Dead Company, Volume 1

Dead Company #1

by Yoshiki Tonogai

A death game where players are forced to kill one another until there's only one person left standing!

This is the story of Ryosuke Miyauchi, a young man who survived a real-life battle royale game three years ago, and who has been struggling to live a normal life since then. One day, Ryosuke was scouted by the enormously popular game developer EDC, who asked him, "Why don't you use your special experience to make a game?" 

Genres: Manga, Horror, Graphic Novels, Thriller, Fiction, Graphic Novels Manga, Drama

192 pages, Paperback

Published August 15, 2023

About the author

Yoshiki Tonogai (外海良基 Tonogai Yoshiki, born March 14) is a Japanese manga artist from Shiga, Japan.

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three years ago, Miyauchi Ryosuke was abducted and forced to play a death game in which he was the only survivor. Now, when the employment office tells him EDC, a company known for it's video games is interested in hiring him, he can't fathom why. When he gets to the company, they tell him his past is exactly why they want him because they're developing new "death games" and want his unique perspective. Much to his surprise, he seems to be doing well at the company, giving suggestions of how to improve their various games. But he soon learns the truth behind the games and company. It's all real.
A new take on the whole Battle Royale/Hunger Games trope, it starts off a little sketchy and lacking substance, but before long the missing pieces are filled in and eventually becomes quite intriguing. Looking forward to the next installment.

[Maya Lauer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst Manga I've ever read. The art is lazy and the backgrounds sometimes don't even exist. The characters are drawn in very stiff poses and don't have much personality. The plot was boring and badly paced. This one wasn't for me.

[His Ghoul Friday (Julia) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love let’s play a game stories! It’s a bit like Battle Royale meets Death Tube.

I loved the slow build-up in Vol 1, the story takes its time setting up the main character, Ryosuke, and his new job, which is a video game company that specializes in the horror survival genre.

The plot is dark, and the art is gory, and just when things get really interesting it leaves you hanging!

I’m definitely looking forward to what’s to come in Vol 2!

[Mikey The Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly 3.5 is a fair rating. It’s a pretty average manga for volume one. It’s a bit gruesome at times but focuses alot on the mystery elements of the overall story. It’s unclear to me why the main character keeps going to work everyday but I guess it’s from fear of his own death or his family. 🤷‍♂️

[Stay Fetters · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Lets see, there were ten abducted people in total. You were confined in a secret room and forced to start killing each other. It sounds like something out of a video game, but it actually happened."

DNF @ 80%

This was so boring that my brain goo started seeping out of my ears and my eyes started to bleed.

The concept sounded interesting but this was poorly executed. I went into this with high hopes and left needing a stiff drink. The art was bland and nothing spectacular.

Nothing about this stood out. Not worth my time and won’t be trying any other volumes.

[✨Rebel Fairy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yoshiki Tonogai is one of my favourite psych-horror mangakas out there.

When I heard a new series was out - I was like, yassss!

Now, I feel the mangaka is in a trap . . . It is the same thing, just a different setting.

Same animal masks since Doubt.

It was still enjoyable enough to finish this series.

3 Years ago Ryosuke Miyauchi survived a death game and now a company seeks his help to improve their death games. Now a small game of cat and mouse is starting in the company due to skeletons falling out slowly.

[Maurine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un premier tome vraiment prenant !

[Laur · Rating 1 out of 5]

the way the art in this supposed horror-thriller is so lifeless, no movement in the composition or posing. technically not horrible but boring as hell to look at
and this is the 3rd story in this universe? and these are the vibes? ok.

[Peter Derk · Rating 3 out of 5]

On one hand, working for a company that does murder stuff isn’t the best.

On the other hand, the company seems to be pretty good about promoting from within, being concerned about the well-being of employees, and praising employees for a job well done.

The company is doing the worst things, but doing them the right way.

I’d probably apply under the rationale, “Sure, they’re killing people, but not like arms manufacturer numbers of people, and besides, most jobs kill people anyway over the course of a couple decades. You just can’t tell because it kills them from the inside out.”

