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Oct. 16th, 2009 11:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI was going to wait until I had read some more Monster and then do a big post on both Urasawa series, but after reading volume 4 of 20th Century Boys last night I must babble while my glee is fresh!
Basically I would say that 20th Century Boys is like a cross between It and Watchmen, except so far I like it better than either! It is about a bunch of kids in the 60's who made up an elaborate game about saving the world from an evil group of evil, as kids do, and then all grew up to do various boring things and forgot all about it - except now a bunch of creepy things are happening that echo the game they made up, which has something to do with a cult called the "Friends" who are using the kids' symbol.
That makes Kenji, kid would-be superhero who came up with most of the evil group of evil's plans for the purpose of having something awesome to thwart, just about the only guy who can save the world. Except now Kenji is a failed rock musician who runs a convenience store and whose biggest worry is how to take care of his MIA sister's baby (and may I take a detour to mention: I LOVE HIM. More on this further down!) and who, understandably, hardly remembers anything about the games that they used to play as kids.
The first two volumes pretty much establish the creepiness of what's happening with the Friends and the various characters slowly starting to figure out the connections; in the third volume the plot really starts intensifying and by now I am completely hooked! What I really like is, first of all, the realisticness of how the characters remember their past - everyone's ideas of what happened are a little bit different and everything is kind of fuzzy and at times they're kind of appalled by their younger selves (there is a scene where they dig up a time capsule that they buried that I love because they are all so bemused to find sketches of ray guns and porn!) and changing landscapes and culture and so forth are actual serious plot points - and second of all, the art, which is gorgeous and really amazing at distinguishing individual characters and their expressions and emotions (I love how Urasawa draws the continuity between the younger and older versions of the same character - they look completely different but are always identifiable. I think the secret is in the eyebrows!) and third of all, the characters. These days I often find myself burned out on the Loser Hero, but against all my expectations I love Kenji - he is a tremendous dork who runs around with this baby strapped to his back that he is totally determined to take the best care of to make up for all the sacrifices his sister made for him that he never appreciated when they were kids! My heart grew three sizes that day! I also really like Yukiji, airport security guard who was known round the block as the Strongest Girl in the World, and what we get to see of Kiriko and Donkey.
Ironically, volume 4 was both my least and most favorite - I was kind of bored during the first half, with Action Shogun in Thailand Rescuing Tragic Hookers with Hearts of Gold (though, again, I love that even in his first appearance, Shogun looks like Otcho despite all the changes - mad skills, Urusawa!) but as soon as we were back in Japan it became my favorite! I love that Urusawa makes you think for about ten seconds that Kenji became a Hardcore Badass during the timeskip, and then he is like ". . . yeah, I suck at hitting people. And I blew some stuff up but it was kind of a wimpy explosion." KENJI. <333333 I also love poor robotics professor tearing his hair out as Team Evil solemnly plans to build a 50-foot robot. I am so excited for the next volume and Establishment Of a Team! (Also, I am excited to see some female characters again in the next volume who, uh, aren't hookers. That would be nice. More Yukiji please!)
And now I have a dilemma, because I really like the translation and I like reading it in volume format and getting the cast of characters at the beginning and cultural notes at the end, etc., and I don't want to race through it all online because I enjoy it enough that I want to pace myself . . . but the new volumes are only coming out every 2 months, and onemanga.com is right there. D: TEMPTATION.
Basically I would say that 20th Century Boys is like a cross between It and Watchmen, except so far I like it better than either! It is about a bunch of kids in the 60's who made up an elaborate game about saving the world from an evil group of evil, as kids do, and then all grew up to do various boring things and forgot all about it - except now a bunch of creepy things are happening that echo the game they made up, which has something to do with a cult called the "Friends" who are using the kids' symbol.
That makes Kenji, kid would-be superhero who came up with most of the evil group of evil's plans for the purpose of having something awesome to thwart, just about the only guy who can save the world. Except now Kenji is a failed rock musician who runs a convenience store and whose biggest worry is how to take care of his MIA sister's baby (and may I take a detour to mention: I LOVE HIM. More on this further down!) and who, understandably, hardly remembers anything about the games that they used to play as kids.
