Real Account

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[This review contains minor spoilers]

Real Account could be described as one of the most boring manga you could ever read. A manga that you will think is built and ONLY built by using poor USA styled characterisations, clichéd misunderstanding over technology, mixed with some kind of shit moral that could be resumed as "Phones are bad; The Internet is bad" throughout the whole story. Adding to that the understatement that this manga is about a survival game you could only access by using your phone, which was also a subject used in other mediocre manga like "Ousama Game", "Darwin's Game" or even "Mirai Nikki", you ... might presume that Real Account might get down the same path as them. There's a lot of reasons you could use for why you shouldn't read it, just because of how basic and unoriginal it feels only by looking at the cover.

"Real Account, in general, is not only the title of the manga. It is also described as the most powerful social media in the world. Not only Japan, the WHOLE world. The app which brings together the equivalent of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Snapchat, Discord, TikTok, P*rnhub, I don't know... But ALL IN ONE!!! Doesn't it sounds cool? Well, guess what? After months, years of its existence, the app just wanted to magically teleport half of its users into... The app itself. The guy behind all this is Marble, the mascot that represents ReA and hides his true identity by wearing a mask. The reason he wanted to do that? To see people dying. How?:

If a player has 0 followers on ReA, he DIES! But if he dies in the survival game, all of his followers DIE TOO!"

That's the premise, for 24 volumes. If you don't like it, don't even bother to torture yourself. In my opinion, I thought that the last sentence to describe the whole thing was interesting. And reading it felt absurdly stressing. Like, who would you get balls to follow for assuring his life, while also risking yourself to die by them? Because of course that a lot of people will hit the unfollow button, they don't wanna die! Everyone who didn't even had followers right at the start died day one; all those with less than 1000 followers see their death coming and pray their life to have a least one guy to follow them; people who had over 1 000 000 followers didn't even care of seeing the subcount going down, even tho they were probably going to die. The beginning literally calls us, looks straight into our eyes and asks us if we DO care about the people we follow. Care to your own death. If they change through their carrier, would you still care about them?

The games they were getting into are all based of popular trends that a lot of us can relate. Knowing if you're connected to your audience, showing your photos that you took on your phone subconsciously, being a live stream with many viewers, heck they even have a game where you have to reveal someone's deleted post for making sure that he loses all his followers. The games, as intelligent as they can be, literally are some based representations of what does it might look like for someone to get exposed on Twitter or Youtube. It doesn't feel cringe, we actually feel that the author actually knows what he is talking about and is not only throwing bullshit at us expecting something to work by using the Internet as a main source only for cash. Even then, the characters feels realistic to their own place. They not only know what kind of danger can lead them to despair, but they also know what kind of thing they should say to preserve their popularity... so they could survive.

Yet, describing the characters can be the same as describing the story. You don't like them? Well, "too bad."

There's two main arcs, both sharing a different POV of two main characters going into totally different locations. Honestly, calling them "Arcs" can be a bit of a stretch, because the first arc is mainly an introduction to the second main characters whom's the one that holds the story for him alone. The "first arc" takes 2 volumes, only to tells us that the first MC, Ataru Kashiwagi, is the brother of the second MC who looks exactly like him. The "second arc" is the rest of the story, led by the brother, Yuma Mukai. So, "it gets better after 2 volume." As Ataru can be described as the one who tries it best to be careful over his actions, Mukai is the insane one. The badass. The one who doesn't give a fuck if he dies, but also a great leader making sure that everyone lives above him. Yeah... A shounen protagonist. He even develops a power over his madness. Not only that, some others can be as likeable and INTELLIGENT as both MCs are. There's Ayame, which is the stereotypical girl that always care about Mukai; Mizuki, the masochist one who eats raw meat and plays with knives; Aiji, the cute gay one that also appears to be someone who doesn't care to die...

As I write this review I already know this sounds like crap. Anything that is mentionned doesn't feels believable and the whole thing about "The Internet" being treated well in a media is such a taboo thing that doesn't feel right. It's not believable to see that a manga like this is good. And I understand it. This manga IS BAD, hypothetically speaking. Does it mean that it wasn't a good read? No! Shout in any direction you want for not thinking that I'm not having some "reviewer perspective", I thought that Real Accound still was a pretty fun manga to read. The games were unique, Mukai was cool as shit compared to other survival games' MCs that I saw, and the artstyle, while being pretty okay, worked for this manga. Uncovering the mistery of how everyone is going to survive was a crazy ride to get. I surely won't call this a masterpiece, it will still be a manga that I'll miss reading it.

Real Account is not what you'd expect on the bad side or the good side, but it's mainly enjoyable.

If you're like me then you know that the people you hang out with in real life and make an effort to be around are your true friends. This means that when you get sucked into a sadistic video game that kills you when you run out of followers you know that you will have at least a few people that have your back. Yet these people that had 2000 followers act surprised when people don't want to risk their lives for you. All you did was click to accept a friend request dude. If we haven't at least run from cops together I'm not ... risking my life for you.

Now that they're in the death game the story revolves around showing off the true depth of its characters while being put into life or death situations. Now it is a strange mixture of talented story telling mixed with mediocre characters. If it continued that way then the story would be somewhat enjoyable but not living up to its true potential.

Then I can only imagine a thought appeared in the creator's head. "Jeez I can do way better than this!" The story then takes on a game of thrones style and switches viewpoints. The new cast appeal beats the old cast appeal like Batman against street thugs. Poor old cast never stood a chance.

However while the story does manage to do things right it also has its shares of faults. One is it has one of the biggest plot holes I've ever seen. You could see it from the freaking moon without squinting. I'm talking Harry Potter Time Turner could solve every problem plot hole. While it didn't ruin the series for me it has hampered it greatly. I don't want to spoil it for anyone so I won't reveal it but ask questions to yourself and you'll find it quick. A second is that the author doesn't really have a mastery of foreshadowing. Plot developments come quick and from nowhere. Last there have been characters that rapidly shift in personality which would be great, IF IT WAS FORESHADOWED. Hidden Depths only work it there was some indication that something was hidden.

As it is the series isn't bad but with a few tweaks and edits could've been great.

Yep, it's as bad as other reviewers have pointed out. I applaud anyone who actually made it to the end of this dumpster fire.

If you are expecting any type of drama or suspense then don't waste your time on this. They took an interesting science fiction survival story and turned it into 24 volumes of the most repetitive, incoherent mess possible. Every chapter is sillier and crazier than the one before it until it's all just noise. The author just throws whatever nonsense they thought up that day for shock value regardless if it has any reason or logic behind it. The absurdity of the ... plot completely overshadows the survival elements which makes for an incredibly boring read.