20th Century Boys 4
Posted: August 10, 2009 Filed under: 20th Century Boys 10 Comments »Naoki Urasawa – Viz – 2009 – 22 volumes
This volume was all about a man named Shogun living in Thailand. I liked the way he was introduced a lot, since it set up a bit of a personal drama for him, and then connected the upheval in his life back to the “Friends” cult in Japan.
At first, Shogun’s just trying to save a prostitute named May from a crime lord. Then he realizes he’s going to have to go back to Japan, and “takes care of some things.” In addition to showing us some of the fear training he underwent (think Apocalypse Now, and keep that in your mind while you read it), we also see a possible connection between the cult and a new type of hallucinatory drug, which would explain a couple things.
Then the story moves back to Japan. Three years elapse, and Kenji, now with his pal Otcho, have to somehow destroy the giant robot that will inevitably wipe out humanity. The “Friend” has a prophecy for Kenji about this, too, and I’m sure we’ll see the “team of nine” gather in the “three weeks” we have before the apocalypse.
Again, as serious and straight-faced as this story is, I love that it is realistically trying to explain how a group of old dudes are going to take out a giant robot that shouldn’t exist. It’s what I’ve wanted out of every giant robot plot ever. And maybe it won’t actually be about that in the end, but I don’t care. I’m still not sure where the story is going next, because the plot is so out there that literally anything could happen and make a lot of sense in the context of the story. In that sense, 20th Century Boys is one of the best stories I’ve read. I’m just sad I have to wait so long between volumes, because I think this would be a much more incredible read if you could tear through several volumes at once, having these questions answered left and right. But the waiting and wondering are all part of the experience, I suppose.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
[...] Smith on vols. 3-6 of 10, 20, and 30 (Soliloquy in Blue) Connie on vol. 4 of 20th Century Boys (Slightly Biased Manga) Lexie on vol. 4 of 20th Century Boys (Poisoned Rationality) Michelle Smith [...]
I saw the movie. I can tell just by reading your reviews that the movie cuts out a lot, for example, nothing happens in Bangkok, they just get in touch with Otcho and he comes back. It’s a really good movie. I must know – do the news reporters describe Kenji as a ‘super bad-ass terrorist’ in the manga too? I think that translation must be funniest when you can hear the deadpan Japanese voice. And does Kenji ever walk around in a pink bunny suit?
The climax of the first movie takes place at 12:01, January 1st, 2001. And I get to see the second movie next week. Excellent.
Yes, I completely forgot to mention the bunny suit. That was a strangely slow and hilarious reveal when Otcho came back to Japan. Kenji was walking around advertising a soapland or something like that, too. Unfortunately, Kenji isn’t described as a super bad-ass terrorist, but there is a pretty great scene where a room of adults passionately discuss what they would like on their giant robot, how big it should be, and what kind of laser it should fire. They have captured a scientist who they would like to build it, and he looks like he is going to stuffer a stroke or other trauma while listening to them.
I want to see the movies, but I think I’m going to wait until I finish the manga first. I can’t bear to have the plot revealed since I am having so much fun trying to pick out these story elements coming from nowhere.
Well, the movie doesn’t have the scene with the adults discussing the robot.
The third movie has a different ending than the manga, so it shouldn’t be a total spoiler, not to mention all the scenes which get cut, but I imagine the movies have more than enough spoilers.
Well, I’ve seen all three movies now.
It’s a really good thing that the movie ending is not the same as the manga ending. It leaves some major plot threads hanging, and it only gets away with it because so much of what happens in the last part of the movie is really cinematic.
Have they mentioned Otcho’s son yet? Because when he suddenly came up in the middle of the second movie it seemed a bit out of the blue, and it felt like something they had to abridge to keep the movies a reasonable length.
Now I’m wondering if Friend is somebody else in the manga … and I probably will pick up the manga pretty soon, because now the suspense won’t kill me.
Otcho’s son? I think so, but they only briefly mention that he dies, I think, and Otcho wasn’t there when it happened. It just seemed like a throwaway plot point in order to explain why he would stick his neck out to get that prostitute back to her family. Hmm.
And there haven’t been any more hints about who Friend is yet, either. It was hinted early on that it might be Otcho, but that was cleared up almost immediately. At the moment, everyone has inexplicable memory blanks when it comes to recalling the only other person it could be.
I’m glad to hear that the movies diverge from the manga. I think I’m still going to wait a little to see them, just because I want to wait for the plot to establish itself a little more, but I definitely want to see them.
There’s a good reason why they have so much trouble remembering who Friend is. It doesn’t help that three different boys sported the mask.
The first movie covers volume 1-5 – except the very first and last scenes of the movie is from volume 6. Some people complained about it starting with a volume 6 scene, but I thought it was the perfect way to start the whole thing.
I really hope that the manga has a much more conclusive ending.
I love the bunny suit (I also have to say that the frame of Kenji getting changed out of it, when Shogun asks him if he’s been working out, is strangely captivating :) ). But, more, I really like how this volume goes forward into the future, because it increases the story tension in interesting ways – how far have everyone else’s plans advanced, when is the next major event going to happen.
The giant robot design meeting was indescribably brilliant. I giggled through most of it.
(and I definitely want to see the movies – I’ve seen a couple of trailers, but stopped trying to track stuff down in case of running into spoilers)
Ooh, very nice. I only have to wait one more volume before I can watch the first movie, then. Thanks.
I’d hate for the manga to leave a bunch of loose ends with a story this ambitious. Of course, I haven’t finished the end of Monster, so I can’t even use that to judge how cleanly he wraps things up.
Out of curiousity, do you know if the movies were made before or after the manga ended? I’m pretty sure they are very new, a year old at the most, but maybe if they were in production while he was still wrapping up the story.
The first movie was released last August, but I know nothing of the production schedule.
While there is a major plot thread which I really wanted to see resolved, and I would have liked more resolution in general, some of my mixed feelings about the final movie stem from the fact that a) some plot from the first two movies was recycled, sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a not-so-good way b) the climax … lacked punch.
Part of climax-issue has to do with a plot twist which I can’t describe without spoiling but … it’s something that is difficult for any story to pull off, and 20th Century Boys did handle it with some competence, but … it didn’t completely compensate for the damage this type of twist wrecks on a story.
Another reason why I think the climax lacked punch is that there was a really, really tantalizing possibility regarding Friend’s identity. As soon as they brought it up, I recognized it as a red herring, but it was more awesome than Friend’s true identity. However, a lot of it had to do with the delivery, and I can easily imagine the manga having a very different delivery on this point.
While I found the final movie the least satisfying, I still think it’s worth watching. The first movie was probably the best from a critical perspective, and the second movie was the one I found the most entertaining.