Jinrou Game: Beast Side

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The best of all the currently released Jinrou Games. It carries on the continuity of the first series and introduces interesting twists and turns from the titular "Beast Side" perspective. I love this series because it feels like I'm watching gameplay of Town of Salem unfold in real time.

Given that it continues the storyline from the first series, Jinrou Game: Beast Side feels more fleshed out and developed, with more engagement from the reader on the stakes of the game now that we have characters who have been firmly established and given stronger backgrounds than in other Death Game Manga. The majority of the ... cast are still randoms who have been thrown into the game, but now we get to see a new version of the first manga unfold from a different perspective.

If you've played Werewolf, Mafia, or Town of Salem, I'm sure you agree that the Killer Roles are the most interesting to be, and I think that line of thought continues in this manga that allows it to shine better than its counterparts in the franchise. There are always more reveals and players introduced than in the last story which amplifies the drama. I must admit, despite the love I have for this manga, there is a particular death scene that ruins one of the more interesting characters and is poorly written in my opinion as it removes the greatest threat our main characters face. I suspect they were killed because the writer was likely unsure how to progress the story with such a powerful leader and investigatory antagonist. Besides that, I think the overall story is still as strong as your typical Death Game Manga.

If you enjoy the Death Game Genre, then why are you reading this? Go read the manga instead!

well.... I don't know it felt kinda forgetable it really had solid potential if the author was someone like Fukumoto (author of Kaiji and many others) or even Katani Shinobu (Liar Game, One Outs and others) it would have been great but unfortunately it was not but it had decent gore elements if you are into that that is something that I would enjoy in liar game if it showed us elements of extreme, in this manga we didn't get any good mind game and what we got was pretty meh, like one girl said that if there are two wolves and 2 villagers left ... all of them would win when in reality it only meant villagers loss and somehow everyone agreed to that (it is not a spoiler don't worry, you will get it when you read) about pros I would say that it was an easy read I finished both parts in a day and I'm looking forward on reading the third one even though it is nothing special but if you are into this kind of stuff I guess you can check it out like I like that kind of mangas so I didn't feel like I wasted my time I enjoyed it but it was not something to remember and to talk to friends about

Story 5.5/10
Simple story but I like the game mafia and among us so mixing it with a gore manga is pretty interesting.

Art 7.5/10
It kinda reminds me of 2010 animes which art I like but I don't really like it in manga.... I don't know why I think it is for anime only, gore elements are greath tho, not for me that's the reason I give it 7.5 but it is not bad

Characters 4/10
I really like great characters that's one of the main things to enjoy about fiction but characters in this manga were just meh, main girl is kinda annoying and the second main girl isn't better you can tell that she's bad only based on hair, if you read enough manga you can say if someone has hair like that they're not ....good, I liked the third guy he reminded me of Yoshida from CSM but then author gave us questionable elements about him, but football player from first game was good so that's one I guess

Enjoyment 7/10
It was an easy read but some moments were boring I stopped mid reading to scroll youtube or something.

Overall 5.7/10
Ignore the math that's just what score I gave it I won't talk about horror aspect because there has never been a horror manga that made me scared like....ever if you know something like really scary please recommend thanks for reading:) that's pretty much it.

*Disclaimer*
Just personal scratch.
Advised, possible spoilers.
Opinion & Informal

Art: 5/10
The anatomy and proportions checked out. There were not any notable environmental or panoramic shots. Neither was there a lot of impact shots or artistic showcases. The art, compared to the previous installment, I felt was a downgrade. The death and gruesome scenes were toned down a lot so much so that the whole manga felt either very censored or PG-13 when comparing it to what was shown in the previous installment. The impact shots that were used didn't seem too impactful to me. Overall, nice details were mostly not there or a bit basic. The backgrounds and ... extras were alright; the personal rooms honestly had the most detail in the entire manga. The gruesome scenes seemed a bit tame compared to the prequel which is a minus considering the prequel set up a lot of momentum for this sequel.

Panel Progression: 5/10
The panel progression felt a bit quick. The clarity of the progression was a bit lacking as well. Like the previous installment, the pacing was a bit too quick so it ended up hurting the clarity by not having enough panels or speech bubbles to support what was going on sometimes. The general discussions were mostly fine, but it was very clear towards the end of the manga that the progression rushed itself way too fast going so far as to skip or gloss over entire deaths, conversations, etc. The panel layout was nice-looking but that was about it. There wasn't too much flair in the form of panel cutting or impact sequences; the executions were really lame and seemed like they were purposely toned down and were allocated only a page or two.

Characters: 4/10
The characters were lame. Exactly like the prequel, many of the characters were given uninteresting to interesting setups. However, those setups were quickly snuffed out just like how those same characters were quickly killed off for some of the dumbest and out-of-nowhere reasons. Character development was non-existent for anyone except for the MC glasses girl because everyone but her dies off before any of their stories or growth can come to fruition/completion. The growth of the MC was predictable and uninspiring. Her sudden change of personality was exactly that, way too sudden. Her change of character starting around the middle of this manga was way too abrupt and had almost no support to it. She just somehow suddenly started to like death and killing people. There was no inward contemplation, no resolution, nothing.

Plot: 5/10
Sequel to previous Jinrou Game and the initial chapter or three were quite interesting actually. The previous installment set up a lot of momentum for this manga.

Development: 4/10
Predictable development. 100% without a doubt of course the MC glasses girl is going to survive. Judging by how the glasses MC girl's character abruptly changed midway through the manga, the betrayal of the blonde werewolf girl was also predictable. The specific intricacies of the dynamics between the characters as well as their frantic debates was the only interesting part about the development in this manga. Those same dynamics and debates were however shunted because of how stupidly the characters that were responsible for juicy developments were killed off. If not just killing them off, the juicy developments were straight up either dropped completely or resolved by just killing those characters off so as not to explain or spend time on them.

Conclusion: 4/10
Predictable conclusion that left no motivation to want to read a possible sequel (ahem, Crazy Fox). All the questions that were brought up across both current installments of Jinrou Game, excluding Crazy Fox, were not answered at all. Seriously, no questions were answered at all. Who's responsible for the game? Why are students of the same high school being chosen? What is the aim of the game?

Overall: 5/10
This sequel was a bust. There was no reasoning at all as to why the MC's heart changed. There was no personal struggle or conscientious battle. The resolve that the MC showed at the end of the prequel was completely dropped without explaining why; it didn't give any foundation for her fall. She just so happened to conveniently fall to make it easier for the narrative to flow into a "join them" conclusion. I do not think this sequel is worth reading. Pretend Jinrou Game ended with the first installment. It's much better that way. I gave this a 5 rather than a 4 because I felt that while there were a lot of things I disliked about this sequel, I appreciate the story that both installments present as a whole: the fall and tainting of a person. While I thought the overall execution could have been done differently, the Jinrou Game series is entertaining for what it is.