History Anime / ArmitageIII

** "Seconds" are have the appearance of {{Ridiculously Human Robot}}s - human enough to be used as [[{{Sexbot}} sexual partners]]. However they are non-sapient and do not act like humans. They were marketed to immigrants from Earth when a feminist movement came to power, resulting in a large number of unsatisfied Earth men.

In the distant future, Mars has been successfully colonized by humankind and their robotic helpmates. Its domed cities are comfortable and cosmopolitan, and its population sophisticated and prosperous enough to support tours by famous performers from Earth. But one such performer, a country-western singer, is assassinated by a mysterious assailant when she arrives at the Martian spaceport.

* AmbiguousRobots: Thirds are frequently said to be robots and we know they are artificially created but [[spoiler:they are capable of bearing children]] so who knows how you're suppossed to classify them.

** "Seconds" are {{Ridiculously Human Robot}}s - human enough to be used as [[{{Sexbot}} sexual partners]]. They were marketed to immigrants from Earth when a feminist movement came to power, resulting in a large number of unsatisfied Earth men.

** "Fourths", or "Alives" as [[spoiler:Doctor Asakura]] calls them, are mature OrganicTechnology, modeled after plants; an attempt to complete Mars' {{Terraforming}}, a project which has fallen by the wayside due to lack of funding and interest.

In North America, ''Armitage'' was one of Pioneer[=/=]Creator/{{Geneon}}'s first wave of imports in the early 1990s. Unlike most of the other shows in that noteworthy premiere, though, ''Armitage'' suffers from an uneven dub cast. In particular, Syllabus is quite wooden in English. To complicate matters, though, Pioneer [[CompilationMovie edited together the four OVA episodes into a feature-length "motion picture"]] called ''Armitage III: Polymatrix'' and then dubbed it a ''second'' time with "name" actors -- Keifer Sutherland as Syllabus and Elizabeth Berkeley as Armitage. Pioneer has also brought the sequel movie to North America, with yet a ''third'' dub cast, this one featuring Creator/JulietteLewis as Armitage.

A spoilerific note on the title: [[spoiler:The title is often read, incorrectly, as ''Armitage 3'', which might lead some viewers to wonder as to the whereabouts of the nonexistent "first two" Armitage [=OVAs=]. The title is correctly read as if it were the name of a person -- ''Armitage the Third'' -- which rather spoils the big reveal regarding Naomi's true nature. One imagines the creators might have selected the title intentionally, such that the viewer reads it differently before and after seeing the series.]]

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the DoubleStandard involved in LadyLand; Earth has become so strongly feminist that [[spoiler:a significant percentage of men have not only turned {{Robosexual}}, but [[SpaceCossacks emigrated to Mars]]. Earth thus wants the Thirds extinct - out of [[TallPoppySyndrome jealousy]] and [[PredatoryBusiness fear of being replaced]]]].

* LadyLand: On earth, the average human female is super-privileged, so few want to immigrate to Mars, which keeps the colony from establishing the population it needs to declare independence. [[spoiler:So Mars started building robots human enough to conceive children. When Earth finds this out, they pretty much declare TheWarOfEarthlyAggression - scrap the baby machines and we'll send some real women, or you can all die. This is the reason female androids are targeted for assassination; it's because they're not "real" women.]]

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the DoubleStandard involved in LadyLand; [[spoiler:A significant percentage of men have become so disgusted with feminists that they've not only turned {{Robosexual}}, but [[SpaceCossacks emigrated to Mars]]. Earth thus wants the Thirds extinct - out of [[TallPoppySyndrome jealousy]] and [[PredatoryBusiness fear of being replaced]]]].

* ProperLady / SpiritedYoungLady: The Third-types were all variations of this, [[spoiler:the better to [[HouseWife raise their children]]]].

** Every Second-type android is drawn in a traditional, big-eyed Anime style, with GenericCuteness: the faces of young girls and the figures of mature women; short arms and abdomens, long legs, rounded hips, thin waist, emphasized bust. This is a deliberate design decision InUniverse: Seconds are {{Sexbot}}s marketed to Earth immigrants; specifically Earth ''men'' so unsatisfied with its StrawFeminist government they've turned {{Robosexual}}. [[spoiler:This is a ''big'' giveaway that Armitage isn't human, as she stands out in a crowd even before one takes into account her {{Stripperiffic}} wardrobe]].

