#paseri

Story:

Genre: Sci-fi, Robots, tragedy

This one-shot is set in a world where the ice age has come again and humans have decided to go into sleep until it’s over. The robots are given the job of protecting the humans while they sleep but over 100 years have passed since their slumber began and resources are starting to dwindle as the ice age shows no signs of stopping. The story focuses on the daily life of the robot Amaryllis as she waits for her masters to wake up.

Content warnings: one of the masculine robots, Eisbahn, has a habit of groping the feminine robots without their consent and continues to flirt with them despite their repeated rejections. This is played almost entirely for laughs and the character is likely meant to be a harmless “jerk with a heart of gold”-type character but it sure did annoy me.

Complaints about Eisbahn aside, I loved this light novel. Matsuyama’s writing is so enchanting that it drew me in from the first page and Amaryllis is an amazing protagonist to get to know. Despite the somewhat gloomy content, Matsuyama’s writing and Amaryllis’ narration are so cozy and comforting somehow that it never feels depressing and always feels hopeful. The story was interesting and engaging the whole way through and the slow pacing really helped build tension. The climax was just breathtaking and the ending was perfect. The one-shot tells a complete and satisfying story and it’s something that I’m likely to remember for some time.

Character:

Amaryllis is an amazing protagonist. Before the humans went to sleep, she worked in a kindergarten and her experiences there inform her life values which was really interesting. She’s kind of a hard character to get into without spoilers but I really like her. Eisbahn... I had a lot of issues with him at first but I ended being able to like him enough for the emotional parts with him to work well. All of the side characters are really likeable and memorable. My personal favorite ended up being Daisy, an immature robot who gets a lot of good development.

Recommended for:

People who want to read a satisfying one-shot about robots.