In Volume 1 of Roid (ロイド), by Shiroshi, we meet Futagami Yui, a genius android developer, dedicated member of her school robotic club. Due to an attack by a malfunctioning android when she was young, Yui uses a wheelchair. She and her kouhai in the club, serious, glasses-wearing, Kazumiya Reina who is a talented AI architect, are working on a lifelike humanoid android that looks remarkably like Yui. In fact, the original idea had come from Yui looking into ways to build new legs, but instead they end up with what they all are forced to think of as more like a sister.
The story has to, almost immediately, delve into the bottomless pit of what makes us human – what is identity, what is humanity, what are morals and ethics and how, when we cannot define them for ourselves, do we program them into artificial intelligences?
The android starts off a little tentatively, but when Reina unfreezes and offers a name, Futagami Anna – Futagami is Yui’s family name, ‘An’ from android and ‘na’ from Reina – Anna accepts both the nod to her existence as a unique individual, and as an addition to the family.
Anna almost immediately encounters humans at their worst, and robots that hurt and are hurt by their humans. And we can see that there is some…organization or group, maybe?…with a very uncomfortably intense interest in Anna. Who they are, what they want and how it will play out awaits us in the future.
But here we are in Volume 1 and we might ask ourselves, so where is the Yuri? Well, honestly I hope it’s between Reina and Yui, but I have a feeling that’s not where it’s going to go. Why do you say that Erica? Because Yui and Anna are virtually identical (with some functional and aesthetic “improvements.” Anna is taller than Yui would be if she could stand and has a slightly larger chest, we’re told) and people who are not me go there. Almost every time.
In the meantime, I genuinely enjoy this comic and it’s discussion of the ethical and moral boundaries we make and break all the time, through the eyes of an android trying to understand why she was created and what she is meant to do.
Yui and Reina are also excellent characters and I look forward to spending more time with them. I wouldn’t mind at all if Reina fell for Anna, instead (or as well, because that would also make sense.) We’ve also met a police detective and club president, as well as shadowy stalker group. This is a solid Volume 1, and I look forward to Volume 2 as the plot develops. I honestly have no idea what’s going to happen – and that’s exciting.
Ratings:
Art – 7 Good but not outstanding
Story – 7 with great deal of potential
Characters – 8
Yuri – 0 at the moment. I honestly don’t know where it will be found.
Service – Not really, only as a joke here and there.
Overall – 8 And I really want to know more.
This is exactly the kind of story I want more of in Comic Yuri Hime – not a romance, and a definite departure from ‘Story A.’
I’m reading a lot of AI-centric novels and comics this week, so it seems like I’m on a boom. I’m just about to start the next Murderbot novel, Exit Strategy by Martha Wells. I still don’t know if the trend is general, or I’m just reading a lot of it. ^_^
