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Not Lives #1
Not Lives Vol. 1
From author and artist Wataru Karasuma, Not Lives is about a gaming genius who suddenly finds himself struggling to survive in a deadly game-as a girl!
PLAY TO WIN
Mikami Shigeru is a video game genius―he can play and conquer any game, and just as easily program his own. While planning his next project, Shigeru discovers a strange oddity among his stack of research materials―a game disc labeled NOT ALIVE. Absorbing into his body, the disc thrusts him into a strange parallel reality where he becomes the “Player” of a real life video game, one where he controls the mysterious and skilled Amamiya Kyouka as his new female avatar. With rules to learn, other players to combat, and an omniscient GM overseeing the process, will Shigeru’s gaming skills be enough to survive in this brave new digital world?
PLAY TO WIN
Mikami Shigeru is a video game genius―he can play and conquer any game, and just as easily program his own. While planning his next project, Shigeru discovers a strange oddity among his stack of research materials―a game disc labeled NOT ALIVE. Absorbing into his body, the disc thrusts him into a strange parallel reality where he becomes the “Player” of a real life video game, one where he controls the mysterious and skilled Amamiya Kyouka as his new female avatar. With rules to learn, other players to combat, and an omniscient GM overseeing the process, will Shigeru’s gaming skills be enough to survive in this brave new digital world?
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 27, 2012
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89 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 16, 2019
Jos jedna u nizu prica di su likovi zarobljeni u kompjuterskom svetu i bore se za opstanak. Jedina razlika sto mogu da izadju ali ne i da se oslobode dok ne pobede. Setting i nije tako los al za sada sto mi smeta jeste glavni lik. Videcemo.
September 7, 2017
Feels like a copy of SAO for otaku.
July 29, 2019
2.5 I think it was okay, but I've never been that drawn to fighting manga, so I'm not sure how I feel about volume one. I don't think I feel inclined to read more as this first volume didn't really pull me in that much.
April 13, 2021
First manga of 2021. I haven't read much of anything lately, so finishing a book after not reading for a few months is refreshing.
This manga was pretty interesting. A gamer/game developer literally gets sucked into a game where he travels to another world and plays inside of the avatar. The main objective is to pass the game, but there's a twist. If he dies in the game as the avatar, he becomes the new avatar and has to find a new player to play the game. In other words, the character that he's playing as is a real human girl that played the game but lost. If he dies as the character in the game, she disappears forever. The two worlds are connected, as he can go into the game world and the girl (avatar) can interact and live in the real world.
The concept was intriguing enough to keep me reading, but I'm not sure if I'll continue with the series. I enjoyed the fighting scenes, and the parallel universe left me with multiple unanswered questions, but it was a bit too cringy for my liking. The main character is a male teenager who is somewhat of a curious creep, so to say he's excited to be extremely close to a girl would be an understatement. I guess I'll know the answers to my questions if I continue reading, and who knows...maybe I will. However, for now, I'm content with having finished my first book of the year, so I'll be moving on to the next book on my TBR.
If you love video games and parallel universes, then you might enjoy this manga.
This manga was pretty interesting. A gamer/game developer literally gets sucked into a game where he travels to another world and plays inside of the avatar. The main objective is to pass the game, but there's a twist. If he dies in the game as the avatar, he becomes the new avatar and has to find a new player to play the game. In other words, the character that he's playing as is a real human girl that played the game but lost. If he dies as the character in the game, she disappears forever. The two worlds are connected, as he can go into the game world and the girl (avatar) can interact and live in the real world.
The concept was intriguing enough to keep me reading, but I'm not sure if I'll continue with the series. I enjoyed the fighting scenes, and the parallel universe left me with multiple unanswered questions, but it was a bit too cringy for my liking. The main character is a male teenager who is somewhat of a curious creep, so to say he's excited to be extremely close to a girl would be an understatement. I guess I'll know the answers to my questions if I continue reading, and who knows...maybe I will. However, for now, I'm content with having finished my first book of the year, so I'll be moving on to the next book on my TBR.
If you love video games and parallel universes, then you might enjoy this manga.
June 25, 2018
This book is kind of amazing. I liked it way more than I thought it would. I loved how it delivered the concept. The game that the main character gets sucked into is intriguing and I can’t wait to find out more about it. The art is quite good. A problem with a lot of action based manga I’ve noticed is that the art can get muddled in the fight scenes so it can be hard to figure out what’s going on. I didn’t have any problems with that here. The dialogue can be quite stilted at times though. The actual interaction between the game world and the real world is cool to me. I look forward to seeing that play out more.
I do have some minor problems with it. I’ve looked it up and apparently this isn’t that long of a series but I with they had spent more time with the main character before he hopped into the game. It would be nice to know a little more about him because a. he plays a lot of video games and makes them on the side and b. he’s painfully unaware that his girl best friend is in love with him. Like really I get not noticing but it took me one interaction to notice. He can’t be that head full of video games. I’m torn between liking hat they don’t give many details about the game itself and not liking it. It gives me something to look forward to learning about? And we know literally nothing about the avatar besides her name and that she lost the game before. And I’m slightly confused as to how zero word of this game has reached the outside world beyond the people playing the game. You would think there would have been a leak considering it is implied that this has been played for a very long time (although I have no idea how this would be playable before start phones were a thing).
