Ikigami Volume 1 cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

Rated “M” for “Mature”

In the near-future, alternate world of Ikigami, a seinen manga from creator Motoro Mase, the government has finally made a move to motivate its apathetic citizenry.  Each day, a civil servant from the Ministry of Health and Welfare delivers an ikigami – a death paper – to one randomly selected citizen.  This notification informs the citizen that he or she will be killed within 24 hours via an explosive nano-capsule that was randomly injected during childhood immunization.

In Ikigami, Vol. 1, Fujimoto, an ikigami messenger, delivers two death notices to the “chosen.”  In Episode 1 (“The End of Vengeance”), Fujimoto delivers an ikigami to Yosuke Kamoi, a high school dropout who is finally starting to make something of his life.  Severely beaten as a teen, Yosuke was left with debilitating physical injuries and blemishes that also left even deeper psychological scars.  When he learns that he has less than a day to live, Yosuke thinks that going out quietly isn’t the way to go.

In Episode 2 (“The Forgotten Song”), Torio Tanabe sold out, or so he thinks.  He was one half of a struggling acoustic guitar duo that was starting to generate buzz.  His voice gave life to his partner, Hidekazu Morio’s songs.  They met a music business type who only wanted to sign Torio, but not Hidekazu.  Now, part of a hot act getting a big record company push, Torio finds success sucky; then, he learns that it is time for him to die.

THE LOWDOWN:  The reader could surmise that manga-ka Motoro Mase uses speculative fiction as social commentary in his manga, Ikigami.  While addressing issues of conformity and authoritarianism from a number of angles, Ikigami is also social science fiction that examines such character matters as personal satisfaction and end-of-life issues.  Or I can just describe this as a cold-blooded reimagining of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.”

It will be interesting to see where this is going.  Will Mase do as creators of television shows like “The X-Files,” “Lost” and “Supernatural,” have done – mire his series in internal mythology after building momentum with individual stand-alone episodes?  Early on, however, this is scary, feels real, and Ikigami above all, a fascinating read.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Fans of plausible near-future science fiction, even fans of Battle Royale, may like Ikigami.

A