In volume 2 of the shōjo title Karakuri Odette, Chris, the assassin android from volume 1, re-enters as Odette's “cousin.” We begin to see how he progresses and how his behavior develops differently from Odette's. Meanwhile, Odette continues to experience new emotions (or not in some cases) which continue to cause problems. As if that weren't enough, the company that sent Chris out to blow up the professor has come back to retrieve him.

The introduction of Chris as Odette's “cousin” in this volume 2 opens up a lot more than just seeing things we've already explored with Odette as an android who adjusts to human life. While there are repeats, such as Chris eventually wanting to go to school, Chris has different levels of human emotion, experience and response. Some things, like making choices based purely on like and dislike, he has trouble with,  whereas Odette never had much of a problem with that; on the other hand, he seems to have grasped the difference between what is tasty compared to what just looks good whereas Odette still must learn (although neither know what taste is).

Highlight:
Julietta Suzuki gives us not only an idea of what an android-human relationship might be like— something that is popularized in many sci-fi works—but also an android-android relationship as Chris and Odette live with each other. This type of relationship is less often explored and it is interesting to see Suzuki's interpretation and the comical incidents that come about because of it. One of the best examples of both is Odette's reaction when Chris finally finds something (or rather someone) he does not like, Asao Kurose, whom Odette appears to really like (although she doesn't realize just how much), After yelling at him about not making any decisions while playing a game, Chris finally says he doesn't like Asao. Instead of scolding either one or trying to calm them down, she becomes ecstatic about Chris's declaration that he has finally made such a choice and found something he didn't like. This reaction completely disarms the dramatic tension in the scene.

Overview:
Odette, and now Chris, continue to learn to act more human as the story goes along. Asao quickly learns about Chris's secret as well. I am a bit amused though as to how no one other than Asao realizes that Chris or Odette are androids as several times they've mentioned small slip-ups in public around other classmates. Nothing major, but several incidents of minor items like talking about charging or spare batteries. Hopefully this is not poor writing, but instead some clever use of clues early on about more drastic events later on that Suzuki has left us; only time will tell.

Suzuki's artwork continues to improve with this volume. She does a great job at making all of the characters distinctive in their looks in spite of the black-and-white format. She also is great at giving personalities to each character. Chris is almost immediately distinctive with his almost always half-open eyes while Odette is the opposite with her eyes usually wide open. For Asao, who also usually has his eyes half-open, Suzuki uses something to indicate displeasure whereas Chris has a kind of distant stare. Finally somone like Yoko Morino has her dark hair and pigtails and probably has the widest range of emotions so far in the Karakuri Odette.

Karakuri Odette volume 2 continues to be just as good as the last. Suzuki manages to introduce another major android character and go through some of the same stuff as volume 1 without it feeling like rehashed material. This is definitely a great science-fiction slice-of-life manga series.

ComicsOnline gives Karakuri Odette volume 2 3.5 out of 5 android “cousins”.

Order Karakuri Odette volume 2 now!