In 2046, the overpopulation of Earth has led to the colonization of Mars—with the aid of the “first type” androids, men were able to begin terraforming the unfriendly environment of Mars and build the city Saint Lowell. Some time after the start of colonization, the city is completed and inhabited by great numbers of people and “Second type” robots, much improved versions of the “First types”. Ross Sylibus, a middle-aged policeman from Chicago, flies to Saint Lowell using a space shuttle. Sylibus asked to be transferred to the Martian Police Department to escape from his past and haunting memories of his previous partner being killed by a robot. At the Saint Lowell’s space port he is to meet his new partner—a young woman named Naomi Armitage.
On the same shuttle as Sylibus travels Kelly McCanon—”the last country singer in the Universe”. As the shuttle nears the terminal, a mysterious man is seen entering the cargo section; soon after this, the intruder is noticed and the alarms go off.
Later, as Ross gets off the shuttle, he witnesses a disturbing scene at the airport. He bumps into the mysterious man with a big suitcase and two guards. Soon after that, Armitage orders the men to stop and get their hands up. Puzzled, Ross notices a few drops of blood spilling from the mysterious man’s suitcase. The two robot guards are killed by Armitage and the mysterious man is wounded, but flees. However, he leaves his suitcase behind—inside of which is the dead body of Kelly McCanon. To everybody’s surprise and horror, McCanon turns out to be a robot: a new, never-seen-before “Third type” android that is superficially identical to humans.
Later, the mysterious man hacks into the public television system and replays the security camera footage. The tape shows the man killing Kelly McCanon and reveals the fact of her being a robot to the entire city. The mysterious man, René D’anclaude, reveals that the Third types have been among the regular people for a long time and nobody can tell them apart from humans. He also reveals a list of Thirds—and it turns out that a lot of well-known people are actually robots. Riots begin in the city as people start to capture and burn all the Thirds they can find. Meanwhile, René D’anclaude proceeds with his extermination of the Thirds. The two main characters start their investigation and eventually realize that the victims are women.
One of the dying victims, Jessica Manning, sends out a message with the list of Thirds to save them from being slaughtered. Armitage receives it and pursues D’anclaude. Armitage is eventually revealed to be a third and goes into hiding as the police hunt for her. Ross seeks her out as she enlists the help of a male third named Julian Moore. D’anclaude then attacks them and is revealed to be a second.
While the police drop the case with D’anclaude’s supposed capture, Armitage and Julian search a databank for information on her origins. Armitage eventually defeats D’anclaude, but is too late to stop Julian from being killed. She and Ross break into the hospital D’anclaude was recovering in, branding themselves as criminals after the rescue.
Armitage and Ross later go off in search of her “father”, Dr. Asakura, only to learn he had lost his mind, as explained by a gentler, reprogrammed version of D’anclaude, living with delusions of creating “Fourths”. They learn that the Thirds were originally “assassinroids” – deadly robots with organic components, capable of infiltrating secure facilities by masquerading as humans. This project was re-purposed to bolster the low Martian birth rate, itself a result of Earth’s strongly feminist society encouraging the immigration of males and discouraging the immigration of females. However, Earth’s discovery of the Thirds incensed its leadership, forcing Mars to reverse its plans; Earth demanded that the Thirds be annihilated, offering female immigrants as a reward – and threatening war if not obeyed. The assassinroid program was thus re-activated to hunt and destroy the Thirds, which had vanished into the Martian population after their creation.
These revelations shock and dismay Armitage, leading her to seek comfort in Ross, who affirms her value as a living being before consummating their relationship. The next day, after Asakura deactivates Armitage so he can install angelical wings and particle cannons on her chassis, the military kills Asakura, and Armitage and Ross eventually finish off the military. Months later, Ross returns to Mars, using false IDs, however Armitage throws hers away after Ross Sylibus’ arrival. Armitage tells Ross that she is pregnant with their child.
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Directed by Hiroyuki Ochi
Produced by Hiroaki Inoue
Kazuaki Morijiri
Yasuo Hasegawa
Written by Chiaki J. Konaka
Music by Hiroyuki Namba
Studio AIC
Licensed by
AUS
Universal/Sony
NA
Funimation
Released February 25, 1995 – November 25, 1995
Runtime 28–47 minutes (each)
Episodes 4 (List of episodes)