Ikigami The Ultimate Limit

The "National Welfare Act" was designed to inspire the citizens of Japan to respect the value of life.  Every year, the first-graders of Japan get an immunization shot, with one in every one thousand containing a nano-capsule that is programed to follow the blood stream into the pulmonary artery.  The nano-capsule will rest there until the predetermined time and date (usually between 18 to 24 years of the persons life), when the capsule will rupture, killing the individual.  

Highlights

There are two episodes in Volume 3: "Episode 5: Life Out of Control;" and "Episode 6: The Loveliest Lie."

"Life out of Control" keeps the setup of the series, the first episode of each volume concentrated on victims who look to crime in their last 24 hours.  Kazuko Takimoto is the son of the candidate for the People's party.  His mother is pro-Strict National Welfare Education, which means pushing the Welfare Act to it's limits.  Ironically enough, Kazuko has been injected with the nano-capsule.  Flash-backs tell the depressing tale of Kazuko's neglected and abused childhood.  His mother was so involved with her job that she forced her only child to get perfect grades in everything so that she would look good.  His father was so devoted to obeying his wife that he did not do much for Kazuko.  Kazuko grew up to be a slacker, cutter, and complete hater of his mother who only thought of him as a campaign dress-up.  This hatred drove Kazuko to plot his mother's death in his last 24 hours.

"The Loveliest Lie" shows the opposite reaction, Satoshi Iizuka lost his parents in a horrible car crash when he was 11.  All he had left was his sister, Sakura, who went blind because of the accident.  Now, 11 years later, Sakura is awaiting a cataract transplant, and Satoshi is working hard to get his sister back. Well, not too hard.  As an orphan, he stumbled across a group of gang members who eventually gave him a job scamming people of their money when he was older.  All the while, he was lying to everyone outside of the gang about his job and his life in general, even to his sister, the person he cares most about.  Shortly before he gains custody of his sister (who happens to be 14), he receives the Ikigami.  Knowing that there aren't enough donors for cataract transplants, Satoshi calls the hospital to set up his donation of his own cataracts to his sister.  Knowing his sister, he tells the hospital to keep it secret.  Unfortunately, Sakura does find out.  Now, Fujimoto, the deliverer of the Ikigami, wants to pay Satoshi back for spilling the beans, and he's got a plan for it…

Overall 

I still love this series.  Both stories were extremely moving, and honestly, I could only correctly predict who was the chosen to die.  There are a surprisingly good amount of plot twists, so the end of each episode is exciting.  I am also surprised at the unusually depressing nature of both stories.  I felt sorry for each victim and was honestly saddened by each death.  I didn't like episode 5's ending though, it was too open, but the ending of episode 6 was clever and well done.  

Another aspect that was really interesting was the two chosen characters.  Kazuko was the sympathetic character, with the criminal ending, and Satoshi was the criminal with the sympathetic ending.  At one point in Ep. 5, right after Kazuko receives the Ikigami, he really wants to make amends with his mother.  You believe that the ending will be extremely sad, but, after a turn of events, everything changes, and suddenly.   Satoshi, on the other hand, already wants his sister's happiness, and when you see his last wish crash and burn, you want to scream and punch a wall, it was so emotional, but to see it get turned around makes one want to think about becoming a cataract donor.

This is volume was more powerful then I expected.  Both stories were interesting, and engaging, but they went by too fast, and really, how predictable can one be? The chosen were way to obvious that I actually wanted it to be someone else that died.  Overall, I say you should check out this series if you haven't already. It's doing a good job keeping up really well with and episodic plot line. I love it.

ComicsOnline gives Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit Volume 3 5 out of 5 Cherry Blossoms.