Japan Man

20th Century Boys is a science fiction thriller manga written by Naoki Urasawa, the author of the popular manga Monster. Urasawa borrowed themes from Stephen King’s It and the Stand almost to the point of pure plagiarism but at least he copied the style of a legendary author. Themes from the Old and New Testament of the Bible as well as Paradise Lost are also explored in this manga. 20th Century Boys is a classic by default because most 21st century manga lack any integrity, character development, and/or exploration of the creative possibilities of the human mind. And also the manga is evil.

Creation, sacrifice, betrayal, jealousy, and redemption are probably the main themes of 20th Century’s story. The main protagonist is a representation of both God and Jesus. He creates the world and then takes a long extended break. While he allows fire and brimstone to destroy most of the sinners, he slacks off deciding to run away and play his horrible guitar songs. Finally the savior returns, gathers his remaining apostles, and saves the day. Even though he sacrifices his life, he resurrects himself just like Jesus after he died on the cross. No matter if you like the Bible or not, this tale never gets old. I ate it up…yes I loved it…..which scares the hell outta me.  

The manga has some glaring problems though. Urasawa is infamous for writing multiple plots that drag on forever or vanish into thin air. Did I really care about anything Kanna did throughout the story? No but I had to read through that crap for more than half the manga series. And what do I get for patiently following Kanna? Nothing. She doesn’t really do anything and takes the ultimate back seat to even two dimensional characters like Number 13 who get barely any character development. The worst part is that Kanna has the tools to be the best character in 20th Century besides “tomodachi” Unfortunately, Urasawa screwed up her plot allowing her to become just another damsel in distress…..how boring.

Tomodachi also degenerated into little more than a half baked Satan. Once you read the whole manga and discover the truth, you will probably curse yourself for not just reading 21st Century Boys only. Everything that “tomodachi” does is worthless. His actions do nothing to influence anybody at all. He is an outsider and probably the most pitiful character ever created. And you have absolutely no sympathy for him whatsoever unlike Satan from Milton’s Paradise Lost because you barely learn anything interesting about him. His motivations are juvenile at best. You know a villain or antagonist is lame when the main character can end his whole game plan by simply saying “play time is over”

I am afraid of 20th Century Boys and not because it is supposed to be a mystery/suspense manga. You won’t be surprised at any of the plot twists. The manga is terrifying because people blindly love it despite the fact that it is pretty mediocre. It is almost a cult response to say you like this manga. The symbology, religious overtones, and good/evil bullshit will easily brainwash weak minds. I am not sure if this manga is supposed to be satire or not. Is Urasawa trying to be some kind of cult leader? If he is then he succeeded. I saw the movie and I felt like it was trying to brainwash me like Clockwork Orange. Some of the scenes from the 20th Century Boy movie resemble the flashing movie clips played in order to brainwash Alex. Why did the director need to do that if nothing from the manga suggests a scene like that is necessary?

The truth is in the manga. The only reasonable character, Manjoume, is a con artist trickster. He is the only character in the entire story to realize that no one cares about the truth as long as they believe in something. He is terrified when even the dude helping him perform the obvious trick believes that what he is seeing is real despite the fact that he knows it is false! He tells this to the “good guys” and they don’t even care. Manjoume eventually catches a bullet to the head because he isn’t a believer. The message is crystal clear to me. Believe in this shit or catch a hot slug.

There aren’t many manga that terrify because the actual comic is evil. 20th Century Boys is a classic because it is too fucked up for weak minds to touch. Don’t read this manga unless you have a very strong will. Monster was pretty sick and disgusting but it doesn’t cross the line like this manga does. I won’t be reading this shit again and I definitely won’t be seeing anymore of the movies. What do you think of 20th Century Boys? How did this manga make you feel?