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“Mild Spoiler review”
You may wondering about real-life romcom that “How would it work in real life?” Well, this manga is a perfect place for you. But, just like what you’re thinking, it won’t be that good as those cliched mangas.

[This review contain lot’s of “realistic” word, but please know the reasons first. I just realized I overused this word in these paragraph, so I must tell you beforehand that “That’s how it is!” This may look silly to some of you but if you reconsider my words again, you will know why I over use it so much.]

Story: 9
Starting as a typical idiot romcom harem ... protagonist, it made me feel very bored until the last part of the 1st chapter that twisted so hard I realize that “this manga is so damn real!” Most of readers may think that this want to show “how important ‘feelings’ are”, but that’s just a piece of the main idea. The story portray everything that you need to know to realize possibilities in the next panels. You may think some are predictable and some are unexpected, but all of them are “realistic”. There are none of “silly thought” or “unreasonable decision” in this story, even if you think so. People always decide things base on emotion and opinion, just these two with reasons and some facts as their excuses on something, which author realized that and illustrate it nicely but harshly. This is more clear in the second arc when people believe something in the media, even if it’s real or not, they would stick to it and stand on their own opinion. Also, the story even tell how far self-centered defensive instincts of human can be. As it showed in the story, there are some situation that lead to the conclusion that “I’m always right! But YOU are wrong!” This also influenced the readers’ thought too which make reader feel sad/desperate/or angry. It’s exactly how school work as a “small-sized society”. I feel really blessed by how real this story is and I recommend analyzing the story while reading this too. (Eventually, there are some of fan service too, but that’s forgivable for me because it’s mildly done and that’s a good thing for me)

Art: 7
The art is pretty decent with little amount of noticeable flaws, but forgivable. It’s not the perfect way to show characters’ emotion. But the way how artist portray the difference between both side of protagonists is pretty good and clear, which make it easier to understand which character they were at the time. Background are inexistent for me because all readers’ attention got sucked by characters, all of them, which I will explain more in the next paragraph on the “Character”.

Character: 8
All I have is “Wow!” It’s hard to realize that all characters should be real people, not only just a protagonist’s acquaintances. They have their own mind process and different reactions on a certain situation. You think some are cliched but that’s not all of their characters. The feeling when you know what this character would say on some situation is unlike when you guess the dialogue of NPC’s, it’s a feeling when you know how your friends would react in a certain situation. The bond between characters still have some flaws but author did a great job controlling them, especially between 5 people. But the most important person this the main guy, he mad me mad when he’s in the pressured situation and made me feel calm when he can rest. His fear/happiness/sadness/anger ultimately make readers comply with him
, and that’s really great tbh. Kick-ass character can even feel other side of feeling and after the story clear up, the bond between them are apparently stronger than the first episode. I feel them as “trustable characters”, which make me feel safer and also the protagonist. After the second arc happen, connection circle of the protagonists’ group got wider, which make relationship between all of them weirder but still understandable. Still, the story is better and I hope the bond between them would improve in an interesting way.

Enjoyment and Overall: 9
It’s not a manga that you really make you want to marathon, but you can if you just turn the next chapter’s page. It can make you addict but that addiction isn’t eternal, but, you can pause and it’s still hovering in your mind. I can’t forget what happened and can’t keep thinking of how the next chapter would be. Maybe it’s just me, but trust me that you won’t regret reading this. This may not be a masterpiece or a pure heart slice of life, but it’s “interesting and illustrates common human logic in a realistic way without those abstract thinking, which all of this are covered with a peaceful romcom cute cover artstyle”.

I wish this review would be helpful on your decision on this manga.
Hope you enjoy my review and have a great day while reading great mangas.

What would you do to survive a massive demolition that caused a ruination of your country? Well, this is not a how-to book for readers to follow. But it's a perfect manga that portray a journey, the most epic and adventurous journey about the question on above. This is my very first review here because this manga is happen to be "a diamond in mire". So, I decided to start my reviewing career with is amazing manga. (I'm not a native speaker so please bear with me.)


Story: 9
The story only follows a single person, a clever 14 years old boy, who is unlucky enough ... to leave his family to go adventure but lucky enough to survive in a huge natural disaster that effected whole country of Japan. There's a situation in other countries too, showing how large and effective the incident caused, but just a little. Because the main progress is through the boy's notions and words. So us readers can explore the world with the boy, without knowing anything but how to survive, just like the boy. The starting point is kinda confusing because we "are" with the boy who just survive, not to help or save the world, which is very realistic.
The boy's main quest is "finding his family" from start to ending, but the charm and excitement of this manga isn't destination but on his way to the destination. The story is not that realistic in some point but it still enjoyable. Throughout the story progress with perfect speed and don't let readers down with weird twist. The boy meets lots people along the way, some are good, some are bad, some are good but must be bad to survive, some aren't even human but still need to survive, etc. And endings is perfect and realistic enough to end without any disappointment. The whole story reflect lot's of things such as how humanity effects nature, nature of human beings and animals, desire to survive, nature destruction, desire for authority in both human and animals, etc. This story exactly portray it's name, "Survival".
(Though it still has some plot holes but all of them are unnecessary in the story because the boy can't do anything about that, all he do is surviving. That's all.)

Art: 8
The art is very accurate and shows how wrack and devastation be like in very realistic way. But because this manga was published 40 years ago, all of this is hand-drawn and that's very amazing. Though it's too dark to see the progress in some scene but it did a really good job in describing how deadly natural disaster be like in every place possible. But the worse possible thing I could find in art is character's face and emotion. Some face don't give the realistic expression even the art style is realistic and because the art is in 70's style it makes me feels kinda weird at first, but you will get over it in a few episodes.

Character: 7
The boy's development is very realistic at most points. First he hate discomfort but not too much like an easy 14 years old boy. But after he realized he needs to survive. He got over it in realistic way. But his knowledge is sometimes too much at the time. Even though his feelings in lots of situations depends on many things like his hunger, comrades, stress, survival desire, etc. Make him to be real at most points. For side characters, they don't develop well. I know lots of people in Japan at that time is not civilized like in these days, but some are idiotic, and some have horrible development. This is one of a few let down on this amazing journey.

Enjoyment: 10
This manga will glue you to the seat while you're reading it. It make you feel like it's your journey. You would want to know more about the world and keep surviving with the boy. The experience with this manga is wonderful and makes you realize how tough life can be. I felt "alive" and really wanted to stay alive while reading the manga that made me think "What should I do if I'm the boy?". This manga is that amazing. Some might say I'm over reacted. But it really awesome for me and I can't say any thing other than that.

Overall: (9+8+7+10)/4= 8.5 but I round it up to 9 because I really enjoy every single bit of it.

Thank you for reading my first review and hope my review helps you consider about this manga for being in your reading list and have a good day in this community!