ビリーバット 1 [Billy Bat 1]

Billy Bat #1

by Naoki Urasawa, 浦沢直樹, Takashi Nagasaki

1949年、アメリカ。『スーパーマン』『ワンダーウーマン』と並ぶヒットシリーズ『ビリーバット』を描く日系人気漫画家ケヴィン・ヤマガタ。彼の前に、以前同じキャラクターを日本で見たという人物が現れる。ケヴィンは、真偽を確かめるため、戦争の傷癒えぬ日本へと向かう……!?

コウモリが歴史の深淵を照らし出す……縦横無尽のSF歴史大河!!

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Mystery, Seinen, Thriller, Fiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 2009

About the author

Urasawa Naoki (浦沢直樹) is a Japanese mangaka. He is perhaps best known for Monster (which drew praise from Junot Díaz, the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner) and 20th Century Boys.

Urasawa's work often concentrates on intricate plotting, interweaving narratives, a deep focus on character development and psychological complexity. Urasawa has won the Shogakukan Manga Award, the Japan Media Arts Festival excellence award, the Kodansha Manga Award and the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. In 2008 Urasawa accepted a guest teaching post at Nagoya Zokei University.

Series list (not including short stories collections):
- Pineapple ARMY (パイナップルARMY) 1985-1988, written by Kazuya Kudo;
- YAWARA! 1986-1993;
- Master Keaton (MASTERキートン) 1988-1994, written by Hokusei Katsushika;
- Happy! 1993-1999
- MONSTER 1994-2001
- 20th Century Boys (20世紀少年) 1999-2006
- 21st Century Boys (21世紀少年) 2007
- PLUTO 2003-2009, based on Tezuka Osamu's Tetsuwan Atom
- BILLY BAT 2008-2016
- Master Keaton Remaster (MASTERキートン Reマスター) 2012-2014
- Mujirushi (夢印-MUJIRUSHI-) 2017-2018, collaboration with Musée du Louvre
- Asadora! (連続漫画小説 あさドラ!) 2018-ongoing

Reviews

[Jokoloyo · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I didn't expect when started reading this series, there is secret history theme of various historical events around the world. To enjoy reading this manga maybe requires some all-round historical knowledge.

For the setting, I see this manga as further exploration than mangaka's previous works. His previous major hit, Naoki Urasawa's Monster, Volume 1: Herr Dr. Tenma the main theme of this series is also psychological thriller. Then in later works, PLUTO: Naoki Urasawa x Ozamu Tezuka, Band 001 and 20th Century Boys, Band 1, the author had explored fantasy setting. In this series, the mangaka presented new limits in setting than his previous works. Billy Bat story has far more ambitious non-linear timeline than 20th Century Boys. In Billy Bat I found secret-history theme in various historical events.

More Reviews to come.

[P.E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ricochets in the River

Last Sunday, my friends Kévin and Aurore paid me a visit. We spent the whole afternoon looking for special, limited edition rubber stamps hidden in the vicinity of Grand-Lieu Lake, each bearing the likeness of a local species: swamp fern, a horseshoe bat, a spoonbill, a tree frog. The heat was scalding, and we had to make a few pauses along the way. Still, we were determined to find the four of them, and I am truly happy we eventually did. These limited-edition stamps are made by a local, who found inspiration during a trip he made in Japan, a country renowned for its thousands and thousands of fabled eki stamps (among others :)).

Four spoof paintings were also displayed, one near each site, offering zany collages of paintings by Thomas Gainsborough, Joseph Crawhall, Franz Hals... combined with modern appliances and amusing descriptions all of them filled with ingenious stories, blending biography and fantasy. The author of these fanciful stories added as a moral of sorts: « Attention. Être sérieux n'implique pas de tout prendre au sérieux et ne pas se prendre au sérieux n'exclut pas le sérieux du propos ».

At the end of the day, I was left with fond memories, beautiful sceneries still lingering in my mind... and a full collection of Naoki Urasawa's Billy Bat, from the multimedia center where Kévin works, removed and destined to be stripped and recycled!

