'The Russian War Dolls' (Japanese: ロシアの戦争人形, Hepburn: 'Roshia no Sensō Ningyō') is a 1998 musical anime short film directed by Susumu Takajima as part of the Anime Atrocities series. The short film was released on VidSpace on June 5, 1998. The film centers on Alice Margatroid trying to sing the Russian folk song Katyusha to wish a soldier good luck in the fight against Team Crimson, but an unidentified voice keeps interrupting the performance, leading to a skirmish around the entire theatre.
The Russian War Dolls went on to become the most popular episode in Anime Atrocities, with it getting over half a billion views on YouTube and VidSpace. The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, making this the first internet short film to win the award.
Plot[]
The film opens up with people filling the Minecraftia Opera House to wish a Minecraftian soldier farewell as he joins the Minecraftian Royal Defense Army to fight Team Crimson. Backstage before the ceremony, Marisa Kirisame and Alice Margatroid are preparing for their performance of the Russian folk song Katyusha. Marisa would be playing the piano part while Alice would provide the song's vocals. Meanwhile, south of Downtown Kozankyo, Reimu Hakurei is seen trying to flee an unidentified individual. Reimu makes it inside the Opera House, slamming the door so it could not be opened.
Marisa and Alice, both dressed in formal Victorian attire, begin the performance. Right after Alice finishes singing the first verse, Alice's dolls try to shut out the unidentified individual, who is trying to sneak on-stage but are run over unharmed with him throwing a ball at Alice. The individual interrupts the performance, where the individual introduces himself as "Fawful". Fawful then explains that he has "fury" over Team Crimson and attempts to wreak havoc in the Opera House, but Fawful is expelled from the stage from one of Alice's dolls which fires a small barrage at him.
Marisa and Alice start over again, but Fawful gets back on-stage and tries to steal Alice's voice, but his projectile hits Marisa and nearly knocks her out with her voice unaffected. With Marisa being unable to continue, she asks Lyrica Prismriver to take over and play the song. Lyrica starts the performance over by playing the song again, with Fawful getting back on stage. As a result, Alice grabs Fawful in a headlock, and while she is still singing, drags Fawful up the stairs to the headlight adjustment area and drops him from atop, causing him to land on his head and pass out.
At the end of the performance, Susumu Takajima appears right of the stage while the audience applauds, and holds up a sign saying "Good luck, soldier! Eh, what's next?"