Extraordinary Machine - Fiona Apple

Karakuri Odette

Author: Julietta Suzuki
Volumes: 6
Publisher: Tokyopop

Brief Summary:
Odette is a robot, made by an incredibly brilliant professor. He's so brilliant, in fact, that Odette is human in almost every way. So human that she wants to go to high school like other girls her age (or at least the age she appears). Odette, though admittedly odd, makes some good friends, has fun adventures and has to avert some evil deeds plotted by mad robot scientists (not like her awesome professor).

Review:
Robot plots, especially in a genre with romance at the core, are not my favorite by any means. I read Chobits a couple of years ago, one of many manga by CLAMP. In that one, the robot relationships are by no means pure. The story wasn't bad exactly, but it was creepy as all get out. Karakuri Odette is not the same at all, thankfully.

Although a lot of time is spent discussing romance and in some ways most of the plot lines did resolve around it, there is actually very little romance in this manga series. Ultimately, friendship and what it means to be human are the central subjects. Odette constantly has to make requests of her maker for enhancements or changes, so that she can be more human and function better with others.

There are also some delightful comedic moments, generally caused by Odette, who is delightfully deadpan. She says and does the most outlandish things with a straight face. Her friendship with a delinquent also makes for amusing times.

I did not love this series, but there was something pleasant about it that made me keep reading to the end. The series definitely went downhill as it went along, though, culminating in an indecisive and lame conclusion.

"If there was a better way to go then it would find me
I can't help it, the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me, or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it,
I'm an extraordinary machine"