The first two volumes pretty much establish the creepiness of what's happening with the Friends and the various characters slowly starting to figure out the connections; in the third volume the plot really starts intensifying and by now I am completely hooked! What I really like is, first of all, the realisticness of how the characters remember their past - everyone's ideas of what happened are a little bit different and everything is kind of fuzzy and at times they're kind of appalled by their younger selves (there is a scene where they dig up a time capsule that they buried that I love because they are all so bemused to find sketches of ray guns and porn!) and changing landscapes and culture and so forth are actual serious plot points - and second of all, the art, which is gorgeous and really amazing at distinguishing individual characters and their expressions and emotions (I love how Urasawa draws the continuity between the younger and older versions of the same character - they look completely different but are always identifiable. I think the secret is in the eyebrows!) and third of all, the characters. These days I often find myself burned out on the Loser Hero, but against all my expectations I love Kenji - he is a tremendous dork who runs around with this baby strapped to his back that he is totally determined to take the best care of to make up for all the sacrifices his sister made for him that he never appreciated when they were kids! My heart grew three sizes that day! I also really like Yukiji, airport security guard who was known round the block as the Strongest Girl in the World, and what we get to see of Kiriko and Donkey.
Ironically, volume 4 was both my least and most favorite - I was kind of bored during the first half, with Action Shogun in Thailand Rescuing Tragic Hookers with Hearts of Gold (though, again, I love that even in his first appearance, Shogun looks like Otcho despite all the changes - mad skills, Urusawa!) but as soon as we were back in Japan it became my favorite! I love that Urusawa makes you think for about ten seconds that Kenji became a Hardcore Badass during the timeskip, and then he is like ". . . yeah, I suck at hitting people. And I blew some stuff up but it was kind of a wimpy explosion." KENJI. <333333 I also love poor robotics professor tearing his hair out as Team Evil solemnly plans to build a 50-foot robot. I am so excited for the next volume and Establishment Of a Team! (Also, I am excited to see some female characters again in the next volume who, uh, aren't hookers. That would be nice. More Yukiji please!)
And now I have a dilemma, because I really like the translation and I like reading it in volume format and getting the cast of characters at the beginning and cultural notes at the end, etc., and I don't want to race through it all online because I enjoy it enough that I want to pace myself . . . but the new volumes are only coming out every 2 months, and onemanga.com is right there. D: TEMPTATION.
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Date: 2009-10-16 04:37 pm (UTC)I really, really wish I had translations of the Master Keaton manga for you. It's the manga that Urasawa did shortly before he did Monster, and it's in my top three manga/anime series of all time. I will totally bring at least one of my subtitled DVDs next time we meet up so you can see why I love Keaton in all his Badass Normal glory.
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Date: 2009-10-16 04:46 pm (UTC). . . also, it looks like at least the first four chapters are available online, so, uh, once I have gone through the officially-translated Monster and 20th Century Boys, I suspect I will also be hunting those down!
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Date: 2009-10-16 08:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-16 04:44 pm (UTC)I really like the way Urasawa takes typical manga tropes and makes them awesome in various ways. You can't just build a 50-meter humanoid robot and put someone inside! Going out on the street and playing your guitar won't make people listen to you! The best way to hide your face is often also the most embarrassing! :DDDDD
I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN. I love having the manga and being able to flip through it and carry it around and lend it to people and it's so great to have those tactile sensations. But. But. (http://www.onemanga.com) What do I do?
NEEDS MOAR YUKIJI.
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Date: 2009-10-16 04:50 pm (UTC)- but I am only going on onemanga for that purpose and NO OTHER REALLY uh. *musters willpower!*
NEEDS MOAR YUKIJI ALWAYS.
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Date: 2009-10-16 05:13 pm (UTC)Yukiji reminds me of the main character lady from BOSS (http://www.mysoju.com/boss/), because she is just. that. awesome.
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Date: 2009-10-16 05:18 pm (UTC)- actually I can totally see that! I need to see more Boss too, I saw the first episode and then have not had a chance to see any more yet.
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Date: 2009-10-16 05:26 pm (UTC)Neither have I. BUT I WANT TO. ;_:
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Date: 2009-10-16 05:29 pm (UTC)why is there too little time for awesome things :(
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Date: 2009-10-16 10:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-17 12:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-16 04:54 pm (UTC)Goddamn it, Becca.
...are you bring any of that with you this weekend?
