Manga: Clockwork Planet 6

Clockwork Planet Vol 6
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Naoto's a high school dropout and brilliant amateur tinkerer. He lives in a world that has been so over-exploited that the entire surface has become one vast machine. When a box crashes into his home containing a female automaton, it's a harbinger of change that will rock the entire globe, and give Naoto his chance to be a hero.

Yu is busy gathering information for Marie, and thanks to him we see just how useless the politicians are as the volume opens. The electromagnetic weapon has magnetised everything, putting Halter and Ryuzu out of commission, although Anchor appears to be unscathed. 

While stile being a wee bit cringey at points, Naoto shows real determination this volume as he doesn't give up and pushes forward with a plan when Marie loses it slightly. He has his moments, when he's intelligent and kind of heroic and full of determination and fighting spirit, but then he's a cringey pain right after and it's like...why dude!? 

Marie has a small inner crisis but is back to her badass self using her genius to attempt to fix Ryuzu. I loved seeing her be so relatable and authentic and overcome it and push on. Vermouth gets an interesting makeover and I was excited to see more of him, he's an interesting and hilarious addition to the group and he's going to be quite the asset when it comes to fighting! 

The series takes a more serious turn as we see the political struggle/the struggle for power amongst the various different government figures. Someone's pulling the strings and the different factions are fighting amongst themselves as the weapon just chills out, ready to be used. The stakes are getting higher, especially as Marie and co fully embrace their role as terrorists in order to try and fix things and stop the coup. 

The mysterious girl from the last volume is revealed to be Houko, the Princess who has a connection to Marie somehow. I'm intrigued by her as she seems quite intelligent and astute when it comes to the situation and she won't take any crap from anyone. I'm actually looking forward to seeing more of her and how she knows Marie! 

Halter is still down for the count, but our group mount their most daring attack yet as they go all out to do what's right. I have so many questions still, but the story is moving at a nice pace with more plot threads and intrigues being woven throughout. It gets more serious and high stakes as it goes on and things are really hotting up now!