Naoki Urasawa, acclaimed manga artist for decades, is back with another thriller in 20^th Century Boys. When Kenji was a boy during the 1960s he had dreams like any other kid. He watched the moon landing in 1969 and wanted to be an astronaut. He read comic books and wanted superpowers to save the day. He wanted to be tough enough to be able to beat up the bigger kids who picked on him. But most of all he listened to rock and roll, and wanted to be a rock star. Kenji's friends have the same ideas, and, one summer, they decide to create the Book of Prophecy, a picture book starring themselves as nine warriors who rise up to defend the Earth from the amorphous League of Evil, who are planning to bring the end of the world on December 31, 2000.

But it's not real. Just kid stuff. And decades later, Kenji isn't a superhero, astronaut, or rock star, he just manages the family convenience store and takes care of his missing sister's daughter, Kanna. One day he receives news that one of his old childhood friends, “Donkey,” has killed himself. What follows is a sequence of events frighteningly close to the scenario Kenji and his friends wrote in the Book of Prophecy. A virus that makes peoples' blood drain from their body is spreading all over the Earth. Haneda Airport in Tokyo is bombed. People are becoming more terrified as each day passes. And all of this coincides with the arrival of the mysterious and sinister “Friend,” a politician whose face is wrapped in bandages emblazoned with the symbol Kenji's friend Otcho designed when they were children. Now Kenji and his friends must combat what they inadvertently set into motion in those innocent days 30 years ago.

Highlights

In Volume 5 of 20^th Century Boys, Kenji has been on the run as a terrorist for 3 years, while the FDP, the political party headed by “Friend,” has grown in power. The last day of the millennium is approaching and in preparation for the worst he knows is coming, Kenji sends a summon to everyone who knew about the Book of Prophecy when they were kids, even the bullies who picked on them (and who are, unfortunately, still evil). Security is tight and “Friend” has been keeping a low profile, leaving the machinations of the end of the world up to Manjome Inshu, Jafar's Japanese brother. New Year's Eve comes, and though we aren't given the blow by blow, the second half of the book lets you fill in the gaps as it comes after a 14 year timeskip. The world still exists, but some important things are different, and this time things are starting to move around Kanna, now a teenager. The very end of the book reveals the outcome of the “Bloody New Year's Eve,” and leaves a very nasty cliffhanger.

Acclaimed author Naoki Urasawa has been a regular name in the manga scene for over 2 decades and it's not hard to see why. Even I, without knowing, have been a fan of his work since the 90s, when I got my hands on VHS fansubs of his series Yawara!, (which, while it was airing in Japan, was the sister program of my anime gateway drug Ranma ½, and partly responsible for its premature television demise) and loved it. Urasawa never fails to create a compelling story and his worlds are populated with believable and charismatic characters, and 20^th Century Boys is no exception.

Overall

I know what you're saying. Sounds like “It.” You're not entirely wrong. The premise is nearly identical: a group of friends who haven't seen each other in years must reunite to fight the rise of some monolithic Evil, heralded by the apparent suicide of one of those friends. However, that's mostly where the similarities end, as Urasawa constructs his tale more as a mystery than horror. It's densely packed with action and intrigue from the very beginning, so starting it at some point in the middle and having a decent idea of what's going on is challenging. The first 4 volumes are a must have to follow everything. Shit has already well and fully hit the fan by volume 5.

Urasawa weaves a strong narrative with an excellent use of that oft abused gimmick in anime, the flashback. Since the bulk of the characters have a history going back decades, it's stirs your sympathies to see where they were in the '60s and then relate it to how they turned out as adults. I really do feel that when he's focusing on KenjiCo is where Urasawa shines, perhaps because Kenji is an author surrogate (Urasawa was born in 1960). He's probably pulling from flashbulb memory, because his portrayal of KenjiCo.'s childhood antics is nostalgic but not sappy. The kids aren't too bright or too dumb, neither little devils nor angels, just kids doing what they do.

When the focus shifts toward a teenage Kanna in 2014, things pale a bit more. I think I've said before that I'm a sucker for ensembles, and when the focus is on Kanna, it's really on Kanna. She's not an awful character or anything, but she's very obviously exceptional. The plot armor is thick on this one. The things she pulls off stretches credibility (like her continued existence given the people she antagonizes). In the story, she's supposed to be charismatic, but as a reader, she just comes off as brash and pushy and sorely in need of a spanking. If this is the kind of character who does it for you, great. If not, well, hopefully the peripheral characters and mystery will keep you coming back.

So if you want a great page turner and mystery, and can follow all the plot twists and the huge cast, pick up volumes 1-5 of 20^th Century Boys. Then go read Monster, Urasawa's earlier and more famous series, and then when you've caught up to that, climb, run up walls, and tear your hair out waiting for the next volume. Or acquire Yawara! if you can get it, and are in the mood for something just as well-crafted (or better, in my opinion), but lighter.

ComicsOnline gives 20^th Century Boys Volume 5, 3 out of 5 Y2K nightmares.