Rengoku no Karma
Karma of Purgatory

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What an interesting manga.

I’ve read a lot of manga that deals with revenge and bullying. Needless to say, suicide is a frequently discussed topic within those manga. However, it’s rare to see a manga that delves into the effects of a suicide on a victim’s surroundings.

Rengoku no Karma does exactly that. It actually shows a suicide, but then it goes on to show the unexpected consequences of that suicide in relation to those around the victim.

The manga deals with the subject decently enough, though at times it doesn’t explain things thoroughly. For example, why does the manga specifically say six people are affected? I had ... assumed it relates to the ‘6 degrees of separation’ concept, but it’s not something the manga confirms.

Still, in spite of the less than stellar handling of the story, the sheer subject matter alone is enough to drive the manga along. What really adds to this is that the story utilizes the ‘time loop’ concept – that is every time the character fails, time restarts and he has to try again. Each attempt results in different reactions and different consequences.

Each of these concept alone would make for a very engaging manga. So the fact that the manga uses them in tandem makes for a highly engaging read.

Overall, it’s still early in the manga’s life at this point in time so it’s hard to see where it goes, but so far, it has proven to be something worth checking out, so I highly recommend this manga.

I purely went into this because I like a ghost story and it's always intriguing how the author handles the story. This is no exception because after reading this I immediately asked myself, "Why did I read this and finish it in one sitting?", I regret reading it but it's also good because you don't have to. I want to sincerely tell you that this manga is not good at all. I gave it a 5 just because purely on the art itself. That's the only reason that made me keep going till the end.

Heavy spoiler warning because I can't explain it if I don't ... tell a specific scene;
There are 2 arcs in this manga, the first one is a story about a guy who got bullied and committed suicide, and the second one (kind of twisted plot) is a story of an ugly girl who wants to be an idol but doesn't have a trust in herself.

So, let's start with the first one.
1. Our "protagonist" is named Nanase Makoto. To put it simply, he is a target of a bully. He ended his life and met with this strange lady. She tell him the most brutal thing that didn't make sense, "Because of your death, there are 6 people who need saving". And those 6 people were the ones that were close to him. (Spoiler) This also has a concept of anime called "Erased" where he would go back in time with the strange lady's power and keep looping until his beloved one is saved. (Spoiler end)

I gonna be honest, from what I read, it did not even make sense at first because the real root of this problem is not even Nanase Makoto but his bully. Do you know why? He did not stop bullying even when Nanase died. He continued to suffer all of Nanase's beloved ones and it made me pissed off. I mean yeah, (heavy spoiler) Nanase's dad didn't die because of the bully, but other than him, all of Nanase's beloved causes of death are the bully and his underlings. (heavy spoiler end)

The conclusion to this story is after Nanase saved them he came back to life and lived a "normal" life. Just a heavy spoiler here, he did defeat his bully but the problem was not even finished there (heavy spoiler) when Nanase saved his first victim, which is his crush, he realized that his crush was not even a better person either. She caused her bully to get bullied by Nanase's bully. The final scene is him contemplating and it ends the arc with him about to get crushed by a truck. (heavy spoiler end) Yeah shitty end, I know but hold your grudge because the second one is shitier than this.

2. Our next "protagonist" is named Harukawa Tamako. She is an ugly girl, according to herself, who wants to become an idol. From the get-go, this feels like a good one, right? You'd probably think the plot would go like this, she trying to achieve her goal but can't and commits suicide. And like the previous arc, she would help 6 people who are beloved to her and realize that she could come to the top because she can, and those who love her support her till the end, right? WRONG.

So, this is the plot. Tamako is a poor girl who lives with her mom and her twin sister. She always envies her sister because all of the best traits of a twin go to her sister. When the family talked about an idol topic her mom and sister let her down saying her appearance was not suitable for an idol.

(Heavy spoiler) That's the prologue of the arc because the real story started after she got her plastic surgery.

She then began her journey through her first audition. She had her friend from her current workplace root for her and even asked her to meet with her family again before she went even further. She failed her first audition and came home after she was away for a long time and found out that her family had abandoned her stuff in the trash. This is where I thought the story would be escalated as I expected. She committed suicide and the strange lady asked her to help her beloved to have a second life as the first arc goes. But nope, that's not the case.

After she felt betrayed by her dream and family, she wanted to commit suicide but stopped by a car. And in that car, there were 6 people, his friend from her workplace and 5 others. Her friend asked her to join a group called suicide circle and she accepted it. What is this group goal? To commit suicide together so that they didn't feel guilty alone. Yeah that was some bullshit reasoning to make a group, I know.

So, the plan was set and they died in the middle of a forest due to the pill that they had given....... except for Tamako. How, you might ask? The reason revealed at the end is that she doesn't want to die and her will to live is too strong. Yup, that's the reason, like, wtf even is that reason? But anyway, after "realizing" she didn't die, the weird lady came and asked her to help these 6 people who committed suicide with her to grant their last wishes.

Throughout the story, Tamako kept going with her 2nd audition while helping those people. She felt joy because there were people actually rooting for her to become a top idol, which was the people who committed suicide with her in the first place. The finale of this arc is even shitier than the first arc. It was revealed that the actual person who made the group was Nanase herself but she didn't do it herself, she gave the trust to her co-worker friend. I was flabbergasted and pissed off even more than the first one, like wtf? What the actual f*ck is wrong with this author? The people who committed suicide with her even held their departure with their wish to see her to be an actual idol but she didn't become one because she admitted her false doing in the end and so it held them in the purgatory.

The end of this arc is back to the ending of the first arc where Nanase was about to get crushed but he was saved by Tamako. (heavy spoiler end)
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Yeah, in the end, I told the story vaguely with heavy spoilers. If you are interested in how it goes with the visual I recommend it (again I like the visual, that's the main reason I kept going) but if you hate what you reading from me I suggest don't read it because you'll suffer through the same pain as I did. I thought this gonna be a good story but turns out I was wrong.

Overall I gave this manga a 5.8/10.

Suicide is a topic that, while included in narrative quite often, is not often the focus. Those few times when it is, more often than not, the story follows the character in the events leading up to their suicide rather than what happens to the character after. And honestly, most of the time when the focus IS on what happens after the suicide, it is not well done. This is one of those cases.

To be fair, this manga is actually quite interesting. The events that the protagonist goes through in his own little Purgatory are surprising and at times exciting and it does a ... pretty good job of holding its readers' interest. As well, the art, though nothing special, is consistently good. The characters, for the most part, are quite flat at trope-ish, but that's quite normal in this kind of manga.

The problem I have with this series is a problem I have as someone who has dealt with suicidal ideation for the majority of my life and has helped other people work through their own suicidal thoughts. Because this series focuses on how much OTHERS are negatively affected by someone's suicide which, as most people who have been suicidal can tell you, is not as original one might think and is very much not a good thing for suicidal people to see.

Suicidal people KNOW that their potential suicide will have a negative affect on others, it's not something we're completely oblivious to, and trying to write a narrative of "LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE WITH YOUR SELFISH ACTION" honestly comes across as very ignorant of what people experiencing depression go through. The idea of having to "redeem" yourself after suicide is harmful and tired and works more towards further guilting people going through an extremely painful mental illness rather than taking any steps to try to help them. This takes an even bigger step down as the story focuses on the protagonist having to try to save people who abused him and directly lead to his suicide.

To summarize, Rengoku no Karma is interesting but, as a suicide survivor, it leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth.