Your forma vol 1 by Marcho Kikuishi

Adapted and illustrated by Yoshinori Kisaragi
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Sometime in the near future, humans willingly submitted to the installation of “Your Forma” devices - thin, string-like machines implanted in the brain that record everything the user interacts with. This was initially used to combat an outbreak of encephaitis, but it became a normal part of everyday life very quickly. Inspector Echika is with the Electronic Crimes Division of Interpol, and she’s a diver - someone who connects to another human's "your forma" and dives through the Mnemosynes of their brain to look for clues in solving crimes. She’s so gifted at this that she often burns out her Belayers - the aides who help a diver from going too deep into another person’s memories. Echika has newly been paired with Harold Lucraft, who is actually an Amicus - an advanced android, whose particular processing speeds can match hers. The main problem now? Echika hates Amici. But the two have been forced together on one of the biggest cases of Echika’s career: they must find the source of a machine-viral outbreak that causes its victims to hallucinate and believe they are in a blizzard.

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There are a lot of really cool sci-fi elements to this, and it reminds me a lot of Ghost in the Shell, especially its grittiness. Clearly, we are meant to like Lucraft because he is so observant and knows how to be friendly towards humans, especially females, but so far, I haven’t found something that makes me really want to like him as a character. Right now, I’m on Echika’s side though for wildly different reasons. Hopefully, he gets developed more and isn't just treated as a cursory set piece. Otherwise, I really enjoyed the mystery that was built up in this first volume, and I'm curious how big this case will get before we get a different one for Echika to solve. There's a nice little cliffhanger at the end of this volume, so it could definitely spur readers into the next volume.

There are several instances of blood on the page, although no one has died yet. This might be a good sci-fi to hand to younger readers than the "Mature" rating Ghost In the Shell ​got.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 8-12

Publisher: Yen Press
Publication Date: January 17, 2023
ISBN: 9781975351847 (Paperback)

This review was made possible with a digital reader copy from the publisher through Net Galley.
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​Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: Middle School, Suitability: High School, Manga, Adaptations, Science Fiction, Mystery, Yen Press