Dead End (manga)

Dead End, known in Japan as The End, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shohei Manabe. It was serialized in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine from 2001–2002 and published in four volumes.

Plot
Shiro is a construction worker, tired of the usual daily routine of his job; he hopes that something will come to awake him from the monotony of his life, and his wish is answered when a young girl named Lucy, falling naked from the sky, enters his life. They spend together two days, enough for Shiro to fall in love with her; but on the third day, when Shiro comes back home, he can't find her anymore, and instead he finds his friends murdered. After that he meets a stranger who claims to be his friend, and learns that he had his memory voluntarily erased, he knew Lucy from before, and to find a way to solve the puzzle he has to find five old friends, who have had their memory erased just like him. Along with these five friends he must uncover, there are also many others who seek his death and one particular monster who kills in a brutal way.

Publication
Written and illustrated by Shohei Manabe, the series began serialization in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine in 2001. It completed its serialization in Monthly Afternoon in 2002. Its individual chapters were collected into four tankōbon volumes.

Tokyopop published the manga in English.

Reception
Jarred Pine of Mania liked the story and felt the artwork complemented the story well. Hilary Goldstein of IGN praised the story, which she described as a "slow burn". She also felt that the artwork was realistic. In Manga: The Complete Guide, Jason Thompson wrote the story "has the feel of a dream" and praised the artwork for matching the setting.