Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit: Volume 1

by Motoro Mase, 212 pages

Concerned that its post-war society is falling into a pattern of dissolution that might undermine the country's integrity, the national government institutes a program to inspire citizens to appreciate life and live it to its fullest by being happy, law-abiding, productive citizens. And what better way to encourage people to live like it's their last day than to threaten them with that very possibility?

Following the adoption of the National Welfare Act, all children are immunized upon enrollment in the first grade. But one syringe out of every thousand contains a pre-programmed nano-capsule that will settle harmlessly in the vaccinated individual's pulmonary artery until--at a predetermined date and time when the individual is between the ages of 18 and 24--it ruptures and kills them. The identity of these lucky individuals is kept strictly secret until 24 hours before their scheduled death, when a government representative delivers their "death paper," or ikigami, informing them that they've been chosen for the honor of dying for their country and giving them time to get their affairs in order and decide what to do with their final hours.

Fujimoto works for the Musashigawa Ward Office as a messenger. Having lived past the age of 24, he's safe from receiving the ikigami he delivers to the citizenry. But that doesn't mean he's safe from a death sentence, as public dissent can brand one a "social miscreant," which can only end badly. Fujimoto does his best to take his job seriously and balance his compassion for the condemned with his duty to his country, but finds himself internally questioning the system's purported merits.

In this first volume, rookie Fujimoto delivers ikigami to a young man traumatized by years of bullying at school and to a former street musician about to make his debut on live radio. The two deal with their suddenly truncated futures very differently. And I cried for them both.

If you don't mind a story that makes you angry and leaves you itching to take up arms against the oppressor, then this series is for you. Although this very flawed social experiment would never be tolerated in reality (at least, we hope not), Mase does so well showing the point of view of the trusting citizenry and civil servants that you can see how they might find something to validate its existence, even as their confidence in it is undermined. For every dignified, honorable acceptance of death as civic duty, there's a horrible, tooth-and-nail fight against it. You know it's wrong and you wait anxiously for Fujimoto and the populace to realize it before you, too, are brainwashed into acceptance.