Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn vol. 17

Vol. 16 left off with Nene and Niko descending into the mindspace shared by Clarion and Phobos after their battle shifted from the physical plane to cyberspace.  We don’t catch up with them right away as we’ve also got to check in with Robert as he tells us about his situation in a big ol’ infodump that might be relevant later in this volume.  Then there’s Poseidon, who is about to initiate Operation Third Lightning and bring about the destruction of Cenacle Island for reasons that appear the organization’s supposed betterment of the world.  This all pales in comparison to the real challenge in this volume:  Getting Clarion and Phobos to stop fighting in their shared mindspace before they utterly destroy each other.

As groundbreaking and genre-defining as it was, most of Shirow Masamune’s work annoyed the hell out of me because he loved to expound at length about the science behind his sci-fi.  I bring this up because more than any other volume in this series, it feels like that’s what we’re getting here.  There’s a lot of tech talk about Terrariums, cybersecurity, malware, and the like which comes off as long-winded exposition more than anything else here.

What makes this volume, and the series as a whole, better than that is how writer/composition-er/mangaka-who’s-not-doing-the-art Koshi Rikudo and artist Hitotose Rin actually get you to care about the characters here.  All of the technobabble on display here would be unbearable to sit through if I didn’t give a damn about the fate of Nene, Clarion, and Phobos.  Rikudo and Rin have put in the hard work over the past several volumes to get me to do that, and that’s why I can stand all of the overdone cyber-talk here.

It does help that the two creators manage a good sense of playfulness about all this.  Seeing Niko’s befuddlement at how easily Nene is able to slip through the security measures is fun, and the method the AI uses to distract Clarion’s cyber-form is genuinely funny (even if you’re not a cat person, I would hope).  It’s also kind of amazing that they eventually manage a kind of fusion between the volume’s tech-minded and heartfelt sides as we finally get into Phobos’ head and see the memories the malware has been exploiting to control her.  Maybe it leans a bit too much into the power of love/friendship, but it still makes for a satisfying climax to Phobos’ arc up to this point.

Which means the bar has been set for when Rikudo and Rin bring Clarion back to her senses for vol. 18.