Pandora in the Crimson Shell vol. 16

It’s safe to say that in the last volume shit got real.  Phobos’ programming was re-written by Poseidon’s leader and she was sent to attack Nene and Clarion.  The latter was doing her best to fight off her sister’s assault, but it wasn’t enough.  Facing imminent defeat partway through this volume, she looks into her head to unlock the only sealed memory within.  A memory that was sealed away for a very good reason.

Things go from bad to worse after that, though, maybe not quite in the way you’re thinking.  While the fighting continues to be top-notch here, vol. 16’s real attraction are the revelations it drops.  It’s been hinted at for a while now that Phobos was the instigator of the calamity that led to the other robots in her and Clarion’s line being destroyed.  Like a lot of things in this series, what actually happened was the result of Delilah’s scientific curiosity and the almost blase way she tends to deal with the consequences.  The answers we get here are good, even if they make me dislike this character even more now.

Where does all of this lead?  Believe it or not, it leads to indefatigably ambitious and energetic reporter Vlind– taking an active part in the main story.  I thought that she was going to eternally remain a punchline, but it would seem that writer Koshi Rikudo and artist Rin Hitotose have figured that it’s time for her to contribute to the main plot.  Which she does by helping to facilitate Nene and Niko going onto the next stage of this storyline.  Something which promises to be fraught (FRAUGHT I SAY!) with drama in the next volume.