17-sai.

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: 17-sai.: Joshikousei Kankin Satsujin

Japanese: 17歳。

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 4

Chapters: 35

Status: Finished

Published: 2004 to 2005

Genre: Drama

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Manga Action

Authors: Kamata, Youji (Art), Fuji, Seiji (Story)

Statistics

Score: 6.48¹ (scored by 3,369 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #16256²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #2780

Members: 7,750

Favorites: 30

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6.48

Ranked #16256Popularity #2780Members 7,750

MangaManga ActionKamata, Youji (Art), Fuji, Seiji (Story)

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Volumes: /4

Chapters: /35

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Synopsis

This is the story of a terrible crime committed against a 17-old-girl, committed, in part, by 17-year-old boys. Why did such a thing happen? Why was no one able to prevent it?

In the beginning, high school boys Hiroki and his friend Takashi are rescued from bullying by a notorious gangster, Miyamoto. At first, they are thrilled to be under his protection, and cheerfully run off anyone who threatens them with the mere mention of Miyamoto's name. Soon, they learn that there is a lot more to being in Miyamoto's gang than just being protected. In return, they're expected to offer loyalty and obedience, or face possibly deadly consequences. This becomes harder as the violence and the crimes they find themselves committing begins to escalate.

One night, they kidnap a high school girl, Sachiko. Now Hiroki has two battles to face. Internally, he faces the dissonance between his sense of self-preservation and his conscience. Externally, Sachiko's twin sister Miki, who goes to Hiroki's high school, her parents and the police are searching for the missing girl. Will Sachiko ever return home? What kind of person--or monster--will Hiroki become?

(Source: MangaHelpers)

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Background

17-sai. is based on the murder of Junko Furuta which occured in Adachi, Tokyo in 1989.

The series was published in Spanish by MangaLine from April 2006 to December 2009.

More characters
Characters

Marukawa, Hiroki

Main

Oozawa, Sachiko

Main

Oozawa, Miki

Main

Miyamoto

Supporting

Mizuno, Katsuya

Supporting

Tsuji, Daisuke

Supporting

Ikuno, Takashi

Supporting

Reviews

Jul 10, 2018

Z-I-CO

Recommended

Reading the reviews here, I realized that this manga was based off of on a true story. After reading the manga, I checked out the real story to see how near to the actual story this manga was and also if the victim was faring well. What I found out was...disturbing. The manga is not even close to the real injustice the victim faced. This, however, does not make the manga bad. In fact, I am glad the manga did not remain true to the actual case because the torture the real victim faced was just horrible. No, it was more than horrible.

This is ...

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Feb 25, 2016

Paraturtle

Mixed Feelings

This is a manga adaption of a novel interpretation of the real life events of Junko Furuta.

Story:
It's hard to say this is enjoyable due to the subject matter, but a good way to describe this is a manga episode of 'Criminal Minds.' The benefit that 17-sai has over virtually every episode of Criminal Minds is that 17-sai wasn't created to capitalize on people's morbid interest in all things evil, but to memorialize an event that should have never taken place. (if 17-sai WAS originally conceived for the sole purpose of making a profit, than damn the original writer, Seiji Fujii)

Morals aside, the actual story follows ... Hiroki who was roped into Miyamoto's gang. He second guesses very quickly all the actions Miyamoto does and soon enough is tied to the terrible events that take place after Miyamoto abducts a young girl. From them on out we see the terrible atrocities they commit, as well as the girls family work with the police to find out where she's been taken from.

There's nothing particularly revolutionary about this story. There isn't a speck of philosophy used (despite the narrative having enough weight to include it) and the events that unfold aren't astronomical, but the helplessness of the events that take place are very, very real.

Art:
Decent. Nothing special. It's not bad, but it's not super good either. I never felt as though proportions were off, and I also never felt as though the art was trying to shock me (most notably during the abuse). It was tame, which is nice considering the subject matter. Like I mentioned above, this is a memorialization, not glorification. Even still, the art is pretty basic, there aren't overly detailed locals, and most of the events take place inside, so there isn't room for impressive scenery.

