nathandouglasdavis

As I've read more manga, I've realized that art isn't much of a deciding factor for me. Obviously, good art can improve a story and bad art can bring a story down and when a story is mediocre, the art can make the difference between liking and disliking it. But even the best artwork won't make a worthless story worth...ful. And likewise, when I genuinely and thoroughly enjoy a story, it can have horrible artwork and it won't detract from the experience. The latter is the case with this manga. I really don't like the artwork. I suppose it could be worse, but I still didn't find much beauty in it. The characters often feel either sloppy or generic. Also, they sometimes will type text in between panels, but it's inconsistent in whether that text represents internal thoughts or spoken words. As such, it can be a bit confusing.

The story's like the classical type of tragedy, where death is prevalent and the body count rises as the climax approaches. It tells the story of Hogu, a cowardly boy either shunned or actively bullied by feir entire class, and feir new desk partner Chevrolet, a new type of robot on a trial run intended to be indistinguishable from humans. Hogu is assigned to watch over fem and note any malfunctions. But since this robot has no interest in bullying fem and no fear of being bullied femself, fe shows fem basic "human" decency. Albeit, emotionlessly. And Hogu soon finds femself relying on fem for support and companionship. Dramatic events ensue. The main theme is the question of whether Vrolet (as fe's called) is just a scrap of metal or if fe's a person. Hogu wants fem to be a person, despite all signs that fe's not.

I enjoyed the sense of humor sprinkled throughout (especially in the earlier chapters). The house robot. The grandma. The giant robot.