Somewhat of a response to Therlo, cause boy oh boy do they have some lovely things to say about this story.
Perhaps it's just me or does Japan loves to condone rape? Or white washing it like it's no big deal.
Yeah sure, go ahead and claim that an entire country's culture is ok with rape going on, despite it being known as a country with very low crime rates. Here's a comparison of Japan's crime rates to that of the US. Spoilers: US has it far worse than Japan's rape crimes reported. But no, because rape is happening in a series like this, and many other fictional works out there, the entire country's totally alright with one of the worst crimes known to man. Ok.
Nobody in the manga seems to care either. In the story, one of the sick fuckers after seeing the women getting raped, actually gets so excited that he is willing to kill someone to get a ticket to join in. What the hell? Then what does the author do? Kill him off like he deserves? Nope, the author rewards the sick fucker by having a "prostitute" service him instead.
But they do care... They just can't really do anything about it necessarily. The leader of the group (the psycho cannibal you did mention) is essentially a tyrant that rules over them, and has created an order out of chaos: That being, the women get to service the men, so long as they do what they're told by the guy in charge. Say what you will that that sort of logic's stupid as fuck, and that it makes no sense for the women to be letting this shit happen, but that's the problem with what you're glossing over entirely when it comes to this series.
After knowing about it, how can the people in the other camp stay idle knowing a group of women are getting violated every night just a few miles down from the road from where they sleep? Not to mention it would of been the perfect time to strike. Killing the rapists while they are naked and defenceless doing the deed would be perfect poetic justice.
To add insult to injury, the supposedly "good" protagonist cares so much for the lives of these rapists that he always lets go every time they attack. Even though these same rapist thugs repeatedly tries to kill his group and tries to enslave and rape their women.
And this is the part I wanted to address that you can't help but keep overlooking: These people are all survivors of failed suicides. That is why they are in this situation to begin with, and is also why they're not some kind of fighting force that'll always stand up and do what they think is right. They were just regular people plopped down in the middle of some deserted island, and with them being given a second chance as to live out new lives once more, many of them go on (like that of our main character) as to try and understand what their potential is in this new life.
As much as they've constantly wanted to stop the other group lead by psycho cannibal man, the main group we follow doesn't wish to cause bloodshed; seriously, these people have constantly held discussions on how to deal with the other group. They're not in a position where they want to put more of their people in harms way. And the main character, again, who's been given a second chance at living out a new life, doesn't want to have his purpose be that of a killer. To him, it's vulgar and depressing as to go on and take away that second chance others had also been given, despite being the most capable of doing so on the entire island.
It's not as if it's hard to stop the thugs either. The protagonist basically dominates everybody on the island in combat with his elite archery. His group outnumber the rapist group twice over, have better equipment, have better training and the other side doesn't even have any proper range weapons. Even if he's so concerned about human life, at least hop over to their camp, put an arrow through that cannibal boss's neck then the situation won't be as bad. But no, he's so "good" that he always shoots the rapists in the arm or lets them go. Ever heard of the expression "Been merciful towards your enemies is to be merciless towards your friends"? Or "All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing"? It describes this situation perfectly.
Already explained this. These guys aren't killers, and trust me, the enemy group finds ways as to combat their lack of numbers. Which further complicates things, yet also makes the series far more interesting. We know that the main character has the edge, but if it were so easy as to just wipe out the enemy group, this story we lack any tension or intrigue toward the situations they land in. Which is why rather than have our heroes engage in the mindless killing of their enemy, they go about discussing how to deal with these affairs. Cause that's what the story's all about: The questioning of morals and principles, in that of a new land where the two need not apply.
The author did a good job in glossing over the rapes, making it seem like it's no big deal, since it seems few people pick up on it. Instead focusing on the mundane survival aspects and making the MC's shallow "circle of life" philosophy seem meaningful (it's not).
Honestly perhaps the most depressing thing, rather than the manga itself, is how few people caught on and seem to just have bought all that shallow crap.
Because that's not the focus of the story. If you want to read some "stories" where that's the focus, I'm sure you can find some decent Hentai out there for that... <_____<
Ok but seriously, people like this series for the struggle these people have to go through: Surviving in a new land, learning skills they've never known before, questioning the morality of certain situations, engaging in arms races, trying to seek out the meaning to their new lives. It's all interesting if you actually try and understand why other people like it, and not get so caught up on one of the conflicts that is indeed an issue for our characters (letting the group of evil dudes do as they please, like the raping of women). It's really not that depressing. For the most part, I've found some of these users thoughts on the series to be really insightful. I feel like you should try giving this series a...
Second chance...
:3
As for my rating, I'm really hating on the art at times. I sometimes am just kinda bewildered at how some people are being drawn, like some people's bodies just being elongated incredibly. The art isn't horrible, but had it been something amazing like perhaps Darwin's Game or Btooom! (which I'll admit, haven't read the latter yet), I'd probably give it something FAR higher.
(-5)
(+145)
