Suicide Island

Suicide Island (自殺島, Jisatsutō) is a 2008-2016 manga by Kōji Mori, who also did Holyland and was a close friend of the late Kentaro Miura. It seems to be rather obscure.

The premise goes like this: there have been a lot of suicides in Japan lately. So much that the Japanese government lost a lot of money trying to treat them. So to save money, they give these patients a choice: live or die. If they choose "die", they sign some paperwork and go to sleep - likely assisted with drugs. However, the patients find out as soon as they wake up that they got more than they bargained for. They thought they were going to get assisted suicide, but instead, they were dumped on the titular Suicide Island. The patients find a sign set up by the Japanese government explaining how it is going to be. The patients are considered "dead" to the government, and they can do whatever they want on the island as long as they don't try to leave...and that's assuming that they even find a way to do so! Now the patients must decide what they are going to do.


 * Driven to Suicide: A Deconstructed Trope here. A number of character have played it straight, or attempted to, and this resulted in the government wanting to wash its hands of them and save money. On the island, some characters played it straight then and there and died right in front of the other characters. The characters who witnessed it first-hand were shocked and traumatized by it. It causes them to decide to live. Of course, that's easier said than done!