Ice Queen, and Kenji reappears with his guitar. The story ends with Friend’s death and the collapse of his cult’s empire, and Kenji and Kanna save the world from destruction by an antiproton bomb.

Volumes

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 1(2009). Collects chapters 1-10. Kenji reminisces after a friend’s suicide. A strange cult emerges in Japan.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 2(2009). Collects chapters 11–21. Features the growing power of Friend’s influence, a mysterious virus, and Kenji’s efforts to uncover Friend’s identity.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 3(2009). Collects chapters 22-32. Features Kenji’s struggle to follow the trail to the truth about Friend.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 4 (2009). Collects chapters 25-32. Features the introduction of Kenji’s friend Otcho, living in Thailand under the moniker “Shogun,” and Friend’s infiltration of the Japanese government.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 5(2009). Collects chapters 33–43. Features Kenji’s niece Kanna, a teenager living in a world drastically changed by the events of the Bloody New Year’s Eve.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 6(2009). Collects chapters 44-54. Features a young manga artist’s incarceration in a maximum-security prison, which would be a death sentence were it not for his closest cellmate.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 7(2010). Collects chapters 55-65. Features Otcho’s efforts to plot an escape from Umihotaru Prison to reach a girl he calls the “final hope,” Kanna.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 8(2010). Collects chapters 66-76. Reveals the truth behind the events of the Bloody New Year’s Eve.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 9 (2010). Collects chapters 77-87. Features Kanna’s decision to take a stand against Friend, while ordinary teenager Koizumi Kyoko experiences the reeducation camp, Friend Land.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 10 (2010). Collects chapters 88-98. Features Koizumi’s efforts to reach Kanna to tell her everything about Friend Land, before the Friends reach Kyoko first.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 11(2010). Collects chapters 99-110. Features Koizumi’s escape with the help of another former classmate, Sadakiyo, “the Lie of 1970,” and Kanna’s discovery that Friend is her father.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 12(2010). Collects chapters 111-122. Features a message from the past left by Kiriko Endo and Otcho’s search for Dr. Yamane.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 13(2011). Collects chapters 123-134. Features Friend’s death and mounting evidence suggesting a deadlier threat on the horizon.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 14(2011). Collects chapters 135-146. Features Friend’s memorial and Yoshitsune’s trip through Friend’s mind to deduce what will happen next.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 15(2011). Collects chapters 147-159. Features the discovery of a book of prophecies that puts a young Catholic priest’s life in grave danger. Also, in the streets of Tokyo, Friend is seen walking again.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 16(2011). Collects chapters 160-170. Features the story of Fukubei’s lonely childhood, before flashing forward to the third year of the Friendship Era.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 17(2011). Collects chapters 171-181. Features a dystopian future in which Friend rules the world; rumors persist of a growing resistance lead by a figure named the Ice Queen.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 18(2011). Collects chapters 182-192. Features Joe Yabuki, a man traveling Japan on his motorbike with a guitar and a song.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 19(2012). Collects chapters 193-203. Features Joe’s efforts to pass a checkpoint to Tokyo without clearance.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 20 (2012). Collects chapters 204-214. Reveals that Joe Yabuki is really Kenji, and features his efforts to return to Tokyo in time to thwart Friend’s latest plan.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 21 (2012). Collects chapters 215-225. Features clues to the identity of the current Friend and the countdown to the final battle.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 22(2012). Collects chapters 226-238. Features both Friend’s plan to destroy the world in seven days and Kanna’s efforts to save lives with a music festival.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 23(2012). Collects chapters 239-251. Features the death of the second Friend and an eerie peek into his childhood.

• 20th Century Boys, Volume 24 (2012). Collects chapters 252-259. Features the final battle at the place where it all began, the boys’ secret base.

Characters

• Kenji Endo, the protagonist, is a middle-aged Japanese man. A laid-back dreamer, he runs a convenience store and raises his niece, Kanna. As the series progresses, he accepts his responsibility of stopping Friend. He goes missing for twenty years and reemerges as a man named Joe Yabuki.

• Friend, the primary antagonist, is thought to be two people in the series. The first is a megalomaniac named Fukubei. The other is another former classmate of Kenji named Katsumata. Both incarnations of Friend are charismatic, deceitful, and selfish.

• Kanna Endo is Kenji’s niece and the protagonist beginning in 2014. Intelligent and charismatic, she later leads a rebel faction against Friend. She struggles with her identity after discovering she is Friend’s daughter.

• Kiriko Endo is Kenji’s older sister. Beautiful, kind, and intelligent, she is a gifted bacteriologist. She later ends ups involved in Friend’s plans. She spends the rest of the series trying to atone for her association with Friend.

• Chouji Ochiai, a.k.a. Otcho, is Kenji’s childhood friend, who designed the symbol Friend uses for his organization. After the death of his son, he leaves to seek enlightenment and lives in Asia’s seedy underground under the nickname “Shogun.”

• Yukiji Setoguchi is a childhood friend of Kenji, first introduced as a customs official at an airport. A tomboy in her youth, she becomes more professional as an adult. She joins Kenji in the fight against Friend and later becomes Kanna’s guardian.

• Yoshitsune is the timid and quiet friend of Kenji. During the Bloody New Year’s Eve, he fakes his death. Over the years, he grows into a capable, inspiring leader.

• Maruo is a friend of Kenji, who joins in the fight against Friend. Overweight and not particularly clever, he is nevertheless a loyal ally and friend. He survives the Bloody New Year’s Eve to become a successful manager in the music industry.

• Keroyon was an old friend of Kenji, who got his nickname because of his frog-like appearance. Unlike the others, he initially declines to help on Bloody New Year’s Eve. He later resurfaces in the United States during the plague of 2015.

