20th Century Boys. Perfect Edition, Tome 7

20th Century Boys Kanzenban #7

by Naoki Urasawa, Takashi Nagasaki (Contributor)

Ami a été assassiné! Si la mort du dirigeant absolu plonge le monde dans l’affliction, pour les anciens compagnons de Kenji, elle pourrait signifier la fin de leur combat. Mais la crise mondiale est-elle bel et bien terminée?
Rien n’est moins sûr. En tant qu’héritière de la volonté de Kenji, Kanna a une nouvelle mission...

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

450 pages, Paperback

First published July 29, 2016

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

[Jennifer Shepard · Rating 5 out of 5]

a few new storylines added, the pace picked up enough to make the bound edition page-turning. weird to be reading about a weaponized virus during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Blanca · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was quite interesting to read this one during these times... I kept wondering if I was actually reading about the present time wiht SARS-COV-19. :/ Creepy.

[Whitney Jamimah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume contained a large “transitional” piece. Seeing as that there are 3 ongoing and interlocking timelines in this story as a whole so there was a slight disjointed feeling as we were making the transition into the next major arc but, as always, I still immensely enjoyed this volume and the story in general.

[Koen Claeys · Rating 5 out of 5]

They should put a warning sticker on these volumes : “Warning! Highly addictive reading material!”

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super Band. Zunächst etwas ernüchternd, aber da spielt Urasawa mal wieder nur mit uns. Fantastisch!

[Yone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Otra maravilla, como siempre♡ Nunca defraudan.
Ya estoy deseando leer el siguiente socorro que intriga!!

[Etienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5/5. A change of focus, kind of a continuity but also some new elements in the overall plot and storyline. I was a bit worried at first, but it builds something interesting and it's still intriguing. The characters are also fun and likeable as always, so I'm still totally in and I enjoy it!

[nica · Rating 4 out of 5]

mio dio..io non capisco da dove venga l’amico e perché c’entri anche Dio in tutta questa situazione… ho bisogno di risposte anche se il quadro ormai è chiaro.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new mysterious individual shows up and like that the manga takes another turn. I found the chapters exploring the children and what happened in the science room to be my favorites. We get to learn more about the characters and their motivations.

[Fernando Yataco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un volumen bastante emocional. En este volumen no hay personajes nuevos pero vemos el desarrollo de los personajes que se integraron a la trama como Koizumi o Kakuta. Los miembros de la vieja pandilla actúan por su cuenta, pero el final vuelven a reunirse. Se indaga mas sobre la vida de Kiriko, la madre de Kanna. Todavía no puedo formarme una opinión de ella. Mas misterios que se resuelven y otros que solo empiezan o marcan el inicio de algo más grande.

[poesielos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ich war von der "Enthüllung" in Vol. 6 etwas... enttäuscht? Mir war der Charakter irgendwie kein Begriff, was eigentlich total FÜR diesen spricht. Vol. 7 hat das ganze aber in ein anderes Licht gerückt - und wie gut ist das Ende hier bitte?! Unheimlich, bedrohlich, aber genial! Das einzige, was etwas zu nah an der Realität ist, ist natürlich der Plot mit dem Virus und die Charaktere in Deutschland..

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wish I was in love with this series like everyone else seems to be. Having said that this was a improvement after the last few. I don't know how I feel about the Friend reveal and the subsequent pulling back on their fate, but I commend Urasawa for always coming up with some new story beat or angle to approach the danger. The scenes of the outbreak and quarantining feels a little touchy to read after COVID hit us, and I'm not sure how I feel about how the VR game somehow affects the actual past. I'm really torn how I feel about this series as it goes.

[Pranta Dastider · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good. Really good. However, the video game world is feeling a bit out of logic. Since the maker of the game couldn't have known all that happened to all the people in different places at once, people, their vision, their memories don't carry proper reason to be valid. Yes I could ignore it. But the characters do trust what they see here. Which is again have no reason to be the real truth.

So, I am making it a 4 start this time around.

[Taylor Rabbitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️ creepy creepy

[Nelliamoci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo so, lo ripeto per ogni volume. Ma è davvero incredibile come si mantenga costante l’ansiella e la voglia di divorare ogni singola pagina. 🥲

[Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ⭐
He is a genius!

