Clockwork Planet Vol. 6 (Manga Review)
By: I.Am.No.ManMissed my previous reviews? Find Vol. 5 review here!
Recap
Naoto slowly regains consciousness. The last thing he remembers is a loud explosion ripping through the building. As he slowly sits up he sees the bulding, sheathed in darkness, in utter ruins. Marie sits quietly in a corner, shaking and crying. He asks her what happened and, in a trance, she tells Naoto that an electromagnetic blast from the superweapon has completely destroyed Grid Akihabara. “Nothing works anymore!”, she cries as Naoto realizes they are trapped in the building. Suddenly, he sees the silent corpses of Halter, RyuZU and AnchoR.
In a panic, he rushes to try and fix RyuZU but burns his hands on her molten core. Marie explains, RyuZU’s body is trying to repair itself from the electromagnetic pulse, but her gears can’t handle the heat and she has begun to melt. AnchoR begins to stir, and slowly sits up, asking what happened. Marie determines that AnchoR’s special perpetual gear protected her body from the heat and she was able to repair herself. Naoto and Marie find a way to escape from the building and head to a safehouse that Marie used in her days as a Meister.
At Marie’s safehouse, an abandoned android stripper storeroom, Marie is able to upload the Cyborg-head’s consciousness into a stripper’s body. Vermouth, the cyborg-now-stripper, tells Marie of the Government’s plan to build this superweapon and that someone in the Government must be trying to overthrow the current leader and take control. Marie, at a loss, freezes up and doesn’t know what to do. She has no way to repair her sidekick Halter or the half-melted RyuZU, and feels vulnerable and helpless to fight against the powerful Government. Naoto suggests that they take a moment to get out of the situation and go for a shopping trip to clear their minds. Marie unwillingly plays along and they disguise themselves. Naoto, disguised as a young high-school girl, takes AnchoR to a variety of toy shops and candy stores, and buys her a teddy bear to help her feel safe.
Marie feels angry and betrayed that Naoto is seemingly so carefree about the whole situation and confronts him. It’s only when he collapses in pain that she realizes he is hurting and his ears are out of control without his special noise cancelling headphones he always wears. He vows to not get a new pair of headphones until he can successfully think of a way to save Grid Akihabara and get it functional again. Inspired by Naoto’s resolve she returns to the safehouse and furiously begins to repair RyuZU.
The story shifts focus to the central Palace control center Ama No Mihashira. The princess Hoshinomiya asks her companion for any news on Marie. Her companion says there is no news but she must be the person responsible for the terror attacks on Grid Akihabara. The princess’ military attaché begs for her support in attacking the superweapon in Akihabara, but she declines, thinking to herself that Marie will come to save the day. The military decides to go forward with an attack on the superweapon anyway and just as they are about to launch their attack, their forces are inexplicably torn apart in a split second. Standing there in the rubble, RyuZU stands triumphant.
Review
This volume is a bit of a denouement from the fast paced, high energy action the previous five volumes built up. There definitely feels like a pause in the action as the companions take a moment to rest and reset after the massive electromagnetic explosion takes out Grid Akihabara. There’s a large shift in tone from the serious, coup d’état attitude that moves more into a childish, or impish sphere. After repairing his psudo-daughter AnchoR, Naoto’s decision to disguise himself as a girl and take AnchoR out shopping just to make her happy felt a little out of place.I would have liked more information about the mysterious mad scientist operating the machine, and maybe a little more backstory on who this Princess is and how she knows Marie will save her. I didn’t much care for Vermouth being uploaded into the android stripper’s body. But, that’s not my demographic at all. It just feels cheap and unnecessary to me.The plot between the military and the government is getting a bit muddled and one-note for me. I expected to have one person revealed as a mastermind by now. I am hopeful that next volume will expound a lot on the events that transpired.You can find Clockwork Planet Volume 6 here!Kondasha comics sent us a digital copy of this manga in exchange for an honest review.
