Doll (manga)

Doll
The English-language cover of the first Doll volume as published by Tokyopop in North America on August 10, 2004
ドｰル (Dōru)
Genre	Science fiction
Manga
Written by	Mitsukazu Mihara
Published by	Shodensha
English publisher	NA Tokyopop (former) UK Tokyopop
Demographic	Josei
Magazine	Feel Young
Original run	1998 – 2002
Volumes	6 (List of volumes)

Doll (Japanese: ドｰル, Hepburn: Dōru^?) is a science fiction josei (targeted towards women) manga by Mitsukazu Mihara. Appearing as a serial in the Japanese manga magazine Feel Young from 1998 to 2002, the thirty-three chapters of Doll were collected into six bound volumes by Shodensha and published from August 2000 to August 2002. Taking place in the future, the plot focuses on relationships between people and the eponymous androids; the series has an overarching plot that follows an illegal reprogrammer of Dolls and his revenge against the corporation which creates them. One of the characters, the corporation that manufactors the Dolls, and the concept of the Dolls appeared earlier in Mihara's short manga "The Sunflower Quality Of An Integrated Circuit" (集積回路のヒマワリ^?) (1995), later collected in IC in a Sunflower (1997).

In 2003, Tokyopop licensed the series for an English-language translations in North America and the United Kingdom, publishing the series from August 2004 to October 2005. The series has received several positive reviews from English-language critics, and the first volume placed in ICv2's list of the top 100 best-selling graphic novels for July 2004. In 2011, Tokyopop's North American branch stopped publication and returned its manga licenses.

Set in the future, Doll centers around relationships between humans and the eponymous androids—created by Kaoru and Motohiko Kirishima and manufactured by SG Corporation. During the development of the "Sterol-2" Doll, Kaoru's mental condition begins to deteriorate; after attempting to retain a copy of her mind and memories in a prototype of a Doll, Motohiko realizes his mistake of trying to replace his wife. Retiring from the corporation to care for her, he leaves behind eight other prototypes, which are seen throughout the series: a nameless male Doll, who was the constant companion for a woman and cremated with her by her greedy stepson; Chocolat, a maid who was discovered in a trash heap by an elderly farming community; Honey, a secretary loyal to the SG Corporation president; Cherry, the maid to an award-winning, bulimic writer; Vanilla, a maid to an elderly man and his unfaithful, younger wife; the sexaroid Veronica, one of two Dolls built for sexual intercourse, and her unnamed partner; and S, who hunts down illegally reprogrammed Dolls for SG Corporation.