A review by crookedtreehouse
Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, Vol. 5: Reunion by Naoki Urasawa
3.0
One of the most divisive tropes in modern storytelling is the Time Jump. When executed well, it can be a cool way to continue telling a story after the presumed ending. Or it can be a wonderful epilogue that lets you see the characters well after the climax of their stories.
In 20th Century boys, the time jump occurs just before the climactic battle that the series has been leading up to. The major characters have gathered together, the foreshadowed Event that will determine the course of history begins and when you turn the page, fourteen years has passed. We're now following a minor character from the previous volumes, and seeing how she fits into this future.
It was a let down for me.
I loved the first three quarters of this book, and was admittedly surprised that we were so close to the climax, given that this is volume five, and there are sixteen more volumes. I think I would have been fine if the story shifted to flashbacks for a bit, but this future story isn't as intriguing to me. We've gone from fighting an apocalyptic scenario to the post-apocalyptic political dystopia, which isn't what I wanted out of the story.
I'm going to keep reading, and hope volume six has more time jumps but I'm signifcantly less interested than I was while reading the first four volumes.
In 20th Century boys, the time jump occurs just before the climactic battle that the series has been leading up to. The major characters have gathered together, the foreshadowed Event that will determine the course of history begins and when you turn the page, fourteen years has passed. We're now following a minor character from the previous volumes, and seeing how she fits into this future.
It was a let down for me.
I loved the first three quarters of this book, and was admittedly surprised that we were so close to the climax, given that this is volume five, and there are sixteen more volumes. I think I would have been fine if the story shifted to flashbacks for a bit, but this future story isn't as intriguing to me. We've gone from fighting an apocalyptic scenario to the post-apocalyptic political dystopia, which isn't what I wanted out of the story.
I'm going to keep reading, and hope volume six has more time jumps but I'm signifcantly less interested than I was while reading the first four volumes.