Ikigami is literally one of the series that renewed my faith in comic books in America, even though its not an American comic. A rule of reference here - if you like Battle Royale, you'll love this. If you hated Battle Royale, this won't be your cup of tea (as the Japanese tell very harsh, post-apocalyptic, martial law fascist type stories that many accuse of being doom and gloom).

The premise is simple. When you go to what we know as the first grade you're given a capsule inoculation. This is this Japan's government sanctioned population control combined with productivity in the workplace (aka being thankful you have a job). When you turn 18 the capsule can activate up to age 24. One or two things happens - either you get a letter saying you are going to die within 24 hours of getting the letter and can pretty much do whatever you want that's legal until the clock runs out and kills you. If you die they give your family a payout, like what the US military does when you die in battle. Those against it are persecuted for thought crimes.

Then we meet Kengi. Kengi gets the capsule in 1st grade. He gets the letter that he's not going to die but be a Ikigami delivery guy, meaning, he's the guy that drops the letter and informs you you've been selected to die. If he refuses the gig, well, he dies too. Of course he takes the job. Training begins immediately. Unfortunately, Kengi finds out during training how the government handles subversives that get a consciousness about what they are doing. And while he doesn't like it, he goes along to get along the best he can.



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Content warning for this volume: on-page bullying and rape.

In this version of Japan, there's something called the National Welfare Act. In elementary school, all children are vaccinated against various diseases. Some of the injections include a special nanocapsule that eventually comes to rest in the child's pulmonary artery, where it ruptures on a specified day and time, at some point between their 18th and 24th birthday. No one knows who has a capsule inside them, and the goal is to make citizens value their lives more and increase their productivity. Any citizens who object to this system are immediately injected with a capsule.

Fujimoto has just started working as a messenger, one of the people whose job is to deliver ikigami, death papers. These are given to citizens 24 hours before they're scheduled to die, so that they may better appreciate their last 24 hours. The families they leave behind will be given a bereavement pension, unless they choose to spend their last 24 hours committing crimes, in which case there is no bereavement pension and the family must pay large fines as compensation.

This particular volume features the delivery of two ikigami, one to a man who was bullied so severely when he was in high school that it derailed his entire life, and one to a young singer/guitarist who has lost sight of what's really important to him in his quest to become famous.

I don't know what I think about this series. The art was good, and the stories were fairly interesting, but I'm not entirely sure what the author is going for. On the one hand, it was clearly a horrible system that didn't make people appreciate their lives any more than the average person who could die at any time from a non-nanocapsule-related incident. People died, and it was senseless, and sometimes they harmed other people on their way out, despite the whole "your family will be ostracized and have to pay for your crimes" thing. On the other hand, in both ikigami incidents so far, the characters were depicted as managing to achieve something worthwhile in their last moments that they probably wouldn't have under other circumstances. Were readers supposed to view the system as beneficial in some way?

Fujimoto struggled with his job as well. He saw the harm his ikigami deliveries could cause, and he had to deal with people's grief and rage. He couldn't openly criticize the system or even talk about his concerns without risking being killed, so the only person he'd cautiously mention any of it to was his boss, who'd learned over the years to look at the bright side of ikigami.

Will I continue this series? Maybe, if only to see whether the author does something more with it than make it a bunch of standalone ikigami delivery stories. It's definitely not the kind of thing I'd want to binge read, though, so interlibrary loan and its periods of waiting might actually be a good thing this time around.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

Wow, I wasn't sure what I was going to make of this manga.

Each day, someone in the country is given a notice that they will die in exactly 24 hours. A list is kept of vaccinations given and 1 in 1,000 vaccines given to the children contain a nanocapsule that will kill them at a predetermined day and time.

Creepy. (I suspect the anti-vaxers would be all over this!)

Creepy. All for the welfare of the people. If they know they might die at any time, they will better serve the State.

The interesting part is what people do when they receive their 24 hour notice. Go on a crime spree? Create one last beautiful work of art? Spend the time alone? Or with loved ones?

This is also the story of a man whose job it is to hand out the death notices and his conflicting emotions. (Can't be too conflicted, though. Enemies of the state are also killed.)

I read this in one sitting, couldn't put it down. ( )

How do you force people to recognize the important of life? Threaten to take that life away from them! In this unnamed dystopian country, the National Prosperity Law “inoculates” all first grade children. One in a thousand of these inoculations delivers a nano capsule that will kill the recipient at a predetermined time between the ages of 18 and 24. It is Kengo Fujimoto’s job to deliver the Ikigami which tells these noble citizens that they have 24 hours to live before being sacrificed for the state. With an average of three Ikigamis delivered per volume, the series explores the variety of responses to learning you have 24 hours left to life. Different story arcs look at the effect on Kengo and the country. A very thought-provoking plot couples wonderfully with stark black and white manga drawings to create the anxious atmosphere. ( )

I picked up vol 1 of this manga at a goodwill for 50 cents not knowing anything about it because, hey, manga for 50 cents?! I was pleasantly surprised when I read the premise and even more impressed reading this volume. This story takes place in a country where every child is injected with an immunization but a very small percentage of those children are also injected with a capsule that will kill them at a predetermined date and time in the future. Because it is random and no one knows who will die, people are encouraged to live more productive lives. Those who will die are contacted 24 hours before their death to get their affairs in order and say goodbye to loved ones, however some people choose to spend their final 24 hours in more destructive ways. This story is told by a man who delivers the Ikigami or death paper. Its a fascinating premise but definitely not for the faint of heart. The complete story is only 10 volumes long and I can't wait to pick up the next one! ( )