Book Cover
Title Volume 1
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kodansha - 2016
First Printing Kodansha - 2014
Book Cover
Title Volume 2
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kodansha - 2016
First Printing Kodansha - 2016
Book Cover
Title Volume 3
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2017
First Printing Kodansha - 2015
Book Cover
Title Volume 4
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2017
First Printing Kodansha - 2015
Book Cover
Title Volume 5
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2017
First Printing Kodansha - 2015
Book Cover
Title Volume 6
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2018
First Printing Kodansha - 2017
Book Cover
Title Volume 7
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2018
First Printing Kodansha - 2017
Book Cover
Title Volume 8
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2018
First Printing Kodansha - 2017
Book Cover
Title Volume 9
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2018
First Printing Kodansha - 2017
Book Cover
Title Volume 10
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2018
First Printing Kodansha - 2017
Book Cover
Title Volume 11
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2018
First Printing Kodansha - 2017
Book Cover
Title Volume 12
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2019
First Printing Kodansha - 2017
Book Cover
Title Volume 13
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2019
First Printing Kodansha - 2017
Book Cover
Title Volume 14
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2019
First Printing Kodansha - 2017
Book Cover
Title Volume 15
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2019
First Printing Kodansha - 2017
Book Cover
Title Volume 16
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2019
First Printing Kodansha - 2017
Book Cover
Title Volume 17
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2019
First Printing Kodansha - 2017
Book Cover
Title Volume 18
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2020
First Printing Kodansha - 2017
Book Cover
Title Volume 19
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2020
First Printing Kodansha - 2018
Book Cover
Title Volume 20
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2020
First Printing Kodansha - 2018
Book Cover
Title Volume 21
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2021
First Printing Kodansha - 2018
Book Cover
Title Volume 22
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2021
First Printing Kodansha - 2018
Book Cover
Title Volume 23
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2021
First Printing Kodansha - 2019
Book Cover
Title Volume 23
Illustrator Shizumu Watanabe
Author Okushou
Publisher Kurokawa - 2021
First Printing Kodansha - 2019
Category Manga
Warnings Extreme violence, nudity, torture, suicide, depression...it pretty much has everything
Main Characters Ataru Kashiwagi, Yuri, Koyori, Ayami Kamijo, Yuma Mukai, Mizuki Kurashina
Main Elements Virtual world




Click to read the summaryVolume 1

Click to read the summaryVolume 2

Click to read the summaryVolume 3

Click to read the summaryVolume 4

Click to read the summaryVolume 5

Click to read the summaryVolume 6

Click to read the summaryVolume 7

Click to read the summaryVolume 8

Click to read the summaryVolume 9

Click to read the summaryVolume 10

Click to read the summaryVolume 11

Click to read the summaryVolume 12

Click to read the summaryVolume 13

Click to read the summaryVolume 14

Click to read the summaryVolume 15

Click to read the summaryVolume 16

Click to read the summaryVolume 17

Click to read the summaryVolume 18

Click to read the summaryVolume 19

Click to read the summaryVolume 20

Click to read the summaryVolume 21

Click to read the summaryVolume 22

Click to read the summaryVolume 23

Click to read the summaryVolume 24




I stumbled across the first two volumes in a local book exchange. My first reaction was wow, this is violent and bloody...but at the same time, a rather interesting, if scathing, critique about social media. As someone who isn't on Facebook, Youtube, TikTok, Twitter and the million other sites I'm of course already convinced most of those sites are designed to steal personal information and mess with people's heads.

But at the same time, there's also some defense of the users. For example when one beautiful account holder was revealed to be, well, let's be honest, she was ugly, one character defends her pointing out what were you, as a follower, really following? Her fake pretty face, or were you really interested in the posts she made, the songs she sang, the character she created. You know that person whose amazing vacations you're so jealous of? Of course they'll post gorgeous pictures of sunsets at the beach, but they're not going to post the picture where they are sitting on the toilet with food poisoning. Even the real stuff is only a small part of the whole truth.

So while the violence is over the top, I'm sort of interested to see what other aspects of social media will get critiqued by this series, though I'm uncertain how that can be sustained for another 20 books. Will see if I get lucky and the library has it.

June 2023

Ok...I know its been a couple months since I read the first two books, but that doesnt' explain why the series restarts from scratch! In book three we're introduced to two new characters and the previous ones forgotten. And while everyone should have been experiencing the same thing...apparently people actually experienced different challenges. It's like the first two books never happened and that's left me a bit confused. Or...was there something I forgot about how the other two books ended? There was a big reveal in that one, but there is no hint of that connection when you read the third book though the blurb on the back cover mentions it.

Why is it just the guys that are super smart and the girls associated with them are little more than a supporting cast? The only girls doing well on their own are either a psychopath or is a sex psychologist.

Anyway the violence and cruelty continues as people are forced to pick themselves over others and generally end up doing so. There is game after game exposing the negatives of social media, from trolls to fake news to people exposing each others most private information/photos.

And then there are the characters, perhaps not surprisingly the ones that survive are the most vicious, most self-centered and the most psychopathic. I mean one of the "good" guys loves being cut, loves cutting other people, plans to kill his best friend because that's the epitome of his love for him, and only eats raw meat. And yeah, he's their best friend. And yet to really survive the game they do have to learn to work together, to trust each, to sacrifice for each other. It's a very very very weird, violent, disturbing series. And yet I found I wanted to find out what was behind this whole thing (which in the end I was rather disappointed by, I'm sure there are many many ways of accomplishing their goals without killing millions of people, you know a little computer virus would probably do the trick, but Marble is apparently a drama queen...)

The story moves back and forth from the virtual world to reality, with the use of some unusual technologies that play more a role in the story than you think, and makes the story that much more challenging to follow.

So do I recommend it...well its got pretty much EVERY trigger warning I can think of, there's rape and torture and suicide and well you name it, its covered. And yet I got attached to the characters, I wanted to unravel the mysteries, and finally its a good reminder of how dangerous social media can be and how many ways it can be abused and how much our lives have become dependent on it. I think I will continue to avoid all such nonsense and use my cell phone as a *gasp* an actual phone, and do my best to avoid the nonsense that is much of the internet.


Posted: March-November 2023

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