The Island of Giant Insects



The Island of Giant Insects is a manga series written by Yasutaka Fujimi and illustrated by REDICE, taking place on an abandoned island where a plane full of students crashes and strands them with the massive insect inhabitants.

Why it Sucks

 * 1) A super unoriginal plot that feels very much like a bad 60s B-movie, especially considering all the good B-movies that have been made.
 * 2) None of the characters are likeable or interesting at all, all the female characters are pretty much sex objects at any given time, and they all talk WAY too much to feel anything like real characters. Half of them are those "always happy unless they're not" stereotypes, and the other half are completely insufferable.
 * 3) * Oribe Mutsumi is a survivalist who is given no backstory at all as to why she knows literally everything about these insects, she spouts off a bunch of scientific facts at inappropriate times and is a blatant Mary Sue. She also panics a lot, which any survivalist should know is a bad idea.
 * 4) * Ayumi Matsuoka is a complete crybaby who constantly asks questions with obvious answers. She also becomes a lesbian for literally no reason other than another girl had sex with her, without her consent at first, of course.
 * 5) * Chitose Naruse is an overentitled brat who's a very stereotypical class rep that tries to take control of everyone, even when in dire situations.
 * 6) * Jinno Misuzu is easily one of the worst offenders, she's a teacher who's so single-mindedly slutty that her clothes are always skimpy, she regularly has sex with the male students for no reason, and she sexually and verbally abuses Naruse and Miura for no reason, and she can't go a single second without acting or dressing slutty. She also is the biggest liability to all of them as she constantly puts them in danger intentionally and does nothing to help them.
 * 7) * Atsushi Kamijo is a stereotypical delinquent, only he's also a massive liability and an outright danger to the group, leaving it to be wondered why anyone doesn't just abandon him.
 * 8) * Mami Miura is an utter butt-monkey who's the one that groped Ayumi without her consent just to get a friend, apparently. This makes both of them poor representations of LGBT characters as neither were even lesbians until that point. In fact, neither were in any sort of relationship either. (also, that scene is filled with cliche dialogue like "You like stuff like this, don't you?" "We're both girls!" and so on.)
 * 9) The action scenes are super lackluster and drawn out to the point where quick actions can take entire pages to just move on, not helped by how NO ONE EVER SHUTS UP!
 * 10) Constant sex scenes as mentioned before, only these ones are much more graphic than most other manga series to the point where it's pretty much soft hardcore porn, pretty much every female character is a sex object at one point or another. A major plot point is also that the insects also often have their way with the girls, which is no fun to watch.
 * 11) The characters often ask major questions that aren't appropriate for the setting in an attempt to sound philosophical. For example, Oribe asks if they can possibly go back to their lives after the plane crash BEFORE ANYTHING TRAUMATIZING HAS HAPPENED. Also, after the plane crash, the only thing she's concerned about is her backpack with her notebooks, which she calls out to as if it would respond. Honestly, nobody would talk like that in such a situation.
 * 12) Most side characters are literally just there to be a statistic, they have even less personality than the main characters and are killed off not long after they're introduced. What's the point of even giving them names?
 * 13) There are MANY long paragraphs about the insects they encounter just barely after encountering them. And most of it is stuff only a tenured entomologist would know, yet Oribe knows all of it somehow, making her even more of a blatant Mary Sue.
 * 14) It got two anime adaptations which are just plain awful and poorly produced.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Great art style, all things considered. The shortcomings could likely be attributed to the incompetent writing rather than the artists.
 * 2) The concept of the island having a village that's been ravaged by these insects is a somewhat interesting twist on the castaway genre, even if it's the only thing really worth mentioning.
 * 3) Some decently scary scenes, like where they come across some half-eaten people smiling maniacally because of pheromones used by the insects, which is actually a thing, albeit not used on humans much.