[clarity_books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incroyable

[magz · Rating 4 out of 5]

J’aime comment ce tome est une transition entre avant et après le plot twist du tome 6 et qu’il continue d’être tjrs + intriguant

[Casper Paaske · Rating 5 out of 5]

The series got good again, leaning into its horror elements and making such a gut punch of a come back, I’m hooked again!

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Other than a fairly low-key ending by 20th Century Boys standards, another strong volume. This series started incredibly, lost its way a little bit when it jumped to 2015, but has now rearranged its players and storylines well enough such that the 2015 material is nearly as strong as the early stuff. Still five volumes left, and I have no real clue where the story is going from here.

[Liam || Books 'n Beards · Rating 4 out of 5]

God I love this series - I'm almost caught up, and the last volumes aren't out til next year. You're killing me, VIZ.

[Sarah Schanze · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's amazing that each graphic novel clarifies and solves one mystery only to introduce another. Suspenseful and beautifully drawn, as always.

[Aildiin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't decide which of 20th Century boys or Monster is better but I know they both are in my top 5 of 5 of best Manga of all time...

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like how it was expanding the world of the main characters but it went backwards and still love it. This serie can do everything at this time.

[Vishanth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just when I think the series has reached its peak Urasawa shows no sign of slowing down adding new elements and keeping this insane narrative going

The book essentially is largely about picking up from the climatic events of the previous volumes cliffhanger ending as well as wrapping up unresolved plotlines and pushing the story forward. This book is less focused on storylines until the second half with the first half really being a catchup with out cast which I appreciated it was a nice breather that is definitely needed before we start this next arc.

I like that there wasn't some BS twist of the friends identity being a fake and that Fukube wasn't him. We do know that he is absolutely part of this whole thing and is a core figure. The extent of this rabbit whole and whether he is the true endgame villain is yet to be confirmed and that's where Urasawa gets it right. I love the fact that the friend was someone we've known all along, it didn't even occur to me until later on that Fukube is not part of any of their kids flashbacks. Really great attention to detail. It's also really interesting to see a less coherent and very broken Manjome. We're so used to seeing our villains collected so it's really intriguing that he was just as much whipped by the friends aura and kinship as the other cultists were. We see the old gang or at least what's left of it reunite which is so cool to see. What was also intriguing is seeing the current whereabouts of Kiriko. We know that she is out there distributing vaccines as much as she can and the extent of her entrails. I also did not expect her storyline to crossover with Keroyon I genuinely thought we would abandon this character so it's cool he wasn't forgotten. I love how Urasawa realistically shows how some people simply don't have the means to go fight evil in their 40s with the old gang it brings a grounded reality to some of the fantastical aspects of this story. I also like where this characters story is going. Feels very Stephen King esque in some regards.

The second half picks back up on the story and wow is it insane. It starts of With koizumi once again getting into the thick of it. When one of her friends boyfriend is caught with the new strain of virus it brings her back into the fold of things just when she got out. I feel both sorry and laugh and Koizumis situation she is very much a reluctant protagonist, a trope I love and I'm so glad the story still comes up with excuses to bring her back because she is absolutely one of my favourite characters, she's endearing, humourous and is surprisingly useful at times. It brings her back into the virtual world along With Yoshi and Kanna. This is the true main storyline of this volume and one of the series best.

I love how the VR world is used less as a revelatory device and more for characterisation. Yoshi remembering the beginning of the end of his groups antics and real life takes over while he is left behind. These are feelings everyone has felt and Urasawa's ability to capture this in his characters is beyond talent itself. I truly did feel for Yoshi and I loved that whenever he doubts himself his younger version shows him that he was always the man who picked up when everyone else left and he is a hero. I love it when characters are much older and relearn wisdom from their younger selves. It's such a great message to the power of youth and that children are truly the wisest among us. I also love Kannas philosophical talk with Donkey resolving his story and making Kannas resolve all that much stronger. It genuinely made me emotional knowing Donkeys real dream was to be a teacher not an astronaut and that he actually ended up achieving it. Urasawa is so good at capturing this amazing emotional beats. The VR world storyline also give us answers to what Donkey saw in that classroom and it is trippy af. I don't even know where to start. What I will say is that the tension was palpable during that segment. There was new elements being thrown in constantly and just when we get one twist another one meets it.

