Artificial Human - Television Tropes & Idioms

And intelligence. You couldn't make that either.

Ranging from "biological robot" to "cyborg" to "clone". Anime sometimes uses the term "android" in a way different than the West. Ironically, this is closer to the original meaning, which according to the dictionary, is "An automaton that is created from biological materials and resembles a human" (Often in these cases, the term "Bioroid" may be used to classify them separately from the contemporary definition of Android).

The important thing is Artificial Humans look like humans, they move like them, etc. Some may be bullet proof, but you wouldn't be able to tell from touch. Sometimes the only physical indicator is eye-color, which may be red, yellow or purple, or an unusual skin/hair pigment. Not always, though, and given the range of eye and hair color in anime, it's not a perfect indicator.

Artificial Humans often have cognitive traits typical of a robot, such as mathematical skill and a perfect memory on the positive side, and uncreativity and excessive literal-mindedness on the negative side. Many of them also have the same kind of loyalty to their creators that robots tend to be programmed for — although AI Is A Crapshoot in the case of the Artificial Human just as it is when it comes to the electronic version of artificial intelligence.

But many of them have more in common with humans emotionally than robots. They are often outsiders, so their emotional states are often in the "angst" category, which leads to bonding with the kind-hearted hero(ine) or Kill All Humans. If in a society that fully accepts them, there is usually no emotional difference.

Like robots outside anime, it doesn't matter what they're created for, they'll usually have increased strength, speed, and other powers. See Super Powered Robot Meter Maids.

Notice that the very first "robots" in fiction, the eponymous "robots" from Karol Capek's R.U.R., were actually Artificial Humans and not the clanking metal humanoids we now associate with that term.

Like most robotic characters, Artificial Humans tend to Become A Real Boy over the course of the plot.

See also Robot Girl and Spaceship Girl. Technically a Virtual Ghost is also an Artificial Human, but they are rarely treated the same. Compare Ridiculously Human Robot.

