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This manga is set up with a cyclical structure, where the same main conflict repeats itself every chapter. However, this sort of fades out in later chapters and becomes more relaxed and open-world, which is an interesting progression. As a gag manga, you have a repertoire set of core jokes. This is probably too repetitive for some tastes, but it's what accompanies the main joke that is a bit more enticing and worth the read.
So, starting with the art, it's pretty good! There are action scenes that are well executed with easy-to-follow movement. The lineart is strong, and the characters have distinct designs and an ... interesting wardrobe as the story progresses. Nonhuman art here is pretty cartoony, but the artist has no issue with more serious images now and then. There is also a lot of food art, and it is beautifully textured like one might expect in a food manga. Some pictures that are more busy-looking hide a lot of easter eggs, since this is a comedy. You might find some interesting background characters and references that are worth a giggle or two.
The comedy level is variable, since some chapters are just plain calming rather than gut-busting. However, I do think that speaks to how wholesome this series is, and that can be a drawing point as well. There's a good mix of things like boke and tsukkomi jokes, and also family time, friendship, all that stuff that makes you feel warm and fuzzy. The central conflict is just a vague backdrop, really, for all these other relationships.
The characters themselves express their personalities as the "tortures" go on, taking on different roles in various attempts to glean information. Most of them are the quirky type, with some mellower ones that round everything out into a wholesome cast that just gets into shenanigans. If you like characters interacting in various situations, like slice-of-life moments, then you might like this part. The setting of this story also allows for a wide cast of nonhuman characters with various degrees of demihumanity, so there's a bit of something for everyone.

This is one of those "feel-good" stories that don't carry a lot of drama. The manga sells itself as one revolving around food, and this is true, even with the backdrop of a budding relationship. The characters are mellow and have their quirks, but nothing very overt or outrageous that some might like in a slice-of-life. It feels like a more soothing manga for an older audience, taking things slow in the world. If you don't like stories that don't have much of any conflict, this probably won't sit well with you.
The art is serviceable. One big, valid gripe would be that the males almost ... all seem to be based off the same template of hair an face, with small tweaks and accessories. The food isn't actually super textured like some food mangas might be that are hyper-realistic. It's mostly rather simple and still a little cartoony, usually with lines and maybe a texture or two.
There are unfortunate moments where the dialogue feels forced as a means of advancing the relationship. This comes sometimes in the form of thoughts that pop out of a situation that isn't totally related, or asking questions out of the blue with little real reason given the context. It's not super egregious, though, and the overall writing is pretty good. You have a lot of banter that sounds natural, and that's a good thing.
Overall, this is a manga for people who want a break from the drama-filled love stories, and it comes with food on the side!

Overall, this is a great example of fantasy manga that takes world building and various questions seriously; namely, monster design, world ecology, and consistency. This story takes place in a world that mirrors something like what you would encounter playing Dungeons and Dragons. The way it is written, with rich descriptions of the world and its various creatures, their interactions, and anatomical considerations, take it to the next level, hearkening to the mindfulness of design from older editions of DnD like ADnD2e and 3.Xe. You have meticulous planning of how certain environments work in tandem with their creatures, and how these are divided into different ... environmental spheres throughout the story really takes you on an in-depth journey. The backdrop of food as an excuse to explore the world is also a wonderful and fresh angle in the fantasy genre, particularly because the recipes sound much more accurate or believable than those others that might try to mimic this.
The art is, succinctly put, superb. The author's style has very strong lineart. Some of the shading use of lines rather than texture remind me of European woodblock prints, vaguely. The background art and design of environments is always detailed enough and yet you can still see points of focus easily. Designs of creatures are also not too crazy, with homages to the original inspirations in mythos without re-inventing the wheel. However, you do see some cuter designs of some creatures, and this is welcome as well.
What makes my scoring less than perfect is primarily to do with personal taste. I don't really like much of the main cast save for the halfling. That being said, the characterizations and writing are very strong, giving overt personalities to characters, even if they were only introduced halfway through the story.
One other thing I didn't like, personally, is the power level that the story operates at. One of the things about endgame DnD is that magic will make things like death a mere setback than anything truly staying. This happens a bit with their use of necromancy magic in the story, sometimes for gag purposes. However, this is not to fault the story itself. In fact, the story does deal with themes about life and death in a very poignant and well-rounded way.
For budding worldbuilders, I think this is a better read than something more bizarre like Made in Abyss. The monsters are familiar and the characters provide great comedy relief in the midst of a rather insidious plot that occurs both outside and within.

