Near Mint Hero is peak!!!
Utterly gorgeous aesthetic, down to the littlest details. There's so many unnecessary loving flourishes, so much effort put in that listing them would nearly feel redundant. The ♡DOLLBOX/PACKAGING LABEL UI♡, omigosh omigosh! The cardboard cutouts! The sprites and framing!! Also love the music, where's it from?
The script is also excellent. Lovely characters with lots of points of inflection. Bat Guy is a businessman but not *altogether* disreputable. The store is brutal but filled with doll warmth, and sparkles with negative space worldbuilding. Casually dropping things like 'nrfb type' really makes a setting feel whole.
Molly IS SO COOL. My hero. Lady Hahli IS EVEN COOLER....... my heart stopped when she was like ~~~~~. And she's eerie in just the right way. The decision to have her be a MOC wearing a ☆STUDENT UNIFORM☆ rather than one of her existing models is an amazing touch that itself drives home what she is as an avatar. A feminine configuration in humanity's favorite color, which itself traces the theme behind these toys — who all essentially want to be WANTED, even the everclicking alien worldspanning creature. And are pragmatic enough to make business deals about it. But the ultimate solution is of course, becoming someone's doll. ♡
Serena is... complex in a fun puzzlebox way but also ultimately very simple. I very much liked her and what she became. Bernadette is HIGHLY CUTES, as is her paired NOBLE DOCTOR. And Vivi and the Empress are notable for the specific way they appear in the narrative. I loved all these characters.
I was helplessly shocked to see the care in how the creators did so many things. ♡ ♡ ♡