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rainsometimesSince numbers are sorted before letters in current English-language practice, I'll start with the one pertinent title I've got.
Note: while I stay out of specific spoilery details in plain text, there will be some expectations spoilers behind the cut, including how I felt about the ending.
For the first 16 or 17 volumes, I followed this 25-volume work by Naoki Urasawa as it came out in English translation by Viz Media (and a pretty fine translation it is, as far as I can tell: perhaps there are fidelity issues (?), but it flows well). But then the narrative tension became unbearable and I read the rest of it in scanlations all the way to the end. Now when I buy the new volumes it's to re-read. Which doesn't make it less of a satisfying read, having more time to catch and appreciate all the details.
This is a magnificent story that centres on a group of people who were kids (boys, and this one girl who wasn't quite part of the group but who was the strongest of all of them) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. (There are flashbacks all through the story). They made up a story on how the world would be threatened at the end of the millennium, but they'd be the ones to save it. Later on, they all grew up and completely forgot their childhood games. Then one of them dies, ostensibly by suicide. But the circumstances are mysterious, and he turns out to have sent a note to our main protagonist, Kenji Endo. Having dreamt in his youth about making it big in a rock band, he's now stuck running a chain convenience store with his mom while taking care of his baby niece. Now he tries to find out what actually happened to his childhood friend, and discovers there's a weird cult going around, all centred on a guy only referred to as "the Friend", whose face nobody knows. But more and more it seems evident the Friend must be one of his old childhood friends - and the cult around him seems to be up to terrifying things that could genuinely mean the end of the world...
And then there are twists, and more plot twists, and shocking revelations, and touching flashbacks, and redemptions, and an awful lot of action sequences, and things going from bad to worse to even worse to somehow surviving in spite of all of it to heartwarming effects. And an astounding amount of friendship and loyalty as well as deep treachery and an enemy who always seems to be two steps ahead... or is it just too easy to think that? The point is made over and over that you have to keep doing what's right even if people laugh at you and you don't look cool at all. (Otcho, who may be the one truly traditionally Badass character on the heroes' side almost feels like he comes out of a different series; it's not just Urasawa's drawing style that makes 20th Century Boys feel relatively grounded despite all the outlandish twists. There's often an unsettling banality to the "bad guys".) There's an awful lot of dark moments, but also much heartwarming ones and stand-up-and-cheer ones. The power of ordinary people is never dismissed at all.
It has been noted that the final volumes are perhaps not quite as successful as the rest of it: some of the charge seems to be missing despite the continuous great tension. Perhaps as I re-read them all I'll be able to analyse further if there's anything to point at that changed. That being said, I feel that it's all still quite top-notch stuff and I remained very engaged with the characters all the way to the end. [SPOILER in white] Perhaps what was missed the most was a real flashback on what had happened to Kenji during the years he was missing, not just hearing him saying bare facts very briefly. Especially his immediate survival after the events right before the timeskip.
Oh, and I love the way the dialogue is so naturalistic: not matter what outrageous things are going on, it always feels like the characters talk and react like real people would. It's particularly refreshing in the childhood flashbacks. These are some of the most real little kids I've encountered in comics (that weren't made by the Hernandez brothers).
EDIT: I have to be better at remembering that LJ-spoiler doesn't work on DW... *^_^*
Note: while I stay out of specific spoilery details in plain text, there will be some expectations spoilers behind the cut, including how I felt about the ending.
For the first 16 or 17 volumes, I followed this 25-volume work by Naoki Urasawa as it came out in English translation by Viz Media (and a pretty fine translation it is, as far as I can tell: perhaps there are fidelity issues (?), but it flows well). But then the narrative tension became unbearable and I read the rest of it in scanlations all the way to the end. Now when I buy the new volumes it's to re-read. Which doesn't make it less of a satisfying read, having more time to catch and appreciate all the details.
This is a magnificent story that centres on a group of people who were kids (boys, and this one girl who wasn't quite part of the group but who was the strongest of all of them) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. (There are flashbacks all through the story). They made up a story on how the world would be threatened at the end of the millennium, but they'd be the ones to save it. Later on, they all grew up and completely forgot their childhood games. Then one of them dies, ostensibly by suicide. But the circumstances are mysterious, and he turns out to have sent a note to our main protagonist, Kenji Endo. Having dreamt in his youth about making it big in a rock band, he's now stuck running a chain convenience store with his mom while taking care of his baby niece. Now he tries to find out what actually happened to his childhood friend, and discovers there's a weird cult going around, all centred on a guy only referred to as "the Friend", whose face nobody knows. But more and more it seems evident the Friend must be one of his old childhood friends - and the cult around him seems to be up to terrifying things that could genuinely mean the end of the world...
And then there are twists, and more plot twists, and shocking revelations, and touching flashbacks, and redemptions, and an awful lot of action sequences, and things going from bad to worse to even worse to somehow surviving in spite of all of it to heartwarming effects. And an astounding amount of friendship and loyalty as well as deep treachery and an enemy who always seems to be two steps ahead... or is it just too easy to think that? The point is made over and over that you have to keep doing what's right even if people laugh at you and you don't look cool at all. (Otcho, who may be the one truly traditionally Badass character on the heroes' side almost feels like he comes out of a different series; it's not just Urasawa's drawing style that makes 20th Century Boys feel relatively grounded despite all the outlandish twists. There's often an unsettling banality to the "bad guys".) There's an awful lot of dark moments, but also much heartwarming ones and stand-up-and-cheer ones. The power of ordinary people is never dismissed at all.
It has been noted that the final volumes are perhaps not quite as successful as the rest of it: some of the charge seems to be missing despite the continuous great tension. Perhaps as I re-read them all I'll be able to analyse further if there's anything to point at that changed. That being said, I feel that it's all still quite top-notch stuff and I remained very engaged with the characters all the way to the end. [SPOILER in white] Perhaps what was missed the most was a real flashback on what had happened to Kenji during the years he was missing, not just hearing him saying bare facts very briefly. Especially his immediate survival after the events right before the timeskip.
Oh, and I love the way the dialogue is so naturalistic: not matter what outrageous things are going on, it always feels like the characters talk and react like real people would. It's particularly refreshing in the childhood flashbacks. These are some of the most real little kids I've encountered in comics (that weren't made by the Hernandez brothers).
EDIT: I have to be better at remembering that LJ-spoiler doesn't work on DW... *^_^*