I picked this work up to read based only on the appealing art, which was not a disappointment. That is its biggest selling point. The action scenes and progression of gunfights, even the fisticuffs, are wonderfully drawn. Despite some crowded panels, the art has a clean feel to it so you can clearly see the progression and flow of action.
Unfortunately, the story is ultimately a disappointment. I will try not to spoil as much as possible, but it may trickle through. The beginning of the story has a slow build, almost with an enemy-of-the-chapter kind of feel. This progresses into some revelations quickly and then ... suddenly immediately begins steamrolling through plot points, much of which are not developed nor properly explored and explained. The mechanism behind the main character's unique power is thrown into a half-baked backstory with a strange characterization, none of the other personalities are fully elaborated on enough (except maybe Penguin), and the big reveal of what the master plan was supposed to be ultimately amounts to nothing more than jokes at the end.
What's worse is the utter amount of loose ends created so close to an abrupt ending that have no end to ever be addressed. We have the fixer's situation, the fact that the big bad company is still alive, and the master plan that doesn't seem to be very urgent in any way. It was all very rushed and poorly planned, in the end.

SINoALICE the manga deviates heavily from the actual mobile game story so you don't need to play it to understand the story. Either way, it is a confusing story, because this is Yokoverse. The same gist and premise of a deathmatch, battle-royale is there, but the relationships and world are vastly different. True to the original material, however, it remains a bloody and ill-fated good time for all characters involved.
The pacing is pretty erratic at first and can be difficult to keep up with, but it begins a pretty typical buildup to conflict later in the story. Characters are given overt but also very subtle ... chances to showcase what is not shown in their thought bubbles. Aoki and Himiko team up to make small visual Easter eggs that are scattered through the pages for fans to find. The art is a bit interesting due to the combination of almost no shading on characters save for stark shadow, jagged lines, and CG imagery for many backgrounds. There is focus on the variety the artist can pull off in terms of character expression despite some of them appearing rather same-same. The additional special effects for abilities are interesting, and the conceptualization of these are also well-thought out in terms of how they relate to the original game characters and their designs.
The physical copy of the manga also includes a bonus text-only story at the end, which is usually more character-building. It honestly can feel like a bit of a cop-out until you remember this is Yoko Taro we're talking about. It emulates the same reading requirement from his games.
I recommend this for anyone looking for gore and mature themes intertwined with witty commentary and a liking for battle royale stories. However, online scantalations are almost impossible to find past chapter 5, and the chapters can be lengthy to translate, so you will need a decent amount of patience to wait for official translations and just buy the book.

After a lot of back and forth, I returned to this series with a new perspective. Thanks to the fandom, I learned this anime came out plenty of time ahead of much of the manga. While that is no excuse, it should put into perspective the stark differences and the "stuff more people liked" being in the manga and not the anime. The anime started after the manga had just concluded around the third assassin's attempt, so everything afterward, the anime actually went on plot first. The manga chapters that came out after added to what the anime established.
With that out of the way, ... onto the review. The anime is solidly watchable. The premise is not that special, being a survival game with shoujo ai subtext (not really yuri). Only two of the seven relationships get any screentime and one character is completely thrown aside. Some early scenes that might have heightened character were lost in translation, though the characters and their varied personalities are still very prominent. Some are tropey-er than others, and some are better than others. The appeal is the wide range, I would say, in the girls in this class of supposed killers.
Mechanics and execution-wise, the anime focuses away from relationships and more onto the action and music. The soundtrack is stellar, though that can only cover for so much in a series where the relationships are supposed to be the mainstay.
The art is nothing special, but it's also not bad. It is augmented well by the lighting of their eyes, often.
Overall, I think this is fine and watchable. Over the years I came to appreciate this a lot more thanks to the VAs and the fandom. The anime on its own, though, can only please so much. It is more of a springboard into the fandom for the fish who bite, and a complete snooze for others looking for something more substantial.

