Karakuri Odette by Julietta Suzuki

Odette is an android created by the young talented scientist Dr. Yoshizawa. Wanting to find the ultimate difference between humans and his android, Odette decides to persuade Dr. Yoshizawa to enroll her in a local high school. Follow Odette's adventures as she ventures through high school, in search of the true meaning of being a human.

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Oh manga - so easy to read and unlike animation you don't have to worry about annoying voice actors, lol. Karakuri Odette was a quick couple of days read that I finished at work, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's not the most original of story, the android who wants to be human, but the specific people in this one make it memorable. 

Odette starts off very blase about wanting to go to school or act human, but throughout the series and as her interactions with humans become more regular we see her change. She starts to question why people are they way they are; why they cry or laugh or like other people. Circumstances force her to question her own actions, why she's even able to have a preference for things or activities if she's a robot. Throughout the volumes she meets others of her kind and she even inspires them to look at things differently - to not remain stagnant under the weight of whatever their original programming might be.

Karakuri Odette is a cute series with highschool characters taking on adult themes - I liked it.

Overall Feeling - B

Series - Karakuri Odette, Volumes 1 - 6

P.S. - The whole series is available to read for free online. 

Land of the Blindfolded by Sakura Tsukuba

Get ready for Tsukuba Sakura's symbolic tale LAND OF THE BLINDFOLDED, in which one character can only see the past, and another can only see the future! Originally presented in LaLa DX magazine from Hakusensha between 1998 to 2004, the 9-volume LAND OF THE BLINDFOLDED is the story of high school student Outsuka Kanade who can sometimes see a person's future with a touch, and transfer student Naitou Arou, whose ESP is limited to past events. When Kanade glimpses an unfortunate incident coming, can she change it? She soon befriends Arou, who's no novice - he can turn his ability on or off at will, even using it to see an object's "memories." Are these teenaged seers of the past and future made for each other? And who's right: Arou with his "hands off" policy about meddling in people's lives, or Kanade whose more proactive stance has already had unhappy consequences?

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I consider manga's one of those things you have to REALLY love to buy all of. Most of the time you can never quite tell how long the series is going to go on and at least $9.99 a pop it can be an expensive habit to stick to.

Which I know sounds ridiculous as someone who buys mass markets all the time, but it's still true ok?! I like to have an end in sight if I'm going to be veering away from my usual.

But to get back to the point, Land of the Blindfolded is a cute, enjoyable, visually appealing story in an easy to consume 9 volumes.  I stumbled upon it when I was unpacking in the new place and rereading it just reminded me how much fun a Sunday afternoon on my couch can be. Kanade and Arou are both ridiculously cute and drawn to match, and the slow evolution of their relationship is appropriate for all ages. It's hard to be different and I think Tsukuba does a job of showing what you as an individual can and can't do to mitigate fallout.

There's a little bit of paranormal as the main characters do have the ability to see the past and future, but all in all this is a cute romance story and I highly recommend it.

Overall Feeling - B

Series - Land of the Blindfolded, books 1-9