20世紀少年 22 [Nijusseiki Shōnen 22]

20th Century Boys [20世紀少年] #22

by Naoki Urasawa, 浦沢直樹

The time has come. Friend confessed to all his conspiracies, declared that he will destroy the world within 7 days. Kanna is going to hold a musical festival to evacuate people into the international expo area. That is the only safe place from the destruction, the only sacred place for the dictator. While 'The Twentieth Century Boys' are running for the final battle, Kenji is coming back to Tokyo!!

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

252 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2006

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

[Tawfek · Rating 5 out of 5]

And it is done yeah one month late, but i finished it!
I just read a very beautiful review saying that this was done in a very beautiful, and human way in which we accept the dark truths of our own heroes to overcome our villains, by that we mean that kenji had to admit to his wrong doing, by stealing that badge in order to overcome the villain, who is using that as his base for his wrong doings.
Everything in the end, and everyone comes together.
The concert was upheld, and they sang three songs that didn't even include the gutalala sudalala.
13 comes through near the end, through madness or compassion, he crashes the helicopter into the last flying saucer.
We don't really learn the true identity of the last friend, who seemingly died with sadikyoshi from the falling saucer.
We also see a last demonstration of kanna's powers, when she stops the robot.
I actually saw a video about the match between Mohamed Ali, and Antonio Inoki, and yes that was a real not a fake fight at all, thus the disappointing result sadly, but it was a nice showing of real MMA years before real MMA came to life.
If you didn't listen to the kenji song before, please google it, and watch it on Youtube! my favorite version is the Naoki Urasawa's version of it.
Thanks everyone for accompanying me on this great journey, and special thanks to my friend who read this with me Mika san ❤ (2023 Update : i have been seeing my comments to the ghost of Mika san all over the reviews, i remember she deleted her account shortly after we finished 20th century boys, how we came to talk in the first place, don't remember why she did it, but i ll leave the comments there to remember that uncoordinated but fun buddy read!)
And sorry to anyone who was mislead, by my crazy assumptions about who friend is! 😁

[Hosein · Rating 5 out of 5]

چند دقیقه پیش جلد بیست و دوم "پسران قرن بیستم" تموم شد و حالا با اطمینان می‌تونم بگم این مجموعه یکی از بهترین داستان‌هاییه که توی عمرم فرصت خوندنش رو داشتم. اینقدر خوب و تاثیرگذار که بخش درخشان شب‌های دو ماه گذشته‌م بود. کل روز به این فکر می‌کردم که زودتر کارهام رو تموم کنم تا بتونم مانگا بخونم. من خیلی کم پیش میاد که موقع خوندن یک داستان اینقدر توی روایت غرق بشم که ذره‌ای حواسم به محیط اطراف نباشه (در اصل یکبار این اتفاق افتاده بود، اون هم اوایل نوجوونیم و با هری پاتر) و پسران قرن بیستم به حدی خوب بود که موقع خوندنش من حتی یکبار حواسم به چیز دیگه‌ای پرت نشد.

در مورد داستان خیلی چیز داشتم که بگم، حتی به این فکر می‌کردم که ریویوم قراره احتمالا به دو هزار کلمه برسه. اما حالا که تموم شده حس می‌کنم اونقدر صحبت کردن در موردش کار درستی نیست. این مانگا شبیه یک راه پله‌س که بی وقفه پایین می‌ره، بعضی جاها من به عنوان خواننده به خودم می‌گفتم این دیگه آخرشه، راه نداره که حتی از این هم عمیق تر بشه و هر بار این اتفاق میوفتاد. یعنی این مانگا دقیقا توی صفحه‌ی آخرش هنوز داره میره سمت اینکه از یک راز دیگه و جوابش رونمایی کنه. باورم نمی‌شه برای مانگایی که سر جمع حدود پنج هزار صفحه بود این حرف رو بزنم، اما حس میکنم به راحتی جا داشت که حدود ده جلد دیگه هم داشته باشه. یکسری جاها لیاقتشون بود که بیشتر بهشون توجه بشه.

