Kyoushitsu Jibaku Club

To put in a word: disappointing.

The set-up is intriguing enough, a classic whodunnit scenario with incredibly high stakes, and connections to a bigger conspiracy. The back-and-forth between the protagonist solving the mystery and the hostage situation in another school also helps keep the pace up.
Yet, even very early on, small problems surface – problems that gradually snowball.

It begins with a huge information dump as characters are introduced in a flurry, with nothing significant to remember each of them by. We then immediately start getting treated to flashbacks and diverging plotlines.
By the time the culprit is revealed later in the story, we barely remember who is who, much less care about any of them at all. Not least because the story is structured in a way where the characters are only developed at such a late stage of the plot that it no longer affects how you feel about the situation at hand.

Alongside a cast of characters with no personality, are background fodder that are so cartoonishly despicable, that they bear zero redeeming qualities, and fail to incite any sort of empathy. All these flaws culminate in a conclusion that features an embarrassingly ineffective speech by the "good guy", during the final confrontation, a plot twist for a character everybody has already forgotten, and an ending that makes the entire series feel pointless.

Easily the best thing this manga has going for it is the art, with its sleek lines and compelling depictions of violence. Just the detonation scene in the first chapter bumps this series up a couple points. However, facial expression are somewhat sacrificed for the rendering quality, which is huge blow when the characters already feel so wooden in their personality.

In the end the whole series feels like a flashy spectacle with no heart that tries to muster up some emotion when it's already too late.