What I love about this volume is that despite resolving a lot of the major mysteries Urasawa organically integrates a wholly new mystery really making us contemplate how deep this rabbit hole goes and where does it truly end?

[Sunread26 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chronique complète :
https://sunread26.wordpress.com/2023/...

Extrait :
Nouveau tome, la série s’approche petit à petit de sa fin, les revenants continuent d’affluer, tandis qu’un nouveau virus réapparaît. Enfin, nouveau… c’est le même, c’est juste qu’il résiste au vaccin en somme. Ami a été tué dans le tome précédent, cette information est confirmée, et pourtant certains membres du parti veulent continuer son « œuvre » c’est-à-dire tuer des gens et devenir le roi du monde. Malheureusement, certains seront contre, et le paieront de leur vie. Ainsi, tout continue, que ce soit le mensonge international, où Ami est considéré comme un héros, ou le combat pour tenter de stopper la folie de son parti.

Dans le tome précédent Ami passait de vie à trépas, normalement pour de bon, mais comme l’auteur aime bien faire croire à des morts, celui-ci reviendra à la vie. Même si je pense qu’il s’agit de quelqu’un d’autre sous le masque, comme je le pensais dans ma chronique du tome précédent. L’enterrement d’Ami est finalement rendu public, les gens se ruent en masses pour le voir une dernière fois, et le monde entier le pleur. A aucun moment, ses gens ont connectés leurs neurones pour comprendre la réalité mais bon, quand quelque chose est beau, notre méfiance est endormie. Kanna et les autres continuent de faire tout ce qu’ils peuvent pour comprendre et stopper le groupe d’Ami, car ils continuent évidemment de faire n’importe quoi, notamment le livre de prédiction de celui-ci. Yamane finit, apparemment, par mettre fin à ses jours, ce qui est plutôt une bonne chose au final, puisqu’il ne pourra pas faire un nouveau virus. Après, je considère qu’il fuit ses responsabilités, même s’il réussit à éliminer Ami, mais d’un autre côté, ça n’a jamais été son truc de faire des vaccins.

Petit à petit, le virus est de nouveau relâché dans la nature, au Japon, mais aussi aux États-Unis et sans doute ailleurs encore. C’est là qu’un personnage clé entre en scène, la sœur de Kenji et mère de Kanna, celle qui a réalisé le premier vaccin. Elle n’a pas d’autres choix que de fuir sans cesse, afin que son nouveau vaccin ne tombe pas entre les mains d’Ami, qui souhaite encore se faire passer pour un héros. Plus le temps passe, plus je suis curieuse de voir l’hypocrisie générale lors de la révélation de la vérité, si elle a lieu bien sûr. En attendant, comme pour tout médicament (parce qu’au final, c’est un médicament qui immunise, pas une piqûre… ce qui est assez déroutant), il faut des testeurs. Elle décide donc de payer les gens qu’elle croise afin de le tester, peut-être sait-elle déjà que le virus est en train de se répandre ? En tout cas, cette partie permet de mettre en avant un autre camarade de Kenji, qui avait choisi de fuir la première fois, et qui se rend compte qu’il va vraiment falloir agir cette fois-ci.

[...]

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a review of the entire series.

Humanity, having faced extinction at the end of the 20th century, would not have entered the new millennium if it weren't for them. In 1969, during their youth, they created a symbol. In 1997, as the coming disaster slowly starts to unfold, that symbol returns. This is the story of a gang of boys who try to save the world. Failed rock musician Kenji's memories of his past come rushing back when one of his childhood friends mysteriously commits suicide. Could this new death be related to the rise of a bizarre new cult that's been implicated in several other murders and disappearances? Determined to dig deeper, Kenji reunites with some of his old buddies in the hope of learning the truth behind it all.

