A review by crookedtreehouse
Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, Vol. 1: Friends by Naoki Urasawa
4.0
This first volume of Urasawa's mysterious maybe sci-fi manga focuses on a group of childhood friends who've grown up, kept somewhat in touch, but have their own separate lives and maybe a bit of animosity between them. When one of the childhood friends ends up killing themselves, a particular symbol starts to show up wherever the protagonist, Kenji, looks. He's convinced they need to discover what the symbol is for, and unite his friends to solve the mystery.
It's not too dissimilar a conceit to [a:Stephen King|3389|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg]'s [b:It|830502|It|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334416842l/830502._SY75_.jpg|150259], but similarities end there.
The story jumps around from childhood adventures in the late 60s, to their college years in the late 70s, and their lives in the late 90s. While the 1997 storyline appears to be going chronologically, the late 60s storyline jumps around, and there is only one scene so far set in the 1970s, and so far, it seems to be the least relevant part of the story.
As the 1997 storyline advances, we realize the group of friends that we've focused on, initially three men, extended to six, are just part of a "secret society" of friends that grew up together. It appears one of them is the leader of some sort of cult that plans to bring about an apocalypse and take down other relgiious groups. To what ends, we don't know.
At some point in the 2010s someone recommended [b:Monster: Perfect Edition, Vol. 1|18775119|Monster Perfect Edition, Vol. 1|Naoki Urasawa|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1670519515l/18775119._SX50_.jpg|13882777] to me, and I couldn't find all the volumes, so I decided to pick this up without having anyidea what the story was. Several volumes sat on my manga shelves for years, as I was missing volume two. It arrived in the mail last week, so I've decided the time had come to see if this was woth the read through. I'm happy to say that I do Really Enjoy this so far. The mystery portion and the reliance on flashbacks has me a little worried, as this came out during the split narrative boom of the late 90s, between Pulp Fiction and Lost, and many of the split narrative stories began with promise before petering out.
If you're looking for an Entry Level manga, this might be a good one. For some reason, I see the split narrative as being a Very American storytelling device (this may be incorrect), and I find the characters' dialog and motivations to be extremely relatable. I'm picking up volume two to read as soon as I post this entry.
It's not too dissimilar a conceit to [a:Stephen King|3389|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg]'s [b:It|830502|It|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334416842l/830502._SY75_.jpg|150259], but similarities end there.
The story jumps around from childhood adventures in the late 60s, to their college years in the late 70s, and their lives in the late 90s. While the 1997 storyline appears to be going chronologically, the late 60s storyline jumps around, and there is only one scene so far set in the 1970s, and so far, it seems to be the least relevant part of the story.
As the 1997 storyline advances, we realize the group of friends that we've focused on, initially three men, extended to six, are just part of a "secret society" of friends that grew up together. It appears one of them is the leader of some sort of cult that plans to bring about an apocalypse and take down other relgiious groups. To what ends, we don't know.
At some point in the 2010s someone recommended [b:Monster: Perfect Edition, Vol. 1|18775119|Monster Perfect Edition, Vol. 1|Naoki Urasawa|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1670519515l/18775119._SX50_.jpg|13882777] to me, and I couldn't find all the volumes, so I decided to pick this up without having anyidea what the story was. Several volumes sat on my manga shelves for years, as I was missing volume two. It arrived in the mail last week, so I've decided the time had come to see if this was woth the read through. I'm happy to say that I do Really Enjoy this so far. The mystery portion and the reliance on flashbacks has me a little worried, as this came out during the split narrative boom of the late 90s, between Pulp Fiction and Lost, and many of the split narrative stories began with promise before petering out.
If you're looking for an Entry Level manga, this might be a good one. For some reason, I see the split narrative as being a Very American storytelling device (this may be incorrect), and I find the characters' dialog and motivations to be extremely relatable. I'm picking up volume two to read as soon as I post this entry.