10 Volumes = 49 Chapters (Complete)
I don't know what happened.
It was such a great series and started strong for couple of volumes but turns bad near the end.
I lost interest to read the series halfway through.
This is honestly ludicrous lmao. Plot armor is evident and some or maybe most of the events aren't even explained. I gotta thank the author though for not making the main protagnist a big pussy.
Even though this is 10 volumes it's an easy read for the following reasons.
There's no explaining things in depth, what you see is what you get most of the time, it's a shounen that doesn't pretend to be more.
80% of this is action and fighting.
Flashbacks are few, but even those are irrelevant. We get some sob stories that it's obvious they don't matter, won't influence the story in any way. You like the character? Read his sidestory, else you can just skim through it.
So why am I giving this a 5?
Superficial story, not enough flashed supporting characters, no explaining on the disease or how they cured it. It's very shounenish to say the disease is just humanity evolving and leave it at that. Then a lone scientist mananges to discover a cure all by herself.
Don't forget they said only half the world population died, so there were plenty of scientists left if the cure was so easy to find.
I simply feel I wasted my time reading this, there's nothing original in it and it ends pretty abruptly like they wanted to do a Naruto 72 volumes but the sales weren't there (understandable) and had to finish in 2 volumes.
アポカリプスの砦 Overview
Characters
The characters a very archetypal but still manage feel somewhat real. Mainly due to how the author takes the time to flesh out their every main character's backstory through flashbacks. The characters are not particularly interesting but the actions they take and interactions between each are very entertaining. The author also justifies most if not all unusual character actions.
Plot
The plot is fairly straightforward. Although the unraveling of information about the zombies and how the characters try to make sense of their current situation is very engaging. The author also manages to keep a high level of consistency of the rules in-universe.
Presentation & Pacing
The story is very shonen and has an emphasis on "rule of cool". These elements are less prominent as the story focuses more and more on mystery and drama. Occasionally the manga has flashbacks to flesh out the characters which rarely affect the fast pacing negatively. As their rarely intrusive to the plot and feel organic, their short length also helps.
Art
Typical art style but competent and mostly consistent throughout. With the high points being the zombies and stand out panels.
Meta
Even if you're bored with the zombie genre, it manages to sidestep a lot (not all) of overused zombie tropes mainly due to the types of characters the story is focusing on and how zombies are written with some more creativity than I am used to seeing in this genre.
Don't listen to reviewer Xiximaro below me. This story's ending is completely scanlated. There's 45 chapters, an epilogue chapter (chapter 46), and then 3 extra side stories. All of which are translated and available in volume 10. Does this mean we get a complete fulfilling end with no loose plot points? Absolutely not. It has an amazing setup but with a very lackluster wrap up.
So I'm warning you to not start this series if you want to know how it ended(like me). Unfortunately someone on mangaupdates changed this manga to completely scanlated. And I, since I don't like spoilers, read till the "end" thinking it was over... But in fact it wasn't, it's still missing the epilogue chapters 46 through 49. So if you like to read finished translated manga, this one still isn't ready.
Nevertheless, it's a great read the art and plot feels somewhat like Gantz even though the art isn't as good. It's one of those stories that get you hook till the end without dragging. Oh and this isn't by no means the typical zombie apocalypse like the description says, in a good way.
... the protagonists seemingly have plot armor. (At least as of the first two volumes, but one can extrapolate...)
What's the point of an apocalypse story if you know that nobody "important" dies?
I really love this series. I started reading it a while ago but was a little turned off and freaked out by its all at first but then randomly, I gave it another chance and fell in love with it, and now I can't wait for the next chapter release! I really like all of the development of all of the characters because despite the madness and chaos all around them, they've all got interesting stories, some of which tore at my heartstrings. I also can appreciate all of the extremities! It's unique but like a lot of action and horror stories out there where the main characters just can't seem to win, where the bad guy just won't seem to die like Dracula (after you've killed him a million times he always seems to come back), where likable characters die, and where the bad guy just keeps getting stronger and stronger but there is also a strong sense of character growth, which I simply admire. Anyway I would've given the series a perfect score except for the fact that I can't get over there not being any subtle romance whatsoever. I kept hoping that the main character Maeda was secretly a girl but that was quickly shut down....
this manga scared my pants off, but also had me laughing and the weirdest moments.
Some of the zombies have the most derpy faces I have ever seen and I just can't--... ha ha ha ha. Even if you aren't here for the story, the horror, or the hot boys, at least check out this manga for the hidden troll faces on random zombies. Oh god it's deliciously disgusting. xD
(and reading this manga on Mangahere was great with the Tsukkonomi function--it just made everything 10 times better)
This manga is one of the few horror manga that I actually read considering I am such a punk and scared of things like this. But for some reason I find myself coming back and reading every chapter that comes and waiting for the next one. Also this manga doesn't have any female characters (only one recently introduced) and.... I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT !!!!!!!!!! Now I know that some people will probably dislike it but I am so happy because I loathe female characters in shounen mangas because , it seems they always have this stereotype they seem to conform to in things like this and I hate it some much. So considering it doesn't have one (the one it does have doesn't seem to be that important is not in it right now) I am really happy and hope they don't introduce none right now. Bit the main characters I love so much and they all are pretty likeable and kinda typical but not enough to be annoying. Also the art is really good and they way the author draws the infected people and how he comes up with new creatures created from the disease is plain amazing and creepy because they look so weird and scary. But like I said love this manga and is one of my favorite shounen manga.