Webtoon Spotlight

Spotlight#73: CARL

Have you ever loved the song Mr. Aragato Mr. Roboto? If not, I hope you enjoy it after we boot up the spotlight on CARL by Hussien Trabolusi!

Summary

Soon, famous Dr. Alda has decided to make a modern-day breakthrough, the first robotic psychiatrist. Through cold logic, Dr. Alda hopes that he can better understand the human mind. However, it's only a matter of time before he realizes that his creation is far more human than he bargained for.

Characters

Carl: Our titular robot, Carl, begins the series by being secretive, petty, and fearful over his sentience. However, as the family grows, Carl becomes far more mature, brave, and caring of those around him. He's the first of his kind and so feels he must set an excellent example of himself.

Dr. Alda: Despite being a little harsh with the idea of Carl's sentience Dr. Alda quickly goes from creator to father upon the reveal. He looks out for Carl like a caring parent, which unfortunately makes his career much harder due to his rivals and higher-ups.

Carl 2: Carl's little brother, 2, is far more immature and outspoken than his brother. Which can lead him to be very temperamental but also passionately charismatic

Orion: A robotic clone made by Alda's rival Dr. Vauss, unlike his brothers, Orion has a deep loathing for humanity due to her harsh experiences. Orion is usually very straightforward, abrasive, and mean because of this. However, she is very protective of her family regardless.

Overview

CARL is one of those webtoons that have a natural build-up and escalation. For the first couple of chapters, Carl spends most of his time stewing over his humanity and looking for answers with his patients. But then, his very existence sparks controversy as the entire story gets spent debating over the ethics, pros, and cons of robotics (especially since the story shows that characters like Carl can hack into the internet no problem). 

This makes Carl a very prominent protagonist who has to find himself despite facing restrictions at every turn and deal with all the burdens that human thought gives him. He also manages to become more of a family man when his siblings start coming into play. It's honestly an enriching journey filled with heartache, and I enjoy it.

Despite this claim, Carl is primarily a comedy series anyway. Most of it is from Carl interacting with some weird and wacky patients in a way that doesn't feel disrespectful. The therapist angle often at times serves as a reflection of Carl's budding humanity. 

The jokes honestly can write themselves, with the character interactions being the best part of the series as they can go from emotional to happy at a snap. This is easily one of those times where the story easily eclipses the art. It could also be the best way to introduce other people to webtoons through the series crossovers. 

Epilogue

Overall, CARL is a heartwarmingly, emotional webtoon that has a lot of heart. Unfortunately, I don't know if the series is continuing, given its separate 3rd season on discovering. But I hope eventually the series can get the spotlight again, but I will have to save that for another time because these next three spotlights will be baller.