Monthly! Real Account 1

This is one of the new series that came out this week and one of the series that I will pick up. It's about our current situation with SN (Social Networking) websites. Well, for me, it was like more than 5 years ago with Friendster. Yeah, I know! Anyway, fake friends are wide spread and this just shows you how many REAL friends (people who really care about you, family, friends, lovers and other people) that care about you. Yeah, be sad now.

I have searched the googles and I haven't found a magazine cover for this series. Sorry!

It's like Sword Art Online in a way because their consciousness gets taken out of their body and into a virtual world while dying inside the virtual world kills you in reality. It has that same hook that SAO had, a virtual world taken for granted, creating a fake persona, dying in the virtual means death in real life. So why not?

Spoiler Alert! If you are gonna read this post, please read the actual manga first!

Warning! This series contains intense gore and graphic violence!


Story: Kashiwagi Ataru is a sophomore in high school and he is a thousand friends richer than the average person on Rea-aka (short term for the SNS). He notices that everyone around him was obsessed with Rea-aka--the largest SNS in Japan and it's an all in one SNS too with coupons and the like--and says that it's a need in life. He distances himself from his classmates and hides his Rea-aka accnt.

He arrives at his home when his little sister greeted him while cooking. Because of their current situation, he has grown to be frugal. Her sister; Yuri, notices that her brother might be bluffing and he doesn't really have any friends. He lies through his teeth though, pushing his argument that he has "genuine" friends. Ataru then reminds his sister about their promise to eat dinner together every time.

Same Face.

After some time has passed, Ataru reveals why he has been hiding the fact that he has a Rea-aka, he created a god-like persona there. All the good traits were listed and the bad ones were non-existent. He currently has 1,5400 followers on his account, an achievement of sorts inside the virtual world. Behind that status, reality is harsher as he is just a lonely guy without any real friends.

Fast forward a few minutes, Ataru  plays a game inside Rea-aka where he has placed 4th on the nationwide rankings of the game. Behind the game, a silhouette made of malice appears to be manipulating the game. Back to the Ataru household, Yuri sees that his brother is playing a game and witnesses something peculiar about his brother's phone. The phone reads, "The game begins" and somehow, the phone started to flash like a firework in mid-air. Panicking, Ataru sees darkness and then, a virtual world.

Marble, the mascot for Rea-aka, declares that everyone who is currently inside Rea-aka has their mind locked up. People are then enraged and many are skeptical about this shady character's words. Marble reveals that everyone has a number on their arm and points out to the person who is number 25. They broadcast number 25's current situation, unconscious and lying on the floor. Marble also pulled up number 25's accnt and suddenly attacks 25 with his elastic hand. 25 bleeds, and just like in the virtual world, 25 dies with blood splattered over his face presumably coming from his mouth. Next, Marble shows everyone who died along with 25. All of his 500+ followers have died mysterious deaths. Marble explains that this will happen when they die in the virtual world and that only the person who "clears" the game will be allowed to return to the real world. Also, to make things worse, everything that has happened in the virtual world is broadcasted in live television.

After much explanation one person was too scared and tried to run but Marble; like before, extended his arm and pierced the person, killing him and his 300+ followers. Marble then starts a game where the non-participants who are currently following the players can "unfollow" the players to avoid death. The rule has a catch, if the players reach Zero on their followers count, they die. Many players become paranoid and a lot become desperate and try to call and reach out to people to not unfollow them.

The follower count of many have began dwindling down so fast that by the end of the first minute, a lot have died. We see the different people deciding differently: a family member unfollows his brother; a boyfriend unfollows his girlfriend; an online friend unfollows his online friend; a wife stays with her husband, hoping that he would come back alive; a father who cares not about his son; fanatics of some idol idiotically stay for their source of fandom. Oh so many, cried and spew forth blood triggering their deaths. Marble states the harshes of the fact, "Humans socialize only for appearance."

Ataru, down to the last follower he has, his sister. He calls her, telling her to unfollow but she doesn't accept it. Afraid of losing another family member, Yuri cries and stands her ground; to follow his brother even unto death to fulfill their promise to always eat dinner together. The loving brother that he is, Ataru desperately begs for Yuri to unfollow him yet no amount of pleading will grant him that wish. He takes matter into his own hands and blocks Yuri, not fearing death anymore. He blocks Yuri from his account and the time for unfollowing ends. He waits for death...

Of course you don't want your first time to be a spike!

Miraculously, Ataru is spared, having a sole follower on his account. The aftermath of the game leaves more than half dead. To live for his sole follower, Ataru gained his "raison d'être" and screams his battlecry, "I will survive." The main battle awaits...

Likes: The harsh truth of SNS. Back in 2006, I created a "Friendster" account and for 3 years of my life, I was engrossed in it. I added people I knew as "Friends" and I had 100+ of them. Stories of girls who had more than 500 hundred friends started circulating and it wasn't just a rumor. People started making connections even if they were fake ones, adding former classmates and even family members. It was a number game but do they really have any connection with each other? No. That number of friends gave you fame even just in the virtual world. Congratulations, you have this amount of friends!

NUMBERS GAME!

In my SNS account, I only have 30 or so friends. Before, I had 200 including the people in my homeroom and now it dwindled to this 2 digit number. I grew out of the number game and cut off every "friend" that were not real. I ended up with that number but still, excluding my family, I only have 15 or more friends. Those who remember me, those who know me, those who I had deep connections with.

Case in point, if you have more than 300 friends, filter your definition of "Friend" and start cutting off the excess. In the end, you will only have a handful of friends.

Dislikes: Screams Sword Art Online. 10,000 players trapped in a virtual world where when they die, they die in real life. They need to "clear" the goal to return to reality. Watch/Read SAO to find out how this set up is similar.

All it needs is the mastermind! Oh wait...

Quirks: How did they manage to take a live video feed of each individual person locked up in Rea-aka? Hidden cameras?

Predictions: Congratulations, since I was too slow to finish this post up, they came up with the second chapter!

Took me three days to finish this up. Why? I realized that I was writing up every detail there is in the manga. Well, I'll remember to summarize stuff. I just keep forgetting about summarizing! I get too engrossed into the story that I want to tell what happens in every panel. Sorry! Thanks for reading!