I'm Standing on a Million Lives

Ninth-grader Yusuke Yotsuya is practical, friendless and perfectly happy to keep it that way. Then he and two classmates, Iu Shindo and Kusue Hakozaki, are pulled into another world, where a mysterious game master hands them quests and the world itself follows the rules of a game: classes, levels, time limits and harsh penalties for failure. Yotsuya is given one of the humblest classes imaginable and has no interest in being a hero. He thinks in cold calculations, says what others will not, and treats the quests as problems to be solved rather than adventures. As the stakes rise and new companions join the party, his blunt logic begins to clash with the hopes of the people he is supposed to save. Naoki Yamakawa's story, drawn by Nao Akinari, plays against the usual habits of fantasy adventures. It asks uncomfortable questions about sacrifice and survival, and about what it means to stand on the lives of countless others. The series was adapted into an anime.