Manga: Karakuri Odette (vol 1)
Creator: Julietta Suzuki
Publisher: Tokyopop
Age rating: T (Teen age 13+)
Genre: Comedy/Sci-Fi
May include: Mild violence, moderate gore,
moderate language and tobacco reference/use

Karakuri Odette is the story of a cute little android named Odette who wishes to experience the life of a normal teenager. She wants to learn more about what it’s like to be “human”.

To do so, she asks her eccentric creator, Professor Yoshizawa, if she can attend high school like any normal kid.  Since he doesn’t seem to be able to say no to his precious creation, he enrolls her in the local high school and that’s how Odette’s adventures start.

Her relationship with the professor is obvious right from the start; he fathers her as if she was his very own child. He made her look like any other human teenager, so it makes sense. As the story develops, she starts acting more and more like a real teenager.  She ends up making several friends and gets to overcome many obstacles.

When I started reading this manga I instantly started by shaking my head saying… “Oh my god, this is going to be like every other cheesy high school girl story I’ve read before; lots of drama and awkward high school moments…”. I really thought I was going to get bored of it after the first chapter. However, to my great surprise, I couldn’t put the book down!

What makes this manga so interesting?

The interactions and reactions of all the characters seem genuine and you can relate to them very easily. Oh, and maybe I should have mentioned this before… I’m obsessed about robots, so having the main protagonist be an android got me hooked.

The style of the author definitely gets you into the story and those cute little comments you can find from the author throughout the book are very entertaining.

So, in conclusion… if you love mangas, robots and don’t mind reading a story about the life of high school kids, you should definitely pick up a copy of Karakuri Odette.