Hm. I guess I was a little off the mark in my guess, though even through all the philosophy I was still expecting something to happen. All things considered, I think the ending might've been more exciting if it ended with Tokiko, it feels more like it dragged out after that.

Oh well, overall I enjoyed my time. 7.5/10

God, what a mess this was. The last chapter really sums it up with the last remaining characters who like the rest of us have followed this story from start to finish and survived til the end try to look back on everything to try to grasp at some meaning only to realize there's nothing there. So they just start flailing with embarrassing pseudo-philosophy that sort of awkwardly leads to a title drop. Truly they were... A Walk to Death.

This manga never quite found its footing. The shock value stopped being shocking almost immediately. The mystery was introduced too late and too clumsily. As a character study, the thing it did best, it was too quick and too shallow.

It was funny though.

4/10

last edited at Jun 23, 2022 10:50PM

is that panel with some of the cast together meant to show the deceased meeting their living friends/family/coworkers? The professor is chill af comforting the occult guy, Aoya is holding Ai again, Natsuki idk??, Yashiro is comforting Koga probably saying it wasn't his fault.

And then Tokiko is alone. Like, she has no one there for her. But, what about Natsuki? I don't get it. Am I just overthinking things?

I really liked this manga. Tokiko was a girlboss to the end, she will be missed.

Ugh, that last extra bit though.

And then Tokiko is alone. Like, she has no one there for her. But, what about Natsuki? I don't get it. Am I just overthinking things?

She was looking at Tokiko, who was facing away from everyone on the next page.

This manga was OK. It had an oppressively bleak tone and a shortage of likeable characters, but it had an interesting concept and some relatively good plot twists.

Just to clarify, who's the third murder victim besides Aoya and Rina?

Well, that was dumb. The explanation for the curse doesn't really make sense (Why did it hit Natsuki and not Ai? Why would suicide trigger it? Why is it hitting people she's met once and not classmates?), and as a study of murderers it falls apart pretty badly by the end (No one acts like Aoya, and Tokiko is an iffy take on psychopathy)

Most interesting as a look into the author's growth; it has similar themes to Satsuki, but goes about much of the execution in almost the exact opposite way:

• Walk's pacing is absolute shit past the first volume -> Satsuki is super episodic
• Walk spends much of it's time pretending that a serial killer is somehow a viable explanation for what we saw -> Liar Satsuki Can See Death
• Tokiko is alien and unpleasant -> Satsuki is still kinda alien, but fun and has a more socially-acceptable moral code
• Walk has too many characters, bogging the whole thing down -> Satstuki's supporting cast just sort of disappears when they're not involved in a story

Well, that was dumb. The explanation for the curse doesn't really make sense (Why did it hit Natsuki and not Ai? Why would suicide trigger it? Why is it hitting people she's met once and not classmates?), and as a study of murderers it falls apart pretty badly by the end (No one acts like Aoya, and Tokiko is an iffy take on psychopathy)

Most interesting as a look into the author's growth; it has similar themes to Satsuki, but goes about much of the execution in almost the exact opposite way:

• Walk's pacing is absolute shit past the first volume -> Satsuki is super episodic
• Walk spends much of it's time pretending that a serial killer is somehow a viable explanation for what we saw -> Liar Satsuki Can See Death
• Tokiko is alien and unpleasant -> Satsuki is still kinda alien, but fun and has a more socially-acceptable moral code
• Walk has too many characters, bogging the whole thing down -> Satstuki's supporting cast just sort of disappears when they're not involved in a story

I disagree with the claim that Walk has "too many characters." Six out of 16 die in the first four chapters, which leaves ten recurring characters. If anything, the problem is that most are underdeveloped and lack any real personality.

That image of Akiyama and Kisaragi at the end...really did something to me :( I wish we could know more about their relationship.

Tokiko is definitely the most interesting part of this series. I don't think the final explanations resolved everything but I don't know if it needed to, it was more a thematic explanation than a narrative one. Maybe the point was that there can't be a definitive explanation? In a way it loops back to what Tokiko said about grief is being selfish for the living and not the dead, maybe trying to make sense of all this is just another version of that. I actually do like the final talk between the 3 survivors outside of them trying to explain the curse.

The author's art definitely improved a lot in Satsuki. I enjoyed it but I don't know if I would have gone past the first few chapters if I wasn't already interested in the author because of Satsuki (imagine a world where Tokiko's the antagonist of that series and not that wimpy ass hypocrite, way more interesting).The final chapters with Tokiko and the extras were definitely my favourite, anything that showed Tokiko's character more really but I do think there wasn't enough of it. Maybe I'm just biased and wamt more of her and Natsuki. Since people above were doing numbers, 6/10 closer to a 7 than a 5. Thank you for translating and uploading.

last edited at Jun 24, 2022 12:42AM

I'm not going to pretend it was perfect. It was definitely rough in some areas, but I kind of enjoyed it, especially at the quick pace we got the chapters. If I was waiting week to week I would probably like it a lot less. And Tokiko was interesting enough to keep me going through some of the bad bits, which means the ending is the weakest part. Overall though I'm glad I read it. It was fun.