[Sunread26 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chronique complète :
https://sunread26.wordpress.com/2022/...

Extrait :
Voici enfin la nouvelle œuvre de Yoshiki Tonogai que j’attendais depuis un moment, ayant adoré ses séries précédentes (Judge, Doubt, Secret), j’espère que cette série me fera autant frissonner ! Cette fois-ci le point de vue du lecteur sera sûrement bien différent de d’habitude, puisqu’on ne sera plus du côté des « victimes » mais des « bourreaux ». Je mets des guillemets, car c’est-on jamais, la réalité est peut-être tout autre…

Dans ce premier tome, le protagoniste, Ryosuke voit son mental mis à rude épreuve, et pourtant ce n’est sûrement que le début… En effet, après son traumatisme, il essaie de passer à autre chose, mais comment y parvenir lorsqu’on rejoint l’entreprise à l’origine de celui-ci ? Et surtout, comment accepter qu’une entreprise puisse faire de tels choses ! Ainsi, il a beaucoup de choses à assimiler et il est donc normal qu’il est du mal à l’accepter… C’est pour cette raison que dans l’intro, j’ai mis des guillemets, car au final, sommes-nous vraiment placé à la place du bourreau ? Ou est-ce juste une mascarade où au final on reste du côté de la victime ? Si c’est le cas, alors la fin de cette série est déjà toute tracée et ne sera pas joyeuse…

Comme dans chacune de ses œuvres, des indices sont placés à différents moments de l’histoire, je pense avoir réussi à en discerner quelques uns… Et hélas, ils confirment ce que je dis au paragraphe précédent, que la fin ne sera sûrement pas joyeuse, pour Ryosuke en tout cas. Et si elle n’est pas joyeuse pour lui, ça signifie que pour cette entreprise, par contre, elle le sera… De quoi me donner quelques frissons, sans pour autant avoir eu droit à beaucoup d’horreur (puisque là l’horreur est indirecte pour le moment) avec ce premier tome…

[...]

[LaPommequirougit · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://lapommequirougit.com/2020/09/...

⚠ Pour un public averti, contient des scènes violentes ⚠

Il y a plusieurs années de ça peut-être six ans, j’avais lu doubt du même auteur, du coup, j’étais ravie de le retrouver avec cette nouveauté !

Ryosuke est le seul survivant d’un horrible massacre. Il s’est retrouvé à devoir tuer des gens pour survivre, même ses proches. Depuis, il n’arrive plus à trouver d’emplois, il ne vit plus vraiment, il survit.

Mais une entreprise va lui offrir une chance d’obtenir un job. Sauf que cette dernière le recrute à cause de son horrible expérience justement. Comme il a vécu cela, il pourra les aider à créer le meilleur jeu vidéo de survival-horror possible. Ils veulent que leurs jeux soit de plus en plus réaliste, du coup, ce qu’a vécu Ryosuke est pour eux une chance ! Sauf qu’en bossant avec eux, petit à petit Ryosuke va découvrir la face cachée de cette entreprise.

Les personnages sont intéressants, mais surtout l’histoire est très prenante. Contrairement à ce que nous a habitué le mangaka, en général on se retrouvait avec les victimes, mais pour une fois, on sera du côté des bourreaux. Je trouve que ce point de vue est très intrigant et rend les choses plus exaltantes encore !

En bref, c’est un premier tome vraiment prenant que j’ai lu très rapidement. J’ai hâte de voir ce que les autres tomes de la série donneront. C’est un mangaka dont il faudrait que je lise les autres titres, car Doubt m’avait beaucoup plu et cette nouvelle saga commence bien ! Un manga à lire si vous aimez les survival-horror. 😉

