sothis

Judge is a servicable high stakes games manga. There's nothing especially unique about it, but there's nothing overly egregious with it either. It's familiar and stereotypical, but there's nothing inherently wrong with that if you're in the mood for standard play or die fare.

Starting with the story, if you read the author's other similar (but unrelated) title Doubt, you'll feel right at home here. A number of people get kidnapped, are locked in a strange building, and are forced to wear animal masks. They then slowly get whittled down and die until only a few remain, all while trying to figure out why this is happening to them.

Fairly standard and uninteresting stuff, and I would have given the score an average 5 if it weren't for some cool and unexpected things that happen near the end. Is it worth slogging through 6 vols for that small payoff? That'll be for you to decide.

Besides that, not much else to say. Decent art, and unmemorable, stereotypical characters (mostly, but for spoiler reason I'll say no more). But, a cool ending. While I wouldn't put this one at the top of your list, if you need a high stakes games fix, this might be worth it.