20th Century Boys

I would have loved to give this series a perfect score.

At its core, this is a story about life itself. It’s about childhood dreams, about those hazy summers where one day would bleed into the next until everything was one long mushy mess, about lazy afternoons at friends’ voicing one’s grandiose visions, but also about gradual separation, disillusionment by a harsh reality, and change into someone who barely remembers those beautiful, halcyon days.

Yes, in a way, this is the most complete manga I’ve ever read. In a way, it is perfect. And if we were going on premise alone, this manga would easily be the greatest single story I’d ever read.

But, and I didn’t keep track of exactly where this happened, somewhere along the lines, the manga changed from near perfect to just another silly suspense thriller. As a suspense thriller, it wasn’t terrible, but for me it broke the story.

Even so, I’d recommend everyone who’s had some time in life give it a read. I’m sure everyone will find something interesting.

Story:8

SHOCKER!!!:Story isnt ORIGINAL!!!!!!!!. but tbh the story is your generic insane cult working in the shadows to try to take over the world and an unlikely hero which has virtually zero chance at stopping the mad cult will try to protect humanity. as generic as that might seem the execution with that story is wonderful and the first 50 chapters are by far the greatest piece of literature I've ever seen. the first 50 chapters had a great main character, exciting drama, great backstory, solid villain (for at least 50 chapters) and so on. The problem is the nosedive (in my opinion) the series takes for the rest of the time period. Kanna is nowhere near as cool and epic as kenji was,the drama and thriller downgardes,the manga becomes slower,story breaking unanswered questions (how does kenji manage to escape friend on new years eve 2000 and how does the altercation end between kenji and friend) , introduced characters not being as strong as the first arc were, and just overall got worse. The story is still solid though but they shouldve just ended it with an extension to the first arc but getting Ca$h Monie$ is always a priority

Art:7

Art was nothing special. Literally nothing special about it. gave it the most borderline grade i could

Character:7

Kill Yourself.Thats what i hear when i say "Character:7".and honestly i dont like saying that sentence either because if they just ended with an extension to the first arc this would be a solid 9.but thats only in a perfect world and tbh im being nice to this series. For being a significant size shorter,Monster was able to create a perfect,complex,entertaing,and badass villian that is many times better than friend. Friend, for being the major villian and being the most important character in the second arc, is the most underdeveloped character in this manga and MAYBE manga altogether. Friend basically has no backstory and his first identity was pathetic and his second one is ( i dont know if i skipped that page cause there is no way in hell they could if done this) UNKNOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.If that isnt bad enough he actually doesnt have much dialogue/screen time either in the 2nd arc which just makes him more of a wimp. Other than that, the characters were all solid.I didnt like Kanna to much mainly cause the drop in quality from the "God of Normal Main Characters living in a Utterly Realistic World" to her. and Otcho was pretty bada$$ as well

Ending:3
I was going to put this in the story/characters section but i saw so much to write about i had to create a new section. This ending was what MAL describes as "poor" and thats what im going by. This ending was poor.(THIS IS OBVIOUSLY GONNA HAVE SPOILERS SO YOU DONT GIMME DAT BS SAYING I DIDNT WARN YOU).First of all what the hell is Kanna doing at a concert??? This is her last conflict with friend so why is she hosting a concert. Better yet she is UNCONSCIOUS during the final encounter.This is majorly pathetic knowing the fact that Kanna is the main character for more of the show than kenji was and yet she isnt even awake when the final showdown takes place. I expected her to learn something about her "bending spoons" superpower that would be used to finish off friend and could give off some good character development and backstory off of it,BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOO( too many caps doe but no fishes given) instead we get a suicide bomber who is basically a forgotten character for much of the series to risk his life to conveniently crash the ufo on top of friend to save the day(the hype that ufo had was unbelievable and for it to end as quickly as it did is just unethical). And on top of that, what was with friend? he seemed so weak and pathetic leading to the showdown and for him to die the way he did TWICE is just sad. And why did all the characters come back 4 the end? the series seemed as if it couldnt let go of all the characters that shoulda died or at least where forgotten so it just jammed them all together to make a weird and a bit forced ending. And friend deals with many problems at the end as well such as:having a weak sendoff, no mask reveal, master plan that he planed 4 years got shutdown in one weak blow, no revealed backstory, no revealed motivations, and just being wayyyy to overhyped for what he actually brought to the table and such making this ending "poor"

Enjoyment:9

Goddamn im tired from all this writing so im just gonna say for me the first 50 chapters were enough to give it a 9

Overall:8

first arc was a 10. second was a 6. average that out and you get 8. First 50 chapters are definitely worth reading and after that you can decide where to go from there

This is one of the most engrossing and enjoyable works of fiction I have been lucky enough to experience. Across the mediums of film, literature, or graphic fiction, "20th Century Boys" stands tall as a true joy.

