Metro Survive vol. 2

This was the only manga I picked up at Fanime this year since it was the only thing I could find there at a discount.  The first volume was a surprisingly gripping tale of a group of survivors trying to make their way out of a department store that had been devastated by an earthquake… up until the point where they encounter another group of survivors that are way too cartoonish in their evilness.  You see, I liked the “man vs. his environment” thrills that the first 3/4 of the first volume dished up and I really didn’t care to see the main characters struggle at the mercy of villains who, put together, barely have one dimension in their characterization.  To mangaka Yuki Fujisawa’s credit, he does offer up an interesting moral conundrum or two for our heroes to deal with, and there is one really clever bit of plotting regarding the heroes’ escape.  I wouldn’t exactly say that makes this series a “hidden gem,” but it at least places it in the upper reaches of mediocrity.