Employed as a fish peddler and running a morning's catch, he is hit by a car driven by Mitsurugi Hanagata, an acquaintance, spoiling his merchandise and sparking a fight the two agree to take elsewhere.
He curiously explores the decrepit building, falling through a trapdoor and into a secret underground basement where he finds and awakens an encapsulated marionette.
The prologue of Saber Marionette J is set sometime into the 22nd century,[8] when Earth's population has grown to such a magnitude that humanity cannot feasibly continue without colonizing space.
The initial stages of the project make a promising effort of moving civilization into orbit, however it is during travel to a planet name Terra II that a transport vessel, the Mesopotamia, experiences a catastrophic fate, destroying all but a lone escape pod of people who plunge to the surface below.
Marooned and without communication, the men turn to genetic engineering as a method to produce clones of themselves, enough to populate the planet and sustain habitation.
An effort to substitute this absence is made with the manufacture of feminine androids name marionettes; creations that, while they serve their purpose, operate without sapience, emotion, or free will.
Japoness is a reminiscence of feudal Japan,[9] Galtland portrays the totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany,[9] Peterburg is structured after Soviet Russia,[10] New Texas is representative of the modern United States,[10] Xi'an paints the image of Imperial China[10] and Romana takes after the Roman Empire.
Besides the show's botanic, animal and historic references, as well as its generally comedic overtones, Saber Marionette J briefly explores deeper motifs as well.
One such motif, outspoken by Mitsurugi, is the discriminatory notion that marionettes are of no importance to humans beyond their menial labor, and should be disenfranchised to the affection or privileges of people.
Megumi Hayashibara and Maggie Blue O'Hara), a wildly effervescent girl with a knack for mischief; Cherry (チェリー, Cherī, v.b.
Yuri Shiratori and Erin Fitzgerald and Nicole Oliver), the gentle and soft-spoken mind with gifted culinary skills; and Bloodberry (ブラッドベリー, Buraddoberī, v.b.
Warranted by their unique ability to show mood and temperament, it is explained that each of the girls possess a heart-like technology, known as a maiden circuit, that empowers them with emotion.
Takehito Koyasu and Samuel Vincent), the effeminate gay acquaintance who has a crush on Otaru and whose reckless driving more or less sets the premise of the show, also bands together with the group on their travels and as their neighbor when his mansion is burned down.
Hikaru Midorikawa and Paul Dobson), the megalomaniac dictator of Gartlant who campaigns to conquer his neighboring sovereigns in order to control all of Terra II.
Like Otaru, Faust is supported by his own trio of marionettes, collectively known as the Saber Dolls, who are structurally villainous counterparts to Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry: Tiger (ティーゲル, Tīgeru, v.b.
The first, released direct to commercial disc, was published from January 24 to May 22, 1995 as a four-disc set by King Records under their StarChild label, each containing 4 tracks with additional bonuses.