奥美蒂III

《奥美蒂III》及《多重矩阵》

2046年，地球的人口问题造成了火星的被殖民化——在“一类” 机器人的帮助下，人类开始能够将火星的不友好环境地球化并将圣洛厄尔市建成。殖民开始的七十年后城市建成，里面还居住着大量的人类和“一类”机器人的大幅改进版本——“二类”机器人。来自芝加哥的中年警察洛斯·塞里巴斯乘航天飞机来到圣洛厄尔。塞里巴斯之所以主动要转业到火星公安局是因为他要逃离他的过去以及那阴魂不散的记忆——他的上个搭档被机器人所杀。在圣洛厄尔空间港，他遇见了其新搭档——名为纳奥米·奥美蒂的年轻女子。
凯莉·麦克坎农——“宇宙间最后一位乡村歌手”与塞里巴斯乘坐的是同一架航天飞机。当航天飞机接近航站楼时，一个谜之男子进入了货物区；不久，入侵者被发现而警铃亦随之响起。
不久，当洛斯下了航天飞机时，他目睹了空港的骇人一幕。那男人和他所拖着的那个大行李箱以及他的两个警卫装上了他。那之后不久，奥美蒂命令男人们立即停下，举手投降。洛斯注意到几滴血从谜之男子的行李箱里渗了出来。之后两个机器人警卫由奥美蒂杀死，不过尽管谜之男子受伤了，但他还是跑掉了。然而，他把行李箱落在了机场——箱子里是凯莉·麦克坎农的尸体。令所有人吃惊且恐惧的是，麦克坎农事实上是台机器人：一种外表与普通人类完全相同的、新型的、之前从未被人所见到过的“三型”机器人。
后来，谜之男子侵入公共电视系统并重放了监控录像。录像展示了男子杀死凯莉·麦克坎农的过程并揭示了她是个机器人的事实。谜之男子勒内·丹克劳德透露，三型机器人很久以来一直表现得像是普通人一样，而没人能把它们和人类区分开来。他也发布了三型机器人的列表，该列表证明，许多名人事实上都是机器人。当人们开始了捕捉所有他们所能找到的三型机器人并将其付之于火后，城内的暴动也就随之而开始了。与此同时，勒内·丹克劳德继续猎杀三型机器人。而两位主角也开始了他们的调查，调查发现受害者均为女性。
其中一个受害者为了使它们从屠杀中被拯救，在死前给奥美蒂发出了条消息，里面有三分之一的“三型”机器人名单。奥美蒂收到消息之后便开始追踪丹克劳德。之后，奥美蒂是个三型机器人的事实被发现，而随着警察对她的追捕，她开始隐藏其行踪。在名叫朱利安·摩尔的三型男机器人的帮助下，洛斯找到了她。丹克劳德之后袭击了他们。
警察以丹克劳德的捕获为由、结束案件后，奥美蒂与朱利安在数据中心搜索有关其起源的信息。奥美蒂最终击败了丹克劳德，但那已太迟了，朱利安还是被杀了。她和洛斯闯入医院，发现丹克劳德已经康复，而二人则亦已成了罪犯。
不久，奥美蒂与洛斯去找寻奥美蒂的“父亲”——朝仓博士。但却发现其已失去理智，正如一个绅士的、被重编程版本的丹克劳德所解释的那样，生活在其所创造的“第四”妄想之中。他们了解到剩下的三分之二的三型机器人原本上是“杀手机器人（Assassinroids）”——具有有机成分的致命机器人，通过伪装成人类来渗透进安全施设。此计划目的是重构并增强火星居民的低出生率，计划其自身便是地球的强女性主义社会的男性移民鼓励及女性移民阻止之政策所催生的结果。然而，地球侧对三型机器人的发现激怒了其领导层，这使火星改变其计划；地球需要火星消灭三型机器人、而使其女性移民——若不遵守，则地球方将威胁开战。因此，“杀手机器人”计划被重激活来猎杀三型机器人，这些三型机器人自其被造出来后便以普通人类之身份生活于火星。
此事实令奥美蒂震惊且沮丧，这让她从洛斯那里寻求安慰。而洛斯在在肯定她作为生命的价值后完善了其关系。翌日，在朝仓博士使奥美蒂行为无效化之后，他在奥美蒂的机架上安装了天使羽翼及粒子炮。之后军队将朝仓和奥美蒂杀死，而洛斯最终干掉了军队。数月后，洛斯使用伪造ID返回火星，然而奥美蒂在洛斯·塞里巴斯到达前便甩了他。奥美蒂告诉洛斯说她已经怀上了洛斯的孩子。

