Reset (リセット) is a seinen techno thriller by Tsutsui Tetsuya. This one-shot series was originally published in 2005.
Residents of an apartment complex are committing suicide at an alarming rate. A detective for the municipal police suspects it has something to do with the complex wide LAN survival game. She employs a hacker to secure evidence proving that someone is manipulating the other residents through the LAN game to kill themselves. Following the sudden death of her husband a young housewife joins forces with the hacker to discover the identity of the insidious resident. She learns firsthand how dangerous the hyper real world of the game is and how it can have devastating psychological effects on those addicted to it.
These days full immersion video game's are a common plot device in anime and manga. Reset takes a quick look at the darker side of that and merges it with a traditional police mystery. Well done artwork and an interesting story filled with a few characters that are fleshed out well enough to understand their motivations. This story reminded me a little of the classic manga by Otomo Hatsuhiro, Domu.
Duds Hunt: The Survival Network Game (ダズハント) is a seinen techno thriller by Tsutsui Tetsuya. It is his first published manga and was released in 2002.
Nakanashi is a reformed juvenile delinquent who is trying to fit in with the straight world selling life insurance. The difficulty of his job is exacerbated by his abusive and belittling supervisor. While complaining about his situation online someone suggests to him that he should join the network game Duds Hunt as a way to supplement his income. After the rigorous application process he receives a cell phone and a PDA, he is now a part of the Duds Hunt.
At random times in the day his cell phone will go off and he will receive a message that the game is beginning, what area of town it will take place in and how long it will last. The goal; survive till the end and you get 100,000 yen ($1000). If you can take the cell of the other players you gain 100,000 yen additional, per each cell. Nakanashi understands that the most effective way to gather more cell's is through brute force. He quickly reverts to his delinquent ways and aggressively hunts the other players. When he complains how boredom in the game to the online friend who introduced him to it, he is told of a higher level version of the game with greater rewards and more dangerous contestants. Eager for the thrill and money he joins the game full of savages. Who operates the game and for what purpose does it exist?
This was an ambitious manga for a first time and showcases his sense of story telling. Weaving the stories of the reformed delinquent reveling in his old ways and a young girl struggling with the loss of her father. The artwork isn't up to the quality of his later stories but its still well done. At times the action become confusing and difficult to tell whats going on. It would seem once he became an official pro author the editors reigned in some of his line usage issues. Either way, this is a really well done story and would make a really good movie. There is a bonus side story in the tankoubon that tells the story of a girl abused by her step father and a moment of uncontrolled reaction.
I've been a fan of Tsutsui's manga for years now, since I read Manhole. Unfortunately none of his pieces are readily available in North America. This is a shame as his stories comprise of mostly single tankoubon one-shots with high quality artwork and interesting ideas. The stories are generally too short for well developed characters but he handles them well and details enough of their background and motives to make their roles in the stories to make sense. His real strength is his artwork, of which has a modern cyberpunk feel to it. Maybe some company will start to pick up his stuff...
If your Japanese is up to snuff you can check out his most recent manga, Yugai Toshi (Poison City).
Residents of an apartment complex are committing suicide at an alarming rate. A detective for the municipal police suspects it has something to do with the complex wide LAN survival game. She employs a hacker to secure evidence proving that someone is manipulating the other residents through the LAN game to kill themselves. Following the sudden death of her husband a young housewife joins forces with the hacker to discover the identity of the insidious resident. She learns firsthand how dangerous the hyper real world of the game is and how it can have devastating psychological effects on those addicted to it.
These days full immersion video game's are a common plot device in anime and manga. Reset takes a quick look at the darker side of that and merges it with a traditional police mystery. Well done artwork and an interesting story filled with a few characters that are fleshed out well enough to understand their motivations. This story reminded me a little of the classic manga by Otomo Hatsuhiro, Domu.
Duds Hunt: The Survival Network Game (ダズハント) is a seinen techno thriller by Tsutsui Tetsuya. It is his first published manga and was released in 2002.
Nakanashi is a reformed juvenile delinquent who is trying to fit in with the straight world selling life insurance. The difficulty of his job is exacerbated by his abusive and belittling supervisor. While complaining about his situation online someone suggests to him that he should join the network game Duds Hunt as a way to supplement his income. After the rigorous application process he receives a cell phone and a PDA, he is now a part of the Duds Hunt.
At random times in the day his cell phone will go off and he will receive a message that the game is beginning, what area of town it will take place in and how long it will last. The goal; survive till the end and you get 100,000 yen ($1000). If you can take the cell of the other players you gain 100,000 yen additional, per each cell. Nakanashi understands that the most effective way to gather more cell's is through brute force. He quickly reverts to his delinquent ways and aggressively hunts the other players. When he complains how boredom in the game to the online friend who introduced him to it, he is told of a higher level version of the game with greater rewards and more dangerous contestants. Eager for the thrill and money he joins the game full of savages. Who operates the game and for what purpose does it exist?
This was an ambitious manga for a first time and showcases his sense of story telling. Weaving the stories of the reformed delinquent reveling in his old ways and a young girl struggling with the loss of her father. The artwork isn't up to the quality of his later stories but its still well done. At times the action become confusing and difficult to tell whats going on. It would seem once he became an official pro author the editors reigned in some of his line usage issues. Either way, this is a really well done story and would make a really good movie. There is a bonus side story in the tankoubon that tells the story of a girl abused by her step father and a moment of uncontrolled reaction.
I've been a fan of Tsutsui's manga for years now, since I read Manhole. Unfortunately none of his pieces are readily available in North America. This is a shame as his stories comprise of mostly single tankoubon one-shots with high quality artwork and interesting ideas. The stories are generally too short for well developed characters but he handles them well and details enough of their background and motives to make their roles in the stories to make sense. His real strength is his artwork, of which has a modern cyberpunk feel to it. Maybe some company will start to pick up his stuff...
If your Japanese is up to snuff you can check out his most recent manga, Yugai Toshi (Poison City).
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