I Dream Of Mimi (DVD)

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The DVD According to Eddie:
Back in 2001, The Right Stuf released a DVD with the title "Buttobi CPU: I Dream of Mimi". Now, in 2004, The Right Stuf is releasing "I Dream of Mimi". "I Dream of Mimi" is a re-mastered version of "Buttobi CPU: I Dream of Mimi". From what I can tell, the OVA (Original Video Animation) program was originally called "Buttobi CPU" in Japan but was given the "I Dream of Mimi" name for its American run.

Originally produced in 1997, the three-episode "Buttobi CPU" combines sex with the Japanese fascination with computers, resulting in a show about a female robot that occasionally dons an armor suit to fight evil in cyberspace. Every once in a while, these machines in female form require some form of male biological "input" in order to "recharge" them.

Akira, a bespectacled college student in Tokyo, stumbles upon a deal that nets him a super computer, a 2198 "Pixie" model. Now, here´s the tricky part--the computer needs constant "uploads" from Akira, and suffice it to say that these uploads are provided during intimate encounters. In the heat of the moment, Akira gives his computer a name, Mimi.

Mimi´s programming imprints her to act as a loyal companion to Akira, and she constantly pesters him to order her to do something. The usually shy Akira is often at a loss when it comes to dealing with his new acquisition. Despite her technological sophistication, Mimi is rather naive socially. She makes statements about "uploads" and "resetting her belly button", and it´s the best that Akira can do to prevent the other characters from finding out that his "cousin" is really quite something else.

There´s a subplot concerning Shimada, a girl at Akira´s school who has a crush on him. As "Buttobi CPU" did not enjoy longevity, the love triangle really doesn´t get anywhere...better developed is the cyber-battle Mimi and her fellow 2198-series computers/robots wage against a trio of American super-computer sisters.

The show makes fun of the PC wars. For example, the American super-computer sisters are known as the Nackintoshes, and they can beat the crap out of anybody. They even arrive on the scene accompanied by an "apple" logo! Heh. A lot of culture and trade war jokes are made, too. For example, the Nackintoshes talk about taking over the Japanese computer market. In real life, Japan is the second largest market for Apple computers (behind the US), and there is always talk about one side having better technology/work ethics, etc. than the other.

In keeping with the very adult sensibilities of the show, the lady robots often lose their clothing. It´s not that they´re immodest, it´s just that wearing clothes in cyberspace demands extra memory that is better used on weapons and the like. Moreover, sexual contact seems to facilitate the robots´ computer functions, such as transferring data, expanding memory, and combat capabilities.

The DVD According to Olen:
"I Dream of Mimi" is another technology-oriented anime series, and you know, this one really touched me. Thanks to this disc, I have a greater appreciation for computers and their sophisticated software. Take Microsoft Word, for example. It has an extensive, built-in thesaurus, which is good. I´m only a humble mechanical engineer, so I don´t know as many synonyms for "bad" as Word does.

The plot in "I Dream of Mimi" is awful. A lonely college student, Akira Ikanteremberu, really, really, really wants a computer. He´s worked for three summers and managed to save about $1,000. Man, I knew the economy was down in the late-1990s in Japan, but I didn´t think that it was that bad. Anyway, Akira goes to buy a new computer, but the store is all sold out. On the way home, he buys a computer off of a bum in an alley. What could go wrong?

Of course, the computer box contains a naked girl! She´s also a computer! I have NEVER seen another anime series with a beautiful girl that looks like a computer! All sarcasm aside, "I Dream of Mimi" is at least up front enough to just go ahead and require that Akira and Mimi have sex. No innuendo, no tap dancing, just the straight up prerequisite that, in order for Mimi to function properly, Akira must have sex with her often. That´s the only glimmer of uniqueness in this otherwise dreadful show. Like so many other such series in which a lonely guy is beset by beautiful women, for some inexplicable reason, Akira doesn´t want to give in. The way he screams and protests, you´d think Mimi was trying to kill him. At no point in my life have I been able to understand this reaction from guys in anime movies and TV shows.