Tomodachi Game

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The final chapter 127 was released today. I caught up with this a year or so ago and since then only about 8 chapters dropped (monthly release problems lol). Spoiler free review.

Overall: 8.5 / 10 (rounding it to 9)

The plot can be summarized like this: MC "calculates" everything 10 chapters ahead of everyone else. Light Yagami, Lelouch kind of vibes. Give it a read and keep in mind that the first 10 or so chapters will feel like "What the hell happened / How did they end up like this" but you will understand everything as you keep reading.

The ending was satisfying (for me). ... The story came together and concluded nicely, although I would say one of the "biggest reveals" was tad bit underwhelming (or maybe I saw it coming?). It doesn't take away anything from the story though. There are plot twists after plot twists and you will be kept wondering if a character is actually a friend or a foe. Some games were lacklustre I think but for the most part they were enjoyable.

There are some BS deus ex machina moments for MC, or times where the smartest characters (other than MC) don't seem so smart. Typical, it is a shounen mind games manga after all.

The first 10 chapters are really good. All we know is that we have a group of friends, and the game organisers are trying to break up the friendship by showing doubts and offering money as a reward. Then there's a retcon I didn't really like regarding a certain character. The author repeats this throughout the story. What is established about a character gets thrown out in the next game, all for the sake of a subversion, a twist. Still, it's intriguing and entertaining, till chapter 50 or so, that is. Then the decline into absurdity begins.

There's only so much suspension of disbelief that ... is possible on the part of a reader, when in every new game it's like the characters memories get reset. They forget how yuuichi is a liar and a manipulator, and get fooled again and again. This gets very tiresome after a point, and it defeats the purpose of the twists in an ironic way, as the story has now become predictable. No matter what the situation is, yuuichi has planned everything from the first moment and will win anyway. But that can't possibly be true because he couldn't be prepared for every contingency, and I'm talking about that scene during the forest game where he falls off a cliff. How the hell did he know a branch would be there? Ridiculous. That is just one example.

More and more characters are introduced, the games that were intricate and strategic become action packed shootouts. There's retcon after retcon, twist after twist(each more absurd than the last) till the final bell tolls, and we are left with an ending we don't care about so much because we stopped caring a long time ago.

The way the female characters are portrayed is also a joke, as it's either buttshots or boobshots, even when they are talking. The art starts out incredible, then slowly decreases in quality.

The games are well designed and some of the foreshadowing is great, ultimately it becomes too repetitive and predictable for its own good, which is ironic since this series is all about twists. The question that is begged towards the end, after all the reveals is, were the characters ever really friends even? That makes the central theme of the entire manga moot, and the ending scene pointless. It's still very entertaining, so give it a chance , maybe.

It feels like a crime for this to have such an overwhelmingly positive feedback on this site. I'll keep it simple, so you don't have to waste even a fraction of your time as i did.

This is the dumbest, most wannabe cool and edgy, disgusting piece of media not only in all of the death game nieche, but i'd say in all of manga. I don't measure words by saying it, it just throws around a shit ton of very delicate or gruesome topics very poorly dealt with every single chapter and of course, PLOT TWISTS. This series just lives by its plot twists, and ... not in a good way: every single chapter, and i mean it, has at least one ridiculous plot twist that is in no way smart or genuine-feeling, but a mere facade of the most absurd thing possible to put a mask of an intelligent manga. It is NOT. The characters are not, the writer is not. I honestly don't know how the author has a job.

I mean, the entirety of the story is meant to be a critique to society's values and especially so called "friendships", but you know why it doesn't manage to do even that? BECAUSE EVERY SINGLE MAIN CHARACTER IS A PIECE OF SHIT. Of course their damn friendship is a lie, they're all assholes for god's sake. And i don't mean like, normal egotistical human beings who could betray a friend over large quantities of money or something, they're all Jeffrey Dahmer level of sociopaths

"So why do i keep reading?" i shit you not, to have a pinpointed example of everything i shouldn't do when creating my own fiction. And because if this can be very poorly and mildly entertaining, it comes from laughing at how bad it can get.

Redeeming points? I mean i like Shinomiya Kei's personality, and personality alone. That's it, really.

Don't read this. At all. You want death games done well? Have Kaiji, Usogui, Liar Game, Akagi, there's too many honestly, just don't pick this i beg you