20th Century Boys 1
Posted: January 24, 2009 Filed under: 20th Century Boys 11 Comments »Naoki Urasawa – Viz – 2009 – 22 volumes
Now, I wasn’t as excited about this one as I was Pluto, Naoki Urasawa’s other new series. I think the main reason was that I had no clue whatsoever what this was about. I gathered it had something to do with the apocalypse, a cult, and little kids, so I figured my roommate would enjoy it more than I would.
After reading the first volume, I still am not entirely sure what the series is about, but I do know it’s really, really amazing. One of my favorite things is variation in storytelling structure, both in novels and in manga or comics, and this has one of the most novel approaches to telling a story that I’ve ever seen.
Let’s see, how do I describe it? There’s the story that takes place in the modern day that mostly focuses on a group of grown men in a small town. These men have lived and worked with each other forever, and this volume covers events like weddings, funerals, nights on the town, complaints about minor annoyances in everyday life, passing greetings, etc.
A significant part of the plot is also based in flashbacks to when these men were all children. There’s not a set number of characters yet, so some of the side characters are still sort of ambiguous between the present-day and flashbacks, but there’s still a main character, one or two important side characters, and a handful of faces to go along with them. Also, the men aren’t necessarily remembering the flashbacks as we see them… it seems like they have little recollection about what is going on in them.
Then there’s the cult scenes. These usually follow the flashback scenes, and whatever the cult leader is saying usually has something to do with the flashback we’ve just seen. How the two are connected is not clear, especially since the memories for specific events don’t belong to the cult leader. The cult is also taking place in the present-day storyline.
The cult scenes will usually lead back to the main character and group of men. A mystery is sort of forming surrounding the disappearance of one of the main character’s customers, a friend of theirs that passed away, and a few students that seem to be connected to the cult. The cult also uses a symbol that the group of friends made up in their youth that not a single one of the men recalled. The end of the volume sets up the group of men in a somewhat ridiculous hero role which I’m sure will turn into something awesome as things move forward.
My favorite thing about the series so far is how accurately small-town life is portrayed. It may not be a small town, for all I know (they seem to have a university), but it is at the very least a tightly-knit neighborhood. Having just visited my old town for the holidays, I can identify with this type of place, where you walk into the shops and pass the time with the owners, get greetings shouted to you from car windows, and sit in a bar and have literally everyone you want to see walk in and talk to you. I’m hoping the setting sticks to the small environment where everyone knows everyone.
Hilariously, the series is named after a T-Rex song. After reading the first volume, I figure that’s about right.
I’m literally dying to know where this goes. I can’t even imagine what the sum of everything in this volume means, and I know that things are only going to get weirder and weirder as the series goes on.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Oh, it is named after that song? I never put the two together! I love T. Rex a great deal and that song in particular.
I’m also really excited about this manga. I was able to patiently collect Monster and wait ’til the end to marathon it, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to restrain myself from following this and Pluto as they are released.
You got to read both Pluto and 20th Century Boys? Feel my tears of jealousy hit your comment screen. I’m not good with realese dates but I don’t think they’ve shipped these books yet — at least no where near here, but then again I live in the dead middle of this country and it takes a while for cool things to spiral toward the drain.
I kind of lean the opposite way; I’m looking forward to 20CB a little more than Pluto. Only because the plot reminds me of one of my one of my top five favorite novels, Stephen King’s IT.
Did you see any giant robots yet? I know there’s supposed to be at least one.
Jun: I almost want to save this up, but I don’t think I’ll be able to either. It’s just too weird. I’m not even sure how the story stays coherent with all these different things going on, and it’s hard to believe so much was crammed in one volume. I just cannot imagine where it’s going to go, but maybe I’ll be able to start saving it once I’m a few volumes in and the novelty wears off.
I know the song, but I didn’t realize it was a T. Rex song. It’s revealed just a few pages into the volume, there’s a nice double-page spread of the album cover that just made me sit there and stare. It was one of the last things I expected to see, I think.
Mark Thorpe: Ah, I haven’t read IT yet, somehow I’ve passed over it on every single one of my Stephen King binges over the years. Comparing it to this makes me want to go back for it, now.
I’m not sure what the release dates on Pluto and 20th Century Boys are, though I’m pretty sure that they were both scheduled for this month… I think? Mine was a review copy, but I’m pretty sure the books show up in stores not long after the review copies go out.
I… hadn’t heard of the giant robots. I literally cannot imagine how they will eventually enter the story. That just opens the door for any number of insane tangents.
[...] Connie has quite a mix going at Slightly Biased Manga, with reviews of vol. 1 of Banana Fish, vol. 1 of 20th Century Boys, vol. 11 of Monster, and vols. 9 and 10 of After School Nightmare. Mangamaniac Julie checks out [...]
I have Feb 17/09 marked on my calender as the release date for both 20th Century Boys and Pluto. Counting down the days.
Huh. I could’ve sworn they had a January release date. I guess it takes a little longer to ship than I thought. Thanks for the info.
Well, I’ve finally read Volume 1.
I suppose it’s better than the movie, but I miss all of the colors and music. Particularly the colors. The movie is very colorful, aside from the Friend scenes (lots of white) and the flashbacks (slightly sepia-toned).
A lot of the specifics are different. It is fun to see the hints and the red herrings again.
I’m mystified by the scene in the early pages with the girl who says “It can’t be that again”. I am 90% certain this scene didn’t happen in any of the movies. The girl … the only character it could be is Kanna, which means this could only be a certain event and … well, it’s impossible according to the movie’s sequence of events. This is most likely to be a place where the movie and manga diverge. Or maybe the girl is somebody who doesn’t even appear in the movie, though she looks an awful lot like Kanna.
I had forgotten about those early pages. Well, I hadn’t forgotten about that scene at the school where they play “20th Century Boy,” because that was such a strange way to open a manga and I’m still not sure what it’s about, but I did forget about those pages with the robot. Yeah, that looks like Kanna to me, too, from the little I’ve seen of her. Same haircut, and what she’s wearing seems pretty in-character as well. Hmm.
I’m surprised by the use of color. It’s probably just because I’m reading it in black and white, but the mood of the story and the depressing setting don’t seem to lend themselves very well to color, though it’s easy to imagine it with strange, lively visuals.
Whereas for me, I feel like I’m missing something by seeing it all in black and white. I think the color actually makes the situation more menacing because the danger is less obvious, and it also shows that the world is really worth saving.
Oh, and of course it is really weird to see Friend talking in English. Friend has, by far, the most distinctive voice in the movie, and it’s weird to imagine that voice speaking in English instead of Japanese.
Heh, I’m always slightly taken aback when I watch anime or movie adaptations of manga, I never think about the characters speaking Japanese, or even what their voices will sound like. I am also irrationally frustrated when I try and read untranslated manga, which is usually 70s shoujo that takes place in Europe. While my poor Japanese is to blame for my general lack of comprehension, I can’t help holding a grudge against the characters, who should be speaking French or whatever. Not that French would help me much.