Now THAT'S what I'm talking about, manga. I knew you wouldn't fail me forever. *snuggles*

Our teenage protagonist Taisuke was, of course, leading a normal teenage protagonist life, protecting his timid friend Hirose from bullying and getting chewed out by his childhood-friend-with-a-crush-on-him Megu for the fights this protector role inevitably got him into. That is till in a single day, the suicide rate around the world skyrockets, and the timid Hirose is found on the roof surrounded by the mangled bodies of his former bullies, insisting he did not hurt them. But from here out, Hirose's actions, along with those of some apparently survivors of this “suicide virus,” only become stranger...

As is almost always the case with these sorts of stories when done right, Alive is kept wonderfully creepy and intense by not trying to over explain the situation. This doesn't exactly keep the reader guessing (for the situation is quite inexplicable), but creates a sense of dread and paranoia akin to something you might find in an actually good horror movie. Moreover, (while this might be rather personal preference) instead of going for a angst-ridden, forlorn, introspective path, filling itself with self-important diatribes on the nature of man, Alive's first volume focuses on Taisuke's worry for his friend Hirose, wanting to apologize for his actions earlier, hoping he will make it out of prison, desperately ignoring Hirose's clear change in personality because of his belief and dependence on his friend's goodness. We see the friend-turned-enemy(?) plot often enough. Still Alive is doing it right, and I felt truly sorry for the characters (especially since they didn't even try to subject me to any heartfelt melodramatic speeches on friendship and trust, either).

As for other random good points, the violent-female-love-interest type does make me roll my eyes somewhat, but Megu is actually alright, if probably the most underdeveloped at this point. Taisuke is your usual honest, slightly-stupid shounen protagonist, but I don't think he's quite as exaggeratedly stupid or dense as usual, which I appreciate, and the suggestion some characters make that he is supposed to be a “comrade” helping with the killing but is somehow a “failure” is interesting, a nice mix of making the protagonist 'special' in some way without making them some sort of all-powerful chosen one, either. Though possibly not up to snuff with more popular shounen series, the art is pretty good. The character designs are a little plain (oddly I think a couple of the antagonists actually had more distinct character designs than any of the 'good guys'), but characters are easy to tell apart and in general everything is clean and uncluttered.

...I've been trying lots of stuff popular with reviewer crowds. Nothing too pretentious or obscure, but things that are supposed to be good enough that those who have broader interests (or make an effort to have broader interests), reaching out beyond such things as ninjas, samurai, magical girls, and school romance, ought to find them enjoyable. But for the most part, I've found everything a well done change of pace, but just nothing at all that really grips me and makes me want to spend the time, much less the money, to read more. I was wondering in a guilty, somewhat pretentious way, if I was the 'silly' sort that could enjoy nothing but things that pandered directly to my interests, ready to write the rest of my stack of unread off-my-beaten-path manga as 'good in general but not for me'... But now I've read Alive. And by reminding me that yes, something less popular CAN make me get into a series, I can now comfortably go back to assuming that if I don't like something, it's cause it just wasn't good enough. ^_^ For a few more volumes in my stack, anyway.

I have to say I'm surprised this series is so long (13 volumes and still going?). I have a hard time believing it will be able to keep this kind of quality with this kind of plot up for that length of time. Still, even if it does get worse, I also have trouble believing it will drop the ball *too* hard if it does, or that subsequent volumes won't be even somewhat a worthwhile read. I want the next volume already. T_T ( )

Horror