Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, Vol. 3

Ikigami #3

by Motorō Mase

Featuring

Episode 5: Life Out of Control
&
Episode 6: The Loveliest Lie

Sometimes people do shoot the messenger...

Genres: Manga, Comics, Seinen, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Dystopia

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 28, 2006

About the author

Kanji Name: 間瀬元朗.

Reviews

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

Altro bellissimo numero!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good volume. The stories covered were sad (of course) but seemed very real. The main character is starting to research the history of the national welfare law that requires 1 of every 1000 people be killed when they reach their late teens, early twenties. This is meant to make everyone respect life but there is still quite a bit of crime and violence in this society.

One story is about a politician who is a terrible mother but determined to make it big in politics without regard to her family which turns out to be a big mistake. The other story is a moving story about a brother's love for his blind sister.

Dark subject matter, good story.

[Emre Yavuz · Rating 4 out of 5]

İlk iki ciltte biraz ağır başlayan hikâye, bu ciltte tavan yapmış. Çok güzel.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this volume, Fujimoto's presence takes a back seat to the main ikigami stories themselves. In the first story, a young man struggles to find love and acknowledgment from a politician mother who cares for nothing more than what advances her own career; a bitter story with a sad ending. The second story is where we see Fujimoto finally getting personally involved with one of his ikigamis and really starting to question the nature of the National Welfare program and his work. The story opens with the tragic car accident of a family; both parents die, and the orphaned brother and sister are left to take care of each other. The girl lost her sight in the accident and has been waiting for a retina transplant to regain her sight. The brother resorts to any means possible for getting them enough money to get an apartment of their own so they can finally live together and he can properly take care of the sister he loves so much. When Fujimoto delivers his ikigami, he is devastated and can think of nothing but his sister. With the help of Fujimoto, he struggles to keep his sister ignorant of his looming death so that he can give her one final gift before he leaves her alone in the world...remembering this story still gets me misty-eyed...

[Tesutamento · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seri şu ana dek çizdiği başarılı çizgiyi bozmuyor. İki hikaye de aile dramıydı ve güzel işlenmişti. İhmalkar anne ve pısırık babanın hikayesi biraz daha gerçekçi bir tondaydı ve fena da gitmiyordu. Fakat sonunu pek beğendim diyemem. Biraz sönük geldi. Kör kız ve ağabeyinin hikayesi sonlara doğru yeşilçam havası estirse de sonu daha tatmin ediciydi. Bu arada ikigami tebliğ eden Fujimoto'nun da seriyle beraber ilerlemesini görmek güzel. Seri bittiğinde hangi noktada olacağını merak ediyorum.

[Dustyloup · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.4* even better than the previous volume. Taken at face value the stories can seem cheesy - self centered politician mom who can't connect to get son, only sees him as a reflection of her or as a tool; the brother who's a douche but did what he could to help his blind sister... And yet the little details make these stories pop.

[Mur Lafferty · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, now the series is really starting to take off. The seeds of dissent are planted in Fujimoto as he decides to aid in a young liar's trick on his sister -

the sister is blind and her brother wants to donate his corneas after he gets the ikigami, but his sister is tired of his lying and refuses the operation, so they work together to trick her into the operation. Fujimoto is punished for this, but firmly believes he has done the right thing. This is really the first volume that makes me see the series as having a large arc involving Fujimoto and the Government Welfare program.

Interesting that reading the other opinions on this, people think this book is a little weaker than the other two. It was my favorite of the first three and I can't wait to read the next seven.

[Helna · Rating 4 out of 5]

favorit chapter: Kebohongan atas nama Cinta

the last thing he could give to his sister was his eyes.

[Yoyomaus Die Büchereule · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zum Inhalt:

Herzlichen Glückwunsch! Die Regierung hat Sie ausgewählt... in den nächsten 24 Stunden zu sterben!
Der Todesbote ist unterwegs und es gibt kein Entkommen. Das Auswahlverfahren ist rein zufällig: Bei Schuleintritt werden alle Kinder geimpft, in jeder 1000. Spritze befindet sich eine tödliche Nano-Kapsel, die sich an einem bestimmten Datum selbst zerstört. Diese drastische Maßnahme − offiziell der "Nationale Wohlfahrtsakt" − ist ein Gesetzeserlass der Regierung zum Schutz der Gesellschaft vor Unzufriedenheit, Faulheit und Chaos. Die Opfer sind junge Menschen zwischen 18 und 24 Jahren.



Cover:

Auch auf dem Cover des dritten Bandes sehen wir den Todesboten Kengo. Genau wie beiden anderen Bänden hat das mittlerweile einen Wiedererkennungsfaktor, auch wenn das Cover so nicht viel über den Inhalt des Mangas aussagt. Irgendwie schon ein bisschen langweilig, oder?



Eigener Eindruck:

In diesem Band muss Kengo einem jungen Mann die Todesbotschaft überbringen, dessen Mutter sich politisch arrangiert und deren jedes mittel zur „Macht“ recht ist. Während sein Vater vor der Mutter kuscht und er nun als Werbemittel bis zu seinem Tod herhalten soll, reift in ihm ein perfider Plan.

