20th Century Boy

Manga: 20th Century Boys

Author: Naoki Urasawa

Genre: Mystery, science fiction, thriller

Publish: 1999 - 2006 (2007 and 21st Century Boys later)

Synopsis: In the late 60s, Endo Kenji's group of childhood friends played together, established a "secret base", drew symbolic flags, and wrote prophetic books about a plot to take over the world. with biological weapons of an evil force and then buried in the ground. Years later, when they had grown up, someone stole the group's symbol and turned those childish prophecies into reality. The nightmare begins.

1. The exploitation and smooth coordination of many ideas

"Overwhelmed" is probably the first feeling many people have when remembering the world of 20th century boys, but in a positive way. And I believe that those who started writing reviews for this manga more than once hesitated not knowing where to start. Too many ideas, tons of thoughts flying around in my head, racing to pour out but the writer doesn't have time to choose the words and arrange the order of the sentences. Finally, I finished writing but the feeling of re-reading not fully meaningful. Maybe it's because Naoki Urasawa's 20th century boys is like a mixed dish: detective, mystery, science fiction, action, philosophy and politics, and sensational horror. Besides, the music gives you goosebumps, the constant "jumping" of time makes you crazy, and the touching scenes also make you cry easily, having to wait a few days for the high to pass. Only then can I pull out the keyboard and sit down to type.

2. The typical context of the 20th century is portrayed through popular culture

The most prominent element in this section is, of course, rock. The story recreates the childhood and youth of a generation, when in the 1960s, the Western rock tornado swept into Japan. People are passionate about The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, T. Rex... ("20 century boys" is also a song by T. Rex). Many Japanese music groups were influenced, rock music combined with folk music was formed and became more famous in the 70s, there are bands that still use acoustic guitars to play rock. According to culture, we have the story of Endo Kenji holding a broom, dreaming of having a guitar, then buying a folk guitar and then changing to an electric guitar to be able to play songs by The Rolling Stones. Holding the guitar in my hand, I feel like I'm invincible in the world. Holding that machine gun in his hand, standing tall like a great man. It was a drunken, innocent and passionate high that only those who were passionate about rock could understand. Club 27 too, everyone who plays rock in their life must have wanted to join at least once to meet Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix..., just foolishly waiting to turn 27 to see if they would die, come By the time I realized it, it had already passed. In the late 1990s, when pop music was on the rise and people liked to sing karaoke, Kazufumi Miyazawa of the band The Boom criticized that "I hate it when songs are bought, listened to, thrown away, and then sung again at karaoke bars." ." That's probably the reason why in the manga there's a detail where Kenji, when he was an adult, went to karaoke with old friends and was very disappointed with himself, that he was no longer the person (of rock) he used to be. In 2000, Kenji went busking on the streets like in the West. Later when he returned, Kenji held the guitar and continued to busk in a wild hippy rock style (Kanna's room - the niece - was also in the hippy style).

Also related to Club 27, the manga mentions the "Robert Johnson curse" - the story of Johnson meeting a devil at a crossroads on the outskirts of a strange city and selling his soul to the devil to have musical talent. then died at the age of 27, which was also real in real life. In 20th century boys, the author applies that story to a member of the rock band that Kyoko Koizumi loves. This further increases the mystery and authenticity of the story.

3. The art of storytelling

The story uses a non-linear narrative style (not in chronological order), jumping from the late 60s - early 70s through the 2000s, to 2014-2015, to the 3rd year F - era of Friend then jumps back, jumps through space into the virtual world, but the space and time in the virtual world are sometimes real and sometimes a lie, and even in 21st century boys, it reaches the next level. are characters calling each other from virtual to real world. Not stopping there, the perspectives of the characters also rotate constantly and there are many characters, each with a different voice and intention. Too epic. This is also the reason why I say that if the author's skills are not stable, it is easy to "break" with the chaos in the story.

4. Typical and unique cast of characters

I was extremely impressed with the contrast between the protagonist and antagonist in the story. If the villain is silent, is nothingness, "who are you", is lonely, hides behind many masks, is jealous, brings childish anger into life, hates the world, Treat others by imprisoning, imprisoning, brain hacking, and cleansing; The front side is vibrant, present, "Everyone's Kenji", always surrounded by friends and comrades, holding a guitar and stepping onto the stage to sing amid cheers and praise, wearing a foolish and foolish face. , but has a pure and innocent personality, likes to help people, for the sake of responsibility, he abandons broken dreams but is always ready to stand up and protect the world to the end even if it means sacrificing, with the sound of singing and playing the guitar. yearning for freedom, using courage to awaken the strength within each person.

Read and collect "20th Century Boys" manga, here!