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Pandora Seven #1
Pandora Seven, Vol. 1
Pandora’s Box... must never be opened.
Scale, wing, vine, hair...none of that mattered to Lia, because her friends and mother loved her. She lived happily and peacefully—an almost worry-free existence. As the sole member of humania on the island, of course she dreamed about meeting others of her kind. But she never really expected the joyous days to end...until they did. Until humans arrived and attacked her friends and family. Until she opened the box. And so began her lonely quest to save them all...
Scale, wing, vine, hair...none of that mattered to Lia, because her friends and mother loved her. She lived happily and peacefully—an almost worry-free existence. As the sole member of humania on the island, of course she dreamed about meeting others of her kind. But she never really expected the joyous days to end...until they did. Until humans arrived and attacked her friends and family. Until she opened the box. And so began her lonely quest to save them all...
248 pages, Paperback
First published February 25, 2022
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59 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 19, 2023
[CW: Attempted sexual assault]
Lia is the only human on her island full of exotic species and she has no idea where the other humans are. Well, she’s about to find out in the most vicious way possible. High adventure wishes it then ensued. Also let us dump mightily on traditional mythology.
Another entry in the ‘humans suck’ manga canon, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Lia wishes to know her kind, then gets a crash course in depravity when the humans turn out to be all too real and all too awful.
My problem is that the lighthearted fantasy turns to the awful and then it just. Keeps. Going. By the time the island has been wiped out and the humans cut open a pregnant belly, it turns out to be the warm-up for one of them to try and violate Lia (although the way she gets out of this is some great thinking on her part).
Still, there’s a lot of potential here. Lia ends up absorbing Pandora’s Box (this is one of those very Japanese things where something is cribbed from another culture and bears zero resemblance to its inspiration) and is trying to figure out exactly what that means. Which could be just about anything at this point.
There’s an evil human her age who appears set to turn course and become her friend, which would have been a rather nice pivot from them all being pure evil… until her more evil brother shows up and hauls her away for some implied incest instead, cuz we gotta have that incest!
And then the last section promises something wholly unique and interesting for a setting, but devolves into straight up torture/fetish porn as Lia’s getting things removed and being force fed and, boy, this is kind of a misery.
Lia’s a strong character and her grasping for any shred of hope amidst all this does resonate with the notion of Pandora’s Box, plus her relationship with others is very strong when they aren’t torturing her. If there’s a reason to enjoy this thing, she’s it.
But she can also be incredibly dumb - that whole torture set-up at the end she puts up with beyond the limits of believable tolerance because she thinks she can get through to this miserable thing inflicting it on her. It’s a little much.
Which basically sums this story up. I might grab a second volume to see if it shores itself up, but this is really a bit of a misery throughout and full of vaguely defined things that don’t make a lot of sense. Which, again, is accurate for the genre.
It has good ideas and if you have more tolerance for this nonsense you’ll probably like it that much more. I just couldn’t after so much dumping on our heroine that it feels like an unrelenting drone of bleak.
2.5 stars - oh, this starts so promising but then just gets so, so grim and helpless with precious little respite that it wasn’t for me by the end. It’s the sort of thing where I feel like reading a volume of The Promised Neverland to cheer myself up.
Lia is the only human on her island full of exotic species and she has no idea where the other humans are. Well, she’s about to find out in the most vicious way possible. High adventure wishes it then ensued. Also let us dump mightily on traditional mythology.
Another entry in the ‘humans suck’ manga canon, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Lia wishes to know her kind, then gets a crash course in depravity when the humans turn out to be all too real and all too awful.
My problem is that the lighthearted fantasy turns to the awful and then it just. Keeps. Going. By the time the island has been wiped out and the humans cut open a pregnant belly, it turns out to be the warm-up for one of them to try and violate Lia (although the way she gets out of this is some great thinking on her part).
Still, there’s a lot of potential here. Lia ends up absorbing Pandora’s Box (this is one of those very Japanese things where something is cribbed from another culture and bears zero resemblance to its inspiration) and is trying to figure out exactly what that means. Which could be just about anything at this point.
There’s an evil human her age who appears set to turn course and become her friend, which would have been a rather nice pivot from them all being pure evil… until her more evil brother shows up and hauls her away for some implied incest instead, cuz we gotta have that incest!
And then the last section promises something wholly unique and interesting for a setting, but devolves into straight up torture/fetish porn as Lia’s getting things removed and being force fed and, boy, this is kind of a misery.
Lia’s a strong character and her grasping for any shred of hope amidst all this does resonate with the notion of Pandora’s Box, plus her relationship with others is very strong when they aren’t torturing her. If there’s a reason to enjoy this thing, she’s it.
But she can also be incredibly dumb - that whole torture set-up at the end she puts up with beyond the limits of believable tolerance because she thinks she can get through to this miserable thing inflicting it on her. It’s a little much.
Which basically sums this story up. I might grab a second volume to see if it shores itself up, but this is really a bit of a misery throughout and full of vaguely defined things that don’t make a lot of sense. Which, again, is accurate for the genre.
It has good ideas and if you have more tolerance for this nonsense you’ll probably like it that much more. I just couldn’t after so much dumping on our heroine that it feels like an unrelenting drone of bleak.
2.5 stars - oh, this starts so promising but then just gets so, so grim and helpless with precious little respite that it wasn’t for me by the end. It’s the sort of thing where I feel like reading a volume of The Promised Neverland to cheer myself up.
April 2, 2023
Meh art and nothing new here as the only human on an island of, basically, various furries (and the odd sentient turnip...???) longs to find out about other humans. So of course a bunch of humans attack their island, mass-murder, imprisonment, blah blah blah. Of course she magically fuses with this Pandora's Box things the humans came looking for (not a box but a weird Clow Card creature-type thing) following some unspecified prophecy.
I got bored very soon, started skimming before I got halfway, and quickly decided my TBR is too long to be forcing myself through this.
I got bored very soon, started skimming before I got halfway, and quickly decided my TBR is too long to be forcing myself through this.
June 3, 2023
I really wanted to like the story. The premise of it made it sound like some thing that was going to be really interesting, and I think it could’ve been it just wasn’t done correctly. The story is confusing and felt rushed. The art and concept are good but that really is the only thing it has going for it.
March 5, 2023
For now I dont hate it, there was a lot of stiry crammed in and mayb that had to happen to get the series started so I wsnt to see if it calms down in the next volume. This tends to happen in some story arcs and it gets way better some get way worse.
Heres hoping for the positive 😋
Heres hoping for the positive 😋
May 20, 2023
It was okay and kept my attention for most of the time, but there were a few scenes that were somewhat confusing. There was also a scene with sexual assault that seemed unnecessary. Booklist has rated it grades 9-12.
January 6, 2023
very pretty art - especially the facial expressions. definitely continuing with this one.
March 13, 2024
3.5 stars. Lia really goes through it... hopefully, things turn around for her. Poor girl couldn't catch a break in this whole volume. It's definitely more bleak than I thought it was going to be.
June 4, 2025
A special girl is raised among the other races and ends up being the McGuffin sought after by the other humans. Interesting ingredients.
April 11, 2023
Loved the main character can’t wait for volume 2.
April 10, 2023
Full review in Booklist Magazine.
Read more graphic novel reviews at The Graphic Library.
Read more graphic novel reviews at The Graphic Library.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews