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Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, Vol. 1 (v. 1)

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Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit is one of the newest series released by Viz Media. Revolving around the idea of an "Ikigami" a notification that is delivered to someone to tell them that they shall die in about 24 hours, Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit explores the ideology behind such an idea and the various responses that people may have when they receive this notification. The concept is initially mind blowing but in each of the two stories the suspense and anticipation for the clock to reach 0 hours makes the book a huge page turning event.

In more detail, the manga is split into two episodes, with each episode focusing on a different recipient of a Ikigami. The first episode presents the details of what the Ikigami is, the reasoning why the government chose to use them, and finally the method in which they are delivered. The additional storyline in this section follows the memories and final hours of a boy who could be considered a tormented failure. For the sake of not ruining the story, the next episode will be discussed. The second episode follows the main character along as he takes a tour of the facility in which the "nanocapsule that causes the death at the prescribed time" is created and disbursed. The initial explanation is quite detailed and complex, however, a conversation that summarizes the process was a welcome addition. The additional storyline in this episode explores the end of a nice friendship between two aspiring musicians and how one of them feels like he needs more chances to make it big. Deep down he has feelings of regret over splitting up with his friend. Needless to say one of them receives an Ikigami and the way in which he lives his final 24 hours is explored. The musician story is as equally suspenseful as the first one, however it has more of an unpredictable feeling to it.

The artwork is one of the highlights to Ikigami. For the serious nature of this story, the attention to detail in the design of the character's faces must be applauded. Facial expressions look quite realistic at times with wrinkles, facial muscles, and other marks present. Also, for the scenes in which the people receive their Ikigami, the full double page affairs are excellent. The method of shading works to heavily emphasize the feeling and nearly works to make the reader imagine if they, themselves, were receiving the Ikigami. I believe it works excellently to enhance the seriousness of each moment.

Ultimately, Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit is one of the newest series to be brought to the English Viz Media line and it will be worthwhile to see the future volumes. The story is a fresh concept for a manga series. Not only that, but it is also one of the most thoughtful and compelling stories that people will be acquainted with. Check it out and I hope you like it.

Pros
-Read in the traditional style, from right to left
-Great cover design
-Fresh concept for a manga series
-Modern-English sounding translation
-Excellent art design in panels helps to add life to the stories and enhances the reader/story connection
-Realistic

Con
-No bonuses (previews, afterword, etc)

Viz takes on new, darker territory with Motoro Mase's Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, Volume 1. In this chilling vision of the near future, Japan has become a bleak dystopian society filled with lazy, apathetic citizens who have lost any respect for hard work and for life. To counteract this, the government has instituted a rather odd program: in order to remind citizens about the value of life, one person is selected to die every day. The victim is given 24 hours of notice before they are killed by the mysterious injection capsules given to each citizen when they begin school. This notice is called an "ikigami," and it's Kengo Fujimoto's job to deliver these infamous "death notices" to victims.

This volume is separated into two "episodes" that chronicle two deliveries to different ikigami recipients and how these recipients live their final day.

In the first episode the world's concepts of death to appreciate life and prosperity and the ikigami itself is introduced. It's also hinted that the deaths are not as "random" as the government would like citizens to think. In the secondary story, the ikigami recipient deals with the trauma from his past, and decides to take revenge on those who wronged him.

In the second episode, the reader takes a tour of the plant where the deadly capsules are manufactured and learns the details behind their creation. Meanwhile, Kengo delivers an ikigami to an aspiring musician, who quickly regrets splitting up with an old friend over musical differences. This story is filled with twists and turns and delivers an amazingly suspenseful and thoroughly complex plot.

The artwork of Ikigami is one of the highlights of the manga. Rather than having exaggerated expressions or silly backgrounds, Ikigami embraces realism and gritty, detailed environments that compliment the story's overall feel perfectly. The shading here is absolutely extraordinary and the dialogue even feels natural in English, unlike many manga out there.

The concept is a very unique one for a manga, and tends to shun the archetypes associated with shojo and shonen manga. Ikigami moves into the world of thought provoking literature while giving readers a compelling ride. It's almost like a cross between the popular Death Note series and famous dystopian novels such as 1984 and Brave New World.

While the first volume barely scratches the concept's surface, it's a promising start to an exciting new series that will force readers to think a little harder about what they read - and what they would do if they discovered they only had 24 hours left to live.

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit Volume 1 feels like a warm-up for something great to come in the future. The concept has plenty of potential, and I eagerly look forward to the next installment in this innovative series.

Ikigami feels like another overused plot line. But to my enjoyment it comes off as very different.

The main character actually takes a back seat to the event of the work - he mearly the catalyst that begins each story. The stories that unfold are very real and depict and interesting look into the human mind. The main focus is simply what would you do if you had 24 hours to live? A frightening question that may be easily answered as you sit at the computer reading this.

This isn't to say that the main character is completely off screen or has not character development. The events that he is invovled with behind the scenes are chilling. The whole government killing off its citizen a la Battle Royale vibe.

The art realistically drawn. A far cry from the standard cutesy art form that so many manga have. Plus Viz has offered the book is a larger format allowing you to fully view the small background details.

Viz has shown that it is coming back from it's eariler years when the Pulp line was still around. Ikigami is a gritty fresh manga from the standard shounen/shojo fanfare.

Gonna stick with this manga till the end. It reminds me of a realistic version of death note =]

Ikigami is a surprisingly unknown title about the value of life... or maybe it's actually about how worthless life is. It depends on your perspective. But, whichever way you look at it, the following is true: Ikigami shows how very real characters react when told they're going to die within 24 hours. Some seek revenge, others try to help their loved ones before their time runs out. Just like if people were told their date of death in real life, the reactions of the characters depends entirely on their backgrounds.

After reading the title, you might assume Ikigami is a sort of spiritual successor to Death Note. After all, there isn't much difference between 'Death Note' and 'Death Paper'. But the titles are where the similarities between the two start and end. Where as Death Note relied on a supernatural notebook of death that could kill anyone with ease to power its story, there's nothing mystical about the papers with information about deaths written on them in Ikigami. In fact, the papers are no more than normal, everyday paper handed out by civil servants.

You see, Ikigami is set in an alternate universe where Japan is ruled by fear, similar to the setting of Battle Royale. At the start of school life, every child is immunized against various diseases. However, because of a law called 'The National Welfare Act', 1 out of 1000 of these vaccines contain something else - something that makes a person die at a predetermined date between the ages 18-24. After being immunized, the truth is then revealed to the students - the truth being that not everyone will make it very far into their adult lives.

The National Welfare Act is a very well thought out law. The victims of the law are told only 24 hours in advance to limit the damage they can do, and if those who are destined to die break the law in their final hours, their family is took to court, made to pay a huge fine, don't get their bereavement pension and, finally, they're ostracized by society.
All of the above, combined with the citizens being told to reveal the names of social miscreants to the authorities, means no-one can do anything about the law. To be a good citizen, one has to accept that - no matter how illogical - random people getting killed is for the good of the country because it forces people to value life. Really, nothing changes for people until they're told they're going to die, and all it achieves is creating a society of sheep who only know how to follow.

The story is told from the perspective of Fujimoto; a civil servant whose job it is to hand out the papers of death 24 hours before death. Known as a 'Messenger of Death', he's a man who sees no value in his work but does it anyway. To begin with he struggles to handle the weight of revealing to unsuspecting people that they're going to die, informing them their deaths are for the good of the nation (when he doesn't actually believe it), but the more he does it the easier it becomes. His role is to be the observer, and the reader is supposed to feel the same as him about what's occurring.

But, really, even though Fujimoto is there for the reader to connect with, Ikigami is basically a collection of three chapter shorts. So far (up to the end of volume three), every story has lasted for three chapters, and each story has differed from the one that came before it. Though the series opened as most would expect after reading the description - with a fairly typical tale of a man who suffered severe bullying during his high school years - since then there's only been one other revenge story. There's been a story about staying true to oneself and valuing friendship over fame; there's been a story about a worker at an old peoples' home getting a woman, who mistakes the worker for her late husband, to walk again; and there's even been a story about a brother tricking his blind younger sister into having his corneas transplanted into her just after his death. The huge amount of variation between each story, and the circumstances of each new set of characters, has prevented Ikigami from becoming stale.

