Doubt (manga)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
|
| Doubt | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Mystery, Horror, Psychological |
| Manga | |
| Author | Yoshiki Tonogai |
| Publisher |  Square Enix |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Magazine | Shōnen GanGan (Square Enix) |
| Original run | December 27, 2007 – ongoing |
| Volumes | 2 |
Doubt, also know as Rabbit (Doubt) is a shōnen horror manga by Yoshiki Tonogai. It is currently serialized in the monthly magazine Shōnen GanGan published by Square Enix. The manga's premise is similar to that of the game Mafia and the Saw franchise.
[edit] Summary
There's a game based on lies and deception growing popular in Japan. The game is called 'Rabbit Doubt' and it is played on cellular phones. The premise of the game is that all of the players are rabbits in a colony, and one amongst them is randomly chosen to be a wolf that has infiltrated the group of rabbits. Every round, the wolf kills off a rabbit, and every round, the group tries to figure out which of the rabbits is actually a wolf in disguise. Sometimes the kids who play this game decide to meet up in person, and Yuu, Mitsuki, Rei, Hajime, Eiji, and Haruka have done just that. Unfortunately, while the group is enjoying themselves at a karaoke club, they are rendered unconscious and awake inside, what appears to be, an old, run down mental hospital. They soon discover someone among them has decided to take on the mantle of the wolf and has already killed once. As their situation grows more dire, their trust and camaraderie quickly dissolves and they begin to accuse one another, while the wolf continues to pick them off, one by one. Who is the wolf, and can they be stopped before everyone meets a very unpleasant end?
[edit] Characters
- Yuu Aikawa (裕 Yuu?)
- Honest, straightforward, and friendly. His childhood friend is Mitsuki, whom he cares a great deal for, and he takes it upon himself to protect her at all costs. Mistuki is also the only person that Yuu completely trusts within the group. Yuu found himself inside the hospital after receiving a blow to the head from a wrench inside the bathroom at the karaoke bar. He also seems to be the only person who has caught a glimpse of the wolf. He's the only one who doesn't have a bar code tattooed on his skin which, the group discovers, are the keys to unlocking the network of doors keeping them trapped in the building. When it is revealed his lacks a bar code, he is accused of being the wolf and is restrained for a time while the atrocities unfold around him, all the while maintaining his innocence. The story unfolds mainly from Yuu's perspective, and since he is very righteous and the only individual, besides Mistuki, who doesn't throw accusations around, it is safe to assume he is the main protagonist. Whenever someone in the group dies, Yuu takes it very hard, and often times winds up blaming himself in some way.
- Mitsuki (美月 Mitsuki?)
- She was not one of the original players and only tagged along to be with Yuu, whom she seems to have a crush on. She gets jealous when other girls are friendly with him. As the horror that develops, she is constantly seeking reassurance and protection from Yuu. She is the daughter of a cop, which contributes to her strong sense of morality, and her mother died when she was young. You found her crying and promised to protect her, and they have been close since. She is the most emotional of all with a weak constitution, screaming or fainting at the first sign of danger or injury. Mitsuki wants to believe in the good of everyone in the group, giving everyone the benefit of the doubt and she triesto do the right thing, even under the deadly circumstances. Haruka, seeing her information along with theirs, believes her to be the wolf along with Yuu. She was attacked by Haruka, and received a cut on her arm from a scalpel, then is locked in the bathroom. She is then released by Yuu and faints shortly thereafter from blood loss and is trusted to Hajime's care. Mitsuki is killed shortly after by being hanged and a wooden stake stabbed into her.
- Mitsuki's bar code was on the left side of her neck.
- Eiji Hoshi (星栄治 Hoshi Eiji?)