Back in May, as we were walking the streets of Ōsaka together, stumbling on the Time Capsules near Ōsaka castle buried in 1970 during the previous World Exposition, and marvelling at the Shin Sekai district, a place you would imagine straight out from postwar Japan, my friends recommended that I read 20th Century Boys by the same Naoki Urasawa which they told me is a striking embodiment of this 70's era.

Here I am, reading a surprising gem of a manga by Naoki Urasawa, about a mangaka called Kevin, witnessing shady events occurring in US-occupied, reconstruction-era Japan, as a fictional illustrated bat from his latest comic series gains sentience and agency, further blurring the lines between fiction and the world that is supposed to exist out of its boundaries.

[Rahul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Start to another masterpiece by Naoki Urasawa.

[Duc Hoang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cây bút làm nên những bộ manga thriller tuyệt vời nhất - Monster, 20th Century Boys, Pluto..., đã trở lại. Nếu ở 20th Century Boys là những bí mật, tuyến truyện đan xen chồng chéo, thế lực và âm mưu toàn cầu vẫn nằm trong giới hạn của thế giới hiện thực (tối tăm, ám muội) thì ở đây, ông đã đi xa hơn và mang huyễn tưởng vào câu chuyện của mình, bằng một con dơi - Billy Bat, nhân vật xuyên suốt lịch sử loài người như nó tự giới thiệu. Những sự kiện lịch sự qua khung tranh Billy Bat được kể lại hoàn toàn khác lạ, theo kiểu conspiracy như truyện của Dan Brown. Chất psychotic của Monster được ông cấy ghép vào Billy Bat, tế nhị và nghệ thuật, thành cái mà con người sáng tạo nào cũng từng tìm kiếm và một lần nếm thử - cảm hứng - rốt cuộc cảm hứng đến từ chính trong con người hay từ một thế lực siêu hình nào khác (mà ở đây là Billy Bat)? Vẫn là những mặt tối trong mỗi con người và cuộc chiến đấu của họ chống lại những mặt tối được phơi bày trên tranh giấy, Urasawa đã đẩy nhân vật của mình đi xa hơn trong cuộc chiến đấu đó so với lần ông từng làm với Dr. Tenma trong Monster và Kenji trong 20th C. Boys - với quyền năng tối thượng của một người kể truyện, liệu bạn có thay đổi câu chuyện và thay đổi như thế nào vì điều tốt đẹp hơn?

Nếu đọc Urasawa đủ lâu, bạn sẽ thấy ông luôn tin tưởng vào con người, đặc biệt là những người nhìn qua thì yếu đuối, nhưng khi đối diện với thế lực hắc ám thì mạnh mẽ không ngờ. Ông luôn tin vào khả năng của con người, đặc biệt là con người sáng tạo, ông tin vào sức mạnh thay đổi thế giới của nghệ thuật và nghệ sỹ. Đó là điều khiến bạn luôn quay trở lại với những tác phẩm của ông, khi mà sự bất ngờ, li kì, hồi hộp đã giảm đi phần nào.

Nếu bạn đã từng ám ảnh với Monster, hay hồi hộp, phấn khích với cuộc phiêu lưu của 20th C. Boys, tôi chắc chắn bạn sẽ không thất vọng với Billy Bat đâu, nếu có thì là do chờ đợi thôi vì series này vẫn chưa kết thúc (tôi biết, tôi đang rất nóng lòng được đọc tiếp đây).

[Antonio Heras · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha gustado mucho. Muy original, dibujo excelente, trama interesante, metalenguaje,... Estoy dentro.

Quiero ir a por los siguientes tomos :D

[Maxime Place · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nan mais Urasawa le jour où il arrête d'écrire des bangers, j'arrête les mangas.

[Tobias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even if you do not consider yourself someone to get into comics, let alone japanese manga, I urge you to still give this a go. You would be missing out on a strange and enticingly poetic journey that leaves you as a different person.

Billy Bat is an exciting thriller that is absorbing and not bound by extensive prior knowledge of any given culture (which is what might have turned you away from manga before), it taps into the supernatural and fantastical in a very slight, feasible and fun way while staying rooted in reality, and hits all the right beats effortlessly. It is a good read all the way through.