This is basically the manga equivalent of a Stephen King novel, channeling themes and plot devices from the likes of It, Dreamcatcher, The Running Man and quite a few others. A young group of friends that make an innocent promise which ends up creating the most dangerous cult in the world, a 'friend' turned into the world's greatest evil, a strange suicide that reunites a group of adults to solve a mystery from their childhood which ended up leading to an apocalyptic police state, clever use of cultural references, rock songs and historical allegories to tell the full story, extremely small actions resulting in extremely massive consequences, an eerie threat lurking in the shadows that may or may not be of supernatural origins, kids overthrowing a totalitarian regime and rebelling against society while fighting against a sinister threat that no one else knows about; sound King enough for ya?

Though I don't think it's quite as good as Monster by the same author, it's definitely very close. It's a masterpiece of intricate plotting, interweaving narratives, deep character development and psychological complexity. The villain's presence is suffocating from the very beginning while remaining mysterious and terrifying until the final chapter. It's intense, it's relatable, it's horrifying and it's an emotional rollercoaster. Be careful who you call your friend and be careful of the promises you make. You might just end up causing the end of the world.

[Philip McCarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things are boiling over after the death of the friend (which was most likely not the death of the friend based on what happens in this volume). I continue to really enjoy this series and the way that everything just seems to flow together. One of the most thrilling series I've read in a while and has me sitting there for hours turning the page to see what happens next. Something I find interesting about this series and could be a detriment if it wasn't in skilled hands, was the way that coincidences flow together seamlessly. Everyone and everything seems to play a part, and many characters that haven't been around for a while always seem to come back. In this volume, we see many people mourning the death of the Friend, many people dying from the virus, and some truly terrifying moments (salted fish from Hokkaido and the science lab). The image of the hanging child talking and Donkey rebuking his claims of reincarnation was real tense. Turns out it was Yamane (doctor who developed the virus) and Sadakiyo (the teacher who was brainwashed) who were there with Fukube (the photographer) during the "incident." Kyoko continues to be my favorite character in this series as she's swept along and always acting nervous and worried about everything. It's great because everyone else acts like this is "normal" but she has the reasonable reaction of get me out of here. Kanna has a cute moment with her uncle which is wonderful to see, Kiriko does some world traveling virus busting, Kamisama is revealed to be the evil one who built a bowling alley on the lot where the old fort was, the digital adult friend tries to kill his (?) past self in the digital world, the famous singer who Maruo is working with is actually an old band mate of Kenji's, Yoshitsune has a cathartic moment with his past self in the rebuilding of the fort, and the Friends' leadership are killing each other off. It's all really exciting stuff. I do wonder about some other characters who seem to have just dropped off the map, but as we see with the return of Keroyon, they'll probably appear later.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah it's still a fun series. There's not much more to add to my prior couple of reviews. This book was more of the same. I was hoping since they did that seismic shift at the end of the last volume that they would ease back on the mystery of the friend and what happened in the past. I was hoping they would balance out more with some character moments and more emotional story telling. They did get a few nice moments in there with the older German couple living in quarantine, and a nice moment with Yoshi and himself as a child.

But on the whole this volume pretty much undoes that climactic change of the Friend being killed as it seems clear they are bringing him back. It could be a fake out where it's actually Kenji under the bandages, but that seems too crazy - even for this manga. They pretty much double down on the insane concept of a virtual reality game being a link to the past and don't spend much time fleshing that out. I think it's fine as a concept but it's come back so many times now that it's begging some questions and creating some holes.

I think I miss the nuance and believability of Monster, and I also miss the more character driven storyline from earlier in this series. But overall the plot is really a page turner and it keeps getting weirder and wilder which is fun in it's own way. I think when I shut my brain off and just enjoy the weirdness I've enjoyed this middle period pretty well but nearly as much as the first act.

[Doc · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Friend is dead, long live the Friend

With the demise of the man known as the Friend who has been manipulating the world with his movement there is a sudden power vacuum giving those that would be heroes a chance to fight back. However citizens of the world at a lost with grief for whom they see as a savior a new danger is rising up that may do a lot more damage then what was faced on Bloody New Year's Eve.

Continuing to describe this world of a shadow government rising to power through the manipulation of media and creating a threat just to save humanity and look like heroes is a bit of a horrific tale that could be possible someday making this a tale of warning that fits perfectly in the real world. As such the realism that Naoki brings to the story (save for the realistic virtual reality simulator which I haven't figured out a real world equivalent yet) makes this a thrilling story though we know we are safe from such threats...for now. :)