Warning! This volume contains graphic violence, verbal abuse and blood.
It's a shoujo manga despite it's serious, dark and somewhat horrifying atmosphere. It's mainly about the hunted being the hunter. This is too serious to be a shoujo manga, it should be a seinen series! I like shoujo but I don't think the young shoujo audience should read this. It's just too graphic. It also has a live-action drama that aired recently which is awesome! (I'm gonna watch it after I finish the whole series!) Anyway, come with me as I review the volume! Yeah!
Limit Volume 1: (by Keiko Suenobu) is a shoujo manga revolving around the issue of bullying. It has a lot more issues inside of the story but as this is volume 1, I can only say that it's about bullying. It projects the consequences and the after effects of said issue, into a huge but reasonable plot. When a wolf is cornered, it lets out a death howl, accepts death and gets ready to fight to the death. (Attack on Titan reference? Maybe.)
The story starts with our main character Mizuki Konno, living a mundane life, going with the flow and avoiding trouble. She's the type of person who saves her own skin and sides and pleases the bullies. Their class participated in the field trip when suddenly, the driver presumably died while driving the bus that contains the students. Unfortunately, they drove off a cliff and most the class died. Mizuki Konno found Arisa Morishige, Chikage Usui, Chieko Kamiya and Haru Ichinose alive. The bullied Arisa Morishige now has an upperhand because of her scythe and declares that she become the ruler as she now holds the power to kill. What part will Konno play in this story? Will she be killed? Are there any survivors other than the five of them? Find out on the next volume!
Art: The art is definitely shoujo. Big, beautiful eyes, cute girls, sparkly screen tones and dreamy-like atmosphere. But when it got to the serious part, it went dark and aggressive, like a rabid dog staring at you with a deadly glare. I can definitely feel the darkness that is emanating from the art style even though you have the typical shoujo style. You see it as who people really are, selfish, only living for themselves. All I can say is, WHY THE HELL IS THIS NOT SEINEN!?
Panel Pacing: Great! I like how the typical shoujo manga takes up all the space and doesn't waste any of it. Almost every page is filled with screen tones. I think it's too overwhelming but when you see that there is less white space, it really gives you the sense of who the target audience is, teenage girls. Honestly I like white space because it doesn't steal your attention from reading the speech bubbles but all the sparkly details are also great to see once in a while just to refresh the scenery.
Story: Since this is the first volume, I can only tell you about until the horrifying cliffhanger! I think this is a great story to express the issue of bullying in a greater scenario. I am truly interested in this manga and I've gone through volume 4 in just 3 days (and that was me keeping myself from reading the entire title so fast). The story flows really well and it doesn't give you a pale moment. Always looking back at past acts that have molded the story into what it is.
Characters: I'm just gonna say that some of the characters are too extreme. I don't think that people would resort to violence after only a few hours. Survival means that there is gonna be some in-fighting going on but it will not be that quick to make a spark. Suenobu-sensei blew these characters to make them fit the villain costume and this really makes it more dramatic. Dramatic in a sense that every character that you thought was only doing the right thing to do at the moment might have done a terrible thing. She drew these characters and brought life into them, they feel real but I guess the culture here in the US made me think of the "bullying" in the story as an extreme example.
Bottomline: Read it. Just read it. At some point in your life, you will be the hunted, and sometimes the hunter. This title makes you realize your mistakes and makes you reflect upon your past actions as a kid or as a teenager. If you want to teach someone a lesson about bullying, let them read this. I want them to enjoy but also want them to realize that this story might be happening now and what bullying might cause in the future.
Well that was long. I sure hope you read all that, or even just the bottomline part. Thanks!
The harsh truth.
Art: The art is definitely shoujo. Big, beautiful eyes, cute girls, sparkly screen tones and dreamy-like atmosphere. But when it got to the serious part, it went dark and aggressive, like a rabid dog staring at you with a deadly glare. I can definitely feel the darkness that is emanating from the art style even though you have the typical shoujo style. You see it as who people really are, selfish, only living for themselves. All I can say is, WHY THE HELL IS THIS NOT SEINEN!?
Panel Pacing: Great! I like how the typical shoujo manga takes up all the space and doesn't waste any of it. Almost every page is filled with screen tones. I think it's too overwhelming but when you see that there is less white space, it really gives you the sense of who the target audience is, teenage girls. Honestly I like white space because it doesn't steal your attention from reading the speech bubbles but all the sparkly details are also great to see once in a while just to refresh the scenery.
Story: Since this is the first volume, I can only tell you about until the horrifying cliffhanger! I think this is a great story to express the issue of bullying in a greater scenario. I am truly interested in this manga and I've gone through volume 4 in just 3 days (and that was me keeping myself from reading the entire title so fast). The story flows really well and it doesn't give you a pale moment. Always looking back at past acts that have molded the story into what it is.
It really immerses you into a slowly twisting world.
Bottomline: Read it. Just read it. At some point in your life, you will be the hunted, and sometimes the hunter. This title makes you realize your mistakes and makes you reflect upon your past actions as a kid or as a teenager. If you want to teach someone a lesson about bullying, let them read this. I want them to enjoy but also want them to realize that this story might be happening now and what bullying might cause in the future.
Well that was long. I sure hope you read all that, or even just the bottomline part. Thanks!
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