable thing about this show so far is its visual style, which is a bit more extremely stylized that most anime, almost to the point of looking a bit Western. Everything is richly-colored, and Galihabara almost looks like a renaissance period bustling town, complete with marketplace and stone buildings and the like. Marika is of course extremely cute, but with exaggerated features like large boots that almost seem more commonplace in Western cartoons (though her face and outfit are definitely more Japanese in appearance). The backgrounds are textured in a way that makes them seem like pages from a book, almost reminiscent of Astro Fighter Sunred.
I think that this could be a cute show if the little science lessons were more focused and there was less of an emphasis on wacky hijinks, but I have no idea what direction the show will go, or if even more than two episodes will be fansubbed. Still, this is yet another of those “fun in small doses” series that could serve as a palate cleanser in between more heavy fare. Not terrible by any means.
Pros
- Has a lot of visual style
Cons
- The science portions seem to be a bit lacking