The cast of characters is broad, but each one is relatable and allows the reader to leap into the variety of different settings and moments in the story. As I am writing this, I am itching to tell you about all these stories and arcs that are based on actual real life events (which the author treats with due ethical respect but successfully pushes them to the limit to create these unique tellings in Billy Bat), but any word written would be a word too much - I do no want to spoil anything for you.

In that regard, I almost want to say that it is unfortunate how the first volume is mostly based in Japan as the historical key elements that the story references are lost on western audiences. Please, do not let that keep you from getting into Billy Bat - if anything, take this as an opportunity to learn about recent historical events in Japan, and a gateway into a much, much bigger story. A story that starts to feel like it might as well be real, the longer it goes back and forth in your head.

Give Billy Bat a go. You will not be sorry!

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dopo aver letto Monster, attendevo di leggere una nuova storia di Urasawa, qui accompagnato da Tagashi Nagasaki, e non sono stata minimamente delusa: la qualità dei disegni e la capacità di scrivere una storia inusuale sono le caratteristiche maggiori che ho ritrovato e che ho già iniziato ad amare dal primo volume. Sono curiosa di sapere come proseguirà e dove ha intenzione di portarci Urasawa, ma sono certa che sarà un viaggio incredibile.

[Gabriel Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lord of the Rings if the ring was a freaky bat and also was present at the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

[⏾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hope it keeps me hooked, so far I am looking forward to reading the next volumes

[Lennart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guter Auftakt.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Billy Bat is definitely one of the more unusual manga I’ve ever read, but unusual in a good way. I liked how the lines between the Billy Bat comic and Kevin’s life blur. There is an interesting conspiracy going on that left me with many questions. The first volume does a wonderful job building up suspense.

The art was not the typical style that I like, but I did really appreciate the mixing between the real world and the classic cartoon style during all the comic panels. The Billy Bat comic reminds me of the old Mickey Mouse and Popeye cartoons from my childhood. Billy Bat is overall a really cool crime thriller that’s sure to please comic book fans that aren’t really into cutesy anime. The first volume starts the series off strong and I look forward to reading more.

[নাজমুল হাসান · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another masterfully drawn thriller from Naoki Urasawa sensei. It's just the beginning, but already there are lots of unanswered question. The protagonist was setup by the secret organization or did he actually commit the crime? What is the motive behind all the incidents occurring around Kevin Yamagata? What is the cult mystery behind the symbol of Billy Bat? And there is a duality of Black and White Bat. The story telling of the manga can be confusing at times, but that's the true beauty of it.

[Rikito · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I started reading this manga, I’ve heard that the protagonist will be changed in the middle of the story. I’ve never known the author who changed a protagonist. I’m really surprised at it. Also this is the story based on the real history, it’s fictional though. I’m into it now because there’s lots of betrayals and conspiracies happening which makes me excited. One more thing, I was reading “Pluto” from Naoki Urasawa, and it’s the story of “Atom Tetsuwan” which is the old Japanese animation. I really recommend you to read both, Billy Bat and Pluto!!

[Camilo Guerra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kevin crea un comic famoso con un personaje llamado Billy Bat, pero...¿la idea es suya?, ¿la robo?, esa duda lo lleva hasta Japón, en donde se encontrara con el Japón post-guerra, se encontrara con el mismo, con verdades sobre el arte, momentos de la vida real, situaciones del comic ,del arte...todo con una conspiración muy rara detrás de todo. El arte de Naoki Urasawa mas alla del detalle fotográfico, es hermoso, detallado, animado y muy dinámico.

[Leandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manga que consiste en 20 libros.
Para no arruinar mi conteo en goodreads solo subiré el tomo 1 de las colecciones de manga en lugar de subir toda la serie.
Mi querido Naoki nuevamente me mantuvo al filo!
Sus historias siguen siendo enredadas y complejas.
El arte como siempre fue de lo mejor, muy estilizado. Las partes de comic tuvieron un arte "oldie" pero muy agradable.
El final esta dos dos.

