Ikigami

Description

A national prosperity law has been passed in a dystopian nation resulting in citizens between the ages of 18-24 being randomly selected to die for the good of the nation. These citizens are given 24-hour notification of their impending death. These notifications are known as "ikigami"—the ostensible reason for this system being to help demonstrate the value of life.

Note: Was nominated for the Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2009. Adapted to a (Japanese) live-action movie in 2008.

Official: Big Comic Spirits, Shogakukan, Mechacomic, Piccoma

Official Translation: English, R19 Korean (Naver Series, RIDI, MrBlue)

Type

Manga

Related Series

Ikigami Sairin (Sequel)

Associated Names

Death Paper

Death's Notice

Ikigami - Annunci di morte

Ikigami - Der Todesbote

Ikigami - Glasnik smrti

Ikigami, Comunicado de Muerte

Ikigami, préavis de mort

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit

อิคิงามิ สาส์นสั่งตาย

イキガミ

死亡預告

이키가미

Groups Scanlating

Imangascans

Nihil Sine Nefas

Latest Release(s)

v.6 c.36 by imangascans 15 years ago

c.35 by Imangascans 15 years ago

v.6 c.34 by imangascans 15 years ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

10 Volumes (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

N/A

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

3 topics, 6 posts

Click here to view the forum

User Rating

Average: 8 / 10.0 (225 votes)

Bayesian Average: 7.8 / 10.0

19%

16%

32%

20%

Last Updated

December 25th, 2025 8:52pm PST - 1 day ago

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Genre

Action Drama Mature Mystery Psychological Seinen Tragedy
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

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Recommendations

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

Original Publisher

Shogakukan

Serialized In (magazine)

Young Sunday (Shogakukan)

Big Comic Spirits (Shogakukan)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Viz (10 Vols - Complete)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #781

(-86)

Monthly Pos #1837

(-164)

3 Month Pos #2533

(-1130)

6 Month Pos #4391

(-510)

Year Pos #5300

(-1234)

List Stats

On 879 reading lists

On 766 wish lists

On 232 completed lists

On 67 unfinished lists

On 286 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

saddest story

10 years ago

Why was this abandoned?

11 years ago

Ikigami to Enter Final Arc

14 years ago

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

Interesting read

by masshiro.agata
4 years ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

I'm not sure how much I like the premise of this manga. When I think about myself in that situation my guess is I would either a) don't care about Ikigami at all since it only affects 1 in 1000 people. b) be pissed off and felt dismotivated to do anything since my country can kill me off even if I try hard to be a good productive person, yet it spares jerks, bullies and criminals. Either way I can't see the whole thing affecting my behaviour in any positive way.

Ignoring that, Ikigami is a very enjoyable read. Loved seeing how various people act in their last 24 hours, their trauma and how they deal with it. A few stories made me cry.

At first the manga feels like a bunch of one-shots but the story develops around the main character eventually.

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The ending

by kagayaki_kaya
10 years ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

Well, i like this comic because each story have the "feelings".
But fuck up with the end. Just like that?
That's not conclution. not solve anything.
😕 😕

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Neat idea

by blackmokona
14 years ago

Rating: 7.0 / 10.0

It's a neat idea. Too bad good stories are not made up of ideas.

Execution, sorry, barely there. Characters, you know characters are not dependent on their circumstances right?

And Hello, how about the philosophy, the one about greater good I mean. Just please touch upon that. And I get that you're exploring different facets of how such an absurd thing is accepted so easily, and it's really kind of cool. How about a little more dimension though? Depth would be nice, since you are very blatantly telling worn out stories, add something else to it, you know? Otherwise you've got these various societal problems approached in the same iterative mile-wide-inch-deep manner.

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Vivid, but illogical

by kamerdiner
14 years ago

Rating: N/A

Stories are great, emotional and vivid, If you don't mind those political miscalculations.. It really does not make sense to kill 1 in 1000 people, since even heart disease is more possible (well you can die from car crush, cancer or whatever and it is purely random). And what is the point of making such law, if you can't actually control the deaths? I think in the end there will be some bosses from the government that actually know the odds. Or else, everyone (!) receive those nanobots and government can choose who to kill.
On the other side, it is pretty much close to WW2 events with government ridiculously killing people and "corruption thinkers punishment".
And why killing 19-25 years old? They can't even start living, and of cause they don't know yet "the meaning of life". For the knowledge that you can die anytime? Wtf? I know this already, better GIVE THEM EDUCATION for all those tax money going to maintain the process of vaccination.
There have to be someone above, that benefits from it greatly.

I recommend to read, just for the idea of 24 death notice. It is amusing to see how people struggle in their last moments and what their dreams were. And to think for yourself, too..

(sorry for bad English)

Was this comment useful? Yes

A shinigami in a modern setting

by intemango
15 years ago

Rating: N/A

(Armchair boring rant goes here...)