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Dual-Matrix

It had been several years since the events of the previous OVA. Naomi Armitage and Ross Sylibus, now living under assumed identities, are living in St. Lowell on Mars, along with their daughter Yoko. Ross now works for a company seeking to restore oceans to Mars by using ice asteroids. However, a new effort to restore the Third project prompts Naomi to travel to Earth to figure out what is happening. Meanwhile, Ross saves a facility from a group of terrorists and is declared a Martian hero.
When Armitage arrives on Earth, she confronts Colonel Strings, hero of the First Error, which was a suppression of a robot uprising, which in reality, was to cover up the existence of the Thirds. But then he is shot by agents of an Earth Robotronics Corporation. Its vice president, Demetrio Mardini, asks Armitage to give the data on how Thirds can conceive so humanity can create a race of beings who exist to serve. She refuses so he resorts to force and unleashes a robot that scrambles her eyes. She manages to use her telepresence abilities to hack into its system and overload it. She then escapes but is damaged and is found by a repairer third named Mouse, who prides himself on his skill and frequently brags that he's a "genius". However, Mouse is also an informant to Demetrio and presents the data he found on Armitage; but he only got the recent data and Demetrio wants the conception data. Mouse claims that he did not know about the conception data, and also that if it existed it would be with what he gave him; but Demetrio refuses to believe either of these and tries to brutally force it with two clones of Armitage, who severely injure Mouse. He does not get anything and throws Mouse in the trash. Mouse swears revenge.
Back on Mars, prime minister Fredrick O'Hara sends Ross to Earth to represent the planet in the support of robot rights, promising amnesty from the charges against them. However, Demetrio's agents captured Yoko while Ross was away from the hotel, and is threatened that he will not see Yoko again if he votes for the Rights Bill. With a little reluctance, Ross remains neutral on the bill. Demetrio's agents, however, reveal that they were planning on killing Ross from the start, contrary to their deal. After a car chase, Armitage is able to save him at the very last moment. Together, they vow to rescue their daughter.
They storm Demetrio's compound; Armitage deals with Demetrio while Ross saves Yoko. The same robot Armitage encountered earlier had been upgraded to withstand her telepresence attack. Meanwhile, Ross manages to locate Yoko in a freezer. Elsewhere, Demetrio demands the secret in exchange for forgetting the damages they committed against him and his company. Armitage lures him closer, presumably to tell him what he wants to know; but she ends up kicking him in the crotch and telling him that Third conception is not simply data, it is about true love. With that she escapes again, forcing Demetrio to unleash the clones on her. She manages to evade the two and meets up with Ross and Yoko. Yoko is overjoyed to see her mother but recoils when she sees Armitage's metal shoulder that was scraped off by the clones. Just then, they attack. While Armitage holds them off, Ross and Yoko make their way to an unused space elevator. It is here that Yoko shows that she has a photographic memory, leading them to the space elevator whose location she determined from a map she saw minutes beforehand (Ross comments that she is "quite the little genius"). Soon, Armitage flees to Mouse, who repairs the damage and gives her a program that will allow her to go beyond her limited fighting abilities. He tells her that the password is "Heaven's Door"; but that if she exceeds more than her internal battery can handle, she will "be knocking at the Pearly Gates for real". She also has him do her one more favor: broadcast the footage of the Third massacre attempts all over Earth and Mars (upon seeing it himself, Mouse comments, "I think it's inhuman, and I'm a robot!"). This compels Demetrio to command the clones to prevent the family from leaving. After both clones are beaten, Demetrio tries having the elevator's defenses fired on their shuttle only to be killed by the last remaining clone, who is at the time controlled by what was left of Poly-Matrix's Julian Moore. Without Demetrio's authorization, the turrets do nothing. A hologram of Julian Moore then appears, wishing the family goodbye. The movie ends with the family enjoying a day at the beach on Mars, on Naomi's birthday.
In a post-credits scene, Mouse salvages one of the Armitage clones for himself.

Production

In the text notes on the English DVD edition of Poly-Matrix, Chiaki Konaka, the script writer, says that Armitage III was influenced by H.P. Lovecraft's  story The Dunwich Horror, one of Lovecraft's best known works and a key text in the Cthulhu Mythos; one of the main characters in the tale is a Dr. Armitage.

Release

Armitage III was originally released as a four-episode original video animation (OVA) in Japan between February 25, 1995, and November 25, 1995. Pioneer USA released an English-dubbed version of the OVA series in VHS & LaserDisc format in North America in four volumes, each containing a single episode, between March 29, 1995, and December 5, 1995.  The Region 1 DVD from Geneon of Poly-Matrix was one of the few releases from the company to feature THX-certified audio and video, and it was digitally remixed and remastered for superior picture quality and optimum audio presentation.

Reception

Helen McCarthy in 500 Essential Anime Movies claims that the image quality of Armitage III: Poly-Matrix "isn't up to big screen standards, though it still holds well on home screens". She praises the design and scripts, while saying that the "basic plot is simply a retelling of Pinocchio - the toy that wants to be real, or, in science fiction terms, the robot yearning for love and acceptance as a person, not just a product".