Mann I love this manga. Really interesting and the drawings are beautiful. The first ark is well plotted touching, and sometimes funny. They did a good job with the character backgrounds, each character had their reasons to be who they were. But arc 2 was truely a fail, there was many fail characters and had powers they didn't deserve. The little speedy girl really got.on my nerves man I would have liked it better if it ended at arc 1

I have too much homework and because of this (freakin addicting) manga now I have to be up till 3am; great. Anyway, I came across this manga 4 hours ago, couldn't stop reading, neglected my tremendous amount of homework, and finished up to volume 18 already.
thats all imma say since im in a hurry. hope it was useful. oh, and usually i dont read manga like this, or with this kind of art but im addicted.
Word of advice: Make sure you aren't busy, or I gaurantee you won't get anything done-__-

This one should've been done as a hardcore "seinen".

... Last updated on October 4th, 2007, 12:26am

Alive The Final Evolution is quite the experience. In a world where MMC's best friend is discount Saskue who gets Friendzoned by Discount Sakura, who gets convinced by Discount Orichimaru to join him in hopes for more power. Truly a unique experience. The story is set in modern century Earth, a random shooting stars decided to crash land(?) onto planet earth. Certain people seem to now have Evolved and gained superpowers. Not everyone who was affected by the shooting star became evolved though. They were unable to contain it and committed suicide. So a mass suicide went across the world. Our hero however cares for none of this shit and has only 1 job. To rescue discount Saskue from the clutches of Discount Orichimaru.

The series is split into 2 parts. The 2nd half is set after a timeskip which starts with an amnesia arc. And like many amnesia arcs its just doesn't connect. I found the story to be intriguing but also a bit complicated. I think which was a bit of a nice touch tbh. It had just the right amount of unknown ending aside (which I will get to). Alot of the characters powers also are never really explained. It feels less majestic more the author couldn't think of a reason that made sense. Nonetheless though the author combined with his nice art was able to give some insane panels and nice double page spreads.

The characters are without a doubt its strong point. Now i do think Discount Saskue was a weak villain. Characterization wise that is. He was simply someone who was literally upset over being friendzone. That was his entire thing. Thats it. Yes there was deeper meaning but honestly that's pretty much the core of his entire reasoning. NOW. Discount Voldemort on the other hand was just taking it by the storm. Every step was truly vicious. I like the fact that he wasn't stupid and was ahead of the MMC. Like he actually acted like a smart villain instead of just some random that manically laughs. Discount Voldemort is definitely one of the more entertaining villains I have seen so far... mostly. The main character is also very likeable. He actually doesn't resemble naruto as much as he resembles the MMC from Kekkaishi. Even his like Off duty job is similar kinda hilarious. Regardless the side characters are also very entertaining. Almost all of them have there own purpose. They are kinda selfish in a way people are. and it really gave them their own personality. I didn't like the FMC's character development though. She was a good character but she was really lacking in the 2nd half. I didn't like how the author developed her character. Made her less of her own person.

Fanservice was a bit of an issue for this series. Now i love naked women. I love half naked women. But this series did not need either. Now this is a minor issue considering that the author didn't really add them in serious moments but rather moments that were already light hearted. But it just kinda pulled the heroines down for me. Overall though its a minor issue considering the author didn't over do it.

Action was somewhat of a unique bag though. It was good but at the same time i wasn't good enough kind of. Now what i liked about the action is that the characters die. They die and they don't come back. Giving real weight and tension to the fights. Actually giving the MMC a run of his money. Now its not as flash as naruto or one piece its more like Psyren just better written. Also they never explain some of the characters powers. It feels less like the author was giving us the option to think rather it felt like he couldn't think of one that would make sense. So despite the fact that the action maybe a couple steps below the real great ones i mentioned i think with the death inclusion the tension kinda cranks up to 11 sort of bridging that gap.

There is also a psychological aspect to the series. Whether or not death is a curse or a blessing. Who decided the rain means sad? and though the introduction to these are fantastically presented. I think the author just never truly expanded this. Never used it to its full potential. I did enjoy this aspect however i do think this is something people have already been asked. So unless your tired of this i don't think you will like it either.

The first half of this series was really good. Discount Saskue was kinda fun. I liked the MMC and how he approached people on his travels. Who joined and what not. When i think about the first half is really more like an adventure than an action series and the really wrote it well. the 2nd arc though good and answers many questions ( and leaves some) it just didn't bring itself to the quality of the first half

**TLDR**: Manga was fantastic in the first half. But some minor speed bumps in every aspect except art. The 2nd half some moderate speed bumps in story and characters but everything else remained pretty much minor. 7/10. Also It was drawn by the same author/artist as Noragami. however Alive's author is different.

Wow, yesterday, I wanted to pick up a new manga just for fun, but little did I know I would finish all 82 chapters in one day! It was THAT addicting. At first, I was tempted to drop the manga after the first few pages because the art didn't appeal to me that much, but boy am I glad that I kept going! The art gets SOOO much better, that I read more slowly because I wanted to look at the drawings more.

