▪	RELEASED BY:		DEL REY
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		TADASHI KAWASHIMA / ADACHITOKA
		▪	FORMAT:		JAPANESE / BW
		▪	PAGES:		200
		▪	RATING:		OT
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		07/31/2007
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		07/17/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		SCOTT CAMPBELL

Alive is an interesting mix of horror, sci-fi, and maybe even mystery. It focuses on a group of friends all attending high school together, and seems pretty normal for the first little while. Suddenly something takes a turn for the worst and a number of people are either murdered, appear to have been murdered, or flat out commit suicide. We soon discover that this epidemic of unexplainable deaths is due to a terrible virus that confuses the human mind in relation to death. The powers to be claim that the virus infects the victim’s brain and causes them to commit suicide. That doesn’t seem to explain everything that’s been going on, but of coarse this is only the beginning, and surely more will be revealed as the series goes on.

The virus itself is not just being spread in Japan; it’s a world wide problem. It becomes a lethal pandemic in less than a week, and governments and the public are left to pick up the pieces. This is where the friends mentioned previously come into play. One friend, Hirose, is always being picked on at school by bullies, but during the suicide virus week he somehow manages to murder the entire group of upperclassmen and women that had been bothering him – or at least that’s how it looked. Kano is the main protagonist, and a friend to Hirose – he can’t believe Hirose would do this as it is completely not in his character to hurt anyone. Megu is the female friend in the group and she feels very much the same way. Both friends worry about Hirose as he is carted off to the police station and kept there for questioning. When he is finally released, he is no longer the same. He has a strange darkness to him that neither friend can understand. The connection between Hirose, Kano, and the suicide virus is something you have to read within the book and discover yourself.

Alive is a look into what part illness could play in our future, and the damage it could do to our society. It’s also a look into the importance and meanings behind life and death. Beyond that it is an entertaining story about a group of friends trying to stick together and figure out why it is that they are still alive after the outbreak of a terrible disease. It feels like it could amount to a story with a large amount of depth and deep characterization as it goes along. The first volume has already delved into the past and the foundation of the relationship between Kano and his friend Hirose – much of which did not have happy beginnings. It’s not a light hearted story in the least – but it’s an intelligent one that will ask the reader to think and put some pieces of the puzzle together themselves.

The art is not over the top in relation to being original or ground breaking, but it holds its own and keeps up with what most readers would expect from manga today. Details are good, especially in the backgrounds and in architecture and structures. The panels flow really well – their flow is never unnecessarily overcomplicated like many manga make the mistake of doing. This in hand makes the story easy to read and therefore readily enjoyable and hopefully increasingly understandable. Text and text bubble sizes are all appropriate and won’t present any problems in relation to legibility. It’s great to see some extras in a manga, and Alive has a number of them at the back of the book. There are a few funny four panel cartoons, some translation notes, and some notes from both the artist and the author about how they came to work on this series. It’s some nice insight into what we’re reading and what it all means.

IN SUMMARY: 
Alive has the beginnings of what could be a really great series, especially in the writing and depth of the story. A first volume needs to show potential, and this manga has completed this first step with flying colors.