The story will capture your imagination, refusing to let go until you finish. (I read it twice in as many years; both occasions barely allowed me to complete the neccessary tasks of my life for those couple weeks I spent reading.) "20th Century Boys" does not attempt to transcend its melodramatic model, but it is an all-the-more-praiseworthy effort as a result. Simply put, Naoki Urasawa is a master of melodrama and plays the reader like a puppet. You root for the good guys and hiss at the seamingly unbeatable evils they face.

The great scope of the story lends itself to the enjoyment. It combines the summer antics of school children with twist-and-turn mystery and against-all-odds action that span from the nostalgic '60s to present times and even into the future.You will sink into this massive, expansive, epic world and feel every triumph, loss, joy, and tragedy beset upon its many characters.

On the technical side, Naoki Urasawa's phenomenal cartooning skills lend themselves to every emotional and dramatic turn of his story. Every location and scene distinctly communicates the appropriate tone to ensnare the reader. Even more impressive is the mangaka's character renderings; in a story with too many characters to count, you will know exactly who's who by their distinct features and gestures.

If any complaint about "20th Century Boys" exists, it must be the ending. After such an engrossing, roller coaster of a story, the end seems more like a crashing hault. However, this criticism is unfair; for such a great, epic story, any conclusion would fail to suffice. The real dissappointment is that the story ends at all.

When I think of 20th century boys, I'm always reminded of a quote, my dad told me when I was learning about Freud at school. “Give me the child of seven and I'll give you the man.” This is of course left naturally up to debate and Freud has very little to do with this manga series (I'm not all too fond of him, but that's another story.) The reason why I mention this, is how much does your childhood affect your later life and 20th century boys explores this idea (and others) in a surreal way.

We are introduced to a group of boys and one girl living in the early 1970s in a part of Tokyo, who are basically the 2nd post-war generation. Everything is changing, this is the height of the hippie period and science is growing in dynamic proportions. This group of children are growing among this and are influence by these two factors. There are three events referred to repeatedly throughout the series to mark this, Woodstock festival, the 1970 expo in Osaka and of course, the landing on the moon. But somehow nothing really major changes in lives of this group, when these events happen. Homework still has to be handed in and you still have to run from the evil (-iest) twins in the world. One of the first scenes in the manga shows this quite nicely, rock and roll is played in the school for the first time and nothing happens, school continues, not even a teacher complains.

Now adults stuck in their day-to-day lives, where saving the world from evil and playing a sell-out show in Kabuki is long forgotten, mysterious deaths, a deadly unknown virus and the upcoming “Friendship Party” all seem to be linked by a symbol the group created back in their childhood days. The group are now wrapped up to prevent the events they came up as children.

Of course with 22 volumes and another final two to conclude the story, there is much more to this story and plenty of plot twists to keep you on the edge of your seat. And this is also partly its own downfall. When I finished this manga, there were questions that I felt needed to be answered and never were, simply because Urasawa wanted to keep this story interesting by adding more twists while still unsure how to conclude this story and tie up the loose ends.

The art is similar to the art of Western graphic novels rather than typical manga. It is a nice break to the typical moe which is in fashion at the moment in anime and manga. It is quite clean and nicely done, because each character is distinguishable between another through notable facial traits, which doesn't look over done, a good example is Keroyon who has features similar to a frog. The aging of the characters is also nicely done and plausible. The panels flow nicely and even when there's a time switch in the middle of a page, it still looks natural.

This is another good point to make, although I'm not quite as well versed in mangas as in anime, I noticed manga artists tend to refrain from doing time switches in one chapter in fear that it might confuse the readers, but Urasawa does this well.

The group develop throughout the years of the series each showing their individual trials and tribulations of trying to stop “Tomodachi”. They all get to shine and no-one is less important than another, every one is needed to fight against “Tomodachi”. The “bad guys” are fully fleshed out, except for maybe one or two, where it would have been nice to have had a chapter dedicated to them as well.

Apparently a trait of Urasawa, although I haven't read any of his others works is how no character is forgotten, each of them have a purpose. This is definitely one of its strong points, every character has a point and more than likely will turn up later on in the series way to further the plot. Utter genius.

