This review goes for the Manga and for the original Book
The setting is a pretty standard Adult Fear and several of the characters are given their own personality, background and traits to make them varying degrees of memorable. Though with a cast of at least 42 Students and a good handful of extras who are important, giving everyone the time they require to be introduced and developed properly would take too long.
A few backgrounds were changed for characters when the transition went from Book to Manga. One character originally had an abusive father who tormented the family until his sudden death being changed into a religious "freak". A post-birth defect compared to what was originally a pre-birth accident...
I must say that I prefer the book more than the manga. The manga is too dramatic at times, the characters cry over everything, to the point that it's just funny and not the intended effect of crying because of the pressure of the situation and the fact that most of them look older than they actually are takes some of the horror of 15 year olds killing each other away.
Worth a read, though perhaps opting for the book, whether the original version or a translation, might be a bit better. The manga also has issues of having a... biased translation done by Keith Griffin.
Literature Good But Not Too Great
This review goes for the Manga and for the original Book
The setting is a pretty standard Adult Fear and several of the characters are given their own personality, background and traits to make them varying degrees of memorable. Though with a cast of at least 42 Students and a good handful of extras who are important, giving everyone the time they require to be introduced and developed properly would take too long.
A few backgrounds were changed for characters when the transition went from Book to Manga. One character originally had an abusive father who tormented the family until his sudden death being changed into a religious "freak". A post-birth defect compared to what was originally a pre-birth accident...
I must say that I prefer the book more than the manga. The manga is too dramatic at times, the characters cry over everything, to the point that it's just funny and not the intended effect of crying because of the pressure of the situation and the fact that most of them look older than they actually are takes some of the horror of 15 year olds killing each other away.
Worth a read, though perhaps opting for the book, whether the original version or a translation, might be a bit better. The manga also has issues of having a... biased translation done by Keith Griffin.