Urasawa Naoki - 20th Century Boys, vol. 04-06
Mon, Mar. 26th, 2007 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterThis is amazingly addictive. Usually I read manga in spurts; read one or two, forget about it for a month, read another three, forget about it for a month, rinse and repeat. I suspect that I will end up blazing through this in a couple of days.
Also, I though the first three volumes were cracktastic, but wow! Clearly the series will only get exponentially more cracktastic as it goes on.
First off -- wow! Every time Urasawa does a reveal, I think he's given out this giant puzzle piece, and then I wonder how he's going to manage to stretch the mystery out to 22 volumes. Except then he throws in about ten other giant mysteries to the one solved one, and I am hooked and baffled yet again.
Yay, Otcho is Shogun! Also, I'm really glad that Urasawa is including other Asian countries, although the stereotypes of Thai and Chinese gangs are somewhat annoying.
On a sidenote, is the Thai gangster drug thing a stereotype? I just saw Infernal Affairs, which also had Thai drug-dealing gangsters.
I had also assumed that the four men being presented to the UN for saving the world in the beginning would be Kenji and company, so I wasn't too worried about what would happen to him. But now, it looks like the story isn't just about saving the world from the giant robot attack on December 31, 2000. Nope! It's even bigger than that!
And now we're fourteen years ahead. I was going to complain about not having enough female characters, but thankfully Kanna is now the protagonist, and she seems pretty cool. I mean, there still aren't enough women, but we've been getting more as the series goes on.
So -- Yukiji and Otcho both managed to survive the bloodbath of 12/31/00, and no one seems to know what happened to Kenji. Or he's dead, and Kanna's bringing him ramen. And someone else is too!
I briefly recall seeing Maruo somewhere. Maybe he was one of the guys in prison? I also love the Great Escape/Shawshank Redemption tunneling out of the prison, complete with a piece of paper covering up the tunnel.
I'm sure there's a whole lot that I should have covered and can't remember, but mostly, I'm just thinking, "WTF?! What happened that night? Where's Kenji? What happened? Argh! Must read more!"
Also, I though the first three volumes were cracktastic, but wow! Clearly the series will only get exponentially more cracktastic as it goes on.
First off -- wow! Every time Urasawa does a reveal, I think he's given out this giant puzzle piece, and then I wonder how he's going to manage to stretch the mystery out to 22 volumes. Except then he throws in about ten other giant mysteries to the one solved one, and I am hooked and baffled yet again.
Yay, Otcho is Shogun! Also, I'm really glad that Urasawa is including other Asian countries, although the stereotypes of Thai and Chinese gangs are somewhat annoying.
On a sidenote, is the Thai gangster drug thing a stereotype? I just saw Infernal Affairs, which also had Thai drug-dealing gangsters.
I had also assumed that the four men being presented to the UN for saving the world in the beginning would be Kenji and company, so I wasn't too worried about what would happen to him. But now, it looks like the story isn't just about saving the world from the giant robot attack on December 31, 2000. Nope! It's even bigger than that!
And now we're fourteen years ahead. I was going to complain about not having enough female characters, but thankfully Kanna is now the protagonist, and she seems pretty cool. I mean, there still aren't enough women, but we've been getting more as the series goes on.
So -- Yukiji and Otcho both managed to survive the bloodbath of 12/31/00, and no one seems to know what happened to Kenji. Or he's dead, and Kanna's bringing him ramen. And someone else is too!
I briefly recall seeing Maruo somewhere. Maybe he was one of the guys in prison? I also love the Great Escape/Shawshank Redemption tunneling out of the prison, complete with a piece of paper covering up the tunnel.
I'm sure there's a whole lot that I should have covered and can't remember, but mostly, I'm just thinking, "WTF?! What happened that night? Where's Kenji? What happened? Argh! Must read more!"
(no subject)
Mon, Mar. 26th, 2007 09:18 pm (UTC)I love how this is a huge, over-the-top story, yet it's also so human and personal at the same time. And Urasawa is awesome at aging characters (seriously: Otcho!)
I need to reread this at some point when I'm not obsessing over go.
(no subject)
Mon, Mar. 26th, 2007 09:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Tue, Mar. 27th, 2007 08:21 am (UTC)I love the thing with the hand on Shounen Sunday becoming Friend's symbol and the manga artist.
I'm also really amazed by how Urasawa's made me care about all of Kenji's friends when I couldn't tell them apart in the very beginning. And I love all the Kenji-Kanna flashback moments and how much Kenji is still a part of her life.
Also, gaaaaaah, am now on vol. 11!!