Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, Volume 8

Ikigami #8

by Motorō Mase

Dear Citizen:

Thank you for your loyalty. You've no doubt noticed that the world is a troubled place. People are apathetic, lazy, unmotivated. You've probably asked yourself

WHY ISN'T ANYTHING BEING DONE TO STOP THIS SYSTEMATIC DECLINE?

Rest assured that measures are being taken. Beginning immediately, we will randomly select a different citizen each day who will be killed within 24 hours of notification. We believe this will help remind all people how precious life is and how important it is to be a productive, active member of society.

Thank you for your continued attention and your cooperation and participation...

FEATURING:
EPISODE 15: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
EPISODE 16: THE TRUE FACE OF LOVE

KEEP MOVING UNTIL YOU BURN OUT.

Genres: Manga, Seinen, Dystopia, Comics, Science Fiction, Comix, Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2010

About the author

Kanji Name: 間瀬元朗.

Reviews

[Dustyloup · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cette série me plaît ; cependant, après 8 tomes elle est devenue un peu répétitif! En plus, les personnes de la deuxième histoire n'étaient pas intéressants, trop artificielle jusqu'à la fin. **"
Overall I like this manga series, but after 8 volumes it's getting a bit repetitive/boring. And to top it off, all the characters in the last story were superficial and fake to the very end!!!

[John Blacksad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sekiz sayıdır öyle veya böyle okutuyor. Yine sipariş içinden ilk onu okumak istedim. Bir çırpıda da okunuyor. Ama… Artık arka plan büyük hikaye güçlensin istiyorum. Ayrıca bu sefer işlenen iki müstakil hikaye de diğerleri kadar etkilemedi. Çizimler bakımından yine piyasamızdaki en üst seviyede birkaç mangadan biri.

Sekizinci sayıdaki ikinci hikaye olan “İlk Aşkın Gerçek Yüzü” ortalama okuru rahatsız edebilecek düzeyde şiddet, çıplaklık ve cinsellik içeriyordu. En az bir 16 yaş sınırı gerekir diye düşündüm. Cildin üzerinde bu manga serisinin yetişkinlere hitap ettiğine dair bir uyarı olmalı.

Artan fiyatlar, ekonomi, kağıt tedariği, kuşeden ikinci hamura dönen yayınlar zaten gündemimizde. Manga okuyup kafa dağıtırken bunları hatırlamak istemezdim ama beyaz şömizin kağıt kalitesi ve kalınlığı düşmüş zannediyorum. Son iki sayı kaldı. Hızla çıkar umarım.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story #1 was about a man who kills someone by mistake by hitting him with a car. The dead man’s gf is grief stricken and wants revenge. The dude is depressed enough and goes to prison for 2 years. When he gets out he tries to make a petition to have mirrors put up at that intersection because accidents keep happening there. It was shitty bc he feels so guilty when it was an infrastructure problem and a total accident. The girlfriend tries to kill him but he gets served with an Ikigami. She’s even more pissed that he will die a hero but ultimately forgives him. Fujimoto muses on the fact that the car accident was a total act of fate and bad timing, if he had crossed the street a millisecond earlier or later it wouldn't have happened. Just how if you had been one spot ahead or behind in line at the immunization clinic you wouldn’t have gotten an Ikigami.

Story #2 was about a kid, Kimora, who is bullied for being ugly. He has professional struggles in adulthood for his lack of good looks. He gets a shit ton of plastic surgery. While in school, he had a crush on this bulimic girl. The bulimic girl grows up to become a club escort. When he gets an Ikigmi he’s like I don’t wanna die a virgin so he goes to a sex worker but realizes he could’ve paid for sex at any time regardless of how he looked so it isn’t going to be special to him. He decides to go tell the girl he loves her or whatever since it’s his last 24 hours. She’s in an argument with her club boss/boyfriend and he tries to intervene. The bf and his goons beat the shit out of Kimora and he ironically looks how he did pre-surgery with all the swelling and whatnot. Kimora tells the girl that he had had a crush on her since Jr High (before she became “”traditionally beautiful”” read thin) n she’s all omgggg he loves me for meeeeee. She’s gonna nurse his wounds and they smash before his death deadline and she gets pregnant.

Both of these were downers. The second one was too similar to the first story in the series. The bullying is out of control! Many of the stories have a similar thread such as parental expectations, but they are different enough that it doesn’t bother me. The second one made me think about what people said about Stormi before she was born. Your self esteem would be so fucked if your parent got that much work done.

