A review by zare_i
21st Century Boys 1 by Naoki Urasawa

4.0

Friend is dead but is it truly the end of danger. As UN forces occupy the Japan following Friends admission of crimes live on TV they want to enlist the help of Kenji to figure out if there are new dangers on the horizon. To do that Kenji needs to travel back to the past using Friend's virtual reality engine.

As intrigue again picks up we witness Kanna and friends facing the UN troops that hold them responsible for devastation last years. Kanna is main suspect since she is Friend's daughter.

Art as always is beautiful.

Story wise this first third of the book is rehashing from the 20th Century Boys vol 22. Rest of the book is Kenji walking through his past inside the VR while Kanna and rest of the team try to figure out if The New Book Of Prophecies, its last chapter are just wild dreams of the children or truly devastating apparatus.

All in all good story but it seems kinda forced, I am not sure why author could not finalize the story in the original series of 22 volumes.

In any case good addition to the story line. One more volume to go :)