Außerdem muss Kengo dem jungen Satoshi die Nachricht über dessen baldigen Tod überbringen, dessen Schwester seit einem Unfall erblindet ist und nicht ohne ihn klar kommt. Mit einer Notlüge will er sie für ihr Augen-OP überreden und opfert sich dabei selbst…



In zwei doch recht unterschiedlichen Geschichten wird wieder einmal dargestellt, wie die Menschen mit ihrem baldigen Tod umgehen und wie deren Umfeld darauf regiert. Obwohl die erste Geschichte an sich recht dramatisch ist, konnte sie mich nicht wirklich packen. Dafür hatte es aber die zweite Geschichte in sich bei der ich dann doch ein bisschen schlucken musste, denn sie ist irgendwie so dramatisch und doch auch wieder so schön, dass sie mich noch lange danach beschäftigt hat. Da sind sie dann auch endlich, die Emotionen, die ich bei den anderen Geschichten dieser Reihe vermisst habe. Das Gefühl muss einschlagen wie eine Bombe und das hat diese letzte Geschichte eindeutig geschafft. Schade, dass die andere Story dafür nicht so mein Fall war. Schade auch, dass wir wieder so wenig über Kengo, den Ikigamiboten erfahren, auch wenn er nun in seiner Position gefestigt scheint und sich endlich damit abgefunden hat, dass er den Menschen den Tod bringt, wenn er sich zu ihnen aufmacht. Zu Kengo würde ich einfach gern mehr wissen, schließlich ist er einer der Schlüsselcharaktere der Geschichte.





Fazit:

Auch Teil 3 regt zum Nachdenken an, konnte mich aber leider auch wieder nicht wirklich packen. Mir fehlen bei diesen Mangas das gewisse Etwas. Die Grundidee ist wirklich gut, aber mir fehlt die packende Spannung und die tiefen Emotionen.



Idee: 5/5

Charaktere: 3/5

Logik: 3/5

Spannung: 3/5

Emotionen: 4/5





Gesamt: 3/5



Daten:

ISBN: 9783551795731

Sprache: Deutsch

Ausgabe: Flexibler Einband

Umfang: 224 Seiten

Verlag: Carlsen

Erscheinungsdatum: 29.01.2013

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story # 1 was about an overbearing selfish mother who is running for office in some sort of educational ministry/school board type position. Her son has faced enormous academic pressure due to his mother’s position and at the age of 14 gave up entirely and became a hikkikomori. The mother is ashamed of this but is continuing to work on her political career rather than trying to help her son. The father is passive, though he is kind to the son he doesn’t do enough. When the son is served with Ikigami papers, the mom’s first reaction is to say “omg this will get me so many sympathy votes. Will you make a speech for me?” Obviously this doesn’t go over well and the son steals a gun and tries to shoot his mom at a campaign rally. He ends up shooting himself right before dying at the expected time. The mom becomes ostracized from society. I was thinking about the article I read yesterday about overbearing mothers and matricide by antisocial sons. It fit all the profiles– Overbearing mom, maladjusted son, passive/uninvolved father. I also thought of the Zadie Smith book Swing Time where the mother cares about activism and improving society but dedicates all her time to that lofty goal while ignoring the emotional needs of her child.

Story #2 was about a man who had been in a severe car crash as a child. The crash killed his parents, but he and his sister survived. The sister was blinded in the accident. They were put into separate orphanages and he had a rough childhood. His ultimate goal was to gain custody of his little sister. With few resources available to him, he has scammed and lied his way to get money and apartments etc, but it’s all in service to the goal of taking care of his younger sister. She really needs a cornea transplant to be able to see again. When he gets his Ikigami he decides he will give his sister his corneas so she isn’t stuck in limbo on the waiting list. She finds out and refuses, saying she would rather die than live life without him etc etc. The sister says she won’t get the surgery until after 2 pm so she can be sure it wasn’t her brother’s corneas. Fujimoto, our messenger main character, feels badly about the situation. They brainstorm and decide to set all the clocks ahead to trick the sister into getting the corneas. She is upset at the lie at first but comes to appreciate what her brother did for her. This is the only somewhat feel good episode we’ve had so far.

Fujimoto gets in trouble at work for meddling in the cornea situation. We are seeing more tension between his ethics and his work. The therapist from the last book has started working in his building so we will see if that goes anywhere.

Honestly I am starting to really like this series, at first I worried that the repeating formula would become tedious, but there is just so many possibilities you can do with the same premise.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time for some disfunctional families. Kazuo Takimoto is a female politician running on an education reform centered on the National Welfare Act. Her husband is a stay-at-home dad after his business failed, but it's the son who is really damaged. His mother forced him to improve his grades, even by threatening to disown him. The stress made him hate his mother and eventually give up school altogether. Though he hates his life, the ikigami still makes him shudder. His mother tries to take advantage of his situation to gain the sympathy vote, so he steals a gun and tries to kill her during a rally. He is gunned down by police. His father aims to do everything in his power to oppose the National Welfare Act.