به طور کلی، صحبت از این مانگا توی اینترنت زیاده. اگه حرف من رو هم قبول نکردین، برین توی یوتیوب یا ردیت سرچ کنین و می‌فهمین که انگار هیچ کس ازش بد نگفته و به خودتون لطف کنین و بخونینش چون این داستان خیلی خیلی بهتر از اغلب کتاب‌های بزرگ تاریخه که تمام منتقدها براش حاضرن بمیرن.


پ.ن:این بدترین ریویو عمرمه. حتی یادم نمیاد چیا میخواستم بگم در موردش، از بس جلد آخر شوکه م کرد

[Olly · Rating 4 out of 5]

okay, posso capire che non sia piaciuto il finale a qualcuno, però considerando l'opera nel complesso siamo su livelli altissimi. ho letto di gente che la paragonava a un giallo di Topolino, probabilmente si sono limitati a leggere la sinossi, perché quello che ho letto io è stata un'opera avvincente con moltissimi spunti di riflessione e personaggi che di speciale hanno la loro normalità.

Cosa incredibile che Urasawa dimostra la sua enorme abilità di narratore passando da un periodo all'altro della vita dei nostri protagonisti, andando avanti e indietro nel tempo, senza causare un minimo di confusione nel lettore, se consideriamo che ci sono autori che fanno fatica pure a rendere chiaro addirittura un semplice scambio di manate quest'opera ha quasi del miracoloso.

Per concludere mi sento di consigliarla a tutti, l'autore si prende il suo tempo per narrare la storia e il finale può lasciare l'amaro in bocca, ma penso quello che doveva essere detto è stato già chiarito e per chi non ne ha abbastanza ci sono due volumi della serie sequel 21st Century Boy

[Rahul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume : 3.5 🌟
Overall : 4.5 🌟

" Naoki Urasawa is master of suspense and thriller but also of very poor endings."

That's what I felt after reading Monster and 20th Century Boys.

What the heck what it's ending was? Absolutely incomplete and poor. Abruptly ended. Many important question remained unanswered buried in Urasawa mind ;
Who this friend was ?
Has friend died ? (I know he died after reading 1st chapter of 21st century boys)
What happened to dream navigator ?
Why Kenji-Kun sister chose Fukubei?
And many others.

Monster has a much better ending as compared to this.

But keeping the story of poor ending apart, this manga is work of absolute genius. The brilliant character development of various characters especially Otcho, Yoshitsune, Kanna is truly amazing. The plot turns (almost 4 times) and back and forth in past is mind-blowing.

Art work is class apart.

I am going to read 21st Century Boys in few days to see if the question left in this series is answered.

Well All The Friends Were Great.

I wished just for a much better ending.
Else everything Urasawa do is pure brilliance.

[yel ᰔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 of 5 stars

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

After 22 volumes, the last three chapters kinda crap out. Kenji returns to a recreation of their (The Friend/Kenji and his Groups) 1960 neighborhood. Kenji's "big evil" was stealing a "Defender of Justice" badge from a candy shop. The friend apparently did all this plotting and copying of Kenji's childhood story of Apocalypse for... that? Repenting for stealing?

Anyway, Otcho shoots down two UFO's that are about to spray the deadly virus that would kill the world at Kanna's "expo-Woodstock" event. Number 13, the assassin for the Friend's party redeems himself by slamming his helicopter into the last UFO saving the "expo" crowd from total death. We don't know what happens to the clone (?) Sadakayo and the Friend he stopped at Kenji's old school recreation.

Kenji goes back to the "expo" concert and plays with Haru Namio ("Charlie") and his other 1980 bandmate. The crowd, after the whole story about them sucking, unexpectedly HATES Kenji's band. They want Kenji's "Guta-rara/lala, Suda-rara/lala" song.

The epilogue shows Kenji returning to the 1960 neighborhood and seeing him and his friends as kids. He basically says he's returned to right a wrong. And... that's it.

After 22 volumes, I'm kinda disappointed with this ending. I knew the world wasn't going to end (obviously from the previews that Goodreads has plastered for the whole volumes set) but I expected a bit more than that. Maybe "21st Century Boys" the "epilogue" two-volume set fixes this, but I kinda doubt it.

