From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dolls (観用少女, lit. Plant Dolls
?) is a collection of short manga stories by Yumiko
Kawahara. In the US, it is published by VIZ
Media. It was serialized in Nemurenu Yoru no Kimyou na
Hanashi ("Mysterious Stories for Sleepless Nights"), as stated
in volume 1 of the English version of Dolls.
Story
The stories revolve around some special dolls, the Plant
Dolls, and the people who buy them. The dolls choose their
owners, and desperately need their owners' love; they often reflect
their owners' personalities for better or worse. Each story is
independent of each other, though there may be references to
knowledge learned in previous stories. Some stories have a
fairy-tale like quality: they are eerie fables meant to warn
against certain actions. There are several non-Plant-Doll related
stories included in the Viz-released volumes as well.
Plant
Dolls
Plant Dolls are living dolls. They drink milk warmed to body
temperature three times a day, and take sugar cookies or cake once
a week. Each doll is unique, though the same "model" can be
available. They are "so expensive the price will make your eyeballs
pop out," and the accessories and care do not come cheap either.
Plant Dolls look like young girls, but given improper treatment,
they can mature. This is especially true if they are given anything
to eat or drink other than milk and cookies. When they cry, their
tears become valuable jewels called "Tears of Heaven". There are
two known models of Plant Dolls: potpourri dolls and singing dolls.
Potpourri dolls take perfume balls with their meals and soon a
pleasant scent can come from them. One of the earliest known
singing dolls was Olympia, but she was later deemed an irregular
model due to the fact that she wasn't nourished for over a week but
stayed the same way.
Volumes
Volume 1
- Milk at Mealtimes: A man spoils his Plant Doll, and it
matures into a "woman".
- Potpourri Doll: A mentally unbalanced man buys his
daughter a Plant Doll, and starts to obsess over the "nauseating
scent" coming from it.
- Snow White, Part I: A jeweller tries to obtain Tears
of Heaven from a Plant Doll named Snow White.
- Snow White, Part II: A poor man takes in a Plant Doll
and dies from the exhaustion of taking care of it. In the end the
doll cries.
- Rainy Moon: An artist with a supernatural reputation
does a portrait of a Plant Doll named Rainy Moon.
- Lucky Doll: A man's Plant Doll, named Otohime, grants
him good luck, yet his girlfriend is somewhat skeptical.
- The Distant Sound of Water: A man wanders the city
trying to regain his memory.
- A Spell to Unbind Spring: A man returns to a secluded
manor with a legend of a girl who drowned in a nearby lake.
Volume 2
- Blue Doll: A man working for a collection agency takes
in a Plant Doll left behind by former clients.
- The Garden in the Sky: A maid gets intangled in a plot
involving a fortune depending on the words spoken by a Plant
Doll.
- The Missing Doll: A woman tries to find the Plant Doll
once owned by her dead grandmother.
- Princess Jewel: When a boy's sister dies, his father
buys a Plant Doll to help his mother deal with it.
- The Role of an Angel: After getting divorced, a young
model buys a Plant Doll.
- Forbidden Fruit: Olympia is a special kind of Plant
Doll, one who sings. But there is a sinister secret about this
certain Plant Doll.
- A Voice in the Night: A woman wanders the city only to
stumble upon her corpse.
Volume 3
- The Garden of Arcadia: A young man who is mysteriously
transforming into a tree is taken to a research institute where he
is comforted by many plant dolls.
- Circle: A group pools their money together to buy a
plant doll, which they will all take care of. However, when most of
the members begin to see the joy in breaking the rules of plant
doll care, one member must take charge of her.
- Honeymoon: A young girl finds that her previously
adoring father has bought a doll that is identical to her in her
childhood.
- Dreams of Flying High in the Sky: A lonely novelist
buys a plant doll to impress his editor. When she leaves to marry
her sweetheart, he must raise the doll by himself. The problem is,
the doll doesn't respond to him and he has never taken care of
her!
- Emerald: A rich woman's young lover wishes to possess
a plant doll. As he yearns after the doll his mistress begins to
lose interest in him.
- The Storm: A young woman who is kept in a gilded cage
attempts to escape to live life to its fullest.
Volume 4
- Quicksand: When a sick young boy dreams of a beautiful
plant doll with aqua blue eyes, his parents are quick to purchase
her when he sees it in the shop. As the boy spends more time with
the doll his health begins to improve.
- A Gift: In the midst of refuse an angel waits to
awaken. When she is woken before her time, will she ever bloom into
a proper angel plant doll?
- Coral: A father brings home a mysterious ball of coral
with a tiny plant doll inside. As the doll spends more time in the
sun, the bigger she grows.
- The Tiara of Melancholy: A brother and sister team is
hired to grow the fabled Tiara of Melancholy for a rich man. What
they soon find out is that as the tiara grows it draws its energy
from the doll itself.
Trivia
External
links
Asahi
Sonarama
Viz Media
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