Among the notable Fall 2025 anime on Crunchyroll, one series has sparked controversy for all the wrong reasons. The anime adaptation of Mechanical Marie, a beloved romantic comedy manga by Aki Akimoto, premiered on October 5, 2025. Although the manga ended in 2023, fans eagerly awaited the anime, but the first episode left many disappointed.
The animation by studios Zero-G and Liber was basic and unremarkable, but what caught everyone’s attention was the use of high-quality still images interspersed throughout. While these illustrations were detailed and visually appealing, viewers quickly accused them of being AI-generated due to several noticeable oddities. Rumors about AI involvement spread rapidly across social media.
On his official X (formerly Twitter) account, creator Aki Akimoto credited artist Uta Mizuno and praised the image quality. In the art portfolio shared by Akimoto, many previous works by Uta feature a style strikingly similar to the still images causing debate in the anime. Although Akimoto did not directly address the AI allegations, the timely and specific post seemed far from coincidental.
Despite Akimoto’s intervention, the post failed to reach a wide audience, and the controversy over AI use continued to grow. The production studio has remained silent amid the accusations. The second episode aired on October 12, maintaining the same distinctive visual style that sparked the initial uproar.
Main Plot of Mechanical Marie
The story follows Arthur Louis Zetes, the wealthy heir of the Zetes corporation, who trusts no one around him. Having witnessed humanity’s darker side growing up and surviving multiple kidnappings and assassination attempts, Arthur believes people are driven solely by greed. He orders his butler to find a robot maid to serve in his mansion.
Since technology isn’t advanced enough to create fully lifelike robot maids, the butler hires Marie, a former martial arts prodigy with an almost expressionless face. She is employed to pose as a robot and protect Arthur.
Burdened by family debts, Marie accepts the high-paying job pretending to be a robot. At first, Arthur is suspicious, but he quickly becomes convinced she is a real robot after seeing her show no human emotions, even in dangerous situations.
This misunderstanding leads to many humorous moments in the mansion. Marie must handle threats surrounding Arthur while taking care of him. Gradually, Arthur, who usually keeps people at a distance, finds himself growing deeply fond of her.