On a personal level, this is a 10. But objectively, this is truly about a 7 at best, as far as everything goes. Characters were by far the strongest point. Even those who did not get a lot of love from the limelight still got good characterization and fleshed out storylines. However, the tight restraint on their appearances and interactions ultimately feels like a lot of the character potential is lost. It is even more unfortunate that this is how it has to be due to the nature of this yuri survival game. I'm not 100% sold on the yuri, since even though the manga ... has more than the anime, it still feels lacking for the most part.
Overall, I did enjoy this a lot more than other people I recommended this to. It had a lot of potential, even if it ultimately felt unused for the most part due to constraints of plot.

I thoroughly enjoyed this take on a detached and estranged MC. The vibe of the manga is largely something like Final Destination meets Criminal Minds. In the beginning, it is a very strange environment that seems to move very fast, ultimately slowing to a bit of a heavy slog when discussing things like occult and death. That luckily does not take away from the overall story, which can feel a bit disjointed. I found it overall charming, as the MC kept things kind of fresh for me. I didn't feel sad for anything, which I think might be a great achievement for a manga revolving ... around death and seeing it in a different way.

So despite the problems with this manga, I did enjoy it more than I thought the rating would tell me.
Story-wise, it is nothing original. It has Saw motivations, similar to Torikago no Tsugai, but with nothing particularly though evoking. It doesn't pique your curiosity much at all as to who the killer is. Lots of actions taken by characters also were pretty dumb, like in bad horror films. The reveal of the perpetrator is not that climactic, though it should have been a bit more ceremonious maybe. The injection of moral dilemma was a bit too trite and repetitive, though it did help move the ... plot along. However, I did appreciate some of the worldbuilding, but this came as way too little and too late in the end.
Artistically, it is very cookie-cutter. Still shots are serviceable, but the scenes of supposed violence are not very well done. It doesn't have any particularly memorable art. It just feels a bit soulless and mass-produced in aesthetic. However, the starting scene of the tutorial game was probably the best, in my opinion.
Characters, as mentioned, are dumb. They do at least differentiate between the seven, which is nice, and they are all distinct in personality. Their dumb actions decrease any sympathy one might have for them. While distinct, they are sort of reduced in complexity, particularly for those who fail early. But I will say that for 6 chapters, even the ones who get offed first got decent coverage to flesh out more than one trait as to who they are as people.
As I said before, I weirdly enjoyed this despite expecting nothing but trite crap or nonsensical plot like from Shoujo Shikkaku. The worldbuilding part was a slight detail but I enjoyed that immensely. Other than that, the history they build behind this ridiculous game was just so random and yet I didn't find it any stupider than I Know What You Did Last Summer. It was also a short story and a short read that progressed snappily, which lessened any pain one might incur reading the next character screaming about saving their own hide.

An original story using characters by Huke that takes BRS into psychological territory that I wish the anime took better advantage of ... is how I would say this manga is. The overall setting can feel a bit trite, as there are plenty of stories out there about afterlife stuff and between-heaven-and-hell environments. But, that doesn't diminish this hat in the ring in any way.
At first, the chapters feel like they're pretty one-off bits, with new chapters having new villains and new mental prisons to explore. These get tied together into a single narrative as the nature of the world is revealed, as well ... as the final boss, that kind of storytelling style. It all wraps up fairly nicely and pretty satisfying, with few loose ends to bother poking at.
The art is a bit strange. Facial expressions strongly remind me of Muhyo and Roji. Black Rock Shooter's body proportions are strange in some instances, appearing like a long, flat noodle. I suppose that is a way to convey movement? Either way, the environment art is an interesting way to display a broken world, and there are lots of messy swatches to show fragmented mental states. Overall, it's pretty solid.
It's a different story from the other BRS alternatives out there, but I would give this a pretty high score as a narrative. Compared to the anime, this is better explained and finished.