365 Days of Manga, Day 361: Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit

Ikigami-Volume-1-Cover
IKIGAMI: THE ULTIMATE LIMIT • Motoro Mase • VIZ • 18+
In an authoritarian alternate Japan, all citizens are injected with a time-delay poison wich will kill one out of 10,000 people, determined randomly, sometime before their 25th birthday. Fujimoto, the nominal main character, is a young office worker who has the dubious job of delivering ikigami (“death papers”) to the unlucky ones 24 hours before they die. And why kill them? In the words of one of the government characters, it’s to make people value life (“It can be either a death sentence…or an invitation to really live”). The unlikely science-fiction premise is really an excuse to tell anthology-style stories of how people act when they know they’re going to die: a young musician prepares for a final performance, a bullied young man indulges in a spree of murder and revenge, etc.. Unfortunately, although the art and storytelling are very competent, with polished realistic artwork and lots of intense close-ups, the stories are heavy-handed and obvious, invariably involving life lessons and a redemptive “happy ending.” (This review of Ikigami volume 1 was originally printed in Otaku USA magazine.)
** (two stars)
Today’s winner is Judi W. of Virginia! Congratulations, Judi! Only four days to go…

Leihtah posted this photo of herself incognito with her manga. Thanks for the great blog post! I’m glad you liked Manga: The Complete Guide, and I hope you like the new manga I’m sending you!

One Response to “365 Days of Manga, Day 361: Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit”

KBKarma says:

November 5, 2010 at 8:25 pm

This sounds remarkably similar to Machine of Death, a 30-story anthology edited by Ryan North (http://www.qwantz.com/), Matthew Bannardo, and David Malki ! (http://wondermark.com/). Basic summary: a machine has been invented that can tell you how you’re going to die after getting a sample of your blood. The problem is that it tells you how you die, but it (very rarely) says when, where, or in what circumstances. And it’s got a sense of irony. And it’s never wrong.

So, if you got AIRPLANE CRASH, and never left your house, an airplane would crash into your house. If you get OLD AGE, you could die because your car was so old the brake wires wore out, or because an old man shot you, or you could live into your old age, but be in a coma for twenty years before you die.

As a result, since the Machine is always right, the one way you can die is the only way you can die. Some people become agoraphobes. Some people live life normally. Some become hedonists. But the question the book, and every story (each of which has an excellent illustration) in it, asks, is: is it good to know how you die? Or would we be better off without that knowledge? Absolutely brilliant.