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Examples

Anime and Manga

It is harder to find people who weren't artificially created in the Blame! 'verse.
Some types of "androids" such as Mahoro from Mahoromatic or Ifurita from El Hazard The Magnificent World seem rather biological in nature.
Dragon Ball Z had Cell, who couldn't be called a human by any means, was a manufactured organism engineered by Dr. Gero by taking genes from each of the Z fighters.
Bakuretsu Tenshi: Jo and Marion were designed by the rival syndicate to be the "ultimate battle angels".
Key The Metal Idol claimed to be an android, although her exact nature isn't revealed until much later.
Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo was grown from a test-tube by Washuu.
- As is OVA Kagato being he was the hermaphrodite clone of Naja Akara, Washuu's best friend, that took over a Ryoko prototype and split off his female half.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Rei Ayanami was a human/angel clone.
- Also, the Evangelions qualify at some level, as they have biological bodies similar to huge human organisms (actually copied from Adam, but Angels/Apostles in Evangelion are basically what humans would be if they rejected their "humanity"), a human soul, and are literally called "jinzouningen", meaning "artificial humans".
The homunculi from Full Metal Alchemist.
- Also, the Philosopher's Stone-infused dummies from the manga. Although, since they contain Philosopher's Stones, they might technically count as a type of homunculus anyway.
Fate Testarossa, the Wolkenritter, Erio Mondial, the members of the Numbers (including Subaru and Ginga) and all familiars from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Notable in that they're all three kinds; clones, living programs, and cyborgs.
Yuki in Suzumiya Haruhi fits here, though what exactly she is is obscured by her Techno Babble explanation. As do Ryouko Asakura and Kimidori Emiri.
- In the 9th novel, yet another Artificial Human — one in direct opposition to Yuki — is introduced in the form of Kuyou Suou.
Annapuma and Unipuma from Dominion Tank Police are called androids. However, Uni is the original, and Anna was actually cloned from her, suggesting a biological origin.
The Sexaroids of Bubblegum Crisis were a rather distinct homage to the replicants of Blade Runner, complete with a "what is human?" Aesop for Priss, who notably hated Boomers before meeting Sylvie.
Although the Bioroids in Appleseed are nearly indistinguishable from humans, Cyborgs look more like Humongous Mecha.
Lain Iwakura in Serial Experiments Lain was created to hold a piece of software in her neural system.
- More accurately she is a piece of software that had a body built around it. Or, well, that's not quite true either. It seems that she's something that has been in the Wired since its birth, and possibly existed before it in some other form. Her human body is artificial, though.
  - Or possibly she's just the collective soul/memory/(un)conscious of mankind. Or she could be god. Given that this is Serial Experiments Lain, it's difficult/impossible to tell.
The main character and several members of the supporting case of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou are androids who are oddly biological in some ways (they must eat and sleep and are basically human in personality) and definitely mechanical in others (getting struck by lightning doesn't seriously hurt Alpha, just requires that her skin be re-coated). The rather leisurely plot of the series spends a lot of time focusing on the nature of these androids.
Melfina from Outlaw Star is a "bio-android", and also the Spaceship Girl for the titular ship.
Trigun has Vash, Knives, Tessla, Chronica, Domina, and all the other plants. With dramatic consequences.
The "Humaritt" Lila from Najica Blitz Tactics is created in a laboratory and possesses superhuman abilities. Her responses are often rather robotic at first, but she gets better.
The Arume in Blue Drop create synthetic children that are seemingly their exact copies - aside from the tendency to explode. Originally used to battle the earth forces, they are later applied to fend off the remnants of the Arume's rather nasty biological weaponry.
This is what Mewtwo was supposed to be in the first Pokemon movie. Not that it actually worked...
- Mewtwo was never intended to be human. The girl grown in the tube next to him, though...
Edel from Princess Tutu was created by Drosselmeyer to influence the path of the story. She's typically called a puppet, probably in reference to the ballets Nutcracker and Coppelia, but although she's strange none of the characters seem to realize this until The Reveal. Uzura, who was made from the wooden remains of Edel, also counts.
In Gundam 00, it is heavily hinted that the Innovators, along with Tieria Erde and Nena Trinity may be like this due to their innate ability to interact with the supercomputer VEDA.
- Hinted no more in Season 2.
Touko of Kara No Kyoukai created a number of perfect copies of herself (physically and mentally) using her skill as a dollmaker. She uses them as backup copies of herself, in the sense of "it doesn't matter if I die because my other bodies will live on and do what I would've done." She doesn't seem to care which one is the original or whether its still alive.
Twice in Hell Teacher Nube:
- One morning, Hiroshi wakes up to find himself naked and miniaturized to the size of a mouse. When he gets Kyoko to help and she takes him back to school, he meets himself! Turns out the class decided to experiment with homunculi using the real Hiroshi as a sample, but the tiny result ended up inheriting the original's memories and personality. In the end, Kyoko takes pity on the devastated mini-Hiroshi and creates a homunculus of her own. The two of them go off into the wilderness to make a life for themselves.
- Away on an expedition, Nube is caught in a landslide and ends up trapped underground. After several days, realizing no one is coming to rescue him, and slowly going insane from lack of human contact, he breaks the ultimate taboo: he gathers human remains found in the cave, and enchants them back to life —creating a golem-like girl who likewise latches onto him. It doesn't end well, and is a surprisingly somber plot in an otherwise comedy manga.
Ennis from Baccano! is a homunculus created from the cells of the Big Bad Szilard and an unspecified, unwilling female donor. The Light Novels introduce more homunculi, most notably Psychopathic Manchild Christopher Shouldered.
Harukanaru Toki no Naka de's local onmyoji Abe no Yasuaki was created by his teacher Abe no Seimei. The consequences of this (specifically, his initial lack of human emotions) eventually lead to some troubles in the anime, but hey, that's what the main heroine is here for...
In Mahou Sensei Negima, current Big Bad Fate Averruncus appears to be an Artificial Human. Evangeline (the "Doll Master") claimed that he moved like a construct, and Fate himself has claimed that he was "made". Not to mention that his real name is Tertium, Latin for "The Third." His partners might also be artificial.
- In regard to the partners, at least a few of them have magical race characteristics (horns, etc.) and are probably real people.
In the world of Eve No Jikan, all androids must have a holographic halo otherwise they'd be indistinguishable from humans the lone exception is a bodyguard; the titular coffeehouse is the only place where they can turn it off and "relax". Oh, and they're Three Laws compliant.
This troper is surprised that Ghost in the Shell isn't already on here.

