Reviews

In my opinion, Shin Gendai Ryoukiden is way overhyped as something truly disgusting and appaling. The most outrageous thing about it is that it's based on true crimes - it helps boast its notoriety, but that's about it. In the end, your mind will always outdo anything presented to you on a piece of paper or on the screen - so, after deliberately avoiding it for some time, I finally decided to read it - and what do you know, it's pretty tame and underwhelming. Waita is a hack, I can't see why people would praise his art, characters look way too cartoony and sometimes you can't make out what's going on under the overflowing gore. Now, in something like Death Panda he can get away with it due to dark humor, but this is supposed to be something truly dark and morbid, so it just fails to make an impression.
Now, I don't want to sound edgy, wanting something even more horrible. I was truly appauled by the story of Junko Furuta, and find it disgusting that some people were able to profit off of such a tragedy. I just judge the manga by its own standarts - it was supposed to fill me with rage and anguish, but instead just left me bored and a bit less outraged. I suppose Waita just couldn't draw some of the heavier stuff that happened to her properly. Or maybe he deliberately decided not to? Even a man profiting of a murder of teenage girl may have his limits.
The best thing about the manga is a cover. I'll give Waita that - it's beautiful and intriguing. Rose and a happy photo spark your imagination (just to leave you dissapointed in the end). So it gets a point from me just for that. Another kinda positive thing is that it actually was made. I mean, it sounds weird, but after trashing this manga, I'm still glad it exists. Without it I would have most likely never hear about Junko and her terrible tragedy. I saw people on the Internet weeping that they would prefer to "unlearn" of these events. No, read about it, realise, how much of a fucked up place our world is. Honor Junko's memory at least with a thought. So, another point for making me lose another bit of faith in humanity.
Overall - 2/10. Rest in peace, every victim this manga is based upon.