As with all books I read, I first browse the plot summary. This was interesting enough - a group of (murderer) childhood friends being blackmailed into committing the dirty works of another murderer. At first, I honestly thought it was decent, but the more I read, the more I hated it. There's a number of reasons.

First, the premise itself. The thing that got me reading in the first place was actually a scam. I read the manga expecting that they were going to show a flashback on how these kids got away with it and how they would do it all over again because of the blackmailer. Jokes on me, this did not happen. I have no idea how those kids even managed to get away with the first murder. The murder was straight and simple and done by literal kids. Was no one able to pick up any clues? Yes, this isn't the main murder we should be invested in. But I can't help it, it's the whole starting point of the series yet it doesn't completely make sense! It's all very hand wavey. They should have fleshed it out more.

Second, the characters. The only character I kinda liked here was Ryuu. The rest fell flat. I get that most of these kids are supposed to not "act right" but nah. Doesn't work. The girls especially are one-sided. Even now I do not understand what is going on with Tsubaki. Also, are there no competent adults investigating these cases except that one detective? Even then, that dude was literally plot magic. The feeling I got was that this detective was supposed to be the cool and calculating trope that everyone would adore. For me, he just felt cheap.

Third, the plot progression. It's linear. Really linear. Since this is a murder mystery, I was expecting for some foreshadowing to be involved somehow. Kind of like Detective Conan, pointing out this random thing this one random character did, which was how Conan knew that that character was the killer. I expected too damn much. We get one clue, we hop over to the next clue, onto the next clue, etc. Boring. It would have been way more interesting if it turned out that the blackmailer was one of the five kids. But nope, the killer was literally introduced near the end of the series. It wasn't satisfying at all. Just a "huh" moment.

Fourth, unneccessary sex scenes. I was annoyed already. But if anything, the thing that really got me the most with this manga is the sheer amount of sex/near-sex scenes. I'm no prude. I enjoy myself some ecchi once in a while. Yet the way it was approached here is just plain tacky. It's one of the reasons why the chapters are so dragged out - there's a near sex scene in what seems like every scene change and add nothing substantial at all. There are two girls in the squad, and both are lusting over our protagonist. How typical! I suppose these scenes were added to add a bit more flair to the story, make it more "messed up" with near rape scenes and toxic relationships, but I just really hated it. Remove half of the scenes and nothing would change. Of course that goes with probably most manga but there are such few pages in each chapter. Which means pages actually count more and the mangaka just wasted them all. Maybe if they replaced all these scenes with actually developing the characters, the story would have been better.

Fifth and last, the message. When I read series like these, dealing with murder and morality and what not, I expect some kind of dramatic revelation done by the character. Some kind of cheesy quote if you will. Here? It's literally "You really shouldn't kill people after all." NO SHIT!

It wasn't all bad though. The art is pleasant to look at with crisp linework. I love these kinds of art styles. Another thing is that it's a fast read. As I stated earlier, there are only a few pages per chapter. I just took way too long to read it because I WAS SO BORED.

To sum up my thoughts: this manga took way too long to get to its climax and even then the climax was just boring. Interesting premise, infuriating execution. I don't recommend it at all.