Distributing thrilling videos in secret. A school game that puts life and death on the line.
25 Volumes (Ongoing)






It might as well have ended at chapter 56, leaving some questions about the main heroine unanswered. But even that is preferable to drag the story on (new characters are introduced and you're supposed to care about the conflict between the main character and his admirer).
Pros: Incredible commentary on competing for views in the modern age w/youtube, instagram, tik tok etc, with some Joker-esque "one bad day" philosophy thrown in. Also the two MC's romantic plot is riveting, even though Hanae is obviously best girl.
Cons: Contrived plot, but what was the last manga you read without one? Don't think of this as some kind of period piece that has to make sense as though it were really happening. Just take the plot at face value, it's the subtext that's worth analysis. If you can enjoy watching a David Lynch film (which I sure af can) then you can enjoy reading this, no psych issues necessary ;P
Dont listen to all the haters. This is a really good manga. The art is amazing. The plot is great. The protagonist is cool. All the people who give this a low score are just too dam picky
(Context: have read through Ch. 46, up-to-date as of posting)
I've left my rating out of this. While I wasn't personally satisfied with the plot direction after the early arcs, the art is pretty good, so it's binge-readable. But I wanted to see more of Machiya's expressions and character development, and wasn't satisfied. (Let's be honest. I wanted to see him with smutty expressions like the female characters.) I suppose for someone who's into it, the gratuitous female bodies are well-drawn and entertaining. But the thumbnail drew me in looking for something different than I got.
If you're in search of a good male protagonist gore manga, Dendrobates is a suitable alternative. I recommend it.
Please Defend This Torture Porn forum topic contains reasonable reason for and against this manga and I can understand why someone would read this manga due to it. Honestly its the better thing to read than these comments.
Insanity. The world and setting doesnt work, theres no reasonable justification or explanation for how this secret and at the same time public murdergame is allowed to go on without problems. The male and female lead (thats ignorng all the other murderers) would in a normal world be found out at once if so many people around them died. There is no purpose to this except extreme violence, pain, blood, murder and shock value.
Tl;dr Fetish fuel, its gore hentai minus the hentai (mostly). No more no less.
I love kill or be killed manga, so I'm probably biased towards Dead Tube. Major plot wise, it's somewhat new- someone films, instead of the entire group being watched over by someone else. There's a lot of blood and gore, which is a plus, but there's also a large serving of fanservice- not exactly terrible, but still, a little...off sometimes. The fanservice does contribute to the plot, so overall, not much to complain about, really.
Character development wise, while most characters are pretty mysterious- especially the main two- their backstories are slowly revealed as the manga continues. It's also interesting how they form their team- in a survival type situation, they do have a pretty solid team, if I may just say so. Though how wide-spread Dead Tube is
(especially in the newest arc, where the main's younger sister's school has been totally taken over by it, and how all evidence of school-wide killing is also ignored by mainstream media) does get a little over the top, it's actually not bad for the snuff.
Overall, Dead Tube isn't really that bad. Personally, I'm not one who really cares about the different backstories of the characters, so even if Dead Tube didn't deliver, I didn't notice. It did push the limits too far once in a while, but tbh, I've seen manga that's done sooo much worse in terms of pushing the limits (eg Cage of Eden). It does have good snuff and chapter arcs that keep you entertained, but of course some would find the too-many-rape-scenes over the top, or whatnot.
My suggestion though: complete the first arc before you decide to drop it. The first few chapters really don't do any justice.
Your average suspension of disbelief is not enough to accept what happens here. You have to ignore all logic to read through this because of how the plot falls apart otherwise. The characters are fine, but the way things keep happening is simply not plausible at all. If Dead Tube was kept in a low enough scale, hidden, secretive, it could work. As it stands right now, you have to think that anyone that finds out about it (and apparently almost everyone and their grandpas and pets discover it) does nothing against it in any shape or form, which is simply not a reasonable conclusion.
If you're ok with that, go ahead. It's fun in its own stupid way, but don't expect anything deep or well thought out. And yeah, it's full of gore and rape, so don't even bother if you're not ok with that.