The Friend era has begun! But first, let’s just take a step back and define this new world shall we.
Creative Staff
Story: Naoki Urasawa
Art: Naoki Urasawa
Translation/Adaptation: Akemi Wegmuller
What They Say
Contrary to what his actions as an adult have led Kenji and his pals to believe, back when they were children, Fukube really wanted to be their friend. Fukube even went so far as to let them read all the latest manga magazines he diligently purchased in the hope of winning their friendship. Yet despite all this, Fukube still felt like an outsider. Fostering a sense of superiority toward all the other children around him, how did Fukube’s actions as a little boy serve as an indication of the kind of man he would eventually become?
Next, the clock is rolled forward to the third year of the Friendship Era, a frightening time in which the virus has decimated most of the world’s population, and the vaccine is available only to a lucky few. Tokyo has been quarantined behind a giant wall that is patrolled by both the Global Defense Forces and the Friend’s secret police, and yet while life on the inside is made to resemble Kenji’s childhood from the 1960s, the world beyond the wall is a desolate wasteland. Two young siblings come to the aid of an injured man who has managed to break through the barricade, and his name is Otcho!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the culmination of past events in the end of volume 15 we are left with some pretty big things. First, there was the coronation of The Friend as President of the World and then the beginning of the Friend era. But those final three pages brought about a pretty large reveal. One that I was a little uneven about and curious to see how Urasawa would develop this element and if it would bring down the whole story told thus far or if it would add some really interesting developments. Sadly, volume 16 doesn’t address any of those things.
This first half of the volume is all flashbacks as we see the summers of ‘69 and ‘70 through the eyes of the Friend. This is the first time we really get a look into who the Friend is and what kind of a person he was as a child. A lot of other series would probably make the Friend out to be a sympathetic character who was bullied as a child and that is a reason why he turned out the way he did. That is kind of what happens here as we see the Friend desperately trying to make friends with Kenji and the gang. He is constantly polite to them and offers to have them come over to his house to read his vast collection of manga. Through these events, Kenji and the gang are completely unaffected by Fukube’s attempts and they are portrayed as being jerks in the sense that they are only friendly to each other and not as receptive to other kids. But Fukube draws no sympathy from me and I think that was Urasawa’s intent. Fukube is a self-obsessed, entitled brat who feels as if he deserves Kenji’s friendship. That he is better than everyone else and it would be THEIR honor to be HIS friend as opposed to a mutual friendship. We see how Sadakiyo became Fukube’s “friend” and I just gained more disdain for Fukube as the chapters progressed. One of the more interesting aspects of Fukube’s past is that we get to see that he is quite possibly mentally unbalanced. He frequently sees his reflection in a mirror as a faceless ghost. Fukube also questions himself on multiple occasions, “Who are you?”. Through these flashbacks we get to see more of the truth behind the Haunted House on Hanging Hill incident as well as what happened in the Science lab. Not everything is completely revealed but these additions help us as readers get a better idea of the situations. I like these teasers and how everything is slowly revealed while current events also play out. It is like I’m unraveling the mystery. While others may become frustrated and beg for Urasawa to ‘hurry up’ and tell us everything, the pacing lends itself to these teasers and I feel like a detective, receiving clues along the way that bring the overall scope into a clearer light.
Once the flashback ends we are thrust into Year 3 of the Friend era. These chapters mainly serve to give us an idea of how Japan, and the world, has changed since the Friend became President of the World and his virus killed most of the Earth’s population. The world view is bleak to say the least. In the previous saga Big Brother was a prevalent idea but there was still some level of freedom the citizens had. Here, Orwell’s 1984 is in full effect. This is a dystopian world view that leaves the readers with so much hopelessness for the citizens of the world. Of course it is masked by a naive Utopian view thanks to the Friend’s scheming. Everything is ‘for the greater good’ and ‘necessary’. We are shown visions of protesters wishing to end the classism that has developed in broad strokes and even a slightly communist approach to their demands, ‘equal distribution of wealth’.
Of course we have to be re-introduced to one of our heroes. Just like the last time jump the returning champion is Otcho. He is found recovering in a local family’s shed after a fight that left his leg injured. The young boy and girl of this family, Katsuo and Sanae, help nurse Otcho back to health by bringing him food and keeping him secret. One night an incident is breaking out in Tokyo and Sanae brings Otcho into the house to see the news report. Just as they get to the TV it turns midnight and the transmission is cut off. In the Friend era it is law that all TVs must be shut off once transmission ends. However, Otcho hears something in the TV and listens closely. They hear a voice transmission of a woman proclaiming that August 20th is zero hour and to ‘take up arms and fight’. It is presumed but never declared that this voice was Kanna’s.
The TV then becomes inoperable and the children have to take the TV to get repaired. This is convenient because it allows the kids to ‘smuggle’ Otcho into Shinjuku where he wishes to visit the Kabuki-cho church. It turns out that all TVs are bugged to break if it is left on after hours as a way to quell any uprising from people listening to the transmission. The volume ends with Otcho and the kids finding an old bowling alley where none other than Kamisama is sitting inside. Kamisama reveals a few hints about his dreams and predictions and a sense of urgency is again pumped into the plot.
In Summary
This is again another solid volume in the 20th Century Boys saga. It is also simultaneously a let down. The letdown is simply because we, as readers, want to understand why volume 15 ended the way it did. What does it all mean and why? It feels slightly like a cheat to completely ignore the events at the end of the last volume and to start completely from scratch again. But by starting from scratch, Urasawa is able to build and describe this new world we find ourselves in. It is crucial information and the back story on Fukube is very strong and helps enlighten us about all of the preceding events. But how long until our curiosity is resolved? I am in it for the long haul and love this volume as I do all the previous ones. But you can’t throw out something as big as what Urasawa did at the end of volume 15 and ignore it completely. The transition between phases in the story is not as well done as the volume 5 transition but I am confident that everything will be in full swing with the next volume and any gripes will be quelled.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16_
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: August 16th, 2011
MSRP: $12.99
1 thought on “20th Century Boys Vol. #16 Manga Review”