But yeah like I said the positive aspects of this way overweighted the negatives. Highly recommend this for all manga readers. I look forward to the next issue.
I do have some minor problems with it. I’ve looked it up and apparently this isn’t that long of a series but I with they had spent more time with the main character before he hopped into the game. It would be nice to know a little more about him because a. he plays a lot of video games and makes them on the side and b. he’s painfully unaware that his girl best friend is in love with him. Like really I get not noticing but it took me one interaction to notice. He can’t be that head full of video games. I’m torn between liking hat they don’t give many details about the game itself and not liking it. It gives me something to look forward to learning about? And we know literally nothing about the avatar besides her name and that she lost the game before. And I’m slightly confused as to how zero word of this game has reached the outside world beyond the people playing the game. You would think there would have been a leak considering it is implied that this has been played for a very long time (although I have no idea how this would be playable before start phones were a thing).
But yeah like I said the positive aspects of this way overweighted the negatives. Highly recommend this for all manga readers. I look forward to the next issue.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 15, 2026
Our main character is a perv video game designer still in school, who I'm guessing is a bit of a computer wiz. Which isn't a great start to a manga series because if author designed him to be a perv, I cant root for him. Story aligns with Sword Art Online but that real people are avatars and other people control those avatars bodies when game mode is activated in the real world. The loser avatar of a fight will die and the one controlling that avatar replaces them and is forever trapt in the game till they die or complete the game. Very interesting concept but it has way too much fan service. I don't like a guy controlling a girl's body either. But I'll give the series one more read before I move on.
July 16, 2017
It was different from the kind of manga I usually read. The ideas of using a human avatar in a game are intriguing, but it wasn't expressed as well as it could have been.
June 21, 2018
4.5 stars :) Sucked me right in (albeit luckily not like the protagonist ;P
September 27, 2018
Looked like it might have some nice gender feels but.. no. All it had was uninteresting characters in a boring story with no real redeeming qualities.
...at least the art was okay?
...at least the art was okay?
March 5, 2019
Needed a little bit more!
January 27, 2020
Not Lives is trying to create a plot similar to SAO, but doesn’t even come close. Characters are dull. The story isn’t particularly interesting. And there is way too much fan service.
February 8, 2020
Really liked the first book and the world building was great. I have been sucked in and must read more.
December 27, 2022
This is a manga for video game enthusiasts. It is an interesting concept -- not original, but one I've had limited exposure to. Thus far, I've enjoyed it.
September 20, 2020
Not Lives Story & Art By Wataru Karasuma
Official Synopsis:
PLAY TO WIN - Mikami Shigeru is a video game genius―he can play and conquer any game, and just as easily program his own. While planning his next project, Shigeru discovers a strange oddity among his stack of research materials―a game disc labeled NOT ALIVE. Absorbing into his body, the disc thrusts him into a strange parallel reality where he becomes the “Player” of a real life video game, one where he controls the mysterious and skilled Amamiya Kyouka as his new female avatar. With rules to learn, other players to combat, and an omniscient GM overseeing the process, will Shigeru’s gaming skills be enough to survive in this brave new digital world?
Genres: Action & Science Fiction
Book Style: Manga (Japanese Comics - Read Right to Left)
I decided to read Not Lives Story & Art By Wataru Karasuma Vol.1 because I bot it at my local library books sale and I wanted to try out other video game style/genre Manga. Once I started reading I wasn't really sure if I really like it or not. The story line had true potential with it's concept but I felt that the characters are kind of underdeveloped because we don't really get to know them that well but we might in later volumes. I didn't really enjoyed the characters that much because Mikami Shigeru character is kind of creepy of how the way he treats Amamiya Kyouka because she isn't a normal human (she's an Avatar) so he wants to touch her without asking to find out more info about her which is very creepy and not okay but I did like his smarts on gaming though. With Amamiya Kyouka we didn't get to know her name until the last chapter which is weird because she's been in the story since the first chapter and I think character introductions would be nice when two characters actually meet each other. I did enjoy the video game/reality worlds part of the story because the world building part is very well developed and the idea kind of remined me of Stranger Things by having two versions of their own world but this book is in a more action fighting video game kind of way. The art work is very good and clear which is great for the action packed scenes of the story and I really liked that. I think Not Lives would be better as an anime because of the visuals during the fighting scenes would be so awesome in movement. This wasn't my favorite video game styled manga but it wasn't bad but it just wasn't for me because it felt more like a fast read book than one you can take in the story without confusion. I would recommend Not Lives Story & Art By Wataru Karasuma to video game lovers and people who like reading manga that involves video game like elements.
