Oh awesome, good to see a few more responses! Before I go on to give individual replies, I got this post up and running mainly to get a discussion on the series going, as I've been curious about what people see in the series despite the flaws I've found. I think it's nice to help other people that might consider reading this series gain a better sense of whether or not it's worth trying out, as on the main page there's (so far) 4 negative reviews and only one 10/10 review without much reasoning for why it deserves said 10/10. I appreciate gaining new perspective through this and having questions answered, and in case I've been coming off as a stubborn asshole, I do apologize, as I have nothing against readers of the series that enjoy it. So, hopefully we can continue to be civil.
@crazyboutcute
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Referring to your topic title, as a free speech advocate, I defend this manga's right to exist. But as a reader and writer, I cringe at the fact that it does (don't manga magazines have quality control anymore?).
Of course this has a right to exist. I think the concept would have worked had the author actually improved or thought-out his ideas a bit more, like to make the characters wear masks/disguises, explain better how the competition's kept an absolute secret from the public, make people's personality changes a lot more believable (this one's definitely arguable, so I'll get to that in one of the other replies), etc. The overall execution I question a lot, yet the premise I find reasonable.
With 2 "similar" series,
Darwin's Game I appreciate for how there's a variety of reasons for the competitors joining the game, and how their reasons are a large part of their personality.
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
The botanist (forgot his nickname...) is doing this to help keep his daughter alive in the hospital with the money from the game; the Heroine's overpowered and thus has fun with it; the villain is a psychopath that enjoys being on top of the competition with his insanely strong powers; and the protagonist joins the game without knowing better, yet he's determined to absolutely improve his chances of somehow making it out of the game.
Underdog I really wish had more chapters out for me to discuss (hasn't been updated in years...), but I'll work with what there is so far. Just like Dead Tube and D-Game, it's got an underground competition that nobody else can know about. Winner collects a shit ton of money, the losers of course die. I think it's somewhat
more "disturbing" than Dead Tube, where you have to find a way to kill off your opponent without directly killing them, so there's obviously a lot more thinking that needs to go into surviving + dealing with your opponent (and their psychological attacks upon your lifestyle). I don't see it as a perfect series at all for other murderous survival games to take reference to, but I'll give it a lot of credit for explaining as fully as possible the rules (
http://kissmanga.com/Manga/Underdog/003?id=90989#5), as well as examples of how they ensure that the competition doesn't spread word (CAMERAS EVERYWHERE!!!).
@firestalker
I already know the rules presented, but I still don't understand how they work exactly.
Like how people pop up dead in the news/someone may have known them personally, and when you see a video of said person being killed by someone else that wasn't the culprit, nobody's gonna put two and two together and start spreading the news like wildfire?
Also...
"My daughter just got murdered, and now I suddenly have to pay a shit ton of money for some unknown reason they won't tell me?!" Are all the high schoolers' parents away on business trips and never shown at all? Do parents even exist?
I don't have a problem with "sex" shown in a series. I do wonder though what you mean by the series not having much sex when you responded to crazyboutcute. Actual sexual intercourse hasn't been shown that much (aside from the actress girl in the nerd orgy + the President & friends being a bunch of sex addicts), yet when it comes to
sexual themes, well, the artist has made quite a decent number of Hentais. That being said:
1. We get to see an entire day's worth of footage of the Heroine teasing the protagonist as much as possible in a "lewd" manner.
2. The heroine kills a jackass while totally naked.
3. "I don't want to be a part of this competition!" "Oh yes you do! After all, it sure does turn ya on, hmmmm~?" [Flashback to protagonist having a boner while filming her kill someone]
4. The heroine tells our protagonist that she's a virgin and is "totally into him!"
5. Now let's record the Director with as much nudity/naughtiness we can possibly come up with!
6.. The heroine's framed for taking the film club's members hostage, involving ONLY the girl member being sexually assaulted/"tortured."
7. Protagonist is approached by the stupid girl that realized she'll probably die, and says that she'll screw the protagonist if he helps her out. Good thing she wasn't a guy, cause I guess
he wouldn't have anything else to offer as payment (unless, perhaps, the protagonist swings that way...) .______.
She's definitely not his girlfriend with their current relationship dynamic, and I don't really see how the main characters are gonna "develop it." There's plenty of times for the two of them to be intimate or come to a mutual understanding about their true feelings, but that doesn't happen. The heroine will continue to sexually tease the guy cause that seems to be her enjoyment in life, right next to killing people coz it's FUN! As for what she'll do next, obviously she'll keep on killing more people (coz ya know, it's FUN!) I have yet to see a "crazy scenario" they get into. So far they killed some nameless jackass, and as for when they killed the protagonist's friends who were evil all along, I'd call it a
very "unbelievable" scenario rather than simply "crazy" (I'll go further with this in Kaitentsuki's response like I said for crazyboutcute).
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I have certainly seen worse horror and more gratuitous violence in other manga's and there are definitely some stories that didn't need it but had it. This I can say is not one of them. The violence and "sex" is part of the story and graphic nature of them highlights the craziness of the situation.
I never said anything about horror at all, and I in no way see this as horror.
Once again, I don't have an issue with sex and gore presented in a story; my issue's not the material presented itself, but how exactly the material's presented. I love
Murcielago and
Dorohedoro for both their bold, over-the-top gore and "detailed" sexual content attached to some of the main characters (Kuroko sure does love all the ladies...). They work (for me) because they both tend to not take themselves serious at all, be it fighting off obstacles or killing extraneous bad guys in a comedic fashion (an enemy gets turned into a giant meat pie and is consumed by one of the main characters without them totally realizing it), and along with that,
they take place in realms totally detached from our reality. Dead Tube though can't properly establish itself, as it
tries to explain how it's meant to work, but still ends up having gaping holes that seem kinda important and shouldn't be ignored...
I never said it SHOULD or NEEDS to do/be something. I'm giving possible suggestions for how something I'd question could make a lot more sense. Also, readers giving back constructive criticism aint a bad thing. I'm sure the author won't be reading what I say, but regardless, I can question whatever a story presents if I choose to, and even as it won't change the series in any way, I'd still at least like to get some answers from other readers... [shrug]
@Kaitentsuki
>I just find it odd that someone can be so naive like our protagonist. Like I said, after being betrayed by someone you thought you had known all this time, you'd probably have to be careful in terms of who you approach when it comes to this "deadly game." If people can really be
that naive when it comes to living in a "life-or-death lifestyle," I'll have to lower my expectations quite a lot. It really does come off for me as hard to believe, but if that's really the case, then I guess I can come to accept it. :/
>The issue I have with the Director and friends' personality changes is for how out-of-place it felt. Like it was only meant to be a big twist for shock value, nothing more. We've seen her and another girl talk to the protagonist like normal, concerned human-beings would do, but then all of a sudden, at the drop of a hat, they later reveal that they've always been these evil nut jobs all this time, with once again, no indication/clues whatsoever. It just felt like the author threw it in there and decided to run with it, and
this is pretty much the reason why I ask these kind of questions to you guys; I want to be proven wrong as it was probably something I overlooked.
>I know that the heroine walks over to the protagonist to interrupt him talking to another girl, but twice this happens like it's totally a coincidence. I find it silly, but definitely not as a reason for disliking the series.
>Check out the two series I mentioned before (Murcielago and Dorohedoro). If you don't like any of them I'd understand why, but I think that they'd fit the bill for over-the-top action/gore + good art. Dorohedoro's is tough to get used to for a lot of people when they first see it, but I think it fits the series perfectly.