[Kuroja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intrigantissimo primo volume.
Urasawa Naoki crea anche in quest’opera il suo solito e ottimo mix di misteri: un protagonista che si ritrova invischiato in faccende più grandi di lui, società segrete, un pizzico di paranormale con uno sfondo storico.
Il volume si divora in poco tempo poiché le regole tengono incollati dall’inizio alla fine.
Bianco o nero? Si vedrà.

[Sana Souratha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really captivating. It goes to show, typical action is not needed to create a good manga.

I love all the conspiracies and references that are all connected; everything from disney, to time travel, and the cold war are all connected.

[Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Naoki Urasawa es un genio y este primer volumen no es la excepción. Me encantó la historia y espero continuar con la serie.

[Jaci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Que historia más interesante.
Este manga es uno de los mejores que he leido👍🏻

[Hális Alves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Urasawa’s antics amped up to the max, though this time we have very little to lose if — or when — things go full kaput. Let’s see what happens around the next corner.

[Sebastien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Depuis que j’ai lu Monster de Urasawa il y a de cela plusieurs années, je suis devenu un grand fan de cet auteur. Que ce soit Pluto, Happy ou encore l’excellent 20th century boys, Naoki Urasawa ne m’a donné que du bonheur. C’est donc avec beaucoup d’attentes que j’ai commencer Billy Bat sa dernière oeuvre. C’est aussi avec une petite crainte, car les critique sont plus que mitigés pour ce manga, que plusieurs décrivent comme un rassemblement de moments excitants et entouré de moments très ordinaires. Certains disent que c’est l’oeuvre de la vie de l’auteur et d’autre ne l’ont pas apprécié. Pour ma part, voici ce que j’en ai pensé.

Tout d’abords il est presque impossible de résumé cette histoire sans flancher des punchs. Je vais faire mon possible pour au moins donner un descriptif qui se tien. L’histoire commence avec un auteur de bande dessiné nommé Kevin Yamagata, l’inventeur de Billy Bat une bande dessiné qui a déjà sa base de fan. Aussitôt l’histoire commencé, Kevin apprend que son héro est en fait une copie d’un manga japonnais. Se refusant à plagié sans autorisation, Kevin se rend au japon où il sera embarqué dans une histoire de meurtre, de droit d’auteur et de catastrophent mondiales. Nous verrons donc le développement de ce dessinateur/auteur ainsi que ses successeur au travers de plusieurs histoire toutes autant humaines l’une que l’autre. Le point science fiction de cette histoire tourne autour de Billy Bat, la chauve sourie de la bd qui apparaît et donne des directives qui ont pour but de sauver l’humanité. C’est donc au travers d’événement qui se sont vraiment produit que l’auteur nous fera vivre la vie des multiples dessinateur de Billy Bat et comment leur oeuvre aura un effet sur l’humanité, le tout supposément contrôlé par la chauve sourie elle même qui apparaît dans la bande dessiné.

C’est vraiment spéciale de lire des moment historique qui se sont vraiment passé et de les voir au travers des yeux des personages de ce manga. Le suspense, le développement des personnage et surtout l’histoire qui si cache est d’une richesse incroyable. La seule critique que je pourrais formulé quant à l’histoire c’est que l’auteur aurait pu se concentrer d’avantage sur certains personnages que l’on ne voit que trop peu, mais comme l’histoire est celle des dessinateurs, on a droit à leur vie à eux et beaucoup moins pour les personnages secondaires. Mais en se rentrant dans la tête que chaque histoire tourne autour des dessinateur il est plus facile d’apprécié l’histoire pour ce qu’elle est.

