The highly anticipated Fall 2025 anime lineup is already here, bringing another range of exciting series. One of the latest shows, Mechanical Marieis based on Aki Akimoto’s beloved romantic comedy manga. The story centers around Marie Evans, a former child prodigy in martial arts who is unable to express her emotions. Buried in a mountain of debt, she accepts the bizarre offer to pose as a robotic maid girl for Arthur Louis Zetes, the heir to the Zetes Corporation. As an illegitimate child and having faced several kidnapping and assassination attempts, Arthur is unable to trust anyone around him. So, when he asks for a robot maid, the butler tries his best to meet his demands, even if it means fooling him.
Unbeknownst to everyone around him, Arthur can’t help but dote on Marie, eventually melting her frozen heart. The manga debuted in 2020 and reached its conclusion in 2023, garnering a small but dedicated fanbase that expressed excitement over the anime’s debut. The first episode was released on October 5th as part of the Fall 2025 anime lineup and immediately sparked controversy for using AI in the episode. However, the manga creator slammed the allegations by crediting the artist.
Mechanical Marie’s AI Allegations Debunked by Manga Created
The anime debuted as a collaborative work between studios Zero-G and Liber, with above-average animation. The overall animation is pleasing to the eye, but it’s not groundbreaking compared to some of the industry’s big shots, such as MAPPA and Science SARU. However, the random usage of wonderfully drawn still images in between the debut episode caught the viewer’s attention. Those detailed images are inserted at random moments throughout the episode, creating a juxtaposition between the simple animation and intricate stills. It didn’t take long for viewers to conclude that these stills were AI-generated, and the anime’s debut started trending for all the wrong reasons. Many big Shojo accounts on social media began criticizing the animation studios for “lazy work.”
Some unofficial news accounts on X, such as @hty_manga, even refused to share new updates regarding the anime after believing the allegations. Artists such as @surprisedspace shared their analysis of the images to support the AI allegations. However, amid the fan outcry, the manga creator, @aaaakimotoa on X, credited the original artist, Mizuno Uta, and shared the portfolio. While Akimoto didn’t speak up about the allegations, her act of praising the artist and sharing the link was enough to dispel the rumors.
Unfortunately, since Akimoto doesn’t have enough visibility on X, a famous account, @MangaMoguraRE, passed along the information to resolve the issue. Despite all the efforts, the controversy has yet to die down because the visuals are alleged to have many inconsistencies that point toward the possibility of AI usage. The series is currently streaming on Crunchyroll in subbed versions. The anime will release new episodes every Sunday, although the episode count has yet to be unveiled. The manga isn’t digitally available on any official platforms, but you can buy the volumes on platforms such as Yen Press and Amazon.
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