20th Century Boys

[Mason Proulx]

Regarding the events at the end of volume 15

Spoiler:

People here were asking about how Friend could come back to life at the end of volume 15. I just assumed that he faked his own death. He's been proven time and time again to be full of nothing but lies and deceit. So his death was probably staged by himself. Remember when he was laying there as a cadaver and that child tried to touch his face, he moved his arm to make the child stop. It seemed that just like what he did in the science room, fake his death and ressurrection to inspire fealty in his followers (at the time, just Sadakiyo and Yamane). Apart from his common trickery, he also seems able to put himself in a state of suspended animation. In other words, play dead. That's what it seemed he was doing at his wake, although it would take a lot of willpower to be able to keep it up for days like that.

This is what I had assumed. But reading volume 16 made me question this assumption.

Spoiler:

We see that same flashback to the science room and once again Fukubei fakes his death by hanging. Donkey is chased off like before. But what happens after, Fukubei's trick backfires and slips, the noose seems to choke the life out of him for real. So are we saying Friend has been a ghost all that time? Or is the answer something more realistic? I feel I finally understand the mysteries surrounding Friend after reading vol. 16, but that part I still don't get.

Either way, Friend aggravates me so much. Apart from continually doing unfathomably evil things, Urasawa made him into such a liar that you can never believe anything says or does. Likewise you have to always question whether things that seemed to happen in the book actually happened or not.

[Fighter Volk]

Bandersnatch, I LOVE your sig!!

By the way, I've read through the fifth volume and the first two chapters of the sixth... no need to say that it's a drastic change to an older Kanna, as much as I like her. Can you guys assure me this new arc is as good as the Kenji one?

By the way...

Spoiler for volume 5 to the end:

Can anybody tell me whether or not we ever see the occurrences at the Bloody New Year's Eve in the manga, as it happened? The climax of the story, the arc conclusion I was waiting for... and here they leave it hanging and change EVERYTHING! GAHH! Anyway, no spoilers, just a simple yes or no would be nice

[cornzilla]

Ok for everyone who has read up to the second arc of the story. Go back to the first chapter and reread it you'll notice something very very very very very very strange. Its a spoiler to how the manga will end. I would like to tell you but I dont know how to do spoiler tags.

[brightman]

Originally Posted by Fighter Volk

Spoiler for volume 5 to the end:

Can anybody tell me whether or not we ever see the occurrences at the Bloody New Year's Eve in the manga, as it happened? The climax of the story, the arc conclusion I was waiting for... and here they leave it hanging and change EVERYTHING! GAHH! Anyway, no spoilers, just a simple yes or no would be nice

No, Urasawa never leaves anything important like that hanging...

Ok for everyone who has read up to the second arc of the story. Go back to the first chapter and reread it you'll notice something very very very very very very strange. Its a spoiler to how the manga will end. I would like to tell you but I dont know how to do spoiler tags.

Spoiler:

You're referring to the older Kanna looking out and seeing that giant robot right? Heh, not sure if that is the ending though, could be.

[Vicious]

Originally Posted by Mason Proulx

Regarding the events at the end of volume 15

Spoiler:

People here were asking about how Friend could come back to life at the end of volume 15. I just assumed that he faked his own death. He's been proven time and time again to be full of nothing but lies and deceit. So his death was probably staged by himself. Remember when he was laying there as a cadaver and that child tried to touch his face, he moved his arm to make the child stop. It seemed that just like what he did in the science room, fake his death and ressurrection to inspire fealty in his followers (at the time, just Sadakiyo and Yamane). Apart from his common trickery, he also seems able to put himself in a state of suspended animation. In other words, play dead. That's what it seemed he was doing at his wake, although it would take a lot of willpower to be able to keep it up for days like that.

This is what I had assumed. But reading volume 16 made me question this assumption.

Spoiler:

We see that same flashback to the science room and once again Fukubei fakes his death by hanging. Donkey is chased off like before. But what happens after, Fukubei's trick backfires and slips, the noose seems to choke the life out of him for real. So are we saying Friend has been a ghost all that time? Or is the answer something more realistic? I feel I finally understand the mysteries surrounding Friend after reading vol. 16, but that part I still don't get.

Spoiler:

Indeed, there are three high possibilities:

1. Fukubei faked his own death again
2. It's another Friend

Refer to Manjoume Inshuu in chapter 167: "The imposter... is going to become genuine"; menaing that it's another Friend. As for Fukubei being the real Friend, I'm almost certain of that, since this can be prooved by reading volume 16. But anything is possible on an Urasawa manga, so we'll have to wait and see. Maybe the real Friend can be even Kiriko...

What bugs me the most now is the "real" ghost of the Hanging Hill. The ghost can be the solution to Friend's identity mistery. In other words, the answer to the "Who are you?" question that Fukubei asked himself.

