Creative Staff
Story/Art: Yoshiki Tonogai
Translation: Alexis Eckerman
What They Say
The (Court) House Always Wins.
In the abandoned courthouse, to trust is folly. Is that the only rule, the only strategy to staying alive in the twisted game underway within? When the time for the second judgment arrives, a ruthless decision is made to shocking effect. The sinners must accept reality . . . For idealistic notions have no place within these halls of cruel and swift justice . . .
Content:(please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Now that the remaining survivors form the first Judgment have split into a group of four with Hiro and a group of three with the law student, there is definitely a side with the power of numbers. This is where it gets really fascinating. Supposedly, the rules of the game are that each of the “players” has to vote to kill one of the other players every twelve hours. And at the end, the remaining four players get set free. Assuming the game master will live up to that rule, it places Hiro’s group in the driver’s seat. Hiro’s group could slowly vote for each person from the law student’s group until only Hiro’s group survives and all four of them get set free.
Only problem is, Hiro’s group is also the people with some set of morals and a desire for justice in the form of letting everyone live. Then again, life is precious and they eventually decide that their survival is worth living with the guilt of killing the other three in order to save themselves. But that would just get boring, right?
The law student throws everyone for a loop when his group interrupts the judgment vote and claims they want to go back to Hiro’s original idea of everyone casting a vote for themselves. Hiro’s group was so close to making it through this game, but now their right back to being wishy-washy with their decision. Should they stick to their guns (if only they had some) and vote for one of the other group to be killed, or go back to voting for themselves like they originally wanted in hopes that everyone can live?
Seriously, how can Hiro’s group be so naïve? I would never trust the other group since they are obviously trying to save their butts now that they don’t have numbers on their side. However, it was a difficult decision to become killers and vote for the death of someone, so it doesn’t take much prodding for Hiro’s group to go along with what they believe is everyone voting for themselves. Obviously, there is something sinister behind this vote…
In Summary:
You know the classic horror movie setup; “Don’t open that door!” It is something akin to what I keep thinking at different points in this story, only more like “Don’t split up!”
In this Judge game, being alone can be very detrimental to your health. Not only could you wind up murdered, but every time people split off from each other, they end up talking and forming who knows what kind of weird little pacts in hopes of extending their life past the next judgment vote. The best situation for group cohesiveness would be for everyone to stay in one room together at all times. But then again, who knows if the group is going to plot against you when you take that bathroom break. Either way you slice it, this setup is a great story with so many different directions that it could go. Judge kind of reminds me of the move Clue, only much more macabre.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Older Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: February 18th, 2014
MSRP: $12.99