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Video Games

The Realians from the Xenosaga TV and game series. In addition, Ziggy is a Cyborg relic from the past.
- Additionally, KOS-MOS and particularly Telos, since she was built from the preserved body of Mary. Yes, that Mary.
In both the Xenogears and Mega Man Legends video games, the heroes find out that the species on the planet are not humans. Humans died out long ago, and what's left evolved from the biological parts of their technology.
- In Xenogears, Ramsus Kahran is a clone of Emperor Cain. And he has some issues with it....
In Super Robot Wars: Original Generation, Lamia Loveless is a cyborg who is apparently half and half. Her brain contains several computers, and parts of her limbs, sometimes entire limbs, are mechanical. She was made to infiltrate military organizations, so she acted fairly normal, if overly polite. She also has some form of super strength and durability, but it isn't particularly important.
- There are three more Artificial Humans in the R series, and subsequently got carried over to Original Generation Gaiden: Duminuss' children Despoiniz, Lalia and Tiz. The three are homunculus, artificially created human, used as her minions. Though one has a Heel Face Turn only in OG Gaiden.
- Also, the Machinery Children in Alpha Gaiden and the Database in W''
In Wild ARMs (original and ACF version), the protagonist Rudy is an android/artificial human made from technology similar to that of the Metal Demons. He is a "Holmcross", given the alchemy refs, is clearly a transliteration for "Homunculus".
- The other games had their share of Artificial Humans too. Wild ARMs 3 had Jet, who was similar to the first game's example, only he was created to test the theory of Filgaia as a lifeform, and Wild ARMs 2 and 4 had Cyborgs in the characters of Kanon and Balgaine.
The Sephiroth Clones and, to some extent, Cloud from Final Fantasy VII. (The word "clone" is used differently here.)
Rubedo, Albedo, Nigredo, and Citrine from the Xenosaga videogame series are all variant clones of their creator, Dr. Dmitri Yuriev. There were others created that collectively formed a sort of "hive mind", but they were all destroyed during the Miltia Incident.
In Prof. Layton and the Curious Village, Prof. Layton reveals that all of St. Mystere citizens are robots programed to give puzzles to find a guardian for Floria, the baron's late daughter.
Bryan Fury in Tekken. One Badass crazy cyborg at that!
Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, Solidus, and the Genome soldiers in Metal Gear Solid and its sequels are clones of Big Boss.
Several characters from the Einzbern family in Fate Stay Night and Fate Zero are homunculi created through magecraft.
- Also in the Nasuverse, Aozaki Touko from Kara No Kyoukai is Nigh Invulnerable because of this. Whenever her current "container" dies, a prepared backup is activated.
- Arcueid in Tsukihime is an artificial ~~human~~ True Ancestor, created for the purpose of killing Demon Lords and Dead Apostles. She doesn't get all angsty because she doesn't seem to possess that emotion.
- Finally, also in Fate Stay Night's Heaven's Feel scenario, Shirou is reduced to this in the True ending.
In Super Mario RPG, the creature Belome was capable of making clones of your party in your second encounter with him.
Kalas and his brother in Baten Kaitos.
A.B.A. in Guilty Gear, a homunculus.
In Haunting Ground, The first three antagonists (Debilitas, Daniella and Riccardo, and even Fiona's father are all Artificial Humans created by the Big Bad. The latter two are his Clones.

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Western Animation

Some Transformers late in the original line made use of Pretender technology, which involved fleshy outer shells. Those with human shells, therefore, could shrink down and blend in with humans. This skips the Become A Real Boy step, though, as Transformers are Mechanical Lifeforms, and thus start off sentient and sapient.
- There's also the characters in Beast Wars, who took the Pretender technology one step further to become Hollywood Cyborgs. Even before the line between "tech" and "organic" became blurred in the series, the creators emphasized that the robots' pseudo-organic "beast modes" were "fully functional"... take that as you will.
- Don't forget that in Transformers: Animated, Sari turned out to a be a robot created by Dr. Sumdac, instead of a human as originally thought, which explains a lot.
- Not eaxactly. Really, it turns out that she was a protoform, which is what a Transformer is before it has scanned anything for the first time. She scanned Isaac Sumdac, basically making him her Dad.
Synergy of Jem is a super-computer type of this.
Cobra "synthoids" in GI Joe could perfectly mimic real people and were key to several episodes where a Faked Rip Van Winkle or Body Snatcher plot was in effect. They were apparently organic in nature, being constructed of a grey goopy matter called "Pseudoplasm" which they would terrifyingly revert back into by melting if killed or self-destructed.
- The Synthoid technology was also put into use in an episode of Transformers, in which Rodimus Prime, Arcee and Ultra Magnus had their minds transfered into synthetic human bodies. Luckily for the Moral Guardians, these came with automatic underwear.
There are three examples of this in Code Lyoko:
- Aelita was thought to be one of these (specifically, an AI) for two seasons, until it was revealed that she was, in fact, human, not to mention the daughter of the supercomputer's creator.
- XANA uses "Specters" in his attacks all the time, whether polymorphic (shape-shifting) or not. They are easily synthesized using the supercomputer, and usually look like one of the heroes or someone close to them. They're generally mindless, and can be used to coerce, trick, or attack the heroes.
- A version of these clones can also be utilized by the heroes themselves. So far, two have been cloned this way: Jérémie, the nerd, and William, the jock. Both were used as stand-ins — Jérémie's took his place for a day while he worked on several programs; William's took his place for several months while the real one was trapped in Lyoko. Unfortunately, while these clones were pretty much benign and harmless (unless possessed by XANA, which both have been), they have drastically different personalities than their originals: Jérémie's clone is a bold womanizer, while William's clone is profoundly naïve and stupid.
Eric in Kim Possible is such a realistic drone that everyone expects him to be human until the Robotic Reveal. And he is killed by a bite from a rodent....
The Powerpuff Girls were created by Professor Utonium with "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice" mixed into a vat; when he accidentally spilled in ~~a can of Whoopass~~ Chemical X.