20th century boys is definitely a page turner, if it was possibly I would have read all of this in one day. I didn't know what to expect when I picked this up, so I was certainly more than pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the series and it was difficult once I picked it up to put it back down again. You were always left on a cliffhanger at the end of each chapter and volume. It was sometimes difficult to catch a breath since the plot never slowed down. There were a couple of things that could have been improved and in my opinion the real ending for me was the two volumes of 21st century boys rather than 20th century boys, since the ending was blunt and rather unclear. But otherwise a manga I would recommend to nearly everyone, especially if you're looking for something to get really stuck into.

20th Century Boys is a Seinen, Sci-fi, Psychological manga that takes storytelling to a whole new level.

From the beginning of the manga it is already clear what already happened and so the story just basically reveals, bit by bit, explaining the events that took place. However you have to be prepared for some major plot twists. What is so interesting about the story, is that it is set in different timelines (Childhood Era, Adult Era and Friend Era), which gives more insight into the characters and events that took place. However it is very hard to follow these different timelines, because it feels like reading a story within a story. Yet after a while it is easy to get used to it and there are plenty of plot twist and unexpected surprises a long the way.

The characters of 20th Century Boys are an essential part of the story, because it is basically about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Even though the characters may not be well defined, in the beginning, they are incredibly well developed. The only problem is that there are a lot of characters to remember and a lot of different timelines to keep track of them in.

The artwork is pretty amazing as it has the same sketchy style as Urasawa’s other works. The environments have a lot of detail put into them and the only problem I just that the character designs can be too sketchy. This means that subtle changes in facial expressions can be unnoticed; on the other hand the characters have well defined facial features that allows you to tell them apart, once you get used to it.

Overall 20th Century Boys is a manga that brings a whole new meaning to regular people trying to save the world, from evil villains? As I started this manga I had no idea what to expect and I didn’t know why it was so popular, but I’m glad I found out. However from reading this manga I have learned the terrible truth; Good will not always prevail over Evil. That’s what made this manga so frustrating to read, at times, but very addicting at the same time. So if you’re a manga fan, then 20th Century Boys is a must read.

This will be my review for 20th Century Boy, not including the mess that was 21st Century Boys.

!!-Slight spoilers included-!!

Art: 9.5/10
Let's knock this off first. Urasawa's art isn't breathtakingly amazing. It's simple and straightforward. It wavers between realism and cartoonish, which surprisingly fits the world and his storytelling method perfectly. However, the best aspect of his art style is- emotions. No matter the situation, Uraswa will convey a characters' subtle feelings, be it isolation, depression, anger, or pure joy, through his art alone.

Story: 10/10
I'm gonna keep this short. 20th-century boys starts off with a bang. The air of mystery and suspense hooks the reader immediately. In the first couple of chapters itself, you are introduced to a ton of characters both from the past, present, and the future. There is no plot set-up, back story, or guide, the reader is thrown into this world. A sense of uneasiness creeps up slowly, even though everyone is seemingly happy and leads a normal life. The introduction of the symbol and Friend kicks off the story. What follows is an unending search for the identity of Friend and a plot for his downfall, spanning decades. Where the story shines is in its realism and the indisputable effect it has on the world. The sense of fear and despair that the thought - 'this could really happen' never leaves you till the manga ends. And this feeling won't go away easily, it takes a long time for the characters and for the reader to reach a point where they are no longer bound by the shackles of the world that Friend built.

Characters: 10/10
This is it. The core, heart, and soul of the manga. Right from the get-go, we are introduced to an array of interesting characters. It might be a lot at first, but the constant shift between their past childhood and the present "grown-up" selves provides contrast and depth to these characters. The crux of the story deals with how the cast reacts and is affected by the plans of Friend. Every action they take against him has a massive consequence that defines their life for decades at a time.
Kenji in particular goes through one of the best character arcs ever written in any form of fiction. Seeing him go through his carefree rebellious attitude to realizing his undeniable loss to finding redemption and success through his own way left me in awe. Another character that resonated with me to a great extent was Yoshitsune. His hopelessness and grief of losing his friends were beautifully expressed. His awkward yet resolute leadership proved to be a nice polarity to his character.

Overall: 29.5/30
Despite leaving many plot holes unexplained and dragging on the story for a bit too far, 20th Century Boys ends up as a solid 10/10 reading experience. Urasawa proves once again, that few can even rival his style of storytelling, world-building, and character writing.

20th century boys may seem as a standard manga in the beginning. Saving the world doesn't sound as the most outstanding theme for a manga. But the mangaka of this series, which wrote 'monster' too, is a genius and it seems that everything he touches turns gold.

Perhaps the manga is so good because the story is not really about saving the world, but about friendship and youth memories. Bonds with old friends and how every person has his own qualities. The many side-characters are all like real people, with real lives and etc.And what makes this maga very special are all the 'memories'. In these flashbacks you see the characters when they were young. This really makes you understand and love them more.

About the story: As I said it is about saving the world. Someone in Kenji's (Kenji is the main character) youth has become a psycopath. Who is it? Who is this bad guy who calls himself 'friend'? That question really keeps you reading and reading. Untill you finally'll know who it is. And after that moment, the time skips fifteen years further. I don't want to spoil anything, but after a certain moment when the story is about the future, the whole serie loses his power. There isn't any tension anymore. Some characters who were lost get found and that is really fun to read, but the stoy just loses his tension. The mystery seems solved and there isn't anything you want to know anymore. It still was a good read, but compared to rest of the manga it is just worse.

The art was really realistic and not fantasy-like. I didn't bother because this was a serious manga. There were some nice pictures and everything was drawn realistic. Not very special, the artist didn't made an own world for this manga. But it was still very nice drawn and o.k.


The Characters were outstanding and the best part of this manga. It were the characters that made this manga so fantastic. You'll love them and nearly cry when someone is about to die or whatever. After reading this, I feel like I've made new friends, no matter how lifeless that may sound.

I enjoyed reading this, altough the story in the last part of the manga is little worse than the rest. But still worth a 9, certainly!!!!!

First of all, i apologize if i made any English mistake, Unfortunately, I'm not native speaker, It's also my first. hope it helps you

- 20 Century Boys -
The best manga I've read, I really can't describe the legendary of this manga by words..

Story: 10/10
It's about a group got involved in a disaster include the whole world. I've read/watched a lot of psychological/drama works, and this is the best one, Also the author of this manga is Monster author too

Art:9/10
Naoki's art style is not shounen style, his art is distinct, not like the author, he made a new art style, Personally i prefer his art than the other. "MOE" fans never would like it, so "MOE" fans don't read it.

Character: 10/10
The character here is pretty great. all of them even the enemy, all of them have a specified story, especially the psychological of their personalities

Enjoyment: 10/10
i enjoyed this manga a lot, Even i complete it in 3 days, the beginning is little boring, but when you continue it will be great

Overall: 10/10
It's such a legend, Really, as long as you read it you will know what i mean. It's also ranked as sixth, I haven't seen someone read it and dislike it, just give it a chance and read it, I'm sure you'll like it!

20th century boys is drawn by its artist, Urasawa, from 1999 until 2006. However, the manga give the impression of perhaps 70’s and 80’s art style. The artist employed what seemed like “an older generation” of characters designs. The main characters ARE drawn like ordinary citizens, without the flawless handsome features for men and oval-shaped face for beautiful women. In fact, the main characters are drawn so like ordinary citizens that I almost quit this manga.

Artistic quality of the work aside, the contents of story in 20th century boys are innovative, complex, and involves a lot of flashbacks. The readers take a break from the typical shounen’s protagonist-get-power-and-save-the-world type of plot, and get to enjoy the protagonist, Kenji, solving a conspiracy throughout the manga. What’s more is that this conspiracy relates intimately with Kenji’s family and his elementary school classmates. Thus, Kenji’s journey of trying to solve the entire mystery started. In order to do that, he must ultimately search through the events that happened in his childhood. Although it sounds bizarre, I promise the plot is tasty.

The characters in 20th century boys face many hardships, such as dangers of diving deep into the conspiracy, or even the pressures of everyday life. This is also what makes this manga differ from others. The main characters lack the “hero aura”. I can’t help but respect the main characters, who try to fight against unknown enemies without any special power or overwhelming intelligence. This manga demonstrates that even normal humans can be world-saving heroes, minus the special abilities, the intelligence hacks, and the unbelievable luck.

Overall, whether or not it deserves the 4th place that MAL has given, 20th century boys is a classic that will be remembered for times to come.

Story: 9
Art: 7
Character: 9
Enjoyment: 9
Overall: 9

First of all, it’s going to be my first review ever, so I’m might not be the best at it. But I hope you’ll appreciate anyway.


It’s been almost 9 years since I’ve read 20th Century Boys for the first time. Recently, a friend asked me to advise him about a manga. It’s the first manga who came to my mind. Thus, I decided to read it again.

