Introduction

Why is it that when you put someone in a horror/life or death situation, their brain cosplays a rock? And this holds true for Jinrou Game. If you’re familiar with the party game Mafia or even familiar with the game Among Us to a certain extent, then Jinrou Game isn’t anything new for you.

Airi heads home from work but meets trouble along the way. She wakes up in a room full of strangers and informed that she must participate in a life or death game called the Werewolf Game.

Story: 7/10

As I mentioned before, if you’re familiar with the game Mafia or even Among Us to some extent, you’ll be very familiar with the story of Jinrou Game. And it is due to this that the story is predictable. So much so that if you just read the synopsis to this manga, you can successfully guess with 95% accuracy how the story is going to play out. The shortcomings don’t stop there either. I know it’s a short series, with it only spanning 18 chapters but come on. We are thrown directly into the heat of things without a single clue as to why we are even here. We don’t know jack about the main character except her name and we don’t even know why she is participating in the game anyways. The pacing is severely lacking because of this reason. And if you’re looking for a unique story or plotline, just do yourself a favor and look elsewhere.

So now, you’re wondering “why’d you give the story a 7/10 if all you did was talk poo-poo about it?” Ah yes… to that response, I have but one word. Mystery. Jinrou Game actually does a fantastic job of reeling you in with mystery and keeping you reeled in until the very end. Even though I am familiar with Mafia and I knew how the story was going to play out, it still had this level or mystery. It’ll have you questioning who is who and are people who they say they are? It even had me pondering and second guessing my assumptions when I was reading. Then you have the cherry on top. The ending. Ho, ho, ho. The twist at the end alone made me enjoy the story that much more. I’m not going to say anymore about it, as I want to avoid spoiling but it was something, I didn’t even expect myself.

Art: 5/10

If I were to sum up the art in one word, it’d be “okay.” It is the epitome of average and mediocre. There isn’t much art there in the first place, in both the foreground and background. Sometimes the faces of the characters aren’t drawn. The only positives the art in Jinrou Game has going for it is the paneling and the gore.

Characters: 3/10

Jesus… the characters are subpar at best. We get some background information about each character, but outside of that, they are very two-dimensional characters. They barely have their own personality, let alone character development. The worst part, oh goodness, these characters are so stupid. Like, 10 shots of vodka levels of idiocy. They get put into this life and death game and they don’t think about escaping at all? They just accept the situation and play along? Not just that but some of the character’s actions are solely based on moving the story along the way it should move along. Even though it’s a game about thinking logically to win, the characters do the opposite at times.

Enjoyment: 7/10

Does Jinrou Game have more negatives than positives? Yes, very much so. Yet, I still enjoyed reading it. It was entertaining, it was mysterious, it did a great job of keeping me at the edge of my seat every chapter. So, despite all the downsides of Jinrou Game I had a lot of fun reading it.

Verdict

This series has forgettable characters, dull art, and a nonunique story. However, if you just purely focus on the mystery aspect of the story, Jinrou Game can surprise you. But overall, Jinrou Game is just a so-so series.