As a result of a car crash, Satoshi and Sakura become orphans. Sakura loses her sight, so she is dependent on Satoshi who earns money by scamming people. He lies to Sakura that he is making an honest living. Things are slowly looking up for him, but the ikigami ruins his plans. He decides to donate his corneas to his sister so she can regain her sight. He doesn't want her to know they came from him, but she figures everything out when Fujimoto delivers the paper. He tries to lie again, so she call him out on it - she will refuse the operation if he dies at 2pm the next day. Fujimoto offers a solution - to have the whole hospital claim it's one hour later, so Sakura agrees to the operation. She eventually learns about all her brother's lies, but chooses to live on with his memory and last good deed in her heart.

[Francine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been brainwashed by feminism because in the first story, all I could see was a sexist stereotype being perpetuated. 🙃
(A cold woman who is trying to get ahead in politics, who only uses her husband and son to support her career and doesn't feel love. A spineless stay-at-home dad who is whipped by his wife and can't do anything to help his son. And the implicit moral of the story is: it would be better if their roles were reversed and the man were the breadwinner. Haha!)

This series is constantly teetering on the edge between good and bad. It is an interesting thought experiment and the cases are varied, but the execution leaves something to be desired - though I can't quite put my finger on what exactly it is that I desire. Gotta keep reading to find out, I suppose.

[ingeburge · Rating 4 out of 5]

arriver à reproduire la même histoire sans que cela devienne répétitif, ça c'est ce que j'appelle un bon manga!!
avec en + des thématiques qui me tiennent à cœur qui sont abordées, que demander de plus?😳

attention quand même à l'ep5 qui mérite des petits tw dépression et sh...

[Sandra Delgado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tengo que releerlo...

[Kaitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The brothers love for his little sister got me CRYIN IN THE CLUB

[Levent Erikli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Manga okumaktan anime izlemeye vakit bulamaz oldum baya sürükleyici

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed these two stories. Hoping to see more involvement of the messenger in the next volumes.

[Zuhal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ya ertem bu nası sondu be kardesim böyle canımızla bi problemin mi var senin

[Irem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kalbim paramparça şu an.

[Saoirse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un troisième tome intéressant. J'aime bien le fait que l'on voit l'évolution de Fujimoto au fil du temps.

[Mady · Rating 3 out of 5]

Si, non sei, tiña que lelo

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Je ne pouvais pas…emporter tes prunelles dans ma mort !"

4,5 —> la deuxième histoire était INCROYABLE punaise !!! Mais j’enlève 0,5 pour le début de la première qui était un peu long..

[Đình Minh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Có những nỗi đau, có những giọt nước mắt, nhưng đâu đó những nụ cười hiện ra, vì ta đã làm hết mình đến những giây phút cuối cùng...

[Margo C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nadal rewelacyjna

[Bennybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

On suit toujours le personnage de Fujimoto qui distribue deux nouveaux Ikigami.

Les deux histoires sont assez différentes:
- la première plus sombre
- la deuxième plus triste mais pleine d’espoir.

On voit l’impact qu’ont les Ikigami sur les gens et Fujimoto continue ses interrogations sur la légitimité de cette loi car comment peut-on accepter notre mort 24h avant que cette dernière intervienne et comment rendre utile cette dernière journée surtout avec notre passé qui rentre en ligne de compte.

Je continue à suivre la série car j’ai vraiment envie de voir si une révolte va avoir lieu ou si les gens restent des moutons à accepter leur sort.

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this one nearly as much as the other two. The first story pissed me off. The second one was good though.

[Mikael Kuoppala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only slightly less perfect than the first two volumes, the third installment to the Ikigami series delivers two great stories about people who are randomly selected to die in a future Japan where such actions are meant to make people value life. One of the stories was a bit too sappy, romantic and contrived to make as big of an impact as has already become the average for this thoughtful and in many ways beautiful series. Still a good book and one that didn't diminish my belief in this concept one bit.

[Softymel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un volume intéressant, dans lequel on suit l'histoire de deux jeunes gens recevant un ikigami. La seconde histoire est particulièrement touchante, puisqu'on y suit deux jeunes orphelins qui n'ont que l'un et l'autre. On y voit donc un cas où l'ikigami a des conséquence particulièrement grave, puisque la personne qui survit se retrouve complètement seule.

Quand à la première histoire, c'est un premier pas dans l'univers politique de ce monde.

Un tome intéressant donc, dont j'ai beaucoup aimé la lecture, comme les deux premiers :-)

[Christiane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm still enjoying this series set in an alternate/future? world where in order to remind people how precious life is and how important it is to be "a productive, active member of society", random young citizens are selected to be killed. I really liked the story "The Loveliest Lie" in this volume; it had a sad but very sweet ending, unlike many of the other stories so far.

[Thomas Andrikus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I intended to read this manga series all the way thru the end last year, but I forgot. So now I'm continuing reading the volumes, again.

The stories have a lot of moral points, albeit delivered in a morbidly brutal way...