Amidst the mystery and tension of the Friend Era, Urasawa takes the time to move us emotionally and maintain our sharpest attention.
Creative Staff
Story: Naoki Urasawa
Art: Naoki Urasawa
Translation/Adaptation: Akemi Wegmuller
What They Say
Far, far from Tokyo, a man approaches the checkpoint at the Northern Border… Everyone north of the gate is dead, but here he comes on a motorbike with a guitar strapped to his back. Who is this man who calls himself Joe Yabuki, and why does he break out in song? Is he a Messiah here to save the people, or is he just a deluded nut?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Volume 18 of 20th Century Boys moves mostly between the two current main storylines: Officer Chono and the mysterious “alien”, and Otcho’s search for Kanna. However, the central linking theme through these storylines, and what ultimately brings the emotional core of the volume, is a song. People all across Japan have a song stuck in their heads. It’s a song that fills them with hope, a shining light in their dark lives during the Friend Era.
It is revealed that this song is one of Kenji’s that only Kanna has a cassette copy of; but the song is different. At the end of the song there are added lyrics; nonsensical as they are, it is these lyrics that change the song to be the hope people are finding in themselves. The mysterious man who has arrived at the outpost Officer Chono has been assigned to is thought by the police to be an alien. While this man’s true identity has yet to be revealed, we the readers have a strong suspicion of who he is. When confronted by the police, this man begins to sing this song; he sings it with pure conviction, a conviction that causes the police to hesitate when ordered to shoot him. A conviction that has made the local residents join in the singing and cause an uprising where they ravage the bosses personal food storage. The song has given them strength. As soon as a mob of hippies break into the outpost to see this man’s concert, he leaves for another town to spread his song.
Meanwhile, Otcho finally finds Kanna, the Ice Queen, in Tokyo. He attempts to convince her to call off the uprising she has set for August 20th; his words do not reach her. Kanna believes she must follow through with her plans despite the fact that the Friends know about it and everyone will likely die. She states that her followers have this one thing to hope for, it’s all they have left. In a desperate attempt, Otcho tells Kanna about Kenji’s song that is being played on a renegade radio station, and how the lyrics are different. As Kanna ignores his warnings and pleas, Otcho finds a radio and is able to have Kanna witness the song herself. Does this mean that Kenji is still alive? Whether he is or not, the song fills Kanna with renewed hope that there can be a better way; she calls off the uprising.
During this time with Otcho and Kanna, we hear Kanna tell a story of how she was inoculated with the vaccine for the virus that is still killing people across the world. This recollection is extremely heartbreaking and has the ability to move the readers emotionally as everything circles back around one thing: hope. The loss of hope, the hopelessness of the world’s situation, and the hope that it can be fixed in the end. This is some of the most powerful storytelling in the series because of how it pulls the readers into the world. We are given more than just the investment in the characters to find roots in the story, we are given the desperation of the people as a whole. Initial feelings about the world ending a second time were skeptical at best. The series essentially got rebooted again and we were already looking for resolution. Did the second reboot just offer a way to extend the series and drag out the events even further? It’s still possible, but what this volume draws into the forefront is that we needed the world to end a second time; we needed the situation to become even direr so that we could empathize. Previously, we were saddened by the death of Kenji and the numerous civilians that died during Bloody New Year’s, but the world was still intact. It was functional, if not slightly distorted, due to the Friend’s influence. This time it’s different.
I believe it is not small coincidence that the mysterious man’s groupies call themselves hippies or that the renegade radio jockey is a dyed in the wool reincarnate of Woodstock. This imagery is intended wholeheartedly to invoke the memories and empathy of the late 60’s, the Vietnam Era. That was a time when everything seemed to be at its bleakest. Granted it was mostly an American view that saw the most villainy from this era, what with all the protests and mayhem that was going on. So while it is strange that a Japanese manga is invoking these feelings it is no coincidence that the series has revolved around American rock music from that era. This is how we are supposed to feel, and this is what Urasawa is crafting so flawlessly, but he keeps reminding us: there’s hope.
The volume finishes out with Haru Namio and Haruo discovering some hidden secrets about Manjome, secrets that could help them understand the Friend and what is really happening with the world. There is also Otcho and Kanna being arrested and taken directly to Manjome himself where he requests that they kill the Friend and even starts to reveal a bit of the hidden history. The way these two final plot threads interweave has become standard in the series at this point. Urasawa understands perfectly when and where to cut back and forth to where the two tales are finishing each other’s sentences all the while building upon the mystery and creating a thick layer of suspense. It is also an amazing way to maintain the trademark “end of volume cliffhanger” that’s guaranteed to keep us coming back.
In Summary
Another dynamite volume of 20th Century Boys! It’s moments like these where I completely forget that we are 18 volumes into the series, where I stop caring that my questions aren’t getting answered fast enough, where I just lean back and soak up the atmosphere being created and allow the story and its strong characters to pull me and render no mercy on my soul. I won’t lie, I teared up at least twice during this book, its message is that powerful and the conviction is so strong that I couldn’t help but be swept up in everything presented before me. If you’ve been wavering in your faith in the story because of its length and felt it was starting to become meandering, this volume will instill into you what it instills into its world: hope.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: December 13th, 2011
MSRP: $12.99
