Story 1 is about a sensitive NICU nurse. She gets really angry when parents of preemies choose to stop treatment because they do not want to deal with having a disabled child. When she is served with an Ikigami she makes a big scene at the immunization hall where the kindergartners are getting their shots. Her boss, a doctor, is there. He is consumed with guilt for the time that one of the kids he injected got an Ikigami. Despite all the similarities, I hadn’t really thought of this story in conversation with the discourse around either abortion (sanctity of life stuff) or Anti-Vaxxers. The nurse’s mother died in childbirth with her so she and her father have a personal connection to the issue of preemie babies and at-risk pregnancies. Personally if I am ever in a high risk pregnancy situation, I want to save me and not the baby because I can have another baby but my partner would be losing me and have to take care of a newborn. Of course sometimes it’s not always possible and you never know how things will work out. Anyway, she makes her big scene and the doctor goes apeshit and starts injecting himself with a bunch of vaccines???? Later the father of the nurse confronts Fujimoto, and the shadowy figure that has been following Fujimoto rushes to his defense. Turns out he wasn’t spying on Fujimoto, he was assigned as his bodyguard. The nurses’s whole scene galvanizes all the mothers in the crowd to be against the vaccinations.

Story 2 is kinda convoluted. There’s a pair of boys and one pees his pants in the kindergarten vaccine line, causing the second boy to move up a spot. Turns out their grandfathers had both served in the war and a similar situation happened involving killing a prisoner which then resulted in being executed for war crimes. They also both stopped the other from playing a sport idk the whole point was about Chance and Fate. I could see what the author was doing here illustrating the parallel stories, how being chosen is completely random, but the story in this one was too complex for such a short amount of time. It was easy enough to follow, but hard to feel emotional heft.

Meanwhile China (or “the federation”) is acting aggressively toward Japan. Characters are wondering whether the US will actually come to Japan’s aid. Fujimoto finds out that Kubo has been successfully re-educated and is working in a flower shop. He goes to visit her and she’s totally brainwashed. He continues on his internal struggle.

I am getting so fatigued of the vignettes bc I GET IT! And I want Fujimoto’s story to MOVE ON! hOW IS THIs going to get resolved in 1 more volume???

First, I don't know why GoodReads doesn't have this title in English, but I read it in English.

We resume with Kengi still pushing the rock up the hill at the gig. His dissent is indulged especially as the story of the nurse giving the capsules to the kids unfolds. This is really the beginning of the end of Ikigami, as the political dissidence reaches its peak with this story. The second story ties into Japan's quest to maintain control, even potentially spreading their Ikigami policy outside the island. Kengi, of course, is in the middle.

Takeaways is Japan's aspirations to expand their empire under the rule of Ikigami. So we have went from national warfare to potentially international political warfare not seen since the peak of colonization with no end in sight. There is a feeling of hopelesness, but Kengi holds it all together.

Los giros en la trama. Las reflexiones que se presentan. La calidad de las ilustraciones. Qué gran material.

This volume turns up the heat on Fujimoto.

More at my general series review on my blog, SKJAM! Reviews.

http://www.skjam.com/2014/06/13/manga-review-ikigami-the-ultimate-limit/