Official Synopsis:
PLAY TO WIN - Mikami Shigeru is a video game genius―he can play and conquer any game, and just as easily program his own. While planning his next project, Shigeru discovers a strange oddity among his stack of research materials―a game disc labeled NOT ALIVE. Absorbing into his body, the disc thrusts him into a strange parallel reality where he becomes the “Player” of a real life video game, one where he controls the mysterious and skilled Amamiya Kyouka as his new female avatar. With rules to learn, other players to combat, and an omniscient GM overseeing the process, will Shigeru’s gaming skills be enough to survive in this brave new digital world?
Genres: Action & Science Fiction
Book Style: Manga (Japanese Comics - Read Right to Left)
I decided to read Not Lives Story & Art By Wataru Karasuma Vol.1 because I bot it at my local library books sale and I wanted to try out other video game style/genre Manga. Once I started reading I wasn't really sure if I really like it or not. The story line had true potential with it's concept but I felt that the characters are kind of underdeveloped because we don't really get to know them that well but we might in later volumes. I didn't really enjoyed the characters that much because Mikami Shigeru character is kind of creepy of how the way he treats Amamiya Kyouka because she isn't a normal human (she's an Avatar) so he wants to touch her without asking to find out more info about her which is very creepy and not okay but I did like his smarts on gaming though. With Amamiya Kyouka we didn't get to know her name until the last chapter which is weird because she's been in the story since the first chapter and I think character introductions would be nice when two characters actually meet each other. I did enjoy the video game/reality worlds part of the story because the world building part is very well developed and the idea kind of remined me of Stranger Things by having two versions of their own world but this book is in a more action fighting video game kind of way. The art work is very good and clear which is great for the action packed scenes of the story and I really liked that. I think Not Lives would be better as an anime because of the visuals during the fighting scenes would be so awesome in movement. This wasn't my favorite video game styled manga but it wasn't bad but it just wasn't for me because it felt more like a fast read book than one you can take in the story without confusion. I would recommend Not Lives Story & Art By Wataru Karasuma to video game lovers and people who like reading manga that involves video game like elements.
September 21, 2016
Pretty fun little tale, though nothing too groundbreaking in the real life character entering the game world motif as in Sword Art / Log Horizon.
One day, our protagonist is on his way home with a haul of video games, I believe to research how to create a dating sim (the protagonist is a young game designer). He drops the games on the subway floor and someone in the crowd sneaks an alternate game in the bunch. After this, the protagonist proceeds to enter into a game "world" within the CD, the protag able to control the actions of an avatar from some remote cyberspace that looks like a fancy UI design.
The art is well done at times, at others it's Chibi style for laughs. A lot of scenes without backgrounds and simple effects. Character designs are pleasing, but not too imaginative (school outfits; game items don't really stand out). Certainly art is not the reason I would read this one. Setting is real world Japan I believe, even in the game "world", and it doesn't have too much character. The supporting cast is early on relegated to our protagonist, his annoying childhood friend type who sees designing games as beneath the protag's ability level (uhg, I believe her name is Itsuki), and our video game character heroine (Amamiya Kyouka). The game skills are just kind of there so far, no super complex systems explained yet.
As you get to the end of the story, a few layers are added to the whole "game" set up, but it's still not too stand out.
One day, our protagonist is on his way home with a haul of video games, I believe to research how to create a dating sim (the protagonist is a young game designer). He drops the games on the subway floor and someone in the crowd sneaks an alternate game in the bunch. After this, the protagonist proceeds to enter into a game "world" within the CD, the protag able to control the actions of an avatar from some remote cyberspace that looks like a fancy UI design.
The art is well done at times, at others it's Chibi style for laughs. A lot of scenes without backgrounds and simple effects. Character designs are pleasing, but not too imaginative (school outfits; game items don't really stand out). Certainly art is not the reason I would read this one. Setting is real world Japan I believe, even in the game "world", and it doesn't have too much character. The supporting cast is early on relegated to our protagonist, his annoying childhood friend type who sees designing games as beneath the protag's ability level (uhg, I believe her name is Itsuki), and our video game character heroine (Amamiya Kyouka). The game skills are just kind of there so far, no super complex systems explained yet.
As you get to the end of the story, a few layers are added to the whole "game" set up, but it's still not too stand out.
August 21, 2016
Gantz/1 lite. Not Lives offers a steady stream of fan service in a story about a violent, life or death computer game that plays out in the real world. It's not original, but it isn't bad either. It's just there if you want this sort of thing.
October 1, 2016
Wow this was epically better than I expected! Very interesting video game story with great twists, root-worthy characters, and exciting action. Would've given it 5 stars but there were just too many panty shots for me. *sigh* So glad I have vol. 2 handy!
August 13, 2020
I really like this series so far! It reminds me of Future Diary but with video games. I was worried it’d be super pervy since it starts with the main char taking panty shots and the obsession with panties continues but otherwise it’s a pretty fun video game fighting manga. I’m excited to read more!
April 15, 2014
i seriously couldn't keep interested in it...
June 20, 2022
Has a Matrix feel to it. A good twist on avatar-using video games.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews