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A review by frasersimons
Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, Vol. 1: Friends by Naoki Urasawa
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Of the manga I’ve been trying lately, this is the best written and well drawn, by far. Think kids-on-bikes with a mystery component that brings the kids together in the future, when they’re grown up and their lives aren’t what they expected. The alternating timeline is well done, the first few pages have another mystery component on top of that, but isn’t returned to in this volume, and all the characters and dialogue are clearly well thought out, mapped, and executed methodically,
This comes at the price of a very granular plot, however. With the story being a very slow burn, which seems to be normal for manga. There is, of course, lots of vacillating tones, from very serious to the hyper expressions and “freaking out” faces for comedic effect. This kind of humour never works for me, but especially in something so serious, it feels particularly odd.
Still, more than enough to keep me reading. So far, the most promising of the lists of best manga I’ve sampled.
This comes at the price of a very granular plot, however. With the story being a very slow burn, which seems to be normal for manga. There is, of course, lots of vacillating tones, from very serious to the hyper expressions and “freaking out” faces for comedic effect. This kind of humour never works for me, but especially in something so serious, it feels particularly odd.
Still, more than enough to keep me reading. So far, the most promising of the lists of best manga I’ve sampled.