[wao]

I started reading this manga on Wednesday. I swear....... this is seriously one of the best manga in the world. It's very engaging, the plot is so wildly mysterious and intriguing, THE CHARACTERS ROCK (I can't emphasize this enough), the plot twists are MAD...


I started reading around 4pm on Wednesday, and read on until 12:15 am. Even though there was school on THursday... This is the most genuine case ever of "not realising the time has passed" - I just kept reading and reading and reading....

I only finished halfway, and I read the rest on Thursday, and then read Chapter 16 yesterday. It's awesome. Truly awesome.

Anyway, (spoilers up to chap 16)

Spoiler:

Did you notice how the character profile thingies (for books after Friend was identified as Fukubei) say under Friend: "His identity is Fukubei" ... That might be a clue. But it's all just too freakin' confusing...)

And Vicious,

Spoiler:

Perhaps the death thing is that mysterious "Lie of 1970"? It's very very intriguing.

BTW, does anyone know when Kenji and Shouhei (you know, the grandson of that famous detective Chou-sama...) were born? And Kanna?

And on another offtopic thing, I'm having problems downloading the torrent for Monster..... how do you get it on IRC...

[Morrigan]

Well, in 2014 Kanna is 17, so she was born in 1996/97. Kenji might be born in 1960 or somewhat around that ... I don't know at which age you get to school in Japan, but I think, he was in 5th class in 1970 ...(?)
We don't know how old Chono is exactly, do we? I think he looks like somewhat around 20 in 2014. ^^

[wao]

Well, we do know Chouno was a small kid when his grandfather appeared in the VERY beginning of the manga. You know, when his grandfather was supposed to buy "Peekaboo" for his grandson.... who is Chouno Shouhei...


Hehe, I just have this perverse, nasty, shameful tendency to like to imagine... feelings between people (but not in that kind of manner)... And Shouhei really is a nice kind of guy

Ah, and I just thought of some things I want to make clear.... (spoilers for... well I dunno, lots of chapters?)

Spoiler:

As far as we know, Sadakiyo, Fukubei and Yamane are in the same... "organization", right? And Fukubei is the one that wants to be called "Friend" and he only befriends both just to make use of them... And Fukubei fakes his own death... and then we don't know whether he really died or not. "Friend" at some point of time probably was Sadakiyo, Fukubei, Yamane, or hell, even Kiriko, we wouldn't know at all.

So.... in the end Sadakiyo and Yamane betrayed Fukubei (if you say Fukubei is "Friend").

Sadakiyo was forced to kill Mon-chan and do all sorts of stupid things in order to keep a "friend", and in the end said he had enough, after seeing Otcho and Kanna's bravery in the Shinjuku church gathering...

Yamane was made to produce viruses, viruses and viruses, but only realised how evil this was and that it was no longer a game, and when Kiriko told him to stop in... 2002 or 2003, he stopped, IIRC? And later he got killed in that science room - along with whoever "Friend" was... (But "Friend" didn't die?! Could it be a robot or a fake? Note that Sadakiyo was... supposed to be dead at this time. The newspaper never said that Sadakiyo was dead, did they?)

But there were still viruses that had no vaccies made and Kiriko went to make them... Kiriko did go out to give working vaccines for those cases in Michigan and so on (the biker dudes, Keroyon, Billy...) When was that? Because 2015 they managed to give vaccines to SOME people... So do they still have Kiriko's stuff? Do they still have contact with Kiriko?

And isn't it really really sad that Sadakiyo, who stuck with Friend because he had nobody to turn to, who thought that he was unknown and never remembered, was remembered by everybody? And even though he never appeared in photographs, his teacher still took one for him?

And that Fukubei doesn't seem to ahve a face... He kept asking himself as a child, "Who are you?" and never acted like a child... Indeed, I believe he's possessed... and sometimes he looked in the mirror and never saw a face (this is also reflected in his decision to make the teru-teru bozu have no face...). And he was somehow never in class photographs either... and nobody remembers him.... nobody seems to see him at all - even somebody said, when they thought of Fukubei, "why did we ask someone we don't evene remember to join our group?" ... And that's worse than Sadakiyo. Does Fukubei ever exist? Could he have ever died if he never existed? And isn't it even more ironic that Tomodachi World is created (supposedly) out of Fukubei's memories... and he doesn't even have a child picture of Sadakiyo, who he framed to be Friend? (Of cousre you can never be sure of this.)

Also, why does Fukubei seem to hate Kenji so much?

Ah yes, and does anyone know Fukubei's other name? (I dunno if Fukubei is his surname or first name or nickname...)

EDIT: Also, you know that guy who picked up.... picked up.... picked up Kiriko (or was it Yukiji??? Or some school girl) in the very early parts of the series after the train she was going on was wrecked and she was 20 minutes late for her exam and later she met that guy.....
Remember that guy? He said something about "It's easy to seduce a woman" or something like that.

Spoiler:

Is he the same guy who in vol 13 chap 3 is the guy who tied back his hair, and received that award for "saving the earth"?