I dunno if "Monster" is better but after the past year or two of reading this series I don't know if I want to invest my time into that just yet given this ending.

[William Hanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Masterful. This has been an amazing series. I have yet to read such an imaginative allegory of loss of innocence. When added to Urasawa-san's trademark beautiful mesh of several plot lines, I rate 20th Century Boys somewhere in my top 5 favorite manga. Things I learned/felt:

- Few childhood dreams come to fruition.
- Some of our childhood dreams should NEVER come to pass, no matter how badly we want them to happen.
- I feel the frustration of millions of "children of the 60's" who thought the world would be drastically better by 2000. Much is better, some is similar, some is worse.
- There comes a time when we all must grow up. Not just for ourselves, but for all humanity.
- There is no cure-all to suffering and grief. As the monk said, in the end we must find a way to get up and walk forward, even with the pain.
- Imagine a world ruled by the pains we experience as children. Now lets make sure that world never exists.


Now I have to read 21st Century Boys. :) But that's fine.

[Kesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last volume of Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys. Many questions remain unanswered I am glad there's a two volume epilogue in 21st Century Boys. Hopefully we can get a few insights and answers out of it. But even if we cannot I wouldn't mind. This manga is truly fantastic. I loved a lot of things about this piece. The story taking place over decades, the phenomenal plot, the characters, the suspense, the truth in between the lines, the multiple references and of course the art!
Truly an almost perfect work.
Naoki Urasawa, I like you.

[Dawid]

7/10 ehhh, chciałbym powiedzieć że seria jest warta polecenia od początku do końca, ale niestety ostatnie kilka tomów zdecydowanie miało problemy z tempem i pomysłami, przez co czytanie się dłużyło i nużyło. A szkoda, bo początkowo manga miała ogromny potencjał, a ostatecznie trochę zawiodła :/

[Jarod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bowling, giant robots, corruption and misinformation. This manga series dives into the dichotomy of good and evil and does it pretty well. Although the ending left a lot to be desired, I generally enjoyed this series. I'll have to read 21st century boys to see its final conclusion.

[Estibaliz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the end, my friend...

But, also, what did just happen? And now it is when I realize you do need to read '21st Century Boys' to get a real conclusion and the whole picture of what's being going on here; or, in any case, hopefully get an explanation to that mysterious ending that seems to involve... time travelling?

Anyway, this was great, and if you are going to read just one manga series in your life, make it this one.

Special mention to Otcho and Yoshitsune, the two most endearing characters in this story, on my opinion. And thankfully they both got their big moment in this final volume; which, let's admit it, it was a bit campy when it came to the whole music festival part, but great nonetheless.

Bye bye, 20th Century Boys. So glad to have met you... just sad to know I can't get 21st Century Boys at my libraries... maybe I'll add it to my wish list on Amazon? :)

[Štěpán · Rating 4 out of 5]

20th Century Boys is done and the message and themes in the end prevailed and are stronger than my dissatisfaction with the quick ending, convenient plot, open ending and no answers. Suppose I let go of the "narrative gaps" and my desire to have everything answered literally, in that case, I have a beautiful story, which brought me so many emotions and so much joy and in the end that is much more important than the perfect ending. (I know there are 21st century boys)

[Karol Bożek · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10 Mógłby chłop zakończyć to wcześniej a nie co chwila deus ex machina i lecimy z fabułą dalej :(
Monster>>>20th Century Boys

[Mikael Kuoppala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here it is. The final volume of the "20th Century Boys" saga. Looking at my rating history for this 22 volume series it's clear that I have loved it immensely. Only five out of 22 volumes have gotten four stars from me, the rest an easy full five. It might seem kind of alarming that one of those five less-completely-perfect volumes happens to be the last one.

"The Beginning of Justice" does indeed fail in attaining the level of depth and uniqueness that has been the standard throughout this epoch, but it doesn't really disappoint either. The scope of the whole story has been so vast that many things are still left unanswered, but the open ending model often works in these cases. The volume might have been just a bit better if it had given us not only an open, but a more surreal ending. With a talented deconstruction of the narrative plane a lot of open plot lines can be forgiven.

