Reviews

Apr 11, 2024
All the live action adaptation problems, but in the source material.

Two sides of the same story, bombing victim Takumi, reunites the survivors from a bullying victim motivated school bombing in hopes to find the accomplice, or culprit. While on the other side, a girl is doing another bombing threat, with the situation unfolding and falling apart on both ends.

As a story, think on the potential here. A bombing cult with the objective of stopping bullying. Polarizing in so many levels, a message about the importance of the message, and the execution of the message itself. At which point does a message change from importance, to fear? It was there, and it was doing so good, even with such an extreme narrative, and edgy execution. The manga had a purpose, but it had so little time to actually develop the concepts properly.

The players are; normal folk, bombing victims, bullying victims, bullies, the cult, and the police. With those simple sides, you've got layers upon layers of pure character, perspectives which contribute to the point of the story. They all have a say in the matter, and if only the story touched upon those with care, and purpose. The manga could've easily been an impactful piece of media that makes a mark in the middle of the edgy climate. Sadly, that wasn't the case.

13 chapters isn't enough to treat such a cocktail of polarizing themes. Every scene was missing the conflict, the empathy, the perspective from outsiders. It doesn't have respect for the actual themes it's portraying, not that there's a lack of trying, but a lack of depth. It isn't as simple as a revenge fantasy. Nothing is as simple as mentioning “You erased their dreams”. You need to show the true destruction of life, the true perspective on those that create a complete cult around stopping bullying. So much missing. The manga only reached surface-level messaging. I gained nothing from reading this, when it could've easily been an absolute 9/10 if every character was fleshed out.

Lack of respect, lack of nuance, not even touching the bare minimum towards bullying, terrorism, victims, rape, the mental health effects, the repercussions of survival, even if there was always a moment trying to achieve it. Instead of a lack of trying, there's a complete failure. I don't blame the artist, but the story itself.

In terms of art, probably the greatest part. There's holding on frames, true feeling of pain in injuries, detail that adds to scenes, and a very distinct personality that compliments the themes with a strange innocence to the designs.

The other problems I have with it are, as I said before, it feels like a stripped down version of a way better story. The pacing was abhorrent, the naming, and constant “he said, she said”, doesn't allow us to get in gripes with any personality on the panels. Not only was it a badly constructed theme, but a badly told story in general.

3.7/10. I wish the manga had a higher respect for what it tackles; and time to cook something that matters, or hell, just works as a story. Doesn't even do that.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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