Plot wise, I really liked the story. Granted, the man character like many people said before is a lot like Naruto, or your average shounen hero. However, I still like Taisuke a lot. The whole suicide virus thing I thought was very original, and I kept wanting to find out what happens next. I also liked the first arc better, but the second arc was still good. There were a few times when I actually laughed out loud, which doesn't happen for me usually.

I don't think anyone should complain about the ending, because I think if you've read enough mangas, you would know that EVERYONE complains about endings, usually anyways. It's hard to end a really great manga, and everyone's expecting something crazy. But I liked the ending, because it's very nice and calm--I think it's a perfect closure. Plus, we all know the writer of the story finished this manga on his deathbed, so the ending really reflects what he was thinking and going through. Of course, I also had few questions about a lot of things that happened, because it seems like everything was so complicated with Mitama, and in the end, things ended up way more simply than I thought would have happened, given the complexity of the plot and the rising action/climax...but yeah, that doesn't change the excitement I had reading it, and I wouldn't rate it lower because of few what seems like plot holes/ambiguities.

So what are you doing? Go and read this exciting manga!

I personally loved this manga and was so amazed when I heard the story of its author( who died from cancer in a good way...). I didn't think there were so much people hating it so, now, I'm kind of reflecting on what I thought. I read some of the hate comments just to be sure and now I've made my mind. I won't back down that this could be considered a masterpiece. Though the first part is better than the second the story held itself good. Hirose should have had his character developed better than that, it's true. And, the ending had some confusing parts I think. But what I truly loved and which didn't bother me at all though it seems to have bothered some is that this manga, just as dramatic and crazy may the situation get, it kept itself as a bright kind of story. through good and bad times, never did the story become dark and too mysterious to be understood. That's the best way I coulp put it into words, period.
and, about the art, it's top notch. especially starting vol 7 or so. It's a shame the author died, he could have brought an even better piece. May he rest in peace ~

... Last updated on January 22nd, 2012, 1:23pm

This is a pretty good manga overall. It does have its issues which probably keep it from being a great one.

The Art is pretty good and fairly consistent. My only beef is that a few of the characters on occasion resemble others. D4 looks a bit like Megumi and there are some flashbacks of Kanon in the 2nd arc which also make her look a bit like Megumi. However, that's mostly nitpicking.

The story is decent, with some originality imho. Some reviewers have complained that the 1st arc is way better than the second and not to bother with second arc. I think the first arc is stronger and as a result the second looks worse in comparison, but is not that bad. I think one of the things that's going on is that the first arc feels a lot more serious and grim, it has a more seinen feel to it. I think there is much more tragedy, pain, and struggle in the first arc. The second arc has much more comedy thrown in, which I thought was unnecessary but maybe they were trying to get away from the story being too grim. The result is that the second arc has more of a shonen feel to it.

I think what brings the story down is weakness in character motivation, character development, and some vagueness at the end. You have one character that is extremely jealous of his friend, and is manipulated by another into becoming a real monster. This jealousy kind of comes a bit out of left field, for me and maybe is too convenient. Also the character of Megumi is kind of important, but she is never really developed thru out the series. The American Sergeant in charge of the special team is intelligent, cunning, and ruthless. However, he seems to conveniently lose his intelligence and just follow orders blindly when it comes down to the heart of Akuro. There are some other characters that seem to have contradictory motivations as well and a few thrown in for comedy like the bug-eyed mad scientist (sooo cliche).

There is a bit of Anti-Americanism going on as Americans are presented for the most part as dumb, arrogant and violent. This would have been ok if it was a parody about the stereotype, but it can't be seen that way in the context of the larger story.

The end is a little bit confusing with what Mitama is actually trying to do. The epilogue 5 years later is strange and seems tacked on without much thought. One of the characters seems to be developing stalker qualities which I think was a very weak attempt at humor.

I would still recommend this series in spite of its flaws. It has solid artwork, some good ideas, a bit of philosophizing thrown in and is only really betrayed by its shonen leanings. 8 out of 10.

... Last updated on March 20th, 2011, 10:57am

This isn't a tragic/depressing/horrifying psychological manga. It's more of a shounen about superpowers. Trust me, you won't get too sad reading this either, I'm up to chapter 10 so far and am happy with the way things are going No one you really get attached too is quickly killed off, so so far the manga is fine.

edit: wtf...Now I'm very curious. I've been following the rapid updated lately, and was getting the feeling that it ends on volume 9, perhaps with an epilogue in volume 10 or something. But whoa, I see it's up to 15 volumes in country of origin? AWESOME!

So to sum it up, my comment is: This manga doesn't have an abrupt ending, and it isn't depressing, yippers!

... Last updated on September 19th, 2008, 9:43pm

I loved the manga. It took me two tries to finish it, that's true, but it still has become one of my favourites. So who cares about the comments badmouthing it, just read it. If you like the genres, there's no reason to avoid it. The rating is good as well, so what's stopping you?

Fear because there might be a lot of gore? Or because it's partly also about suicide? There's no reason to, it's a shounen manga after all, not some seinen. Fear because it's not original? Veto! In my opinion, it's farly original for a shounen - especially near the end! Try it out, especially if you like shounen! (Romance and shoujo fans might feel a little neglected though)