Judge

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maybe im being bias but i truely loved the story and the story telling it was a 10/10 for me bcuz of how it made me feel.
i personally didnt think it was rushed at the end maybe one more chapter of explaining but its a mystery genre its something that gonna make you drown into your own feeling and thinking.
i really really recommend this manga to anyone reading this review . its short and really entertaining.
i found this manga on anime man recommendation video on yutube and damn im lucky that i listened to it.
before reading this manga i finished doubt which is another work ... of this mangaka which i gave is a 9 . it was 8/5 for me honestly but this one was just unbelievably beutifull

This is how combine Saw and Circle (2015) and than flavour it with the theme of Se7en.

This manga is a perfect lovechild of these franchises, taking their elements and combining them into a great mix to pump you for a day or two with a little adrenaline.

The strongest aspect is the great story, that keeps up the tention perfectly.

The art is nothing special, but it has some cool moments, especialy the drawing of the symbolic, and quite iconic animal masks.

The characters are servicable, they are written well, they do their parts but don't expect anything groundbreaking.

My only big problem is with the ending. If you ... are familiar with the movies listed above you know that all of these have big twists in the end. Yeah, the thing they do here is illogical and improbable when you think about it.

Judge is very bingable, that leaves you wandering what will happen next. It definitely deserves an anime adaptation.

A short manga from the same creator as Doubt. If you really enjoyed Doubt, you'll enjoy this. Personally, I love the iconic creepy big rabbit heads this mangaka has made his signature. And I admit that's a big part of what sucks me in to his work.

~Story~ (7)
Very much like we see in Doubt, Judge has a very slow pace/reveal that then shoves pretty much the entirety of the full story in at the end. Since the manga is so short, the slow pacing isn't terrible (if it were any longer, and I mean, like one volume longer, this would have been a problem).

The ... story structure itself is very reminiscent of old-time mystery novels that dump a BUT THEN! at the end detailing character motivations you could not possibly have known at all prior to that point. If that's your jam, then rock on for you! But if you prefer mystery/thrillers where you have a chance of guessing the ending before it happens, this will only frustrate you. This one is better than Doubt insofar as I think you can guess one of the big reveals (and the reveal is nowhere near as absurd), but you will not understand the true setup until near the end. And without that, you can't really guess what's going on.

For me, I actually really loved the concept of what was really happening and whom the whole judging was for. I think that was brilliant! And the idea of what was happening, even though you as the reader don't get to see most of it, was strong enough for me that I felt the overall structure was quite clever and liked it. But if you're someone who isn't taken with the ideas that something presents and prefers to see those ideas beat-by-beat, this may not be a good fit because, as others have pointed out, what is primarily focused on isn't that unique itself.

Story would have been a 8 for me given how much I love what the game setup really was, but the dialogue at the start is pretty sloppy. There's some mechanical exposition dump a la the "let me tell you what you should already know" variety. And some repetition at the start that, while certainly arguably realistic, doesn't add much. This improves by volume 3.

~Art~ (8)
So the art was solid, but, as seen with Doubt, this mangaka occasionally implies actions without actually drawing them. And that causes momentary confusion over what is happening.

Example: In volume 1 someone throws something that crashes right next to another character. But the throw itself isn't drawn and the item crashing by the other character lacks directional lines or motion blurring making it clear this item was just sailing through the air from a given direction. This issue is infrequent, but consistent throughout the manga.

~Character~ (6)
As others note, we aren't given a ton about the characters in the manner we expect, largely because what we expect isn't really what's happening. I understand this decisions, but agree that the character development could have been handled a bit differently to up the intrigue.

MINOR ALLUDED TO SPOILER NEXT PARAGRAPH
There are a few things done in this manga concerning female character interactions that make me incredibly happy though. There is an incident that manga and anime like to trot out just to make a male character look heroic and that really horribly puts female characters in positions of victimization. But in this case, it's actually a female character who steps in and helps out the other female character. THAT! Is incredibly refreshing!! Love to see ladies sticking up for ladies. The female character needing assistance is also not meek or immediately paralyzed by the situation. And, on top of that, the encounter is not drawn in such a way to be titillating (aka no ridiculous highlights on certain body parts, no blushing on behalf of the victim, no upshots, etc...). The characters of the females are not diminished in service of promoting a male character, nor is the reader meant to secretly (and grossly) be turned on by this. That is fantastic.

There are a few sexist assertions in the manga (e.g. the notion that females are more easy to control than males) that no one outright challenges (and usually the females support), which is "ARGH!" worthy. However, these seem to be presented more to underpin why certain characters judge the way they do and to hint out flaws in strategy. Annoying, but I don't get the sense that the author actually supports those viewpoints. Especially as there's a role-reversal in one of the reveals that made me cheer (it's a one-line panel, but was great to see something so unexpected and not typically portrayed in media).

~Enjoyment & Overall~ (5)
This one would certainly rank higher than Doubt for me, except for one thing:

ALLUDED TO SPOILER NEXT PARAGRAPH
This manga has a lot of discussion about "sins" and "redemption." While we come to understand what we thought the sins were are not the full picture, what dings this series for me is there is an implication made between being part of the LGBT community and being "sinful." That's very uncool. Now when there is a reveal about a character on this point, no other present character acts as though this is shameful. And the character in question is clearly one we are meant to like and sympathize with. So I get the sense again that the mangaka doesn't personally hold with the view that it is a sin. However, that being said, no character outright challenges that link, either. While it is an unfortunate reality right now that many would try to hide or encourage others to cover up their sexuality, I would still expect a story to make clear that that's not okay or how it should be. This does not. It more just accepts that reality and does little to challenge the tie between LGBT and sin. I can't get behind that.

Overall, I enjoyed it. It's short enough that if you start it and aren't super keen on it, you can speed through it to get to the end, which I think is satisfying. But again, if you don't like the old-school style murder mystery reveal of LET ME TELL YOU ALL THAT WAS WITH DETAILS ONLY I KNEW! then pass.