Ranked #764

Karakuri Odette (Manga)

I don't like overly praising anime/manga or authors unless I really love it/their work, but I have to say that Suzuki Julietta has become one of my favorite mangakas because of her amazing works.

Story: Robots and Andriods have been done before, but somehow Suzuki Julietta's is different and much more intriguing. Of course it's the life of a robot but somehow it's all exciting and you become very touched when you read about the characters, especially Odette herself. ~

Art: The art is simple but somehow its still very beautiful

i have read allot of robot themed manga, allot of shoujo manga, allot of fantasy monster race manga, and i have to say, this is one of if not the best i have read in those genres.

the art... is mediocre at best. its typical shoujo, and i despise that art style. there are a few instances where its not typical, but as i can only remember less than 5 pannles... i cant give it more. that said, the art wasn't offensively bad, such as, the proportions, and facial expressions weren't so out there that it ever took me out of the manga.

now character, for the main character, odette, she clearly evolves, and in all honesty, every robot manga i ever read, they either have the robot always as evolved as they are, or the levels of evolution are clear, down to the chapter they change. this one had the evolution blurred to the point its almost seamless. the only fault is, that if the characters weren't main characters, they had no real character growth, that's not to say they didn't grow, but odette's over shadows theirs so much that its hard to really call what the others did growing.

now the story, the whole time i am reading this, im expecting an evil scientist to kidnap odette reprogram her, and through the power of love and friendship, she regains her memories. this NEVER happens, thank GOD. there is a "evil" scientist, but realistically, he is a real scientist... its hard to explain... there are scientists who would become emotionally involved with their creations, which odette's creator is, and there are ones that take it realistic approach to their creations, and always want to better them even at the cost of sacrificing old ones for parts, which the "evil" one is. the whole way this plot is resolved i thought was the best way you could ever resolve it. its never really done before to my knowledge.

this next paragraph is a minor spoiler, so skip it if you don't want a fairly minor spoiler. the whole time that i was reading this, i was expecting the, emotional friendship with robot plot, the reveal that she is a robot plot, the body is destroyed and needs to be rebuilt and restarted from a backup, only to be emotion less, but than her friends come into the picture, and through friendship, she remembers. none of these plots EVER happened, you have no IDEA how big of a relief this is that it never happened.

over all i consider this a must read for anyone who is looking for an outsider wanting to fit in style of manga, as i don't believe any do it better than this (limited to within the same style and genre of story). read more