Please note

This review is all subjective and my own personal opinion. You do not have to agree with it, nor am I asking you to. I hope that this just helps you get an idea of what the manga I am talking about is like and form a basic and general consensus on it. The ratings I give anime and manga are mostly my personal overall enjoyment. I will try to avoid spoiling this manga, but given the length it may be inevitable that I will spoil some things. There will be some images sourced from the manga, but they should not contain any major spoilers. TL;DR will be at the bottom.

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Introduction

Written and illustrated by Hajime Kariki, Liv is a story take place in a distraught world afflicted by a zombie outbreak. Aoki, one survivor, travels the ruined lands in search of others. However, he soon meets zombie girl who unexpectedly does not eat him and furthermore, says his name.

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Plot and other things
Liv is a one shot, meaning that its length is a constraint as to what it can do within a limited time frame. It can be hard to write a short story such as this, as one would have to craft story and characters full of life all within just a couple of pages. With this in mind, it is often a good choice to choose to focus on one thing only as trying to do too much with a small page length would lead to a manga without substance. So, in this case, I felt that Liv chose to focus on its characters instead of the plot, so I will not have much to say in this section of the review.

The story begins with the protagonist of the story, Aoki. He gives the reader some exposition, explaining the setting and the zombie outbreak afflicting the world. All of the exposition is done within two pages. giving the reader all of the necessary information, they need to know before getting into the story. This was good as it wasted as little time as possible and went into the important things as soon as possible. Besides, the backstory was not very important anyway. It is not long after when we are then introduced to the second main character. This might give off the impression that 'Liv' is too fast paced, but I think it worked out in the end. It needed to get the introductions out of the way so that it could then get moving to what really mattered.

The plot events are heavily centred around the two main characters. 'Liv' showcases the relationship between the two and not much else. This was usually done through simple time together between the two, so I was able to get immersed into the story with ease. Although this does take place in a zombie afflicted world, I would say it was more of a plot device, since it was pretty easy to forget about it all when all you are focusing on is Liv and Aoki. It helped move the story and characters forward, whilst also providing an interesting setting for a romance.

'Liv' also has some comedic elements in it. This was usually conveyed through the art style, but the dialogue also had some humorous moments. It was not anything that would make you bawl out laughing, but it could bring a chuckle. This helped elevate the cheery tone the romance had and

Spoiler, click to view

possibly make the reader not expect the sad ending. I certainly did not see it coming.

Characters and Romance

This manga only contains two characters of interest, not wasting valuable time with other characters, solely focusing on these two characters and their relationship. Aoki is the main male protagonist. There is not much to say about his character to be honest since he is a pretty bland character. He is just your typical male lead, without much to say about him. I really cannot think of how I could describe him. I mean, he does not even have his own character entry... Then we have Liv, the main female protagonist. Liv can only say one thing, which is Aoki's name. Her dialogue is heavily limited which may hinder the romance between the two, but in turn it actually made it more interesting. Because they could not communicate together properly, their actions had to speak for themselves. She was an interesting character because of this, and also because of the fact that she was an unconventional zombie.

The characters may be bland and boring, but what makes them really captivating is their relationship. 'Liv' gave us a romance that blossomed in a ruined world, their bond heavily contrasted the world around them and made them stand out even more. The relationship started off cold, but then it soon started to gradually change. Even with the short page length, Hajime Kariki managed to pace it out well enough so that it did not feel rushed at all.

Spoiler, click to view

A small development that Aoki goes through is how he refers to Liv. He first calls her an it, but then soon after starts referring to her as a she.

Spoiler, click to view

Spoiler, click to view

What I felt that this manga excelled at was making me care about characters that I would only see for a short amount of time. Within a couple of pages, I was invested in the characters, eager to read more. I wanted to see more of their romance, and it was quite engrossing. Thus, it was quite easy for me to enjoy reading this one shot.

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Art
I think it would be fair to say this manga focuses on the characters more instead of the setting in terms of the art.

As you can see with this shot, the background is blank. That is not to say all of the scenes are like this, but more often than not they are character focused. This in turn makes us more focused on the characters, which were the substance of the story.

The art helped convey the feelings and mood of the scenes presented throughout the manga. This could be during comedic scenes, where Liv would be drawn more cutely, or during heartfelt scenes where their expressions would have attention to detail. The art style was appealing to the eyes and overall helped make this manga a better read.

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Conclusion and TL;DR

In its short length, 'Liv' was able to carry me along in a emotional story that I easily got immersed in. It can make you smile, laugh, and cry. If you enjoy romances then I can see this being a good read, it will not take up much of your time anyway. In summary: - The manga chooses to focus on the characters instead of the plot, with it quickly getting the story moving. - The plot events are simply and easy to follow. - The characters may be bland on their own right, but what makes them really interesting is their relationship. - Aoki and Liv's romance and their development stood out in the ruined world, making for a captivating read. - Within a short amount of time it has the potential to make the reader care about the characters. - The art helped convey the feelings and mood of each scene.

That brings us to the end of the review. It was a challenge to review something this short, but hopefully I managed to do it in the end. If you want to send me feedback on my reviews, please post a comment on this thread. Hopefully you were able to get something out of this review. If you did not like this review, then I apologise for wasting your time.