(cue The United States Declaration of Independence)
This 'fictional' japan is, exactly as pointed out, an authoritarian and oppressive regime, intolerant of dissent on a level somewhat similar to North Korea. Blind loyalty to the interests of politicians is deceptively justified, masquerading as patriotism. Refusing the innocent their right to live for an imaginary cause and the well-being of 'the nation' is a favorite excuse for any dictators. Motivating the youths is one thing, justifying censorship and the death of free speech, along with a gross violation of human rights and travesty of justice is another. Certainly any sane people wouldn't want their children to be born in a country like that, so the country either goes NKorea-style or devoid of all citizens. So for the sake of my sanity, I'll have to accept that this fictional nation is very dumb to NOT either have outraged over the ikigami bill and banned it from existence, or already overthrown this totalitarian regime from day one. Let's not even talk about how the US, the EU and the UN would feel about this, and I'm pretty sure WWII happened in this world so the UN exists, so the JSDF is pretty limited and conforming to public opinion, and the US won't allow this ikigami bill to happen. Or perhaps the Axis won in this fictional world, or everyone went crazy ? My brilliant suspension of disbelief is just not willing to go that far, seeing as how exactly everything else stays the same.

But if you CAN not be too nitpicking and accept the total lack of democracy (while the people knowingly suffer) in this fictional japan, what you have is your standard death-related human drama. (Insert inquiry into the meanings of life and insane character growth and revelations). It's actually not boring at all, seeing how other seinen series usually do much worse. Even if we can already see death tropes from 50 miles away, we can still get moved by it every time, because it's the story of a person's life.

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Idiots.

by Harimau
16 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

This is a 'what if?' scenario. Dumb premise? Bogus backplot? Only because you lack the flexibility to view things from a different perspective. "The UN would never allow a democracy to do this". If you feel like you really have to rationalise it, then simply think "the UN does not exist" or "the UN has no power" in this particular scenario. It's a dystopian setting. It's an alternate reality, but somehow you think that it's exactly the same as our reality, just with a different Japanese government. I wonder how you'd react to Akumetsu... Use your brain, it does more than take up the space in your head. This manga has justified its plot on the simple fact that it is fiction. The author doesn't need to merely take liberties with reality, "reality" is at his liberty. I have so far seen no internal inconsistencies, so that satisfies me as a reader.

As for the manga itself... No matter how far-fetched the premise is (but again, who cares?), the premise is brilliantly executed. It's like a philosophical experiment in manga form. What would you do if you had only 24 hours left to live? What would different people do, living under different circumstances? Strangely (for me, at least), you actually feel for many of the characters. You sympathise, you empathise, and indeed, you hate. But it doesn't stop there, the wheels are turning in the background, society is slowly changing, people are rebelling, and the rebellions are being put down. You just know, shit is gonna hit the fan.

... Last updated 16 years ago

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Nice read though with a bogus back plot...

by deathcoy
16 years ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

a nice read... pretty realistic about what you gonna do with that 24hrs left... touching with some, cruel with others... though the setting is a bit stupid, theres no way this system will happen but in a fantasy world only... wish the main character was more involved with the "victims" story... well now that the new counselor has a hidden agenda, things got a bit more interesting and i hope they move into that part soon... interested how the story gonna end...

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* seems like Dumb Premise or hard to believe premise at first

by Hell_Clues
16 years ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

The premise is really stupid. The execution is really stupid as well. The U.N wouldn't let a democracy do this. A democracy wouldn't be able to do this period. They don't explain why crime would go down when people might be killed by their own government or why the people would allow it. Except for the partially unrelated, intrusive police that kills you for speaking out anyway. I have to imagine that something like this would simply cause a mass vacation of Japan.

they should have used an alternate universe with an alternate government. Maybe even a fictional country, for it to make any sense.

All the lessons learned could have been learned without this. In fact, random death is already a part of life. But this stupidity blankets these dramas. Also it would make japan's bad immigration even worst.

Update: What I said about the premise is true but I realize I didn't really talk about the quality of the manga and didn't even rate it. Like I mentioned, you can't do this(premise) except under a well hidden dictatorship, where people take what's best for the nation over its citizens. Then again, this wouldn't be good for a nation unless its overcrowded which Japan isn't...

It's nice to see growing dissent over it. I'll just quickly say that the stories are generally okay. I basically felt the same emotion throughout them with some slight variation usually in the first half of a story. That it's a messed up situation. I feel that this manga gets better as it goes on, it might end up being quite good.

Update - Like I told someone over a message, I felt that the manga agreed with me. It turns out it's a 1984 style world but much more hidden. So you are suppose to feel that it wouldn't happen in a democracy because it doesn't, it is a hidden oppressive government. This actually makes the story more interesting and sets up the over arching storyline.

... Last updated 14 years ago

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wow

by 62renji
16 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Omg, this series is not for everyone. One story is gorry and the next is heartwarning. It reminds me of deathnote at the begining when light says that he will kill criminals to control the world but this is the government controling japan.

If u think the world is a little screwed up this is for u.

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whoa..

by sweetnsour321
16 years ago

Rating: 9.5 / 10.0

I don't know what to say..It's really good in a werid way..I first didn't like the first two chapters but.. after that it just blew me away. I am still speechless.. after you read it it gives you this feeling and a vibe (maybe it's just me..)..most of the stories are really touching..it's dark and depressing/gloomly but really good. I can't describe the feeling after I read it. I guess it impacted me in some measures/way...this manga is a really good read. It's on my top 15 list out of thousands and thousands of manga I read so far..It was a meaningful plot and the art is quite good..it's definatly a good read but its not for every one..it's is not your everyday manga, thats for sure.

... Last updated 16 years ago

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