Doubt (Yoshiki TONOGAI) - Reviews

Because i'm just going to be ranting about the good/bad parts of this manga for the entire duration of the review beyond this point, I'll start with a recommendation.  I recommend this manga to anyone who isn't afraid of that shadow in their closet and/or are very sadistic. oh, or a normal person who likes horror and is alright with a TINNNNY bit of blood.  heheh.

[spoilers]

Well, first of all i'd like to say that i absolutely ADOOORE these types of plots.  Like, where a bunch of strangers are in a room and get picked off one by one.  fantastic.

ok, off the creepiness for a sec....

I thought the artwork was alright...I mean, my standards of "good" are pretty much off the charts, so I guess i'm being a bit unfair.

Also, after around the second chapter, I kinda figured out that Rei was a bad guy.  i wasn't sure if she was the wolf or just the mastermind behind it all (which she was), but I was pretty sure she was going to be involved somehow with it.  honestly, whats the point in killing off one of the 6 main characters within the first chapters? it makes no sense.  and the hypnotism? dead giveaway.

Actually, the originality was pretty okay, but as i mentioned before, it was a little too predictable.  And the hypnotism thing was like....eh.  it's just....too outrageous.  although I very much enjoy main characters dying in the end, I was partially hoping Yuu was gonna make it.  I do feel a little sorry for mitsuru, but overall, i think Yuu may be too nice for his own good.  shoulda let her die.

Anyways...

I'm a little upset that there was pretty much no character development.  not even for the main of the main characters, Yuu, or the wolf herself.  It would get the reader more into the story if they understood everyone's pain, but basically what the author did was kill off the character, THEN explain what they were all about.  who DOES that?  There are lots of "meh" parts, but I dont have the heart to give it below a 7/10 in anything.  im so biased with stories like these ;P

Well, the good part was that it was wonderfully creepy...the rabbit costumes, and the hanging (beheading was a nice touch LOL), and the blood that's seemingly everywhere, but goes unnoticed somehow.

Rabbit Doubt {“Doubt” for short} is a murder-mystery story telling of a mobile horror game becoming reality. Six young adults deal with their past mistakes while trying to survive and find the “wolf.”

A bit about the game Rabbit Doubt: players are rabbits, and one player is a wolf in disguise. The wolf goes around and kills the rabbits, the other players goal is to find out who the wolf is before it kills all of the rabbits. If the rabbits hang the wolf, the rabbits win. If all other rabbits are dead, the wolf wins.

Story: 9/10

The story of Doubt is short and sweet. The length was just long enough to get all points and plot twists across. The twists keep you guessing on who the wolf is, and that alone is enough to keep readers engrossed. The little things mentioned by the characters end up leading to something bigger, which I like. You have to pay attention and keep a tab of all the clues handed to you. I thought the ending was only slightly predicable. But I suppose everyone will come up with their own conclusions.

Art 9/10

The art for Doubt is good enough for an anime. The front cover of it almost looks exactly like an anime. The art gets a little mundane after a while, there are no beautiful-looking panels or pages, and I think the artist was fully capable of creating more than one. I was so enthralled with the story, and reading, that one of the panels had actually scared me and I jumped. The characters were very distinguishable, even when you were only looking at parts, though I wish there was a little more detail added to the landscape.

Characters: 7/10

The characters in Doubt were pretty stock characters; there was the outcast, the hot popular girl… But what really made the characters was their dirty little secrets that were revealed, and made you see the characters in a different light. They were all written well to their parts, too. The stock personality traits added to the mystery of the story by giving motives or lack thereof. The only gripe that I have about this is that there was no development in any of the characters. The characters at the end didn’t have any revelation, or change in their ways. But I suppose I’ll let this one slide, because any big change in the characters would have either skewed or unnecessarily elongated the story.

Overall: 8/10

The beginning is quite reminiscent of the Saw series. And if you’re looking for something similar to that, then this manga is for you. Although the characters are a little cliché, the short, suspenseful manga is highly recommended by me. Even if you’re not hooked within the first few chapters, I say stick with it, because it only gets better. If you’re concerned about the gore level. There’s some, but it’s not so explicit that you can’t look at it. It’s classic, Japanese gore.

I read this about 2 years ago and at first I never wanted to actually pick it up. But I did anyways (after about a week). The story was thrilling and full of plot twists. The characters though was rather stereotypical. And some things in the plot just didn't quite fit in, but I never cared. Amazing overall, so 4.5 stars and 9pts for the whole series.

Story: The concept was interesting and if you like high stake games, then you probably like this. It does go by incredibly quickly and is hard to put down. I found myself finishing this in one sitting. There are some predictable moments but it's still interesting enough to contine reading and would make a nice re-read. There is quite a bit of violence but that is expected. Don't anticipate a happy ending though.

Art: The characters aren't particular memorable but were well drawn for the most part. Expressions were done sufficiently. The main points the art does get is for creating the atmosphere. The cover pages and the details really stand out.

Characters: The plot is good but the characters fell flat to me. I found myself thinking: "Seriously? That's why you decided to be the way you are and make the decisions you did?". I found myself irritated or just apathetic. I didn't care to much about them. This series is definitely more plot based but I do like seeing the interactions between the characters in order to cause confusion and suspicion.

Overall: Interesting, thrilling read with an unhappy ending. Not for the faint of heart.

I very much enjoyed this manga, considering I like the more messed-up ones anyway. 

The story had interesting twists and plots, however the characters occasionally bothered me - espescially the portrayal of all the girl characters as weak or scared all the time.  

Tha artwork I loved, but oh my gosh it put my off white rabbits. The spookiness and psychological aspect of these mangas really made them page-turners; with the added gore it was epic to read. 

Kudos, Yoshiki.