Alive

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This was a great one shot manga but I think it would have been a lot better with a few more chapters. I like the concept and the art but the characters didn't really shine and the pacing felt off. The author put himself in a bad spot as when things started to get more exciting it was already chapter 7 or 8, he gave himself only three chapters to truly shine. I would probably rate this manga a 8 instead of a 6 if it was 2 volumes instead of one. while still above average it was still very disapointing.

Before reading this manga I read some reviews about it. So maybe my expectations were high especially since I like psychological manga but somehow I didn't feel satisfied.

The plot is strong but the manga is so short that it fails to make an impact. I feel that the characters could have been better developed. Still it was an average read.

It could have been a great manga but the story ends just when the reader starts getting engrossed in it. At the end I don't get a feeling of closure.

For me it was a worthwhile read. Read it and you may like it if you ... like stories that make you think.

Story:
Not that great. A real mess of forgotten character traits, weak character relationships, and just weak characters overall. A waste of time. I found the first chapter to be a real cheat. It lays the foundation for a neat protagonist as a writer who's on death row. Then it's never mentioned again that he's a writer despite a fairly important scene taking place in regards to it, and it really doesn't matter that he was on death row either. It's kinda just dumb.

And that's a lot of what's going on. It's just a buncha dumb stuff. I'll give credit where credit is due: there are ... bits and pieces of potential strewn throughout this manga, but the problem is that almost ALL stories have bits and pieces of things that work. The problem is how a writer capitalizes on it, and this particular mangaka doesn't do that at all.

I can't really talk too much else. I suppose that's fitting.


Art:
The artwork is where Alive shines. It's pretty great, although some proportions were a bit of a mess. That said, I couldn't tell what was going on with a few panels (and even pages) so I the mangaka improved on his motions and separating the setting from the actors in later manga.


Character:
Just crap. Again, there's some foundation, but then water comes in and shows how weak it was. I can't give a 1/10 because there was an attempt, so I'll keep this at 2/10.


Enjoyment:
Once I realize the mangaka was leaving a ton of stuff empty and wasted, I kinda checked out. There wasn't much this manga could offer me at the halfway point other than the small chapter count. I suggest avoiding this one. Just boring.



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