The first page on each volume has a summary of the Immunization program, but this volume it said the syringes have death capsules in “seventy one” out of 1000 instead of 1/1000. That is a huge difference. And Seventy One is so specific that it doesn’t seem like a type or translation issue. Hm……………

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yuki works in a bar. She is seeing Hideki who wants to marry her. Unfortunately, he is killed in a car accident. Kitamura, the driver who ran him over, is sentenced to 18 months of jail time. After his release, Yuki is notified of his address, so she now demands that his employer fire him, lest she scare away their customers by making public his crime. The latter regrets his act and considers suicide, but is too afraid to carry it out. His ikigama comes as a relief. Yuki won't accept that Kitamura's death will be seen as heroic, so she decides to make him suffer. While he tries to submit a petition to improve the intersection where he caused the accident - the only thing he can think of to make his life worthwhile - she tries to run him over. Eventually they come face to face. She declares she will never firgive him, which oddly makes him feel glad that he won't be forgotten either. A while later we see Yuki has finally moved on - she made up with Hideki's parents and also forgave Kitamura. She even submitted his petition which passed, so the intersection where she lost her fiancee is safer.

Kimura is the target of bullying. His job is also affected by his looks, so he resorts to plastic surgery. Ruriko was also bullied years before because of her weight, so she developed an eating disorder. She had an abortion with her crush from school. She got a job as a hostess and sees Kyogo as the man of her dreams, though he only takes advantage of her. Upon seeing her after all those years, Kimura considers beginning a relationship with her. His ikigami couldn't come at a worse time. When he next meets her, Ruriko is just being threatened by her greedy boyfriend into spending more on him. Kimura steps in, gets his ass kicked, but at least he gets the girl. A lot of things are said between the two, the most important being that Kimura liked Ruriko even when she was fat. He convinces her not to get cosmetic surgery, but love herself the way she is. She even decides to keep his child.

[Marcelo Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un hombre que carga con la culpa de un accidente mortal busca dejar un legado positivo antes de su muerte, mientras que otro, obsesionado con la apariencia física, descubre el verdadero valor del amor en sus últimas horas. Ambas historias están llenas de emociones crudas y dilemas morales, destacando los efectos de la muerte inminente en las decisiones de los personajes. Este volumen continúa explorando la tensión entre la desesperanza y la posibilidad de encontrar significado incluso en los momentos finales. La intensidad emocional sube en este volumen y el dibujo de las viñetas la acompañan perfectamente.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the first act, but the second act, not as much. Although the main plot is getting really good, and with only 2 volumes left in the series, I’m so anxious to find out how Fujimoto’s fate will unfold

[ingeburge · Rating 3 out of 5]

morale de ce volume: soyez vigilants sur la route et ne faites pas de chirurgie esthétique (même si vous êtes très laids)🤠

petite mention spéciale pour l'ep16, qui aborde des thématiques actuelles intéressantes mais mérite bien un tw!! (tca/boulimie)

[Johnny il.cacciatore.di.libri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ci siamo, meno 2 volumi alla fine che leggerò insieme! Fino ad adesso un viaggio che mi ha tenuto incollato alle pagine e alle storie personali degli sfortunati destinatari degli Ikigami! Spero in una degna conclusione!

[Levent Erikli · Rating 4 out of 5]

okurken baya keyif aldım çok iyiydi

[ReadingFrog · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

[Marion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mimo, że to już ósmy tom tej serii, z wielu przyczyn był dla mnie bardzo trudny do przeczytania - stąd przerwa.
Wysoce emocjonalnie skomplikowany, ale jakże łapiący za serce i gardło.

[Nama Masoud · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not ok
THIS IS RUBBISH ! THE WORST VOLUME IN THE IKIGAMI SERIES AND THE WORST CHOSEN ONES IN THE HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL WELFARE AS FAR AS I REMEMBER. AND THE ACT 1 EPISODE 16 IS THE WORST I HAVE EVER SEEN.

WARNING : THIS IS UNCENSORED ! I AM ALREADY 18 AND I AM ASHAMED OF THIS.
I kept palming my face because of how much i was disappointed with this volume.



True, it has bunch of lessons, whatsoever, revenge not worth it and how beauty is not visualized, but I was not that interested in the plot like I was with the other story lines of ikigami citizens. I was entirely not devoted to the people nor to the script. I finished this volume because I was little bored and of course i am too close to finish this series. This volume gave me the sense of "nostalgia", the carving for the previous volumes when i was exclusively dedicated and hooked with Ikigami. Ok so I made this volume sound REALLY bad and it is fellas, but I am a nice person. It has positive sides, like some of those objects who have pages. I came to realize that most of ikigami's stories are basically mirrors of what is happening in society to some extent, thats why they weren't a whole new ball game to me since we already experienced them and truly know that they do exist but still, it is good to restate and recall those facts.

VICTIM 1

Absolutely broken ! Motoro here represented him as a worthless individual and to me he seemed nothing more than a pathetic hopeless man. He is innocent and needs sympathy but I don't like people who lowers theirs standards for others or put themselves in a lower status than others, that girl who chases him for nothing is a jerk, seen many of her and not interesting at all, is she avenging because of the death of her buddy or because his parents blamed her and disliked her? she is totally the scum of the earth even for both reasons; let me get over this, it does not need an evaluation.

The best thing in this act " Crime and Punishment ", is probably the last thing. That dude who i said previously that he is hopeless, is a smart cookie. He made her choose between 2 options before he die, but because she is jerk, as i said, she chose the most common one that we will probably expect,
you will know it when you read it .
BUT, she moved on after his death and decided to choose the other option; however, when? when her buddy's parents finally accepted her ! THAT girl is tremendously annoying and drove me up to the wall. Such a royal pain in the neck!