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Date: 2009-10-16 05:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-17 03:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-16 07:57 pm (UTC)I do not even count Kenji as a "loser hero," because he has too many Crowning Moments of Awesome, even if they are dorky awesome. I wanted to cheer when he stood up to his regional manager! And he just gets more awesome, while staying just as dorky!
I am very fond of vol. 4 as a whole, but then I have this Thing for Urasawa's Guys With Dead Sons, so I like the Otcho backstory. But it is definitely better when it's back in Japan. I am not certain I will ever be able to watch a mecha series that I am supposed to take seriously again, at least not without creeping myself out over the otaku "friends." (And yes, more Yukiji is coming!
And just wait until Kanna grows up.)edited for appropriate icon!
Date: 2009-10-17 12:25 am (UTC)He so does! I want to cheer so many times. And hug him so many others, and occasionally crack up inappropriately - the time when he goes RACING TO THE RESCUE and then the bad guys are like "lol wrong airport dude" and Kenji is just like D: D: D: But he tries so hard! AND HE IS THE BEST UNCLE.
I like the Otcho backstory, it is the whole present-tense bit (well, for a certain value of present tense) where he is running around being an Underworld Hero and Rescuing Hookers Who Then Die For His Angst that got old for me pretty fast. Also I wanted to get back to Kenji. >.> And hahaha ME NEITHER so it is a good thing I rarely take mecha serieses too seriously anyways. :D (EXCELLENT. And that, that I am also looking forward to. :D :D :D)
THAT IS A GLORIOUS ICON
Date: 2009-10-18 09:22 pm (UTC)Memory fail there, Kenji. Just like real people have! But he's just so...Kenji it is impossible not to love him and laugh with him and be inspired by him. Somebody has to save the world, dammit, so he'll do his best! AND YES, UNCLE KENJI IS THE BEST RELATIVE ONE COULD ASK FOR.
I can see that, though to be fair, there are a wide variety of people who die for the angst of main characters in this series. (I just find certain aspects of Otcho the Badass for Hire amusing. Including things like the totally bored expression he has when some of those hookers hit on him.) I have a number of friends with good taste who want me to watch Gundam 00. I believe this is now a lost cause. (It is most excellent, indeed!)
WHY THANK YOU, YOURS IS PRETTY EXCELLENT ALSO
Date: 2009-10-20 06:00 am (UTC)I thought I was going to be okay with the library, and then I bought the first volume of 20th Century Boys to lend out, and started re-reading it right there and then, and was like "ahahaha I am going to have to own all of this aren't I."
I know! All of this is exactly why I adore him. :D He is such a real person, with all the ordinary real person fail, and yet he is so amazing and such a hero. <333
Somehow that doesn't surprise me. *amused* And yeah, I don't take away points from the manga overall, it is just that between Bangkok and the professor's daughter that volume was pretty packed full of hookers! (*giggles* Okay, fair. Also his grumpy face when he has to deal with the corpse.) My friends have been babbling at me about Gundam Wing for YEARS. However I do not think even they take it seriously!
I AM AVOIDING GIVING YOU SPOILERS-BY-ICON
Date: 2009-10-21 05:29 pm (UTC)XD Yeah, Urasawa is like that.
This. Just, this.
All things considered, the death rates (as of where I am) is surprisingly low! And yes, I see your point there. (Indeed. Otcho has immense entertainment value for me, in general. He is excellent. And also excellent to make jokes about.) Yes, I believe that most of the good GW fans are rather self-aware.
I APPRECIATE THAT
Date: 2009-10-21 05:41 pm (UTC)OF COURSE, IF YOU GIVE INTO TEMPTATION, YOU WILL HARDER TO SPOIL
Date: 2009-10-21 06:19 pm (UTC)NOT HELPING >:O
Date: 2009-10-21 06:35 pm (UTC)I THINK OF IT AS HELPING IN A DIFFERENT WAY
Date: 2009-10-21 06:42 pm (UTC)Re: I THINK OF IT AS HELPING IN A DIFFERENT WAY
Date: 2009-10-21 07:04 pm (UTC)Re: I THINK OF IT AS HELPING IN A DIFFERENT WAY
Date: 2009-10-21 07:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-17 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-18 02:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-18 04:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-20 06:02 am (UTC). . . stupid delayed gratification.
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Date: 2009-10-18 01:17 am (UTC)Clearly I need to read this.
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Date: 2009-10-18 02:18 am (UTC)