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ich liebe Psychothriller-Mangas! Sie vermögen mich zu fesseln, mich zu erschrecken und mir eine Gänsehaut zu verursachen - so war es auch mit "Dead Company", was mich sehr freut. Die Geschichte rund um Kawauchi entwirrt sich langsam und wird von Kapitel zu Kapitel bedrohlicher. Dabei schafft sie viele Plottwists, die mich meistens eiskalt erwischt haben! Die Prämisse des Ganzen finde ich interessant und auch die Umsetzung - sowohl zeichnerisch als auch erzählerisch empfand ich als sehr gelungen. Kawauchi ist ein Charakter, den ich sympatisch fand und nur zu gern weiter kennenlernen möchte. Viele der Nebencharaktere kann ich noch nicht so gut einschätzen, was ungemein zur Spannung beiträgt. Wessen Motive sind gut, wessen schlecht? Vor wem sollte Kawauchi sich lieber in Acht nehmen, wem kann er vertrauen? Der erste Band lässt mich mit Fragen und einem mehr als geweckten Interresse zurück. Band 2 erscheint schon in wenigen Tagen. Sicherlich werde ich diesen genauso verschlingen, wie seinen Vorgänger! 5 🌟

[Mercedes · Rating 5 out of 5]

The bunny heads on the cover grabbed my attention for this book and others by this author. I ate this up in one sitting. Compared to the author's other books (Judge, Doubt) the writing style of this book maintains the serious theme of the storyline. The characters aren't smiling with giddy glee in the wrong spots and every movement they make isn't labeled. I can't wait to see the outcome of this story. Since the MC was in a death game previously, against his will, I feel like he's a loose cannon. I always wonder, how far from reality is this kind of story....

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was very flat and uninteresting. It's about a guy who is completely unqualified to join a video game company but gets the job because he survived a real life battle royale three years ago where he was the only survivor. The company makes survival horror games and would like his input. I bet you can instantly guess where this is headed. The dialogue is stilted and feels like it was written by AI. The art is manga standard. I couldn't pick it out of a lineup.

[Cale · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book seems to lean into all the worst impulses I connect to manga, in service to a story that just feels icky - capitalizing on traumatized characters to build better videogames that may be actual real-world killing games? Just yuck.
It might be trying to do something useful with the ideas of trauma and games that capitalize on it, but I couldn't get past the format or the plot to find those kernels. Definitely not something I'll be continuing to read.

[Alexander Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Compared to the other death game series by this author, this was lackluster.
None of them have fantastic endings, they're usually a bit open, but that's not even where this one particularly falls short. The premise is fine, the characters are distinguishable enough, but the story simply wasn't as entertaining or tense as the others they've done.

[viiic · Rating 3 out of 5]

L’idée est intéressante, mais j’ai eu quelques problèmes avec l’exécution, à commencer avec l’entreprise en elle-même, que je ne trouve pas réaliste et qui présente trop de contradictions. Je suis de plus restée totalement extérieure au récit à cause d’un personnage qui n’attire pas de sympathie particulière, et le manga peine à faire ressentir des émotions, alors que le contexte devrait aider.

[Mee Too · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not good to me, but the main protagonist goes nuts at the end and starts pulling out eyeballs. I feel like I have to read the rest with the guarantee that it will only get worse but I'm leaning towards who really gaf.?

[Mella aka Maron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fun idea! A company that runs death games so that they can create death game videogames? And they recruit the winners of their death games to be employees?? That is so messed up and fascinating! Also I love the cliffhanger ending.

[Emma Dreher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting setup, but I agree with a couple other reviewers that the characters were flatly drawn. More action packed then some horror manga I've read. However, I don't think I'll read the sequel or rest of the series. None of the characters hit close to home!

[Daniela Casorati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice premise! Let’s see how it’ll develop

[Mercy Nurse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is very repetitive.

[Knutschi · Rating 3 out of 5]

👍🤗💫

[Dawn Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was….. SOOO GOOD!!! I loved every second of this. The way it ended, 😮‍💨 I need to read the second ASAP!!

[ashes ➷]

i will read anything by this man

[Izzie Driftwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 A quick macabre read. Took a little to figure out the present v past v dream/nightmare sequence bits, but enjoyed the horror film vibe of the story.

[Downbadreader29 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fw it, It's good.

[Kaitie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems like the manga is using gore as an equivalent to horror. It's an interesting concept, but it also seems like it does not make much sense.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Dylan Soucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty solid. Heavily reminds me of The Belko Experiment.