Moving to the second part act "The true face of Love"

THIS IS SUCH A SHAME. THIS MADE ME REGRET TO BUY THIS WHOLE SERIES. WHY THIS EVEN SHOULD BE THIS WAY? THIS IS A CRYING SHAME, WHAT A PITY!!! OKEY SO MAYBE I AM THE ONE TO BLAME BUT WHAT SOEVER I DIDNT LIKE THIS STORY, THE END !
Okey so the idea of plastic surgery is quite acceptable, this obviously supports my point as they describe the true reality we live in. But this went into a whole different level



I really don't like such characters, I really don't and the fact that they don't stand up for themselves is the major thing in this story which i really can not bear. This plot did leave me speechless but in a terrible bothersome way. Some scenes were not realistic and convincing. I am glad i finished this without any injuries, it indeed bored me stiff and it gave me the feeling of how i am going to start with volume 9 (which is before the last one). I didn't really want to reach that point. I should have analyzed this piece of thing more but I am again too drowsy and ashamed to start recalling the fact that I actually read this volume. aghhh.

[Philippe Lhoste · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suite des volumes lus précédemment.
Toujours dans la même veine : chaque chapitre décrit une tranche de vie d'un jeune, parfois de plusieurs (et on se demande qui aura l'ikigami). Jeune délinquant ou exemplaire, suivant sa voie ou des compromis, nourrissant des rêves ou déjà fatigué de vivre.
Ces tranches de vie sont souvent poignantes, fort bien racontées, et les réactions à la réception de l'ikigami sont souvent surprenantes.

En parallèle, on suit la vie du personnage principal, employé délivrant les ikigami, et se posant des questions sur le sens de son travail. Il est contacté par des personnes s'y opposant (donc, s'opposant au gouvernement totalitaire), qui sont arrêtées. Et il est sous surveillance pour s'assurer de sa loyauté.
Un fil rouge aux histoires disparates (mais passionnantes), une œuvre de grande qualité, à la réflexion et l'humanisme profond.

[Skjam! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not much progress in the frame story this time; Fujimoto suspects he's being watched by his superiors. He is. There's also a bit more on how this world's history differs from ours.

But as usual, it's the dying people whose stories are important. The first story, "Crime and Punishment" twists the "impact of death" theme around a bit, in that it's an accidental death two years before the story that changes the main characters' lives. How do you pay for your crimes? Can there ever be too much punishment?

"The True Face of Love" deals with a young man afflicted with a hideous face who gets cosmetic surgery to look better, and his school days crush, who has her own appearance issues.Can you get so caught up in preparing to have a good life that you run out of time to actually have that life?

For more manga reviews, see http://www.skjam.com/category/manga/

[Mikael Kuoppala · Rating 4 out of 5]

The "Ikigami" saga continues after all! Already declared cancelled, Motoro Mase's tale of a future dystopia comes back with a volume very much like the firsts in the series. The focus is on the two standalone stories of young people foerced to randomly give their lives to the state. One about a lost man who has killed a person in a traffic accident and is consumed by guilt, the other about a person who has built success aroung him by surgically altering his face to uncanny handsomeness. Both are solid tales that are saturated with melancholy but carry an undertone of hope.

A bit is going on with the bigger story as well. Fujimoto is feeling paranoid, but his paranoia is justified; he is being closely followed by the state.

[Christiane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eight volumes in (which is 7 more than I read in most manga) and I am still enjoying this series. There are two stories in this volume; I especially liked the first one, "Crime and Punishment", where a young man kills someone in an accident and has to live with his guilt afterward, until he is "saved" by getting the ikigami death note. I would recommend this to teens as well, though this volume had more graphic sexual content (in the second story) than I remember in other volumes.

[Softymel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hum... nous sommes ici à deux tomes de la fin de l'histoire, et l'intrigue principale n'a pas évoluer d'un iota dans ce volume. Bien sûr, les deux histoires d'ikigami sont intéressantes, mais le manque de progrès dans l'histoire me fait me demander si la fin ne risque pas d'être un peu précipitée.
Je croise les doigts pour la suite...

[Thomas Andrikus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first delivery is for a person who seeks forgiveness in manslaughter accident (and later finds it posthumously). While the second delivery is for a person struggling with the issue of self-confidence due to his face being unattractive. There's plenty of moral of stories to be learned from this volume.

[Tarot · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 stars

[Kazima · Rating 2 out of 5]

It isn't as good as the others, it seems as if the main story is being drawn out in order for the series to reach 10 volumes.

[Lupe Dominguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories were a bit more morose and graphic...it's getting darker. And love the primary story's pacing and intense-ness!

[Jelke Lenaerts · Rating 5 out of 5]

As this is definetly not headed the way I expected I am really excited to see how this story wraps up.
However, I'm really tired so the last two volumes will be for tomorrow.

[Kam-Hung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two stories on love unfulfilled.