My biggest fear right now is that, eventually, Ikigami will become stale, though. At this moment in time I can't see Ikigami failing because the art is near enough flawless - showing the natural ugliness of humans (rather than there being a super model cast) and being very detailed - and the stories have all been emotionally moving for differing reasons. But every author only has a set amount of ideas, and sooner or later (assuming it isn't destined to go on forever!) Fujimoto is going to have to become more than just an impartial observer. Honestly, it's hard to see how and when the series will end at this point, so it's hard to determine if the high level of quality on display in the opening three volumes will remain throughout. Only time will tell.

For now, all I can say is that I own the first three volumes, have the fourth pre-ordered and have put Ikigami into my manga top ten list already. With so few volumes out, and Viz releasing the volumes in larger than average, Solanin sized volumes, no manga collector has any real excuse for not assisting me in trying to make this relatively unknown series into one with a much larger fanbase.

If you've become disillusioned with anime/manga because of the vast majority being childish and are in desperate need of a title aimed at adults to reignite your interest, Ikigami might just be it.

Congratulations! You have been randomly selected by the government...to DIE in 24 Hours!

Motoro Mase's `IKIGAMI - THE ULTIMATE LIMIT' definitely gives us a unique perspective on a alternate Japan where the government instills fear of death as a means to obtain a peaceful society. Gripping, alarming but overall thought provoking and absolutely enjoyable!

The manga series focuses on the character of Fujimoto who works for the government and his job is to notify people with an "Ikigami" notice that they will die within 24 hours.

The premise of the story is that when a citizen enters elementary school and receives their immunization shots, the National Welfare Immunization is given. Among the immunization shots given to children, 0.01 percent of the shots contain a special nano-capsule. About 1 in 1,000 citizens are injected with the capsule and when they are between 18-24 years old, the capsule ruptures on a predetermined date and they person will automatically die.

The Japanese government believes that because citizens never know who has been injected with the capsule, they all grow up wondering if they will be the one that dies and so, this forces the individual to take life more seriously and become socially productive.

Since the law for the National Welfare Immunization was passed, crime and suicides in Japan have fallen and the Japanese concern of birth rates have increased (note: In reality, Japan is concerned that their population is shrinking as many couples are not wanting to produce offspring and worry that Japan will not be productive in the future unless this is changed now. Also, the crime and suicide problems of Japan have steadily grown).

In the nature that someone does die, their family of the deceased is paid a pension but if by any chance, the person who commits a crime after receiving their Ikigami, the family will be denied the pension but also will be liable financially towards the crime committed by the deceased and in effect, will be ostracized by the community and will be forced to relocate.

Also, if anyone voices their disdain publicly about the National Welfare Immunization, they will also be dealt with and will be injected with the capsule.

For Fujimoto, six months into the job and he's starting to privately have concerns about the job that he's doing. Is this law working? Especially when good people are dying because of the capsule? Is it a fair law?

"IKIGAMI - THE ULTIMATE LIMIT" is a manga series that has the reader learning of Fujimoto's thoughts, especially having to deliver Ikigami's to the people who are dying or delivering the message to the family. We are then given a chance to see how a variety of people who receive the Ikigami are living their last 24 hours of their life.

For Yosuke, he was a man who was bullied severely by his fellow students. Having to live with the pain, the anguish and literally, the scars of his torment from his bullies, after receiving his Ikigami, Yosuke has to decide how he will live his last 24 hours? Perhaps some revenge towards the bullies?

For Torio Tanabe, the lead singer of the music duo Koma-Tsuna, we get to see his rise to fame as a singer and the challenges he had faced when signing with a major label and becoming part of the major group T-Birds. But when things are starting to go great for his career, Torio receives an Ikigami. With 24 hours left to live, how will he live his last day?