EDIT2: When I checked that thing again, it seems that Shouhei is minimum 3 years old in 1997, because he keeps saying he wants to be with gwampy, meaning he can speak and he knows his grandfather is cool... Yeah, I guess Shouhei is around 20 or 21 in 2014. Dang.

[JubeiYamazaki]

Originally Posted by wao

Ah yes, and does anyone know Fukubei's other name? (I dunno if Fukubei is his surname or first name or nickname...)

EDIT: Also, you know that guy who picked up.... picked up.... picked up Kiriko (or was it Yukiji??? Or some school girl) in the very early parts of the series after the train she was going on was wrecked and she was 20 minutes late for her exam and later she met that guy.....
Remember that guy? He said something about "It's easy to seduce a woman" or something like that. .

Spoiler:

I believe he wanted to be called Hatori? Which I believe (correct if I'm wrong) was the name of a famous ninja known for disguises and such, so in a way Hatori never had a face either, since he used "tricks" and kept hidden with those tricks, just like Fukubei. So maybe that's why Fukubei wanted to be called Hatori, I think the full name was Hatori Hanzo he's in Samurai Showdown that's how I remember. .

And if I remember correctly the person the guy he seduced was the professor's daughter. I think his name was Ishikawa? (the professors name that is.) The guy in charge of making the Bloody New Years Eve robot.

[Fighter Volk]

Originally Posted by brightman

No, Urasawa never leaves anything important like that hanging...

Alright, good I was getting scared there for a moment...

[YoshiYoshi]

Sorry to bring this thread back again, but I thought I'd clarify, Fukubee did indeed wish to be called Hattori, but Hattori was his real name. But the 'Hat' bit in Japanese kanji can read fuku, and 'tori' = 'bu' or 'be', so his schoolfriends called him Fukube. On page 23 of vol. 13, you can see Yoshitsune slowly realise that Fukube=Hattori, who as Jubei said was a famous ninja, but also a popular Japanese TV character (a ninja kid), whose famous face you will all recognise as the 'Tomodachi's.

YoshiYoshi

[elusive]

where can I get vos. 1-9? I can only find 10-16.

[wao]

You didn't misread 1 - 16 as 10 - 16, did you?


You can see the Bittorrent links http://www.mangascreener.com/project.php?id=8 there... under "Packaged Bit Torrents".


Ah, and when I meant Fukubei's other name... I mean, Fukubei can't be his only name - for example Naoki Urasawa: that's two names, his surname and his given name. Fukubei is the family name, I assume? What's the given name then? Can't be that his parents actually called him Fukubei Hattori?

Can't wait for the next release of course... Is it oging to be in July or so? I might start check if they have the magazine it's published in in Kinokuniya...

[stpehen]

Urasawa is currently on a two-month break until mid-July. Chapter 188 is the latest that has been published, so mostly likely we won't see Volume 17 until September.

[liQuidfire]

I have to admit this series is the best manga that I have read, and time does really fly when you are reading it. I wonder will it ever get licensed? After the whole thing has been released that is . I would really like own this in a book format.

volume 17 released in september? That seems so long away.

[YoshiYoshi]

Originally Posted by wao

Ah, and when I meant Fukubei's other name... I mean, Fukubei can't be his only name - for example Naoki Urasawa: that's two names, his surname and his given name. Fukubei is the family name, I assume? What's the given name then? Can't be that his parents actually called him Fukubei Hattori?

Fukubei is just a nickname, neither of his names is Fukubei. If you read my post again, I said that Hattori is his family name, and in Japanese 'Hattori' can read 'Fuku-be' as well, so that:s why his friends made up that nickname.

My IRC and BitTorrent aren't working (AAAAAAARGH) can't take it.

[liQuidfire]

Does anyone know of any sites where there's wallpapers of 20th century boys? And how many more volumes is there going to be? Im currently on volume 16 and it seems like its only a bit past half way through the whole story.

[petr]

Originally Posted by liQuidfire

Does anyone know of any sites where there's wallpapers of 20th century boys?

Theres some kinky site ya'know? http://www.mangascreener.com !.!

Originally Posted by liQuidfire

And how many more volumes is there going to be? Im currently on volume 16 and it seems like its only a bit past half way through the whole story.

How the hell do you think anyone besides mangaka would know how long manga will be running? Huh?

[Koshiba]

I recently downloaded the manga and I must say.. I'm hooked! I can't wait for more. This is really a great series. Perhaps I should check out Monster.. ^_^

[Fighter Volk]

Well... at this point I've read through most of Volume 7 (everything but the last two chapters) and 20th Century Boys has risen to its new position as my favorite, number one manga. Granted, I don't read nearly as much manga as I do anime but this is undoubtedly on top of the list.

And hey, September isn't THAT far away... especially not for me - I still have nine chapters of wonderful, wonderful things before I have to sink into a constant state of suspense!