Manga Review: 20th Century Boys (Volumes 1-4)

The beginning of the story of 20th Century Boys will sound familiar and rather common to most of you: A bunch of young boys get together, build a fort, and make up a story about evil trying to destroy the world and how they will go on to be heroes and save the Earth themselves someday. However, the story quickly takes a surprising turn that shoots the story forward into something downright glorious.

Our main character, Kenji, is just living his life as an owner of a convenience store when he receives news that one of his childhood friends, Donkey, has committed suicide. In connection with the death, Kenji stumbles upon a symbol that he remembers creating with his friends as a kid. He thinks nothing of it, but suddenly Donkey’s death starts looking more suspicious when the different stories of evil deeds that he and his friends came up with as kids start happening for real all around the world. The people committing these crimes are donning the symbol he and his friends came up with, and they claim to be led by someone they only refer to as “Our Friend.” Believing that one of his childhood friends has to be this mysterious leader, he starts seeking out the others whom were involved in their childhood fantasy gone awry in an attempt to stop the madness.

This manga is absolutely incredible. The story starts off at a fairly medium pace until it hits the third book, at which point the volume gets turned up, the stakes become higher, and the people involved are forced to make decisions as to whether they want to run and hide or stand their ground and fight. The fourth volume goes even farther when Our Friend and his group start gaining more and more power and influence, and it is extremely satisfying to see how the characters change and develop under these extreme circumstances, especially when the characters start linking the actions of Our Friend to past occurrences in their lives and the battle gets real personal for some of them.

As for the characters themselves, they are extremely well written, especially that of Kenji as he slowly becomes more and more resolute to seek out Our Friend and stop his plans. The manga also really gives you a sense of the relationships these characters have with each other as the story shifts from memories of their exploits as kids to the present time where we see what kind of people these kids have grown up into. The switch from current time to memories and back again is smooth and enjoyable, especially as you watch the characters remember bits and pieces of the stories they created that they forgot after so many years.

The art is beautiful and full of life. The feeling the art style gives off coupled with the story content made me feel like the series resembled Akira in a lot of ways; non-traditional art with regular, everyday people getting pulled into some rather dangerous goings-on when one of their own becomes corrupted. It has an apocalyptic feel to it, which gives the story and the setting a very epic feel. Even with these serious themes, there are also bits of comedy and even a slight hint of romance if you look real hard, so the feel of the story stays serious while also staying fresh.

All in all, I’m rather sad that I was only able to get my hands on the first four volumes to review, because I most definitely want to read more! In fact, I will most likely review the rest of the series if I can, because this manga is just that damn good.

20th Century Boys is licensed and distributed by VIZ Media and is on sale now.

ENJOYMENT
Stick with the story for a bit and you’ll be taken on a thoroughly enjoyable ride

4/5

RECOMMENDATION VALUE
I would absolutely encourage any manga fan out there to give this series a try!

5/5

REREAD VALUE
You definitely won’t be bored if you give this series another read!

4/5

Purchase 20th Century Boys at RightStuf