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A review by goobur
Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, Vol. 13: Beginning of the End by Naoki Urasawa
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This review is intended to cover from volume one to thirteen only.
Yeah, I'm just gonna call it quits here. This isn't bad, mind you, it simply stretches out even the most basic of ideas far too much for me to enjoy it. Some of these moments can be cool, but they are few and far between for me to get through the whole eleven volumes I have left to go. I suppose the suspense and mystery is intended to pull me through the weaker sections, but Urasawa's style of tension can be often frustrating as he pushes the reader past the point of enjoyable suspense to apathy. There's a certain section in volume eleven that I feel exemplifies this issue whereFriend's face is finally being revealed . The entire cast has their moment of revelation simultaneously which should be incredibly suspenseful and exciting, but it just feels really dragged out. It also doesn't help that too much information is divulged right before the reveal for it to be anything but obvious to even the most clueless reader, i.e. me.
But, then, he also has his moments of brilliance likethe chapters where we timeskip forward to 2014 with Kanna and the state of the world is deliciously and brilliantly revealed throughout until the final knockout punch we all suspected but couldn't believe. Another excellent display of Urasawa's mastery over the small-scale is the excellent chapter "A Small Town in Germany" or the two-parter "The Frog Empire Strikes Back" or even the wonderful—if somewhat unrealized—"Self-Destruction" with Maruo. Here, we can chew more on the characters and the situations they find themselves in much more satisfying ways than the main plot plays out.
So, yeah, some good parts, but overall I don't think this is for me. Also, Kyoko is the best character and I literally will not respect arguments that say otherwise.
Yeah, I'm just gonna call it quits here. This isn't bad, mind you, it simply stretches out even the most basic of ideas far too much for me to enjoy it. Some of these moments can be cool, but they are few and far between for me to get through the whole eleven volumes I have left to go. I suppose the suspense and mystery is intended to pull me through the weaker sections, but Urasawa's style of tension can be often frustrating as he pushes the reader past the point of enjoyable suspense to apathy. There's a certain section in volume eleven that I feel exemplifies this issue where
But, then, he also has his moments of brilliance like
So, yeah, some good parts, but overall I don't think this is for me. Also, Kyoko is the best character and I literally will not respect arguments that say otherwise.