Make a Girl

"Make a Girl" is a very original production; the sheer creative drive of Yasuda Genshou, who handled much of the film's production himself, marks an impressive debut for the independent animator.

The film tackle questions about artificial intelligence and the nature of consciousness. It sets up a compelling exploration of artificial life and the authenticity of emotions. The relationship between Akira and No. Zero is often touching and thought-provoking. 

Artistically, the film’s CGI animation is a standout feature. The visuals are detailed and dynamic, setting a new benchmark for independent 3D anime. While there are occasional moments where the models appear under-detailed or the frame rate ... drops, the overall visual presentation is impressive and appropriate for the film’s atmosphere. 

Unfortunately, there are some technical flaws. The tone shifts abruptly between lighthearted comedy and intense drama, which can be jarring and disrupt emotional investment. The plot sometimes feels underdeveloped, with significant events lacking proper buildup or realistic responses from the supporting cast. 

The ending is divisive. While it delivers an emotionally charged and visually impressive climax, it can be seen as abrupt or lacking sufficient narrative buildup. You can see it as a satisfying conclusion within the film’s scope, tying together the central themes of love and existence. However, some lack of narrative groundwork can make the resolution feel unearned. It is a matter of perception.

My personal evaluation:
Story/Premise: 7
Execution: 5
Art/Animation: 8
Soundtrack: 6
Ending: 6.5

Final score: 6.5

First review :)
I love your work, Genshou.

What happens when your Dr. Frankenstein-style mad scientist type makes himself a girlfriend? And he does so only because he thinks it’ll make him more efficient in his research? Yeah, some frustrating-ass rom-sci-fi shit. Let’s get into it.

*Won't get into major spoilers until towards the end of this review, and even then I kinda just dance around things aside from one major point. I will throw in another warning like this one before it, in case you're trying to avoid spoilers.*

First off, I like the characters. They’re well-designed, fit nicely into the story, and are given life by powerhouse voice actors who do an amazing ... job here. Few things though. The side character students who are MC’s friends: there are plenty of times where they have completely unrealistic reactions to the scenario of the scene they’re in. MC is unconscious in his lab? When he comes to, let’s get annoyed and ask him why he spaced out! Let’s also try to smack him while we do it. Wait, how did we even get here? Do we have clearance to his lab? How did we even know where he lived, or that he was in potential peril right at this instant?

Also the MC is a complete insufferable unfeeling NEET dickass for the first half of the movie. It isn’t until he has a certain revelation (which is ham-fisted and comes out of nowhere) that he starts to see that he was wrong with how he treats No.0.

The pacing is not good. A scene will happen, and then it feels like the next scene is completely unrelated or missing some sort of info. Or it feels rushed in the sense that a lot of things have progressed in an unreasonably short period of time. Stuff like that.

The animation is CGI and not terrible. It looks rough at times, especially during the chill slice of life scenes. But the action scenes are done quite well. Especially, there’s a certain hand-stabbing scene at the climax that was gruesome and AWESOME. But yeah, overall visuals are ok. Distracting at times, but you get used to it as the movie goes on.

*SPOILERS BELOW HERE*

Meat and potatoes time. The ending leaves a lot more questions than it gives answers. The villain is the villain because…they needed a good plot twist? It literally makes no sense why the villain is the villain and why they go about executing their villain-ing in the way they do. And the ending revelation about who No.0 really is…is weird as fuck? It also doesn’t make any sense. The MC created a girl to be his girlfriend, but it just turned out to be his mom? And he’s like totally ok with it?? Happy even? The movie even hints earlier about his mom being “a monster,” and then in no way explains or shows how she could be monstrous. She’s painted in a very positive light throughout the movie, except for that one bit?

All in all I think this movie just didn’t know what it wanted to be, thematically or plot-wise. It plays out like a feel-good slice of life for the first chunk, then leans heavily into sci-fi and drama, then finishes as an action/thriller, all the while trying to be a romance throughout. And it fails as a romance. Mostly because of the MC’s initial actions and the ending. There are nice romance scenes here and there, and No.0 is a really likable love interest who you really want to root for as a viewer. But then she turns out to be implied as a reincarnation of his mother at the end? And he created her anyway, so isn’t he technically her father? It just becomes this weird incestuous mess that doesn’t have a truly satisfying resolution, because you’re left confused as to what their relationship even is supposed to be at the very end.

Sorry for the rambling. I really did enjoy watching this, but boy does it have issues.


TLDR; Enjoyed it, but it’s very confused and thus confusing. CGI is rough at times but I didn’t find it too detracting. Bleh MC, good main girl, romance gets kinda muddied at the end based on plot decisions.

Bro created LIFE to see if he could get inspired to jailbreak his maid in order to overclock her. And then, it had been a long time since I'd seen a toxic relationship romanticized to this extent.

The film has a serious problem with the message it wants to convey. It's not an ambiguous intention, it's just an absurd lack of a conceptual focus.

The protagonist is unbearable, despicable, and stupid. The kid has an impressive messiah complex while being a fucking failure in life. It's an impressive combination, and it's even surprising how lenient the story is with his ending, after all the crap he's done.

Just ... when the plot seems to be falling into place (and the story starts to turn in favor of the poor robot girl), the thing simply decides to take the worst route possible.

And I'm not even going to get into the technical aspects. The CG animation is decent, considering the absolute state of the modern anime industry (it has its ups and downs), but the overall pacing completely ruins everything.

I was expecting something in the same vein of Eve no Jikan, and then I got, well... This.

I usually make a point of supporting the theatrical release of random anime films, but sometimes things get out of hand.