Mirai Kakehashi is a young student fed up with a life of abuse from his uncle and aunt who raised him since his parents' death, but is saved by a Guardian Angel called Nasse (ナッセ) after attempting to commit suicide. Upon learning from Nasse that his foster parents were responsible for the deaths of his father and mother, Mirai uses the powers she bestowed him in order to confront them and enact justice. However, Mirai's ordeals are just beginning as Nasse soon after informs him that God will retire in 999 days and thirteen candidates to replace him were selected including Mirai himself. To make matters worse, not only can Mirai not refuse to take part in the contest to decide the next God, but among the other candidates there are those capable of anything to win, including killing all the competition as soon as possible.
Main Characters
Mirai Kakehashi (架橋 明日, Kakehashi Mirai)The main protagonist. He was raised by his abusive uncle and aunt after his family were killed in a car crash. The abuse he endured resulted in him trying to commit suicide by throwing himself from a tower block, but he is saved by Nasse. Using the arrows he discovers that his uncle and aunt murdered his family, he accidentally kills his aunt and then makes his uncle turn himself in. Upon knowing of Metropoliman's plans, Mirai joins forces with Saki and Nanato to stop him, not only to protect themselves, but to prevent him from becoming God as well.
Nasse (ナッセ)Mirai's angel. She is an angel of the Special class, capable of bestow him with a pair of wings, a white arrow to kill his opponents, and a red arrow to make anyone he shoots with it to fall in love with him. Her main desire is to make Mirai happy. Despite having a cute face, she has the habit of making some cruel remarks.
Saki Hanakago (花籠 咲, Hanakago Saki)Saki is Mirai's classmate, his love interest, and coincidentally, a God candidate as well. Once she learns that he does not intend to kill her, Saki joins forces with Mirai to deal with Metropoliman. Saki and Mirai were once childhood friends, but after his parents' death, Mirai became the target of bullying from his classmates and Saki did nothing to stop them out of
peer pressure. She witnessed Mirai's suicide attempt in the beginning of the series, and out of guilt, she also did so by trying to drown herself on the sea, leading her to meet Lepel and become a God candidate.
Lepel (ルベル, Ruperu)Saki's angel. She is rather calculating and manipulative, a trait that is considered by Nasse to be the reason why she was relegated to be a class two Angel, thus capable only of bestowing Saki with the red arrow. Once she decides to become more useful to Saki, Lepel decides to study the knowledge of the heavens, in order to increase her rank and grant wings to Saki, but fails. However, when Lepel sheds tears at not being of further use to Saki, God promotes her to class one and bestows her the title of "Angel of Emotion", as no angel had shed tears for a human before.
God Candidates and Angels
Kanade Uryu (Metropoliman) (生流 奏 (メトロポリマン), Uryu Kanade (Metoroporiman))The main antagonist of the series who intends to become God by all means necessary, including killing all other candidates. He is the grandson of the principal of the prestigious Joso Academy and wishes to become God in order to bring his dead sister back to life. So far he had killed four other candidates using the alias "Metropoliman" and had claimed their wings and arrows, becoming even more dangerous upon realizing that several arrows can be combined to increase their range, and that the arrows and wings he obtained can be bestowed to other individuals to do his bidding.
Misa (メイザ, Meisa)Kanade's angel of the special class, also known as the "Angel of Lust".
Tonma Kyosuke (Tonma Rodriguez) (ロドリゲス頓馬, Rodorigesu Tonma)A god candidate who is a failed comedian. He uses his red arrows to make women fall in love with him so that he can have sex with them. He is the first God candidate to be killed, being murdered by Kanade as Metropoliman.
Luta (ルタ, Ruta)Tonma's angel of the second-rank.
Shogo Hatateyama (畠山 省吾, Hatateyama Shogo) and Saburo Tabuchi (田淵 三郎, Tabuchi Saburo)Two god candidates who disguises themselves as different versions of Metropoliman when Kanada asks the God candidates to attend a gathering at a baseball stadium. They are friends who want to help each other after doing badly in their exams, and are saved from committing suicide by their guardian angels. However, the gathering is a trap and both are killed by the real Metropoliman.