** Every Second-type android is drawn in a traditional, big-eyed Anime style, with GenericCuteness: the faces of young girls and the figures of mature women; short arms, long legs, rounded hips, thin waist, emphasized bust. This is a deliberate design decision InUniverse: Seconds are {{Sexbot}}s marketed to Earth immigrants; specifically Earth ''men'' so unsatisfied with its StrawFeminist government they've turned {{Robosexual}}. [[spoiler:This is a ''big'' giveaway that Armitage isn't human, as she stands out in a crowd even before one takes into account her {{Stripperiffic}} wardrobe]].

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the DoubleStandard involved in LadyLand; [[spoiler:A significant percentage of men have become so disgusted with feminists that they've not only turned {{Robosexual}}, but [[SpaceCossacks emigrated to Mars]]. Earth wants the Thirds dead out of [[TallPoppySyndrome jealousy]] and [[PredatoryBusiness fear of being replaced]]]].

** Every Second-type android is drawn in a traditional, big-eyed Anime style, with GenericCuteness: the faces of young girls and the figures of mature women; short arms, long legs, rounded hips, thin waist, emphasized bust. This is an InUniverse design decision: Seconds are {{Sexbot}}s marketed to Earth immigrants; specifically Earth ''men'' so unsatisfied with its StrawFeminist government they've turned {{Robosexual}}. [[spoiler:This is a ''big'' giveaway that Armitage isn't human, as she stands out in a crowd even before one takes into account her {{Stripperiffic}} wardrobee]].

** Every Second-type android is drawn in a traditional, big-eyed Anime style, with GenericCuteness: the faces of young girls and the figures of mature women; short arms, long legs, rounded hips, emphasized bust. This is an InUniverse design decision: Seconds are {{Sexbot}}s marketed to Earth immigrants; specifically Earth ''men'' so unsatisfied with its StrawFeminist government they've turned {{Robosexual}}. [[spoiler:This is a ''big'' giveaway that Armitage isn't human, as she stands out in a crowd even before one takes into account her {{Stripperiffic}} wardrobee]].

** Humans and Third-type androids are drawn {{Mukokuseki}}-style: visibly European facial features and have realistic proportions; arms, legs and torsos all roughly the same length, broad shoulders, slender hips. There's a deliberate effort to make humans forgettably un-attractive.

** Every Second-type android is drawn in a traditional, big-eyed Anime style, with GenericCuteness: the faces of young girls and the figures of mature women; short arms, long legs, rounded hips, emphasized bust. This is an InUniverse design decision: Seconds are {{Sexbot}}s marketed to Earth immigrants; specifically Earth ''men'' so unsatisfied with its StrawFeminist government they've turned {{Robosexual}}. [[spoiler:This is a ''big'' giveaway that Armitage isn't human, as she stands out in a crowd even before one takes into account her wardrobe and attitude]].

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the DoubleStandard involved in LadyLand; [[spoiler:Earth wants the Thirds exterminated because a significant percentage of men have become so disgusted with feminists that they've not only turned {{Robosexual}}, but [[SpaceCossacks emigrated to another planet]] - Earth wants the Thirds dead out of [[TallPoppySyndrome jealousy]] and [[PredatoryBusiness fear of being replaced]]]].

** Every Second-type android was designed and therefore drawn in a traditional, big-eyed Anime style, with GenericCuteness: the faces of young girls and the figures of mature women; short arms, long legs, rounded hips, emphasized bust. This is an InUniverse design decision: Seconds are {{Sexbot}}s marketed to Earth immigrants; specifically Earth ''men'' so unsatisfied with its StrawFeminist government they've turned {{Robosexual}}. [[spoiler:This is a ''big'' giveaway that Armitage isn't human, as she stands out in a crowd even before one takes into account her wardrobe and attitude]].

* Humans and Third-type androids are drawn {{Mukokuseki}}-style: visibly European facial features and have realistic proportions; arms, legs and torsos all roughly the same length, broad shoulders, slender hips. There's a deliberate effort to make humans forgettably un-attractive.
* Every Second-type android was designed and therefore drawn in a traditional, big-eyed Anime style, with GenericCuteness: the faces of young girls and the figures of mature women; short arms, long legs, rounded hips, emphasized bust. This is an InUniverse design decision: Seconds are {{Sexbot}}s marketed to Earth immigrants; specifically Earth ''men'' so unsatisfied with its StrawFeminist government they've turned {{Robosexual}}. [[spoiler:This is a ''big'' giveaway that Armitage isn't human, as she stands out in a crowd even before one takes into account her wardrobe and attitude]].

