holy shit. that was amazing. i love how strangely human the android (im assuming all 3 of them are the same prototype mari-ko) felt in all 3 of these stories. its so eerie but also strangely endearing?? seeing mari mouse interact with ratna, and especially the ending where it feels like she shows just the slightest hint of humanity, a ghost in the sparkly shell, only to be unceremoniously "killed". it feels like ratna has so much scorn and appreciation for her. it feels like connection, like a genuine beginning to a sweet relationship, even if i know that the other "person" is essentially a cleverly created set of code.
i also really adore how these stories veered into straight-up psychological horror at times. shima and touma's story, and the way its framed in the artwork makes mari-ko feel like this fucked up, mechanical horror, yet touma's downright abusive treatment of her and shima gave me the disquieting feeling of watching a person being abused and manipulated into sex she never wanted, even as the text reinforces her artificiality and blank stare. it gives me the creeps. and in samart's story, with his obsessive, deluded abuse of himself, and his slips into pure, violent misogyny makes his story fully cross the line into psychological horror, instead of erotica. theres something about the explicit doll-like nature of marinette, the way she repeats platitudes at him, while still mimicking the motions of a real relationship with just enough accuracy to enter the uncanny valley, and his equally artificial "love" for her that has me watching the story like a slow-motion train crash. its creepy in all the right ways. i have a feeling that this one will only grow more haunting the longer i sit with it in my brain
beautifully written prose, and beautifully written moral dilemmas about the nature of robots, ai and love. awesome work!!!