• Donkey is another member of Kenji’s group who grew up to be a high school science teacher. His death is what first prompts Kenji to investigate Friend’s mysterious group.

Artistic Style

As with Monster, Urasawa relies on a realistic style for his character designs and settings in 20th Century Boys. While the bulk of the story takes place in Tokyo, the occasional chapter in Europe or the United States features starkly different settings. When a new narrative begins at the Vatican, Urasawa displays the classical architecture. His threads running in the United States are set in small towns in New Mexico and Kansas, which heightens the tension felt about Friend. When a group can wipe out rural towns in the United States and infiltrate the Vatican, one wonders where a safe place to hide could be.

Urasawa portrays people in a realistic style, with a wide variety of facial features, body types, and ages. He even depicts several of the characters aging through the years; in the case of such characters as Yukiji, the effect is subtle. Others, such as Otcho, age quite drastically; the stress of time shows clearly, from hairstyles to pronounced features. Friend appears ageless, however, which emphasizes how much his behavior resembles that of a child playing games.

Like Monster, the action scenes tend to be tight and fast, likely because many of the most violent scenes are caused by soldiers. Unlike previous series, Urasawa does not hesitate to show readers sudden acts of violence. By showing the callous deaths of the innocent and guilty alike, Urasawa stresses that Friend is not so much good or evil as uncaring and selfish.

Themes

20th Century Boys’ overarching themes concern childhood, and how people’s pasts shape their futures. The many side characters use their memories not only to remember what they created but also to try to figure out their enemy. They wonder who among them has become the mysterious and menacing Friend, and if it is possible to recognize the motives of an adult from his behavior as a child.

The story toys with Friend’s identity throughout the series. In the end, Urasawa implies two separate individuals played the role. The first is Fukubei, who longed to be the center of attention among his peers. He is especially jealous of Kenji, who wrote the “Book of Prophecy.” This is reflected in the first era of Friend (ending in 2015); in these times, Friend is seen as a hero, a beloved protector of the people. Kenji and the others are portrayed as terrorists who tried to murder innocent civilians. At last, Friend had bested Kenji and become the person other people admire the most.

The second Friend, Katsumata, has different ambitions. Unlike Fukubei, Katsumata’s motivations are driven by hatred, first for Kenji and later for humanity in general. During his reign, over half the world’s population dies from a plague, and Japan regresses to a feudal society. People are subject to Katsumata’s fantastical whims, including the construction of the Earth Defense Force to combat aliens.

There is a related theme: The dreams and desires that people nurture as children shape the adults they become. The future is the past, and vice versa. Yoshitsune doubts himself a capable leader in Kenji and Otcho’s absence, until he remembers one summer he took the initiative to rebuild their secret base. Kenji becomes the musician he dreamed of being during the hot afternoons of his childhood. Yukiji spends her life protecting everyone she loves, and Maruo’s loyalty to his friends never wavers. Some of these arcs take years to come full circle, but by holding on to the child inside the characters are true to themselves.

Lastly, in addition to shaping one’s own dreams and actions, one can shape those of the people around him or him. Kenji realizes that his childhood actions shaped not only his future but also the futures of his classmates. Had he treated Fukubei and Katsumata differently, the future might have been quite different. Had he been more forthright about his feelings for Yukiji, he might have married her. His sister Kiriko could have led a much happier life by not being involved with Friend. In the case of the latter, however, Kanna would have never existed. Thus, Urasawa reminds readers that the past cannot be changed, so it is best to not dwell on “what if” scenarios. In summation, 20th Century Boys documents the tricky, difficult job of growing up and dealing with the trials of life, and it stresses the importance of every decision one makes along the path of life.

Impact

Urasawa draws on his own childhood to create the setting for 20th Century Boys. Characters reference comics such as Tetsujin-28 (1956-1966), Astro Boy (1952-1968), Phoenix (1954-1988), and Ashita no Jo (1968-1973), all titles published before or during the 1970’s. The “Book of Prophecy” is woven from the threads of these and other classic comic story lines. The construction of a bowling alley on the boy’s beloved secret base inspires them to create an “evil emperor” to defeat. The boys even have a traditional haunted-house adventure, which Urasawa uses to give readers a peek into the mind of Friend.

Kenji falls in love with rock and roll and spends his days listening to bands and musicians such as Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin. The song “20th Century Boy” by T. Rex also features prominently in the series. Readers of 20th Century Boys will notice that the story is tied to nostalgia but deftly uses childhood memories to explain adult characters’ motivations, relationships, and personalities.

Films

• 20th Century Boys 1-3. Directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi. Nippon Television Network Corporation, 2008-2009. These film adaptations star Toshiaki Karasawa as Kenji Endo, Tokako Tokiwa as Yukiji, and Etsushi Toyakawa as Otcho. Aside from the compression of certain plot points, the trilogy is fairly faithful to the comic.

Further Reading

• Ohba, Tsugumi, and Takeshi Obata. Death Note (2003-2006).
• Tezuka, Osamu. MW (1976-1978).
• Urasawa, Naoki. Monster (1994-2001).

Bibliography

• Raiteri, Steve. “20th Century Boys.” Review of 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa. Library Journal 134, no. 12 (July, 2009): 78.
• Sanders, Joe Sutliff. “20th Century Boys.” Review of 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa. Teacher Librarian 37, no. 4 (April, 2010): 27.
• Yadao, Jason. The Rough Guide to Manga. New York: Rough Guides, 2009.

• 20th Century BoysCritical Survey of Graphic Novels: Manga Bart H. Beaty Stephen Weiner 2012 Salem Press