That said, the art itself isn't abusive to the reader. It's good to note that the art doesn't glorify the horrific events within these pages. It's careful to expose what's necessary as it takes place. I really appreciated this sense of self-awareness from the artist. It's what kept the Art score from being a 6.

Character:
Some of the things Hiroki does and says are really, really stupid. I found myself questioning why he did them. This is something that a story should never have. It's not a "Woah!" moment where it took me by surprise and I was happy, more of a "What!?" and I was like, "His character showed no signs of this at ALL!" This happened twice.

None of the other characters are all that compelling or have these personal arcs that take place, but the ferocity of the delinquents was terrifying. Considering the topic of this manga, it was surprising that I was continually sickened despite the desensitization that takes place while reading (or perhaps you're already quite desensitized. This will test those limits.)

Enjoyment:
A strange category for this manga, but I can't deny it being a fairly well crafted narrative. Like I've mentioned in other reviews, I can't turn off my critical lense, and it's my critical lense which dictates how enjoyable a work can be. With very little issues (but also, virtually 0 spectacles) I found this to be a devilishly pleasant 7. Not everyone will enjoy this, or handle this, but because the artist took care not to over expose what took place, it was clear that a lot of love was put into not only the narrative but the imagery as well.

((If you liked this review, friend me for new reviews on other works, both manga and anime!))

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May 26, 2024

DeltaWDarko

Not Recommended

Spoiler

At first, I was surprised that there were no negative reviews for this on MAL, considering the nature of the manga. After some thinking, my surprise waned. I mean, most people would look at the case this is inspired by and immediately decide not to touch it; Those who don't are the kind of people who would likely enjoy this by comparison (I do not mean this to slant fans of this, I merely mean that they would be more accepting of upsetting subject matter). And those who find the concept questionable (such as me) would likely assume that the reasons this work fails speak ... for themselves. Honestly, that may be the most offensive part of this manga; It's just not really interesting. Would anyone actually care about this if it was removed from the tragic death of Junko Furuta? Maybe, but I assume that far less people would.

But let's start from the top. '17 Years' is a manga inspired by the murder of Junko Furuta, which occurred about 15 years before this manga was created. If you are not familiar with this event, I would suggest reading about it first, although keep in mind that it was an extremely evil murder and the details are upsetting on every level. Even at its best, such a concept for a manga is dubious. There are examples of stories like this working, but '17 Years' doesn't, and even if it did, I would still question why such a manga needed to be made in the first place. Many people have claimed that the manga excuses the actions of the protagonist (and by extension the actual killers), but to give the manga credit this does not seem to be the intent. However, it is still a very strange decision to take an infamous murder case and focus far more on one of the criminals than the actual victim, especially in such a sympathetic way. The lack of characterization for Sachiko (Who is analogous to Junko) is by far the biggest flaw of this manga (along with how boring it is). We don't see her life before she's kidnapped, and the majority of her panel time is spent being tortured. She is essentially a plot device. This would be bad in any manga, but considering the context this is honestly quite awful.

The ending is by far the most confusing element of this manga. Sachiko doesn't die, she is rescued. ...Why? So she has a happy ending? If the idea was to make a story with a happy ending, why even base it on this case? Was it so people would be more likely to sympathize with the protagonist, knowing that his actions did not lead to murder? What was the point? Was there a point? Why did this manga need to be written? I assume it was to show how a group of boys could be led to do such things, but the message was "Most of this evil murder was spearheaded by one particularly bad guy". Ok, that *could* be a fine story, but is that actually what happened in this case? Well, this certainly wasn't an accurate depiction of events on any level. I really can't think of a reason why this manga needed to exist. It's not good independent of its context, and it's even worse attached to it. At the end of the day it feels cheap. I do not recommend this manga. If you want a non-fiction narrative about delinquent kids' struggles to be better, read 'Bakuon Rettou'.

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