Tag: 20th Century Boys

I finally finished reading 20th Century Boys. I thought I finished reading it, then I discovered there’s also 21th Century Boys, two more volumes that complete the manga properly.

That was one of the first mangas I’ve ever read. As early as 2003. When just 4 volumes were translated.
By the 16th volume or so, I felt that the author started to get tired of himself. Reuse of same poses, and same twists over an over again.

But still, it’s a classic.

Notice how almost every character gets a redemption arc in the end.
Even Number 13.

Even Sadakiyo.

Even Manjome.

It’s never late to say you’re sorry.

“Becoming an adult means forgetting and moving on to the next thing”

If there’s one character more annoying than Kanna, it’s Koizumi. But I think she’s made like that on purpose: stupid teenage groupie that constantly gets into trouble.

Interesting how from 13th volume the manga changes its tone, from mystery to apocalyptic. And it was written in 2003, long before COVID.

Then it goes back to mystery, with Friend seemingly resurrected. Then to postapocalyptic, with another timejump.

The manga has it’s ups and downs. Kanna as a character annoyed me, with her “Lend me your strength” and having those kind of “dialogs”:

But then there’s an absolutely brilliant story of Sadakiyo, who was always ignored by his classmates, and the only person that was kind to him was his teacher. Now all the people forgot what he looked like, but when he visits his teacher in old folks home, he’s the only one who recognizes him.

It feels like I read at least up to 12th volume in the past, since I remember Maruo (former fat kid) hiding exposives under his girth. But don’t remember much else.

That was one of the first mangas I tried to read. And nowadays, it’s even more nostalgia than ever.

It’s still a difficult read. Constant time jumps between different time periods, many characters with Japanese names and nicknames to remember.
One of the most prominent themes in this manga is the role of the family. Kenji was risen by his elder sister, since his parents were a failure. So now he repays her by taking care of her newborn daughter, Kanna.

The manga also conveys sense of paranoia common to “cult” stories: who can you trust? Who else is a cult member?

My main gripe with the story at the moment, is that at the very beginning Kanna is shown to have some Abilities, and all the characters speak about her as The Last Hope. But only her nanny (an the reader) witnessed those.
One episode that really annoyed me was when Kenji decides not to shoot Friend “because he’s Kanna father”. Yeah, his nephew simply cannot live without her terrorist cult leader biological father she never met!