* AMechByAnyOtherName: There are andoids [[http://www.caldc.com/files/omake/armitageiii/art.html# androids]] ''everywhere'' on Mars, but they're rarely referred to as such; instead, they are numbered according to the generation of their development;

* NonstandardCharacterDesign: The Second-type androids, along with [[spoiler:Naomi and Julian]], are designed and drawn in a traditional, big-eyed Anime style. The humans, D'anclaude, and the Third-type androids are designed in a more realistic style (and with [[{{Mukokuseki}} more visibly European facial features]]).
* OneWomanArmy: Armitage.
* OnlineAlias: "Pluto". WordOfGod actually says that all the Thirds have aliases based on the names of the nine planets of the solar system ([[PlutoIsExpendable as they were considered back then]]).
* OnlyPointTwoPercentDifferent: The [[http://www.caldc.com/files/omake/armitageiii/art.html# different types of androids]] are numbered according to the order of their development;

** "Seconds" are {{Ridiculously Human Robot}}s - human enough to be used as [[{{Sexbot}} sexual partners]]. They were developed as an immigration draw as Earth simultaneously lost interest in space development and a feminist movement came to power; as a result, most immigrants from Earth are men unsatisfied with Earth women - why wait on {{Straw Feminist}}s hand-and-foot when one can come to Mars and ''buy'' a "woman" with [[GenericCuteness a mature body and the face of a teenage girl]]?

** "Seconds" are {{Ridiculously Human Robot}}s - human enough to be used as [[{{Sexbot}} sexual partners]]. They were developed as an immigration draw as Earth simultaneously lost interest in space development and a feminist movement came to power; as a result, most immigrants from Earth are men unsatisfied with Earth women.

** Ross does improve on this by Dual Matrix though especially in the last third.

* HumanMomNonhumanDad: [[spoiler:Inverted in Dual-Matrix.]]

* {{Shojo}}

* DeadlyUpgrade[=/=]SuperMode: In ''Dual Matrix'': "Heaven's Door." [[spoiler:[[ItGetsBetter She manages not to fully roast herself though.]]]]

''Armitage III'', as brief as it is, spawned a sequel movie called ''Dual Matrix''. It is somewhat less compelling, plotwise, than the original series, and a switch from traditional animation to computer-assisted methods resulted in some unappealing changes in character designs -- Armitage, for example, went from looking cute-sexy in a leather-Loli way to looking like a psychotic housewife (though in all fairness, she sort of was a psychotic housewife, and with good reason!)

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: "If humans don't want me, then why did they create me?" -- [[spoiler:Armitage]]

''Armitage III'', as brief as it is, spawned a sequel movie called ''Dual Matrix''. It is somewhat less compelling, plotwise, than the original series, and a switch from traditional animation to computer-assisted methods resulted in some unappealing changes in character designs -- Armitage, for example, went from looking cute-sexy in a leather-Loli way to looking like a psychotic housewife(though in all fairness, she sort of was a psychotic housewife, and with good reason!)

* {{Straw Feminist}}s: Earth's government. The {{backstory}} is only implied, but a key plot element is that feminists have become political powerhouses equivalent to Greens. It is implied by the presence of an Earth "observer" that on Earth, women have gained status equivalent to South African whites under apartheid - and few are willing to give that up just because MarsNeedsWomen. Space has been colonized, and Mars has been partially {{Terraform}}ed, but has thus been unable to draw enough women to the planet to breed new Martians. Androids first created as a source of labor were upgraded to {{Ridiculously Human Robot}}s known as "[[AMechByAnyOtherName Seconds]]" as a immigration draw; come to Mars and leave the shrews behind for a [[ExtremeDoormat sweet, willing]] [[MegaCorp conCeption]] {{Sexbot}}! The long term solution was to [[spoiler:''build'' fertile women - the titular "Thirds"; robots so human that they can be '''[[UterineReplicator impregnated]]''' -- and actually raise the children they give birth to. When the Straw Feminists find out about the plan, the threat to their power base pisses them off to no end, resulting in an ultimatum; scrap the baby makers or Mommy will come do it personally, [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression along with as much of the landscape as necessary]].]]