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Cube Arts Vol 1

SCORE: 69

I was at a local bookstore because Peter wanted to look for some new manga. I was just wasting time waiting on him. I saw Cube Arts Vol 1 and thought it might be interesting to check out. The price of Cube Arts Vol 1 at the local bookstore was a bit much for me but then I do not normally purchase manga so I was not sure of prices. I have found out this bookstore is on the expensive side. Cube Arts Vol 1 follows a pretty well known theme from some Japanese entertainment. High school age kids play a game and wind up getting stuck within it. I remember first coming across this concept back in the .hack anime, and of course video games.

The issues families will have with Cube Arts Vol 1 are blood, gore, bad language, lack of attire, enticement to lust and more. Cube Arts Vol 1 has some characters acting as evil, vile and wicked as they want to. There is no punishment for that behavior and respawns are turned off. The evil characters claim people get to be who they really are. Problem for them is they don’t want to die either. So they are on the cowardly side. I expect this franchise will turn into an escape from the video game at some point. Right now they are just trying to survive and learn about the Minecraft looking video game. At the end of this book the author mentions he wrote about things he likes. That includes a certain style of video game. Cube Arts Vol 1 borrows heavily from Minecraft.

Cube Arts Vol 1 tries to make the video game experience quite real. What would happen to your body in the real world if you died in a video game world? How would you play a game if there were no respawns? How would you treat your fellow man when there was no punishment? Would civilization be created in a video game? What about justice? Cube Arts Vol 1 explores a plethora of questions. Or maybe I think too deeply into things like that. Cube Arts Vol 1 is hardly original but it does have some charm to it.

I plan on continuing this series as I get time. Cube Arts Vol 1 takes tried and true concepts and adds a little flavor to them. There are some bad people in Cube Arts Vol 1 doing some horrible things. Slavery and rape are implied within Cube Arts Vol 1. I know all too well that evil people will do horrendous things unless they are put in check. Takuto needs to wise up after Cube Arts Vol 1 if he wants to survive much longer. This sandbox is extremely deadly.
- Paul

Graphics: 63%
Writing: 71%
Replay/Extras: 74%
Story: 77%
Family Friendly Factor: 60%

System: Manga
Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment
Author: Tomomi Usui
Rating: ‘T’ for THIRTEEN and OLDER ONLY {Fantasy Violence}