That image of Akiyama and Kisaragi at the end...really did something to me :( I wish we could know more about their relationship.

Also wanted to add, this is probably the first time I've read/watched/played something where the characters die off one by one and only a few remain and my favorite actually made it to the end. W

I actually just noticed the reason the curse tried to take Natsuki twice. The first was because Tokiko decided to stop being friends with her and the second was when she decided she wanted to be with her forever.

last edited at Jun 24, 2022 1:07AM

Last pages (of the main story) reminded me of myself trying to improvise a smart way to end an essay in highschool

So obviously this manga is ridiculous. Gruesome deaths, weird characters, and a bizarre explanation at the end. Even so, it came together in a way I found quaint, even charming. Not something I'd recommend to everybody, but I enjoyed it all the same.

What I dislike about different mediums dealing with curses/the supernatural is there's almost never a satisfying conclusion. Neither we the readers or the characters get an explanation as to the reason any of this happened. Even their hypothesis doesn't make any sense since being resuscitated is pretty common. I can never enjoy these types of stories when so much is left unnecessary unanswered. I'd give this a 5.5/10

What I dislike about different mediums dealing with curses/the supernatural is there's almost never a satisfying conclusion. Neither we the readers or the characters get an explanation as to the reason any of this happened. Even their hypothesis doesn't make any sense since being resuscitated is pretty common. I can never enjoy these types of stories when so much is left unnecessary unanswered. I'd give this a 5.5/10

The best way imo is to not try too hard. Explain some things or hint at others amd leave the rest for the audience to interpret. Trying to explain everything is almost always going to create more problems, which is why I think the occult researchers aspect of this story could've been left out. Just let the detectives find out for themselves and speculate alongside the readers.

God, what a mess this was. The last chapter really sums it up with the last remaining characters who like the rest of us have followed this story from start to finish and survived til the end try to look back on everything to try to grasp at some meaning only to realize there's nothing there. So they just start flailing with embarrassing pseudo-philosophy that sort of awkwardly leads to a title drop. Truly they were... A Walk to Death.

Gotta agree - and the lack of sense bothers the reader more than the characters

This manga never quite found its footing. The shock value stopped being shocking almost immediately. The mystery was introduced too late and too clumsily. As a character study, the thing it did best, it was too quick and too shallow.

gotta agree, too.

It was funny though.

Sadly, gotta disagree. Hard. But quoting Meatloaf, "2 out of 3 ain't bad".

Well that was a fun ride. Thanks for translating this series noighd!!

God, what a mess this was. The last chapter really sums it up with the last remaining characters who like the rest of us have followed this story from start to finish and survived til the end try to look back on everything to try to grasp at some meaning only to realize there's nothing there. So they just start flailing with embarrassing pseudo-philosophy that sort of awkwardly leads to a title drop. Truly they were... A Walk to Death.

Gotta agree - and the lack of sense bothers the reader more than the characters

This manga never quite found its footing. The shock value stopped being shocking almost immediately. The mystery was introduced too late and too clumsily. As a character study, the thing it did best, it was too quick and too shallow.

gotta agree, too.

It was funny though.

Sadly, gotta disagree. Hard. But quoting Meatloaf, "2 out of 3 ain't bad".

no it was funny because I say so and you didn’t add more methaphores for “DISSAGREE HARD” so you lose

I did enjoy this manga!! I liked the ending, I think the occult with a proper explanation would have been ok but maybe a bit too cliché. I am very pleased and will buy it once it's licensed...if that happens, thanks for translating it and allowing me, allowing us, to enjoy it.

Hmm, was hoping something might happen at the end...

......Totally not bad, I guess.
If I had bought these books, I think I would demand a refund though...

The main problem with the explanation of the curse...is that it's not unusual at all. Babies and just people in general survive unexpectedly all the time and the expertise of a random nurse 17 years out of date is not proof of "medically impossible, must be a corpse". And if it's true that someone wanting a person to live and them surviving means they're cursed, then there should be many, many thousands of cursed people at any given time and their backstories should all match up to this hypothesis. We as readers know this is not true, so the explanation falls flat (unless you just take it as a fictional universe rule unrelated to our world) and thus unsatisfying. I did enjoy Tokiko's antics, but I do wish it had leaned harder into being a character study instead of a weak mystery. Thanks for the translation.

It's done, huh?
Well, I liked it, felt nice and experimental, warts and all.
I also appreciate that the "occult" remains precisely that, a plausible yet unproven explanation, instead of becoming canonically confirmed truth by the end (Death Counter notwithstanding).

last edited at Jun 24, 2022 4:43PM