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Amazon.com: Alive 1: The Final Evolution: Books: Tadashi Kawashima,AdachitokaThe back of the book reads: "Suicide Virus - A strange virus is making it's way around the globe, causing it's victims to commit suicide-and becoming a lethal pandemic in less than a week. Now a group of Tokyo teens who have survived the outbreak are wondering why they are still alive." Except they don't even suggest that the suicides are caused by a virus until a good two thirds through the book, and even then it's just a passing comment. There are suicides, and people dying in interesting and explosive ways. However it, mostly, happens "off-screen" so while there is some gore (severed heads in silhouette anyone?) it's not overwhelming.
The art is crisp and clean and the artist Adachitoka is very fond of rich and full backgrounds. When a character appears against a blank background it's for effect, not laziness. The character designs are distinctive and even minor characters have a lot of personality. There was a scene where people are being interviewed on TV about the suicides they'd witnessed. There are only three people but the scenery around them and their design just leaps off the page. Even the bullies that only get a couple of panels are drawn well.
The story is a bit disjointed, but they tried to pack a lot into one volume. You have the familial histories of main character Taisuke and his sister Yoko to get through. It also describes Taisuke's childhood friends Megu and Hiro, how they're connected to Taisuke, and their schoo lives. Plus there are all the suicides and the mysterious people who seem to know what's going on. Now that the basic character development is out of the way, I hope it gets a bit more coherent. I have to say that I was impressed that it didn't feel very rushed or weighty, despite all the exposition they packed in.
Now that that exposition is out of the way it will be interesting to see how the meat of the story develops in future volumes.
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