Alive: Saishuu Shinkateki Shounen
Alive: The Final Evolution

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I picked the English translation off the library shelf and read it. So far, it's really interesting and I became really engrossed in this series. The beginning was definitely one of the best moments of the series and I truly liked Yuuta's arc when he was first introduced. That was my favorite moment, along with the eventual romantic hints that slowly but surely emerge.

Admittedly, Alive gives off the Psyren vibe but mostly because at the beginning, you sense that there is some scientific fiction involved such as the great apocalypse. Then, as the novel progresses, it also evolves into what seems to resemble a battle ... manga. However, what differentiates those two is that Alive does not rely solely on the battle! train! battle! train! battle! formula that continues to plague most battle-oriented shounen manga. This is what makes Alive so entertaining: the smooth and neat transitions between arcs. Still, Alive resorts to a heavily overused concept of humans with inhuman abilities. It fails to tie back to the reason behind the powers at some moments, when all the characters care about is beating the other side.

Speaking of characters, their pasts and current personalities help reveal the mangaka's basic theme. They have their own obstacles and troubles, but they do grow and develop. The question, though, is this: Just how realistic are they? Both Hirose's and Taisuke's circumstances further elaborate the answer to that very question, as they are the two with the most unrealistic character development (in my opinion). Despite the notion of disbelief, the characters can be well-liked by the readers through their humorous and friendly interactions / relationships. The extra volume and the omake illustrate this point well.

Like all manga, the art does gradually improve over time to the extent that it reminds me of Ga-Rei with its gradient tones. It is good, but nothing too decorative or stunning.

I highly enjoyed this manga. Personally, it held moving suspense, introduced characters smoothly, and the underlying theme kept me going as well. If you have read Psyren or Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro, this series may delight you.

Brief review: It takes it's time to get started, but overall, it's worth the read.
Ok, let me start by saying that I've read a fair share of shounen when I was younger, but as I grew older I started reading more and more seinen. I think this explains my initial shock.
This is a shounen manga, and it starts really shounenly. I found it boring at first, while the premisse shows potential, you never feel like it's being explored to it's fullest. The story starts out linear, with a lot of shounen tropes and somewhat boring characters; it's a simple good vs evil story.
But ... there is development! The story branches out and more interesting characters are introduced, and the ones that were already there get a proper development.
Overall, the manga changed my mind halfway through, and turned out as a really solid, amusing manga. I'm writing this review because no other informed me about such change, and I kept wondering if it was worth keep reading this manga. And it was, it was an enjoyable experience.

Writing about this manga for me is going to be complicated, considering the questionable quality at certain times, which made me want to just drop the manga in half.

It is very difficult to trace positive and negative points in this manga ...

First of all, little detailed scenarios or even no details, this manga sometimes sins it, it is not a big inconvenience, but a strong negative point for me. A positive point of the art is the character traits that improve a lot in the second part of the manga.

Now entering the story, the ideas presented by the author were very good, but resulting in ... good confrontations at certain times, however, sometimes I was bitterly disappointed in some cases, if you consider the basic notion of strategy, this manga can be lazy at first part, but they make it interesting as the story progresses, anyway, the beginning sinned a little.

If you want an intense reading that will leave you intrigued by each chapter, this manga manages to satisfy this desire relatively. But don't expect big things, like some turnaround. Everything is almost predictable and gets to be silly.