What's important with "The Beginning of Justice" is that it works on the emotional level. It isn't as touching as Urasawa's best scenes have been, but we feel closure, and we see the journey the characters have made. It's nice to see everyone again and it's wonderful to breath a little bit easier after the high-adrenaline roller coaster ride of remarkably intense storytelling.

One thing that I have to mention is the two volume sequel "21st Century Boys," which I will tackle next. The ending here left me eager to see what will be told in this story. There are more possibilities than there is room for in only two books, so I'm eager to see what the focus will be. Perhaps we will get more of that closure or surrealism I hoped for.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, yeah, I was at Woodstock, man. It was wild. People were passing around needles everywhere and these alien saucers were falling out of the sky. I don't remember anything other than a few crazy songs from these dudes with too much makeup, but we were all together, man. We were like, "We're all gonna die out here so why not have a good time anyway!" And we did. It was the power of love.

Holy crapola what a fantastic manga. It was sometimes a bit difficult to sit through because of all the twisty turns and the feeling like the whole cause was hopeless, but... fuck... it really turned out magnificent. Pew Pew magnificent.

I only have one complaint. The very end shouldn't have been the happy reunion of Kanna and Kenji. It should have ended with Kanna kicking him in the balls and telling him that he was a goddamned moron and a fool and an asshole for staying away for so long. And then Kenji's lost love would have really killed him at the very end.

Now, that would be ENTERTAINMENT.

Good god this was good.

[Aalyaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

الختام وياله من ختام
احد أفضل ما قرأت أو شاهدت في الغموض إن لم يكن الأفضل على الإطلاق
غموض غير سطحي معه وجبة دسمة من الفلسفة والدراما واللحظات والمواقف الإنسانية النبيلة والحقيرة على حد سواء
أعجبتني طريقة انتصار الخير طريقة واقعية تتضمن ايضا تقبل الظلم الكامن بنفوس ابطالنا الاخيار والكفاح بأمل حتى النهاية 💜

[Galo Díaz Andrade · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10 la mejor obra de ficción que he tenido el placer de disfrutar en mucho tiempo. 22 tomos que devoré en 3 días.

[Celia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ya me he cansado de loggear todos los tomos para engordar mi progreso anual.

20th century boys es el mejor manga que me he leído en años. Desde la trama, los personajes y el ritmo que lleva, todo está muy bien medido y se disfruta muchísimo.
Si tuviera que ponerle una pega es que realmente me sobraba que Kenji no estuviera muerto ya que se ha pasado como 15 tomos en el limbo sin participar en la trama.
Luego, respeto muchísimo el grindeo de odio que me llevaba el Amigo primigenio. Montar un plan para destruir a toda la humanidad porque te hagan bullying por robar un pin que realmente robó otro tipo………brutal. Lex Luthor coded.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series was a pleasure to read. This was my first experience reading an entire manga series in physical form and it was such a treat. This is a must read for anybody who likes manga. Overall I’d give this series a 4.5/5.

[Iman Danial Hakim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manga marathon

[Bismah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I technically started this series last year, but I was in the middle of a reading slump so I wanted to come back to it when I felt like I could fully appreciate the series. After a good year, I decided to try again and I am so glad that I did! From the beginning to the end, the story was absolutely sublime. I loved the characters and the plot kept me so intrigued until the end. Now I'm looking forward to reading 21st Century Boys to cap off the experience!

[hənē · Rating 4 out of 5]

open ending?

[Luthfi Ferizqi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a good ending, in my opinion, as there are many plot holes. However, maybe I jumped to conclusions too quickly because there are two additional epilogue volumes in 21st Century Boys.

The theme is actually quite impressive; a large conspiracy that is usually found in movies, I now find it in a manga.

It's interesting to see if all the questions will be answered in the last 2 epilogue volumes. Let's see how this series wraps up.

[Alo ★ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 xq sigo procesando tanto desvergue lol

[Sogol torabi · Rating 5 out of 5]

خیلی وقت پیش جلد ۲۲ رو تموم کرده بودم، اما فراموش کردم که اضافه کنم. دیگه از حالا به بعد خوندن یک مانگا در سال رو جز برنامه‌های کتاب خونی‌ام قرار می‌دم. یه لذت بصری کاملا متفاوته.