Le point qui en fera débattre plusieurs est vraiment la fin de l’histoire. Et si vous n’avez pas lu l’oeuvre je vous recommande de passer ce paragraphe car je vais traité de ce qui pourrait être considéré le punch final. Donc, quand on arrive à la fin de l’histoire on a l’impression que tout passe un peu trop vite et que les événement se déroulent tellement rapidement qu’on pourrait même imaginer que la série a été écourté ou coupé. Mais ce n’est pas le cas. La fin n’est pas un coup de génis, mais plutôt un guts incoyable de l’auteur de poussé son histoire jusqu’au bout sans broncher une seconde. Car, la Billy Bat l’a dit, l’humanité est condamné mais il reste un espoire et c’est les dessin de Kevin Yamagata, Kevin Goodman et tout autre dessinateurs de Billy Bat. Car à la toute fin, pour la première fois on voit le pouvoir des histoires de Billy Bat faire son oeuvre et pousser l’humannité a faire le bon choix pour la première fois. Le plan de la chauve sourie pour sauver l’humanité était depuis le début qu’on la dessinne et que l’on crée une base de fan tellement grande que toute l’humanité se verrait uni par un point commun: Billy Bat. Pour ma part, il m’a pris quelques heures avant de bien ingéré cette réalité et je peux dire maintenant que ce final est très poétique et vraiment bien pensé

Tout le long de l’histoire on voit plein de personnages faire des mauvais choix, faire face à des catastrophe et se faire dire que la fin du monde s’en vient. Au final on pourrait croire que c’est finalement arrivé et c’est sous un signe d’espoir qu’on pourrait croire que l’humanité va enfin marcher sur le bon chemin. Le fait d’avoir un écrivain, un dessinateur ou un auteur comme héro d’une histoire n’est pas nouveau et s’est vu des dixaines de fois dans plusieurs histoires, mais c’est la première fois que je vois le héro combattre en dessinant. En plus, ce n’est pas que ces dessins prennent vie, ou qu’ils aient des pouvoirs magiques, non, les dessinateur ne font que faire paraître des bande dessinées. C’est donc d’une manière très original que l’on peut vivre cette histoire qui sort réellement de l’ordinaire.

Niveau dessin on a droit au éternel talent de Naoki Urasawa qui sait comme un maître nous faire vivre son histoire au travers de ses dessins. Plusieurs critiquent que ses dessins sont pareille d’une oeuvre à l’autre, mais pour ma part je trouve que c’est de cette manière qu’il nous intègre à son histoire et ses mondes tout en nous donnant une qualité de présentation sans failles. Que ce soit les décors ou les personnages, tout est extrêmement bien présenté.

Au niveau de monde, c’est carrément le notre à l’exception que chauve sourie dessin animé se promène et tire les ficelle de l’avenir. Encore une fois je n’ai pas envis de m’éterniser sur notre monde, mais je dois quand même dire que l’auteur a su voir juste dans toutes les présentation de notre histoire et il a su romancer ça à sa sauce sans la moindre difficulté. L’univers est accrocheur et à la fin on en vient même a voir Billy Bat comme un personnage réel et faisant partie du décor, ce qui n’est pas à négliger car le fait d’avoir une chauve sourie cartoon qui apparaît pour donner des consigne c’est assez bizare sur le coup, mais après quelque volumes on en vient qu’à l’apprécié et a en vouloir plus. Pour ma part l’auteur ici a réussi un coup de géni en nous faisant planer un thème spirituel fort sans pour autant pointer vers les religions, du vrai grand art.

Pour conclure, Billy Bat est un excellent manga plein de rebondissements, de bon moment et de suspense. Cependant, il est loin d’être la meilleure oeuvre de Naoki Urasawa. Car si ce manga mérite 5 étoiles (et il les méritent amplemant) Monster ou 20th Century boy eux se méritteraient 6 étoiles. La raison est simple, c’est par ce que ces manga sont plus facile à suivre, il sont plus centré sur une réalité et surtout on sait dès le départ vers où l’histoire va aller. Billy Bat sa prend facilement 4-5 volumes avant de comprendre ce qui se passe et vers quel genre d’histoire l’auteur veut nous envoyer. Sa ne change rien à la qualité d’écriture, mais c’est un peu moins plaisant. C’est sur que si je relis l’histoire depuis le début, je ne serai pas confu, mais sa reste que dans son tout, Monster et 20th century boy sont meilleur. En plus, je dois dire qu’à la fin, même si s’était prévu ainsi, le fait que les événement s’enchaînes à vitesse grand V, sa m’a un peu mis de côté. Même si au final on ne peut qu’applaudir ce choix osé de l’auteur, sa reste que mon plaisir de lecture s’en est retrouvé bafoué un tantinet. Sinon a part ces détails, Billy Bat est un excellent manga qui nous fait découvrir une partie de l’histoire de notre société et nous fait poser la question de à quel point l’art visuel a un impacte sur notre société et son développement. Pour ma part j’ai dévoré ce manga avec le plus grand plaisir et même s’il est moins bon que ses prédécesseur, c’est un must à lire pour tout Fan de Urasawa et même une excellente entrée pour des gens qui veulent découvrir les manga de ce maître du seinen. Un incontournable à mon avis.

