Manga 20th Century Boys

[Shinmaru]

I recently burned through this excellent manga from Naoki Urasawa, who also created [b]Monster[/b] (which was adapted into one of my all-time favorite anime), in three days. Gasped over every plot twist, pumped my fist at every awesome character moment and shed a tear or two when [spoiler]the teacher remembered Sadakiyo's name and gave him the picture of him as a child.[/spoiler] I don't read much manga, unfortunately, but [b]20th Century Boys[/b] hooked me as hard as any story I have ever read.

The basic plot: In 1997, a mysterious cult leader, "Friend," gains influence in Tokyo. A convenience store owner named Kenji Endou becomes suspicious after an elementary school friend of his commits suicide, and he eventually becomes wrapped up in a conspiracy driven by "Friend" that stretches all the way back to Kenji's childhood. Kenji, along with many others, must unravel this plot, or else the world will be doomed.

That is just a small taste, though -- [b]20th Century Boy[/b]'s plot is [i]so[/i] epic and has a huge cast of great characters. None of them quite approach the awesomeness of Dr. Tenma, for me (although a couple of them are close), but they are generally interesting and all have their surprising and shocking moments. Of all the characters, I would say my favorites are Kenji (of course), Otcho, Yukiji, Kyoko (I have no idea why), Choujo (he reminds me so much of Matsuda from [b]Death Note[/b], haha), Sadakiyo and #13. Yes, I <3 a huge amount of characters from this series.

One of the interesting things about the series is the obvious influences it takes from Stephen King novels -- [b]The Stand[/b] and [b]IT[/b] in particular. I especially noticed the parallels with [b]The Stand[/b], because, you know, I have actually read that and have not read [b]IT[/b], haha.

Anyway, has anyone else read this amazing series? Thoughts?

[Guest giapet]

Man, I'm really, really excited for VIZ's release of [i]20th Century Boys[/i] starting in February! I've really loved [i]Monster[/i] and I've been waiting for ages. I was so impatient I went to VIZ and [url=http://www.animevice.com/gia-interviews-the-viz-media-peeps/113-9/]asked a few questions[/url] about it ;)