Metro Survive Vol. #2
© DrMaster Publications

Mania Grade: B-
Art Rating: B
Packaging Rating: B+
Text/Translatin Rating: B+
Age Rating: 15 & Up
Released By: DrMaster
MSRP: 9.95
Pages: 192
ISBN: 978-1-59796-126-4
Size: A5
Orientation: Right to Left
Series:

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Metro Survive Vol.#02

Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Yuki Fujisawa
Translated by:Stephen Paul
Adapted by:Ailen Lujo

What They Say
A glimpse of hope comes to the survivors as they are joined together with another party that was stranded in the upper basement. However, their relief is short-lived as they see no signs of rescue and the shortage of food creeps up on them. Frustration ensues.

After a hostile takeover the other party's leader, Mishima and his party are threatened to leave the basement back to the Metro. How long will they be able to survive in the rodent-infested Metro?

The Review
Mishima's group, having been kicked back down to the fourth floor at the end of Volume 1, begin to put together a survey of their situation -- and it doesn't look good.  With two days' worth of supplies remaining and little hope of rescue in those two days, group members begin openly discussing the possibility of groveling to the third-floor team.  These discussions push Mishima to the edge, bringing him to start tearing at the rubble with his bare hands like a madman; though he doesn't make much headway before the other group members restrain him, he does enough digging to uncover a hidden convenience story delivery truck full of supplies.<p>

Now that the fourth-floor group has gained the upper hand in terms of supplies but still lacks the third-floor group's muscle and sheer numbers, Fujisawa begins injecting bits of intrigue (if you can call it that) into the story.  Dissent grows among the ranks over how the handle the situation: some propose striking out against the third floor group, while others discuss waiting until the third floor is weakened by malnutrition.  Others still put forward the idea of sharing their newly-found riches with the third floor, inviting suspicion that there are traitors among the group.  When three refugees from the third-floor group literally show up on their hands and knees, Mishima ultimately treats the situation as an opportunity to shore up their numbers and hesitatingly invites them into the fold.  This decision turns out to be a pretty big lapse in judgment, leading to word of the supplies making its way back to the upper floor and inviting an invasion from the third-floor dwellers.  Mishima spends the rest of the manga trying to recover from this fumble by simply trying to keep his group alive while waiting for rescue workers to show up.<p>

Fujisawa has made a smart move by ending the manga where he has, even if it only amounts to a couple of volumes' worth of material.  I don't mean this as an insult: I mean that there's really no non-contrived way to draw out Mishima's situation for more than a couple of volumes without either death or rescue arriving, and Fujisawa has wisely recognized this.  This is probably this volume's biggest strength: it knows not to overstay its welcome, and as a result the story remains entertaining and relatively fresh in spite of its fairly limited foundations.  It's a lesson that some other series -- which will remain nameless here -- could do well to learn.<p>

I recommended the first volume to readers looking for a basic high-concept disaster story, and this second volume hasn't changed my feelings about Metro Survive as a whole.  While it's far from a perfect series, it's also a work that (apart from those misfired first few chapters) recognizes its own limitations and instead plays to its strengths: well-executed art and unapologetic melodrama.