Kono Shima ni wa Midara de Jaaku na Mono ga Sumu

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This is the story you gotta read for the plot. It is labeled smut, but it was really interesting sci-fi for mature audiences.

In some ways, it is similar to Higurashi When They Cry and Summertime Render. Some weird stuff goes on an island village that traps characters with no escape. I thought the story is really unique, I kept remembering it over the years. It scratched a really specific sci-fi itch for me. I did read a ton of sci-fi in my life, and I really enjoyed the work, which can be difficult with the amount of stuff I already saw in the genre. ... I just couldn't stop reading it!

I am honestly surprised how long it took me to find it again, and how many similar plot summaries I read while looking, typing all the relevant tags that would totally spoil stuff for you.

I am not surprised it is totally overlooked, because it does have some issues with presenting the story organically, and it was clearly promoted as smut instead of a thrilling ride it was to me , hence the high rating. It is a relatively short story and I think the potential of it was not drawn out, sadly. But if it was animated by a skilled director, I am pretty sure it would get a strong following.

I am just so bummed it is not only overlooked as a whole, but also disliked by the reviewers.

Since this is the first review on this manga, I thought I'd introduce you, the potential reader, to its theme, tone and mood rather than focusing on specific areas and critiquing them.
The manga begins in a modern day setting where a group of college students are led by their classmate to the island she comes from. Now of course, this island is not what it looks like, with the sidelong glances of the hosts and the simmering mood that is present. This mood culminates in a hunt for "intruderss" (the college students) who are not allowed to witness the "ceremony" of the island. I'll ... leave the rest for you to find out but it's fair to say that the story goes down a dark path and over the duration of the manga (so far) it continues to decline into even darker themes.
Finally, to wrap up this review, I'd like to focus on Tarou, the protagonist of the story, who is delightfully explored over the duration of the manga so far. His descent towards madness is delightfully entertaining and it's interesting to see what lengths he'll go to in order to achieve his goals, something which many mangas fail to encapture.
Overall, this manga is not a masterpiece and neither is it spectacular. It is a good read with a plot that twists and turns, making the manga as a whole, very entertaining. A solid 7/10 from me.

This shit is so awful its insane.

For a story that starts off with a great hook and most importantly a great premise in the form of escaping an island it sounded like a great read for someone who's been reading trash isekai for a while and had a gem every now and then.

However, this was not what I expected, the blatant input of sex scenes for no reason at all, the retconning to fit a new narrative, and above all, terrible terrible world-building and a terrible way of explaining everything in the story.

We're introduced to this world yet we don't learn anything about it. I ... still don't know where half the terms they were talking about actually mean and only realized HEAVILY KEY FACTORS in the story on the LAST COUPLE CHAPTERS. Exposition isn't the best, but not knowing what the fuck is going on for a lackluster resolution that ends on sex scene is ridiculous.

This shit could have been good, I hate the word potential but it had it and completely blew it in favor of a single-minded narrative with no overarching theme and quite literally got rid of any character growth that could have happened in favor for the ending to be happy instead of make sense.

I don't think anyone should read this, genuinely, but if you do let me know what you think.