Rengoku no Toshi

i came across this series as per The Animeman's video lol

but i actually enjoyed it! I'm a huge sucker for stories that take place in dark urban settings so this review might come off as being a bit biased.

Story: 10 (might containt some spoilers and is a bit confusing lmao)
Basically, (from my understanding) a selection of people have been abducted by aliens or something and have been placed in a fake version of Tokyo, where everything is monitored by an Eye. Anyone (except some special people) who talks about knowing the city is fake is going to be "killed", which means getting turned into a puppet for the aliens to control. however, there are also these people called "managers", "experts" and "specialist" who are like human commanders under the aliens. "managers" basically know everything and sell people out in exchange for their lost memories, or they can be promoted into "experts", and further into a "specialist". right now, there are 3 specialists in the fake city, and the key to escape the city lies within them. so, they have to be killed in order to obtain the key to escape. oh, and they all have regenerative abilities. so thats fun.

the story follows Makoto, Yukiko and Ruka as they try to uncover the secrets and figure out a way to escape the city. it jumps all around the place, from thriller, mystery, horror to some teeny tiny bit of romance (I'd say initially between Yukiko x Ai and Makoto x Ai, but the ship kinda goes towards Yukiko x Makoto later on).

Art: 10
oh the author is doing fanservice right god damn

like the art is clean asf no cap

Characters: 6
This is where the series' main flaw lies.
To be, the characters just aint cuttin it. My favorite character right now would be Tanisako because he just reminds me of Llyod from Spy X Family lol but he is extremely rutheless though.
The main problem I have would be with Makoto. He is just your generic, typical, self-insert MC in every anime or manga. He is like those "i believe friendship will overcome anything" type of guy. So you might need to get used to him. But one redeeming quality about him would be that he is not a dimwit and is quick to pick up things.
Yukiko started off pretty strong. I liked her character not only because of her design, but because of how cunning and sly she comes off as. She is like your drug dealer kinda guy. However, this slowly faded away, as she slowly becomes one of the "MC-kun please save me!" type of girl. But yeah I still like her cuz she has some good personality.
Ruka is the only good character out of the three. He is the smartest of the bunch and we actually get to see some character development of him, from a crazed maniac obsessed with Artificial Intelligence to a member who shows sympathy towards the other members of the group.

Now that I think of it, isn't Ai's name the same as AI? Coincedence?

Enjoyment: 10
I love the dark urban setting of the story.

And I love me some good personality.

10/10

Overall: 10
I don't want the character score to be holding this review back as it's only 25 chapters as of now. And I give overall scores based on my enjoyment score, so its a 10/10.

Final score: 8/10

This manga is truly thrilling, and it feels a lot like reading Eden no Ori, Bloody monday or Bokurano. The way the plot unfolds is riveting, and there is a lot of tension in the scenes since the mangaka does not shy away from showing gore or death. You actually feel invested in the characters and their mission; and that's great!

What spoils it for me overall is the ending. When the MC meets the eye and receives the explanation for what is happening (which I won't summarize, as it is a spoiler), I found myself unable to relate to the story anymore. The questions and themes being explored by the manga till then suddenly seem to become pointless in the face of the massive cost of this setup. What's worse, it is truly difficult to sympathize or understand the motivations of the 'villain' character. You're forced to accept it as it is, and it really ruins the immersion. Moreover, the resolution does not give sufficient closure to the characters we've known throughout the manga. Honestly, the chapters leading up to this reveal, up until the MC collects the necessary items, is great. The manga hits a peak around chapter 38 and then declines.

This manga raises questions about AI and humanity. Can AI become 'human?' Can humans get so invested in a virtual world they abandon their real one? What does it mean to live a fulfilling life in a fake world? And so on. It is fascinating, but none of these questions get explored in the depth they deserve. I hope the mangaka continues working and developing his ideas.

If you have some free time, this is worth reading. At 47 chapters it's not going to take more than 2 hours of your time. And most of the manga is thrilling. But, unfortunately, the ending virtually guarantees that this won't be something you remember and re-read in the future.

Rengoku no toshi or City of imprisoned love is a mystery thriller by a new author called Tawara kyouhei . The story had such a solid start i thought it was gonna be some yaksuko no neverland's first arc level of quality , but sadly like neverland it was pretty disappointing . In the middle of the story i think that the author lost his touch and the plot became so confusing a lot of readers complained me included , also the artwork dropped in quality a little bit . The characters weren't impressive and they are easily the worst part of this manga . Surprisingly the ending was quite solid , and we got answers about the majority of the questions we had but it was a little bit underwhelming . To conclude rengoku no toshi is a short mystery manga with 47 chapters , even though it had a lot of problems , it was solid knowing it is the first published work of the author 6/10