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!
Clockwork Planet Vol 5
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
Even though AnchoR is RyuZU's little sister, her immense power poses a threat to Naoto and the crew. When the two siblings confront each other, an explosive battle ensues that bends time and space! Even RyuZU's Imaginary Time and her unique power, Mute Scream, may not be able to best an automaton built to destroy. Meanwhile, in Akihabara, a massive weapon appears, leaving the city's armed forces at a loss. If Grid Akihabara falls, all of Japan may be in danger. Can Naoto handle a weapon strong enough to break the entire Clockwork Planet?
I am forever blown away by the full colour pages at the beginning of these volumes! They're so well coloured and drawn and aaaahhh! This volume starts off tense, with the big showdown between RyuZU and AnchoR, and we get a nice action filled start! I have to say, I really, really love how the battle was drawn, and how RyuZU's power was drawn too! It was incredibly well done.
We get to know AnchoR as she joins our team officially once everything calms down, and we get another new character too in the form of Vermouth...you may remember him from one of the other volumes. Of course, he's missing his body now and only has his head but at least he's still alive and kicking...sort of. He should be a fun presence and should shake the team up a bit, changing the dynamic and providing some of the banter.
Once the big showdown is over....there's a hint it might calm down. But it's not all over yet, something bigger is coming. A giant electro magnetic weapon breaks through to the surface and it's shady operator thinks Naoto is Y. I'm kind of inclined to agree with him to be honest. I'm not sure what his ultimate plan is but he's the bad guy right now!
We close the volume with the weapon undefeated and everyone in peril because it has the power to completely wipe Japan off the grid. The government are scrambling with no idea what to do and there's a mysterious new girl who seems to know Marie in the palace. Now that we have AnchoR on our team, I feel like things are about to shift up a gear again. With each new arc things take a step up and get more and more high stakes. More elements and dangers are being brought in, along with plot threads and intricacies and conspiracies and so on. Not to mention the hints about Y! I'm forever trying to work things out and failing epically!
This volume has a nice pace to it, and provides us with plenty more intrigues and another potential new showdown! So far, there's never a dull moment with this series!
SaveSave
Clockwork Planet Vol 4
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.
Sooo the last volume of Clockwork Planet left us on a cliffhanger, which was cruel...but I'm not going to lie to you guys...this volume does it again. I feel like it's kinda less cruel if you've watched the anime but still!
There's plenty of action to kick this volume off, and Marie's dealing with the consequences of her face-off with AnchoR. She goes after grid Mei after hearing some intelligence reports that the armed forces might be planning to purge Tokyo next. Meanwhile Naoto meets with an old engineer who says something rather interesting. I mean...I've been suspecting things and it's nice to have a character be doing it too!
Marie goes a liiiittle bit dark in this volume, but very badass. She has some struggles to overcome with, as well as losing hope. But she pulls it back, and she really is one of my favourite characters, if not my ultimate favourite character, of this series. Naoto in the manga is less irritating than he was in the anime, once we reached this point in the anime he was really beginning to set my teeth on edge. I mean....there's still time for him to start being irritating but the manga is way better than the anime so I'm holding out hope!
There's some great story progression and we get a nice little plot thread to keep us going. We go deeper in to the plot too as we see the repercussions from the Kyoto plot twine with this new plot thread. I mean, we basically see the bigger picture a little bit rather than the little section the story's in. This volume has a really nice pace to it as well.
There's plenty of entertainment not just with the plot and the action, but with the banter between our little group. It cracks me up and it's nice to see them getting closer and bonding, as they decided to make themselves in to terrorists to save the planet. As you do. There's a war brewing but Naoto and Marie have a plan...the big show down's about to happen...and then cliffhanger. So next volume we have a fair bit to look forward to, and I'm intrigued to see how the plot's going to branch out. And if Naoto is going to start bugging me.
Clockwork Planet Vol 3
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
After Naoto, RyuZU, Marie, and Halter’s mission to save Kyoto succeeded, the group must lie low. Branded as terrorists and with Marie presumed dead, the new allies decide to gather more information while acting out the daily lives of high school students—something Marie isn’t used to! While undercover, Marie receives valuable information through a coded message: The government is still abusing core parts to endanger civilians. Meanwhile, RyuZU wishes to find her little “sister,” AnchoR, but when the fellow automaton appears, is she a friend or foe?
So, I've been watching the anime of this, and I've not really been loving it. I couldn't wait for it to end to be honest. The manga however, is very good! It's so much better than the anime, so if you watched the anime and weren't that impressed...give the manga a try! I've been looking forward to each new volume and with this one, things are picking up even more!
We spend a bit more time at the high school in this volume, than we do in the anime, with Marie fitting right on in..or not as the case may be! I actually enjoyed that part of the arc and I hope we get some more scenes there because they crack me up. It's definitely more extended than I remember the anime being so it's nice to see some fresh new scenes.
We get Saionji, who's a new character as far as I'm aware...the anime kind of blurs in to meh for me. I'm wondering if Saionji is on to Marie or not, but he was only in it for a little bit...I thought he was a bit of a prat but I'd be intrigued if he popped up again to see what role he'll play in the story if any. It seemed like he might have a part to play but we'll see.
I love how fonts are used with speech in this manga, I'm not going to lie. RyuZU has a very mechanical/computer kind of font and Saionji has a flowery one to match his attempts at flirting with Marie. You get such a sense of tone and how the voice would sound from it, it really adds to the reading experience.
I really love Vermouth! And I'm loving RyuZU more and more, she cracks me up. Marie is still my total favourite though, I love her! She makes me chuckle and she's so intelligent and badass. Naoto isn't as irritating as in the anime, and is more bearable in the manga, but I still haven't warmed up to him 100%. I think next volume will make or break this series for me.
In this volume we get more of the history of the Clockwork Planet which I really loved, I want to know so much more about it and I've been itching for this kind of material, I hope we'll get more and more as the volumes go on!
Clockwork Planet is much better than the anime by far, and the manga always gives me a chuckle. Particularly the interactions between everyone in the group! I really love how it's drawn among various other little touches, and I'm liking the pace it has so far. I'm still intrigued, and I'm excited to see where this is going to go next, and how much more it'll differ from the anime!