[Dave J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

If there's such a thing as "auto-obscuring" then that's definitely what I'd call this manga. Its world is an elusive one—difficult to parse because its innerworkings actively seek to remain hidden. I like worlds that aren't overexplained by the author, but Urasawa takes things to their limit here by almost always keeping readers in the dark. Taking a leaf from post-modernists such as Nabokov, Borges and Pynchon, Billy Bat is almost too opaque to be enjoyed by comparison. That said, this manga is certainly Urasawa's most ambitious one to date. Despite it's hectic and complex structure, it's riveting and kept me reading until the end.

If you've read a lot of Urasawa's manga, then there will be plenty of familiar ground here. In a way that almost seems intentional, Billy Bat (BB) is like a fusion of Monster, 20th Century Boys and Pluto, mixed with meta commentary on the impact that animation and film titans like Disney, Warner Bros., Tezuka Productions and others have had (and still have) on our world. It does this through an evolutionary showcase of art itself and also by pondering where certain artistic ideas come from.

But BB is so much more than that. It's a dizzying and gargantuan odyssey that toys and subverts our accepted views of history, art, race and religion. It also questions the perception and perpetuation of tradition and symbology. It's an incredibly intertextual slow burn, referencing plenty of historical events while twisting some of the more ludicrous, darker theories that exist in our world into its tapestry. There's weird fiction, occult exploration, magical realism, theoretical sci-fi, and much more. And it suggests through horror that we are tiny, and that influence in general runs a lot deeper than we will ever know (or ever want to know).

BB begins pretty simply as a spoof on old detective comics. We get to see the work-in-progress of character Kevin Yamagata's latest issue of—you guessed it—"Billy Bat"; the manga within a manga. It stars a P.I. bat with a bawdy expression who gets himself mixed up in the affairs of dames and thugs. It's a fun read because it riffs off so many tropes and stereotypes, and the bat himself is like some sort of combination between Mickey Mouse and Astro Boy. But it doesn't take long for things to go awry in Kevin's world. Thus begins the serpentine Urasawaesque journey.

As I mentioned earlier, this manga will be familiar if you've read Urasawa's main works, or even his lesser known ones. He doesn't really branch out from what he excels at, but here in BB I found most of his usual writing tricks half stolid. Whether that's due to the post-modernist, ironical framing or simply from me having read so much of the man's work, I don't know. China Miéville, whose work I've recently become interested in, made some humorous, sensible remarks about self-parody in this interview. In particular, this answer that he gives explains some of my frustration with Urasawa's techniques: "I’m fanatically interested in rubbish, and I’m fanatically interested in cephalopods and houses and things like that, so I have to police myself. ‘No more cephalopods for three books, no more garbage until 2016,’ that sort of thing, because otherwise you risk self-parody."

Well, Urasawa's characters have definitely begun to feel like some sort of self-parody, at least in this series. Especially since BB is also very noirish like his other most known manga. But he's great at writing complex individuals, and the characters in BB are no less complex than in some of his other manga, so I'm torn here. I wonder just how much is meant to come across a certain way and how much is a byproduct of Urasawa's own played-out character types.