- This 18 years old boy is aggressive, abrasive, and sometimes violent. He has a smoking and drinking habit for which he is chastised by Mitsuki, a cop's daughter, who refuses to let him indulge in either vice while under the age of 20. He flirted with Rei, but after hearing her talk to Yuu about her past as a famous hypnotist, he immediately exposed her on front of everyone. After the tension ins the group has eased, Eiji disappears to the bathroom and is not to be seen again until the group reawakens in the mental hospital. Once the real life or death game of "Rabbit Doubt" begins, he is too hasty, acts on his own and ends up trapping himself in one of the rooms after going against the group's wishes by using his bar code to unlock a bathroom. As punishment, he is left behind in the locked room where the group believes he will stay out of trouble. It is later revealed he was once in a gang that was partly responsible for one of the most violent gang fights in the city's history. Several were injured, and one gang member ended up dead by Eiji's gang's hands. The deceased is believed to be the lover of someone known only as Shōjo H, suspected by the others to be Haruka, who is out to seek revenge for his murder. When the group learns of this startling new information, a possible connection begins to surface. Yuu witnessess his death when he was restrained.
- Eiji's bar code was on his right wrist.
- Haruka Akechi (明智はるか Akechi Haruka?)
- This happy, fun-loving, and flirtatious girl turns into a scared, obsessive, and paranoid participant of the game. As the "Rabbit Doubt" advances, she seems to descend to madness, flinging accusations out left and right. She is the one to note that Yuu doesn’t have a bar code and believes him and Mitsuki to be the wolf after she learns Mitsuki's information is on file, when she should have only been an accidental participant. She ties Yuu up after attack Mitsuki and locking her in the bathroom, then she disappears after claiming she can't trust Hajime either. When the others learn of Eiji's past as a gang member, and that he was involved in a fight that led to the death of one man, the others suspect Haruka of being Shōjo H and briefly of being the wolf, and that there may be a connection between them after all. Yuu finds her head severed after finding a room filled with rabbit heads, stakes, and ropes.
- Haruka's bar code is on her chest.
- Rei Hazama (羽佐間レイ Hazama Rei?)
- The youngest of the players. She was involved on a hypnotism TV show, but after it was reported to be a scam by relentless reporters, she tried to commit suicide by walking out in front of a vehicle. She then had a change of mind at the last moment and wound up paralyzed instead of dead, so she is confined to a wheelchair. It’s because of her past that Rei is shy and tends to be nervous around others. She is harassed by Eiji at first, but when Yuu comes to her rescue, she is grateful and reveals the truth to him. Eiji overhears and reports it to the rest of the group who is shocked, but accepts it right away. She is not immediately in the area when Yuu awakes in the hospital, be he does run across her broken wheelchair and savaged stuffed rabbit. Her cellphone is the device found displaying the cryptic message that "Rabbit Doubt" has started. Beside her wheelchair Hajime finds the words "Atonement for killing both legs", along with the catch phrase of the game "The liar must die." This leads Yuu to speculate at one point that they are being forced to play the game as punishment for some crime.
- Rei's bar code is on her thigh.
- Hajime Komaba (駒馬一 Komaba Hajime?)
- A medical student attending university, he is the last of the players to be presented. He didn’t meet with the others because he was lured by a false text message to a different meeting place at a different where he was abducted separate from the group. He reveals to Yuu that the text message apparently came from his phone, which Yuu denies having any knowledge of. Cool and collected, he is the most level-headed of the players and appears to have the best understanding of what is going on. He stumbles across most of the clues and comes up with most of the deductions, which causes him to be suspected of being the wolf on a few occasions. He is the one that concludes all the events follow the “Rabbit Doubt” game and assumes the role of the leader, since he seems to be well informed. His primary concern is survival, and he is indifferent to whether or not his accusations offend another player, or a decision he makes ultimately leads to their death. He knowledge of medicine helps him solve the mystery behind the death of a man the stumble across and briefly believe to be the wolf, as well as assists Mistuki when she becomes injured. He seems to be the antithesis to Yuu's personality.
- His bar code is on his arm.
