Webtoon Spotlight

Spotlight#158: Emmy The Robot

Have you ever thought you needed an extra hand around the house? If so, you can get salty and mad poser over Dominic Cellini's (Domcell for short) light-hearted sci-fi romp, Emmy the Robot.

Summary

At Sterling Robotics, creating the future in comfortable care is always just a step away. Nowhere is that better proven than in their latest, brand-new, state-of-the-art nano droids. Armed with extensive protocols and brilliant A.I., each Nanodroid is designed to care for your family's needs.

At least, that's what Emmy the Robot thought when she was handed to the Delarie's. However, when she starts glitching out under the constant threat of being thrown away, Emmy unfortunately learns not everything is what they've seen.

Characters

Emmy: Our titular character, Emmy, is a doubtful, nice, determined, and naive android who sticks to her programming to a fault. Because of this, her fatal flaw, even if she can't realize it, is that Sterling Robotics may not be the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Madeline: The eldest child of the Delarie, Madeline is a bright-eyed 8-year-old kid who is fun-loving, observant, and lazy. Despite coming from a rich background, Madeline treated Emmy like a family member and loved her dearly.

Overview

Emmy the Robot is another surprisingly interesting webtoon from the endless bin of Canvas Webtoons. Cellini has a very distinct art style; the Wayne combines plain faces, thin outlines, big eyes, and popping colors with the overall aesthetic of Emmy, giving me a vibe like I'm watching a 2D 20th-century Disney movie or a 50's cartoon commercial.

The vibe is further enunciated through how the stories flow as well. Emmy has concise chapters, but you can tell through the 130 chapters (as of this spotlight) that there is a straightforward ongoing story. The first few eps are used to set the scene, explaining the protocol and functions of many Sterling robots like it was a video guide.

Then, we transition to Emmy's daily adventures with the Delaire family, focusing on building up her wacky and fun adventures with them as she converses gossip alongside her fellow chapters. However, near the later half of the story, where Emmy's glitches come forward, we see the earlier cracks from prior chapters come to the forefront.

Here, we get to the nitty gritty of Emmy the Robot; while there's never a point where the series gets dark, it does show off a world where robots, despite having human features, are second-class citizens. They are doomed to get created and replaced at the leisure of an uncertain and ever-changing society that doesn't care for them, all while running the risk of getting thrown into the scrap pile.

While Emmy tries her best to hide her worries and issues from her family as best as possible, the audience is constantly worried about her survival. Still, even with her uncertain situation, we also get many more locations, unique characters, and lore to give the story a sense of fun.

Epilogue

Overall, Emmy the Robot is a unique ride that I still definitely want to binge-read every once in a while. It's a short and straightforward story, so I will leave things here as we spin the spotlight elsewhere.