If there's one area that unequivocally drags this manga down, it's that of historical events turned on their head. Certain story threads are interesting while others are starkly ridiculous, and altogether they're rather convoluted. For the more outlandish occurrences, you have to really stretch your disbelief, and no amount of surreality makes them more palatable. They are intriguing ideas for sure, but some just fizzle out while others fail to make an impact. Others seem almost emotionally exploitative. All of these events do tie together in an overarching way, but the manga ends abruptly without ever tending to some of the previous story branches—which is a shame since I liked a lot of the ones that Urasawa spent less time on. BB is so vast and complicated that it seems Urasawa lost a handle on things as the series went on (it ended back in 2016 but began in 2008).

But what Urasawa is still able to effortlessly nail is a strong sense of dread. He is truly a master when it comes to tension-building and the delivery of horrific surprises. Ever since the Grimm-esque fairy tales and other major occurrences in Monster, Urasawa has shown that he has no issue coming up with dark, bizarre happenings—and BB is rife with them. I wish that Urasawa leaned even more heavily into surreal territory here, but that's a nitpick from my inner fantasist. This manga contains some experiments that Urasawa has never tried before, so I appreciate his willingness to take a big risk and do something bonkers that won't appeal to many people.

Frankly, BB makes my brain feel like its running a marathon. There are so many symbols, allusions and references that it's impossible to keep up and dissect it all. And I don't think that's the point. Like Moby Dick or Ulysses, BB can appear cryptic, crammed and difficult to approach, but is much more enjoyable if you don't try to excavate (or fabricate) its hidden meanings and methods behind the madness. I still find this manga to be too intricate for its own good, but otherwise its captivating and thrilling in its own rare way.

As for the ending itself, I was expecting more answers than what was given. It's appropriate in that it fits the message that Urasawa builds toward throughout the series, and it also fits his usual habit of creating ambiguous endings. I begrudgingly understand Urasawa's desire not to overstate or provide too much information about certain things, and it's neat how the ending has spawned tons of theories and discussion about the nature of certain symbols and art as a whole as they relate to our societies.

I went into this review with a very mixed opinion, but I've ended it finding more positives than negatives. It's certainly one of the strangest, most topsy-turvy mangas I've ever read. If you're in the mood for a genre-defying psychological thriller that will leave your mind completely stunned, then Billy Bat is your poison.

[Felipe Arango Betancourt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kevin Yamagata es el mangaka creador de Billy Bat, un murciélago detective privado en una Nueva York de los años 40, hasta que se da cuenta, que el personaje que cree es de su autoría es un personaje que ya existe, que puede ser una copia de un manga en Japón. Así que decide ir nuevamente a Japón, donde ya había estado después de la guerra como intérprete.
De acá en adelante todo lo que pueda escribir puede espoliar esta historia en su primer tomo.

Esta historia continuara… en los restantes 19 tomos.
¡No veo la hora!

[Jonath666 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il n'y a que Naoki Urasawa pour créer des histoires aussi mystérieuses et captivantes.

Je n'ai clairement pas tout compris et j'ai des centaines de questions en tête.

Mais en tout cas Urasawa m'a tenu du début à la fin. C'est aussi hypnotisant qu'un spectacle de Messmer et aussi palpitant qu'un film de David Fincher.

Par contre je pensais que c'était une série courte mais je viens de voir qu'il y'avait 20 tomes.
La série va me faire toute l'année 2020 je pense.

[Hal Incandenza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, inizia mettendo dentro TUTTO.
Troppo? È presto per dirlo ma di sicuro Urasawa è partito col piede sull’acceleratore ed è davvero difficile capire dove voglia (anche solo minimamente) andare a parare!

[Linonya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow non ok c’était excellent wtf… Je savais déjà que Naoki Urasawa était un auteur de zinzin mais là !?!?!?
C’est le premier tome zjzvlzzbzlzb juste le premier et c’est déjà 🙌✨🎑🫦🤰
Je sais plus quoi dire j’ai trop de questions c’est trop une dinguerie

[zara *॰ॱ✧˖°♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

naoki urasawa amazes me every time!! what an incredible volume

[Vincent GAILLARD · Rating 5 out of 5]

J'ai relu les 14 tomes. C'est brillant. Quel plaisir !!

[Otz Gimz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super intriguant!