Manga Review: Doubt by Yoshiki Tonogai

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: 2013

Volumes: 2 Omnibus/4 Volumes

Spoilers?: No.

Volume 1: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume 2: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Rabbit Doubt-a mobile phone game-has taken Japan by storm. In it, players are rabbits who must uncover the wolf in rabbit's clothing before falling prey to its mistrust-sowing wiles...as well as its teeth. When a group of teen players decides to meet offline for fun, the last thing they expect is to lose consciousness and wake up trapped in an abandoned building, mysterious bar codes tattooed on their bodies, and a corpse strung up in front of them. To stay alive and find a way out, they have but one option-to sniff out the lying wolf in their midst. Will these virtual acquaintances be able to pull it together in the real world and figure out what's going on in time to avoid ending up as the wolf's dinner?

Review:

I’ve been curious about this series for a while. I don’t tend to enjoy dark, murder plot lines. But this one caught my interest.

It is psychological. It starts pretty easy, with the group of characters meeting up after chatting online. They seem pretty carefree, an odd group. And then they’re locked in a building, and one of them is already dead.

I liked the set-up—that they’re in an online game about a murderous wolf hiding among the rabbits. I like how it was presented at the beginning, and it worked throughout the story. For some

reason, I wasn’t actually expecting so much death. I won’t spoil who dies or how many, but I was surprised by how bloody and murderous it was.

There wasn’t really enough character development, though. While I liked some of the characters more than others, I didn’t really get attached. So when the deaths started happening, it didn’t feel very intense to me, because I didn’t care enough yet.

I did like the psychological aspect, when all was revealed and we found out who actually did it and how. I did think it worked out, the logic of it, at least mostly. I don’t think that, after everything happened, there could really be a satisfying ending, or a happy one. It felt a little rushed, the way it all wrapped up. But I suppose the way it ended fits. I’m not sure if I like some aspects of it, but it worked…

It was an all right series, and I am intrigued to read the spin-offs.

Manga Review: Doubt!!, Volume 6, by Kaneyoshi Izumi

Rating (Out of 5): ~2.5-3

Publisher: VIZ Media (Shojo)

Volume: 6

Goodreads Synopsis:

Ai's sometimes-rocky relationship with her boyfriend has weathered many storms. Now, in the final volume in this series, his first serious girlfriend has come back into the picture, and Ai's confidence wavers. Rated for older teens.

Review:

I… don’t know about this series. This is the final book, and it’s been a while since I read the last one. I liked Izumi’s other series, Seiho Boys’ High School, and had been a bit into that series before I started this one.

I remember Izumi saying, I think in volume 4 or 5, how she was growing old, or tired, or something along those lines, of this series. And you could tell. Which I didn’t really appreciate, because I had been enjoying it before that. This volume didn’t seem as bad, but apparently she had some problems with the series. She had to end it differently, I guess, because it was dropped and then picked up by a different magazine. I don’t mind that, but it did make me wonder what she would have done different.

In the first few chapters, Ai has some competition going with Sakurako for So. Sakurako is pretty much a conniving bitch who I did not like, but it all ends well or whatever. Then there’s another problem with Mimura, a boy we’ve met previously who I didn’t really care to remember. He drags Ai into pretending to date him, then she inadvertently accepts to go to an amusement park with him and she has a minor fight with So. And then we get to the last storyline.

We meet Sakurako’s older sister, who she hates, and who has a thing with/for So. Turns out they used to go out or something, and still have something going on, and So has a hard time resisting her at any point. Even though he’s supposed to be loyal to Ai, he skips out on her to meet Shuko. He’s kind of given an ultimatum and chooses Ai, then chooses Shuko, and after almost leaving the country with her, finally chooses Ai because of course that’s who he really wants.

I just didn’t care at that point and was rolling my eyes. Partly because I don’t think he really deserves Ai, although maybe they really do deserve each other. Ai has been in love with him since the beginning, and has gone through so much crap to keep him, and it’s all just ridiculous. What’s the point, really? She should have realized that the drama was not going to stop, as was pointed out at the end of the book, and she really shouldn't be putting up with it all. Also, when he chose Shuko, everyone seemed to be saying that she wasn't trying very hard to keep him. Um, excuse me? She's been trying to keep him this whole series. I wouldn't have blamed her, would have even liked it, if she'd decided that he just wasn't worth it. But of course not, because she loves him too much.

Although, this is one of the few series where I didn’t care for the main characters/couple. Usually, I like at least one of the two characters, if not both, and I almost always like the main couple when they're together. Being the big fan of romance that I am, I almost always love the romantic scenes. With this one, and I’m not even sure how many romantic scenes there were, I didn’t really care for any of the scenes that starred those two.

I really liked Yuichiro, and had been kind of hoping something big would happen for him, even though I didn’t know if that would work very well, depending how it was done. I didn’t mind him and Mina, but I also wouldn’t have minded him and someone else. I just liked him; he was my favorite character, and we didn’t get much at all of an ending with him. I understand why, of course, given the change in magazine and page amount she had to work with, but I still don’t really like it.

This wasn’t really a very good ending to the series for me, but I don’t really know what else I was expecting. The main character was Ai, and her love interest was obviously So, and I just didn't like them very much, especially together.