Rule: Shoumetsu Kyoushitsu
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Gore
This is one of the interesting manga that I have read recently. Although quite short (29 chapters), the story was set up well and it had me glued to it until I was done reading it. The only downside of this manga is that it felt a tiny bit rushed with the addition of graphic images (so not for everyone). I will provide my personal review of the manga along with the list of characters.
---‐---------‐-----------------------------
Yuuma Kashiwagi - protagonist
A high schooler boy who just transferred into Kurusu Academy High. He was bullied in his previous school. He has a sense of justice and dislikes fights. He is a bit timid but he doesn't let that stop him from doing the right thing.
Kou Hasebe - male friend
A rather cheerful guy who became Yuuma's friend on his first day. He was the first to inform Yuuma regarding the 2 "rules" of the school. Kou gets quickly aggressive whenever Yuuma tries to disobey the rules and reminds him of its consequences.
Jun Misora - female friend
A close friend of Kou Hasebe. She also became Yuuma's friend on his first day. Jun is quite aggressive to Kou when she gets mad at him but is usually cheerful and caring for her friends.
Mikado Sumeragi - antagonist
He is the delinquent of the class/school. Rumour has it that the rules were put in place to protect him. He is the heir of Sumeragi Zaibatsu. Mikado does things on a whim and is ready to physically abuse anyone who annoys him or stands against him.
Nehan Otonashi - female classmate
The girl who is isolated by everyone in her class and to whom rule 2 pertains to. Her family was the reason why the rule was created in the first place.
--------------------------‐----------------
The story revolves around the protagonist Yuuma Kashiwagi who enrolled in his new school, Kurusu Academy High. On the very first day, he became friends with Kou Hasebe and Jun Misora and was informed about the 2 "rules" of the school.
Rule 1 - No matter what, never go against Mikado Sumeragi.
Rule 2 - Act like Otonashi isn't here. Don't ever talk to her or look at her.
Once Yuuma became aware of the existence of these rules, he realised that his class too has bullying, similar to his previous school. I will not go into details about Yuuma's past besides the fact that he was bullied in his previous school since this is something I feel that readers need to discover themselves if they want to give this manga a shot.
Moving on with the story; those who did not comply with the rules were isolated from everyone and eventually killed. Yuuma and the others think that Mikado and his family are responsible for the deaths and try to unravel the mysteries surrounding the rules. Nehan Otonashi is portrayed as the girl from the movie "The Ring" so anyone who has seen that movie will recognise the eerie feeling that she gives out during class. This combined with the graphic images depicting the deaths of characters within this manga, gave me goosebumps and at times a nauseating feeling but the storyline kept me hooked. For people without a strong stomach, I highly suggest you to quickly go through the chapters that contain these graphic images.
Yuuma is an ally of justice and cannot let go of wrongdoings done by/to others. He trusts everyone easily and thus can be manipulated by others. I believe most people can relate to Yuuma's personality because at one point in all our lives, we thought that we could trust everyone we meet but then life teaches us lessons and instead of being naive and gullible, we become doubtful and think twice before believing someone we just met.
I will definitely encourage you to give this manga a shot as it is refreshing since it is unlike the mainstream manga out there. If you are someone that is open to trying out unpopular manga titles, this is definitely something to try out.