LOST+BRAIN
Title(s): LOST+BRAIN
Volumes/Chapters: 3 volumes / 27 chapters
Author: Yabuno Tsuduku
Artist: Ootani Akira
Genres: Mystery, Psychological
Plot: The world is rotten and boring, full of low level beings that waste their time on worthless actions. Someone needs to change this. The main character of "LOST+BRAIN" is Hiyama Ren, a very smart first year high school student (also the president of the student council), who believes everything is boring and no one is worth his time. His attitude irritates some of the 3rd year students, so they bully a student and blame Hiyama. Annoyed that this kind of people exist, he decides to change the world by himself. And he gets the chance to do so when a popular hypnotist visits their school. Hiyama chooses to use the hypnotism power to reconstruct the rotten world.
What I think about it: LOST+BRAIN is a Death Note without the... well... death note. As you could probably tell by reading the plot, Yagami Light and Ren Hiyama are two inteligent (even genius) guys who decide to change the world. Hypnotism is Hiyama's notebook, while on the other side, Itsuki Kuonji is to Hiyama what is L to Light in Death Note: the enemy, the wall that blocks the way to a new world.
I cannot not notice the similar character design in what concerns Hiyame's looks. Yes, I talked about Death Note and LOST+BRAIN at the same time, since I couldn't get my mind off DN while reading L+B.
But from my point of view, LOST+BRAIN is not Death Note rip-off, I consider it's worth reading.
Link to online manga: LOST+BRAIN on 9pannels | LOST+BRAIN on MangaFox
MIRACLE TRAIN
Title(s): Miracle Train ~Welcome to the Oedo Line~; Miracle Train - Ooedo Sen he Yokoso (ミラクル☆トレイン〜大江戸線へようこそ〜)
Genre(s): Slice of life, Fantasy
Number of episodes: 13
Plot: There is a rumor that there is a legendary train, in which only "lost" ladies have access. A lady in trouble gets in the train and after the doors close she realizes that the train is almost empty. in the Miracle Train she meets six guys, the personifications of the six Oedo Line train station, each with his own personality. Their mission is to help the ladies in trouble by finding a solution to their problems.
What I think about it: Honestly, at first I thought it's quite boring, but after two episodes I've realized that each lady has a different story to tell, which increases the variety of the "cases". Unlike other anime where you follow the characters and their evolution, this anime presents little parts of characters' lives that appear in only one episode. In Miracle Train the "main characters" are one by one in the spotlight, each of them having his own episode, his own lady to help, according to his personality.
At the Genres section I wrote both "slice of life" and "fantasy" because the ladies' problems are more or less part of a woman's life, but the train and the characters belong to the fantasy world.
Another thing that I found interesting is that they present a number of facts about the stations/cities in Japan. So you can learn something new about Japan as well.
If you like Ouran High School Host Club, you might like this one too. They are quite different, but they have one thing in common: six guys with different personalities wishing to help the ladies.
Opening: I really like the opening (click on the image for the opening, I couldn't find a YouTube video, so that's all I could do)
DOUBT
Title(s): Doubt (ダウト)
Author: Yoshiki Tonogai
Genre(s): Mystery, Psychological, Thriller, Horror
Length 4 volumes (20 chapters)
Plot: The story is based on an online game called "Rabbit Doubt". In the game all the players are rabbits, except for one who's a wolf in disguise. After all the rabbits go to sleep the wolf kills a rabbit. The rabbits have to guess who the wolf is before they all die. If the rabbit they chose is not the wolf, that certain that rabbit is out of the game and the wolf kills again. A couple of kids who met in the game decide to gather in the real life and have fun. What they don't know is that one of them is a wolf... and that person starts killing the "rabbits" in real life. Now their mission is to find out who the wolf is so they can save their own lives. Who can you trust and who is the wolf?
What I think about it: I personally loved it from the first chapter till the last one. The idea is very interesting and the story is unpredictable, it kept me in suspense until the end. Even the end is unexpected, but I can't say more about it (no spoilers here ^-~). If you like mystery, psychological things and solving crimes, this manga might be just for you! Also if you ever played Mafia, you might like "Doubt" as well since "Rabbit doubt" is a similar game. One warning though: I wouldn't recommend this to someone who can't stand gore...
Link to online manga: Doubt on OneManga | Doubt on MangaFox