"IKIGAMI - THE ULTIMATE LIMIT" vol. 1 was a manga I really enjoyed.

JUDGMENT CALL:

For the past few years, each time I read the news in Japan, we are seeing crime starting to grow, as with the growing number of suicide fatalities. It's just a shocking part of Japan to read about almost on a daily basis. And the fact that the Japanese government is trying to encourage people to reproduce and also having to deal with the current economic situation in Japan is just a major challenge.

So, "IKIGAMI - THE ULTIMATE LIMIT" definitely shows the reader a "what if?" storyline on how the Japanese government would eliminate these current obstacles and that is by creating this National Welfare Immunization.

Although, the national immunization had been touched upon in the anime film "VEXILLE", "IKIGAMI - THE ULTIMATE LIMIT" vol. 1 doesn't focus on the fight against the system but to watch the rookie government employee Fujimoto trying to learn more about the law and going through the natural process of whether or not this law is good or if its bad. And even if it was bad, voicing your opinion really doesn't get you nowhere. But wondering if others that work with him feel like he does.

So, Fujimoto learns through the people he had delivered Ikigami's to and how they are able or unable to deal with their final 24 hours alive.

For those wondering why this manga is rated "M" for Mature, there is a storyline of one of the people who receives an "Ikigami" and what he does in his final 24-hours is quite disturbing. Expect to see a rape scene and violence and thus the M rating.

Overall, I found Motoro Mase's artwork and character designs to be enjoyable but enhanced through the thorough storytelling. This is an entertaining manga volume thus far and I can't wait to read upcoming volumes.

"IKIGAMI - THE ULTIMATE LIMIT" vol. 1 is highly recommended!

As a kid, I remember having those morbid conversations about what I would do if I knew I only had "X" number of days to live. The answers were as varied as the number of kids who were part of the fantasy conversation. Fantasy was pretty much all it was. Death, at that age, was an exotic abstraction; and so the things we "we would do" were equally exotic. Manga artist and writer Motoro Mase in his book, IKIGAMI: The Ultimate Limit, takes this fantasy speculation and adds 216 pages of gritty realism.

He begins with the creation of a "National Welfare Act", a policy put in place by Japan's government to encourage the citizens to live a more bountiful life. Unfortunately, their means of doing this is by heightening everyone's sense of awareness of death. Every citizen is given a mandatory immunization. 1 of 1000 of these citizens will die from the immunization. The government knows who will die and when. The unlucky person and their family are notified within 24 hours of their inevitable passing.

Only on the surface does IKIGAMI's plot sound like another story about a forced Utopian world, begging to be usurped by a small band of rebels or something like that. But Mase goes in a completely unexpected direction. He doesn't use his own plot device as an instrument for demonizing control governments. Instead, he leaves the antics of this government as is, and focuses on the lives of characters whose end is looming. Hidekazu Fujimoto is the primary character whose job is to inform the dying of their condition. Through him we learn the fate of others who will die from the immunization. They all have very realistic lives and troubles that deserve our attention and sometimes compassion. The first story being of a tormented youth, bullied by other kids. The other of a mildly talented musician/vocalist who almost gets his big break. We follow their desperate actions and reactions through the surprisingly non-judgmental observations of Fujimoto.

The story's lack of judgment is what's most refreshing about this story. This is not a morality tale, nor an indictment on society or government. At least, not yet. Future volumes may arrive at that point. But for now, Mase is more concerned with speculating on how pending death can bring the best and worst out of a person.

This manga presents a different story. Children are injected with vaccines when they enter school but every so often one of them gets a capsule that will kill the person at a certain age. The idea here is to make population cherish life and live it to the fullest and be as happy as they can because they never know when their number is going to come up. And when your number is "drawn" you are given 24hrs to live. If you commit crimes in this last 24hrs your remaining family will be punished and fined for your wrong doings. This is a very messed up concept and world. Could it ever happen in life???

This looked really good on the shelf when I bought it, and I read it really quickly. However, I just didn't care for this manga. I won't read the next one as this just didn't thrill me.