[Andria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess this will be my series review.

Pros:
- Urasawa's expressive art. I am particularly delighted by how great he is at showing the main cast from childhood to middle-age and beyond so clearly. You can always tell which character is which, which can be so uncommon in this format.
- Engaging story. Urasawa knows how to weave a conspiracy together.
- Production quality. This particular print of the book has held up very well over the years. Typically when I borrow manga from the library, the books are already pulped, shredded, and taped back together by the time they get to me. These books are still looking pristine.

Cons:
- Unsatisfactory conclusion. The difficulty with sequential art is that sometimes shit happens. From what I've read, it seems Urasawa suffered an injury just as this series was wrapping up and that may be why the conclusion was so rushed. That's unfortunate, as all the story elements woven together up to that point don't really get enough room to breathe at the end.
- Confusing numbering. From what I understand, the epilogue is actually presented in a separate, 2 volume series called 21st Century Boys. Unfortunately my library didn't pick this up at the time of publication, and it's now out of print. The series is currently in the process of being republished, but they haven't reached the end yet. So actually tracking down the final volumes might be a pain at the current time.
- Can be needlessly fanservicey in parts and also features unflattering depictions of certain groups.

Neutral:
- It was a little triggering to read a story in which a deadly virus was a major component in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. This may impact its readability for future audiences.
- I'm not sure it ends up saying all that much. Ultimately the story is about how the grandiose, self-obsessed ideas of boys can become dangerous when those boys become men. It's a story about the necessity of growing up. And yet so many of the twists and revelations rely on childish nostalgia. The means of returning to the past become increasingly more ridiculous as the story goes on. And on a meta level, Urasawa himself is relying on a lot of nostalgia to tell the story, reliving his own past in a way. So you end up with this kind of nostalgia ourobouros that doesn't really end up saying much of anything at all, like we already have already seen so much of in western media (see: endless Marvel spinoffs, fan outcry to a Star Wars movie daring to criticize nostalgia, everything getting a reboot, etc.). I think this may have been less tiresome at the time of publication, but at this point these themes have been done to death.

For an Urasawa newbie, I would still recommend Monster over this. Although come to think of it, I can't exactly remember Monster's conclusion either, so for all I know it might suffer from the same weaknesses as this series. Anyway... If you're more about the journey than the destination, go for it!

[Raúl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lo largo de 22 tomos, Urasawa Naoki nos propone un desarrollo insólito y descabellado tan real y factible como lo ha sido este 2016... El que el planeta evolucione según lo que la mente retorcida de un niño imaginó de pequeño. La historia plantea distraías y apocalipsis, y al mismo tiempo la necesidad de buscar en los recuerdos de nuestra infancia, de la que siempre tenemos un recuerdo vago y falseado...
Tras 22 emocionantes capítulos, mas 4000 páginas de manga, llegamos al final de las expectativas... pero aún quedan dos tomos más para resolver en la serie 21st Century Boys interrogantes aún sin resolver, y para dar una (nueva) vuelta de tuerca a esta trama tan bien construida.

[ti☆ra · Rating 4 out of 5]

that was an amazing experience reading 20th century boys i had there. however, this last volume doesnt seem to cover all the plots that have been running during the course of the series. many questions are still left unanswered. who’s the current friend’s true identity? what about the pope new candidate? what are the contents of chousan’s notes? i hope those will be answered in the two volumes sequel. still, i love this series with all of my heart.

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Durch mit dem letzten Band. Mir fehlen etwas die Worte, wie toll das war. Ist. Eines der schönsten und nachdrücklichstem Leseerlebnisse meines ganzen Lebens.

Vieles in der Handlung ist offen geblieben. Ein Glück gibt es noch einen zweibändigen Epilog.

[Noemi · Rating 3 out of 5]

That ending. Did I love it or did I hate it. Hummmgh. I don't know

Update : The needed answers seems to be into 21th Century Boys, which kinda redeems this series, but still, you should not need to pick up another "series" to understand an ending.