Emaka (エマカ) and Egura (エグラ)Shogo and Saburo's angels respectively, both of the first-rank.
Chiyo "Chi" Nakayama (中矢間 知代, Nakayama Chiyo)Chi is the youngest God candidate. She is a young girl who was bullied at school. She attends the gathering and asks Metropoliman for help. Kanade first strikes her with a red arrow, but then uses her as a hostage saying he will kill her if no other God candidates reveal themselves. As no-one does, Kanade kills Chi.
Jami (ジャミ)Chi's angel of the second-rank.
Nanato Mukaido (六階堂 七斗, Mukaido Nanato)Nanato is a God candidate working as the product planner for an apparel company. He is suffering from
terminal cancer, and first uses his red arrows to secure enough money for his family after he dies, then to hire private detectives to find more God candidates. He decides to team up with Mirai and Saki in order to prevent Kanade from becoming God, to the point of obtaining firearms from the JSDF in order to have a better chance to kill him. Mirai agrees on the grounds that Nanato continues his treatment.
Paree (バレ, Pare)Nanato's angel of the first-rank, also known as the "Angel of Knowledge", she once were of the special-rank, before being demoted for unknown reasons.
Sokotani HajimeBorn poor and ugly, Sokotani was always shunned by others until his mother commits suicide and Balta appears to become his angel. Using Balta's powers, Sokotani manages to obtain money and a new, beautiful face by plastic surgery, but still is unable to attract a girl himself due to his poor communication skills. He develops an obscession with Kanade and offers to become his subordinate, which he accepts, but only in exchange of capturing another God Candidate. He then manages to discover Nanato's identity and kidnaps his wife and daughter in order to draw him to a trap. He manages to capture both Nanato and Mirai, but waiting for a chance to kill them, he ends up struck by Saki's red arrow.
BaltaSokotani's angel of the first-rank, also known as the "Angel of Intuition".
MuniAn angel of the special class, whose God candidate is currently unknown.
PenemaAn angel of the first-rank, whose God candidate is currently unknown.
YazeliAn angel of the second-rank, whose God candidate is currently unknown.
OgaroAn angel whose rank and God candidate are currently unknown.
Yamada Mimimi (Mithrin) (山田 美々々 (ミスリン), Yamada Mimimi (Misurin))An amateur model, known as the "Serial Killer Girl A", she was arrested for the murder of several female middle schoolers until Kanade breaks her free and lends her a red arrow and a pair of wings from the God candidates he previously eliminated, in order to lay a trap for other God candidates who may appear intending to stop her after she starts killing again.
Platinum End has been serialized by Shueisha in its Japanese monthly shōnen manga magazine Jump SQ since its December 2015 issue, which was released on November 4, 2015. They began collecting the chapters into tankōbon volumes with the first published on February 4, 2016.
On October 5, 2015, Viz Media announced that it has licensed Platinum End for release in North America and the United Kingdom. In March 2016 Viz confirmed that they would start releasing print editions of Platinum End, with the first volume released in Fall 2016. The manga is licensed by Kazé in France.
The first volume of Platinum End debuted at number two on Oricon's weekly list of the best-selling manga, with 105,213 copies sold.
When reviewing the opening chapter, Ian Wolf writing for Anime UK News compared Platinum End to Ohba and Obata's earlier series Death Note, saying: "the central character is a teenage boy fed up with life, who is guided by a supernatural force and given great power. Both leads seemingly find themselves on the path to becoming a deity. However, while Light Yagami uses his powers for diabolic ends, killing anyone he suspects of doing anything wrong while being observed by a shinigami, Mirai Kakehashi is guided by an apparently more benevolent force." He also writes that the series is an example of a death game, citing the death of one of the God candidates in the second chapter.
Writing for The Fandom Post Jarius Taylor gave the series a B+ rating and compared Platinum End to Future Diary writing: "while I don't have too much doubt it'll be stronger overall, the overt edginess here isn't something I was quite expecting from Ohba. Still it's a pretty interesting read from beginning to end, and there's a lot of potential in terms of both thriller aspects and the overall theme. Hopefully, it'll be able to differentiate itself from Future Diary more going forward, but for now the idea of Ohba and Obata taking a crack at their own version of it seems pretty good to me."