With this review, I’ll include the Century Boys series as a whole, so 20th and 21st Century Boys.

The Century Boys Series has been written and drawn by Naoki Urasawa, creator of the brilliant Manga Monster, and of the non less brilliant Billy Bat, and was published in the Big Comic Spirits from 1999 to 2007. It’s a Seinen manga, the main themes being Science Fiction and drama.

Story : The plot begins in a simple manner : A group of friends formed a secret club when they were kids, imagining a whole scenario in their book of prophecies where “bad guys” try to take over the world, which is ultimately saved by their club. Several years later, adulthood is here and all of them have parted ways, each member living their lives, may it be what they were expecting as kids or not.

But their everyday lives are shaken up, when they discover that a Sect lead by its mysterious guru, “Friend”, is accomplishing step by step everything they have written down in their book of prophecies as children. Till the end of the world announced by it?

Let’s be clear from the start, this plot is nothing really new, when it comes to Science Fiction stories, as there is a lot of similar stories already. There are also a few inconsistencies in the story, particularly in the 2 last acts.

But as the starting point is kind of déjà-vu, its development, moving forward, is of a completely different breed and the inconsistencies of the story are quickly over-looked.

And that’s where the genius of Urasawa, in terms of plotting, is shown. A story who begins as just a child’s play takes huge proportions that no one could have imagined, not even the boys who created it. Fused with the faculties of story telling of its author, the story’s development will single handedly keep you on the edge of your seat during the whole series.


Art : It may be simple, but the drawing style is efficient and I find it personally great.
It’s not as much detailed as a Berzerk can be, but still enjoyable nonetheless.

Characters : Now, by all the qualities I can give to this manga, this is the most prominent one.
The details brought to the back story of each character just blew my mind, together with the evolution most of them gets, the events moving along.
And there is a heck of a lot of characters, may they be protagonists or antagonists.
Unlike many Shounen or Seinen, where the protagonists are White knights, defenders of the widow and the orphan and are mostly full of qualities, here, it’s a whole different deal.
Because almost all of the characters are just human beings, and you can feel it as you read.
They have their qualities, their defaults, their uncertainties. But despite that, they have to move through all the events occuring.
When you least expect it, a character who seems just ordinary at first, will turn out to have a great role, in a way you’ll not see coming.

Enjoyment : When it comes to enjoyment, the goal is definitely fulfilled.
But there might be quite a few moments, which’ll come to slow down the narrative, that’s not to be denied.

Conclusion : Does this manga has flaws? Yes, he has. Does it even matter? Not at all.
It’s definitely a masterpiece, by its characters’ development, by its story which’ll always make you want more, by the emotions his creator is able to let flaw inside you.

More than anything else, The Century Boys series is a tribute to the persons who’ve maybe disappeared, but’ll never be forgotten. It’s a tribute to the childhood, who must be a period of freedom and insouciance, no matter what. Get as much friends as you can and make the most of these times, it’ll not last long…
And the most important, live your dreams above anything else, otherwise, you’ll regret it forever.

Mr. Naoki Urasawa, thank you for this.

Hope you’ve appreciate this review, and sorry for the flaws in my writing and the spelling mistakes I’ve let through.

“Justice never dies.”

Sorry for my Bad english, I guess.

20TH CENTURY BOYS is masterpiece/great, because it has everything that "a masterpiece" should have in their sleeves, but the problem was me. I have a advise for you. Don't look at the cover for the start of the volume, because it can spoiled you for the character that you shouldn't see, except if you reached the volume. And read the manga in your own pace and don't rush it, because this manga need at least a re-reading. I didn't re-read it, but i did sometimes go back to previous volumes and chapters to understand my confusion.
Ayways. Here is my review (sort of)

The story: 10

The story is told in different timelines, such as in 1969,1971 and 2015 etc. But the strength of this manga is that the character ages with the time. It means that you can (sort of) identify the character who was a child in 1969 and now he/she is an adult in 2015. The pros is that you don't get confused who is who. Sometimes you need to look at a character more at their appearance to be sure about who they are.
The story is all about the good guy fights against the evil group, in a nutshell. But the complexity is there. Maybe not if you look at a shallow glance, but in depth, there are many factors in place that drive the story smoothly. But just to mention, sometimes the author could jump from a tomeline to another timeline without any warning and it can be irritating, but as the story go along it does become lees prevalent.
I don't wanna spoil the sorry, becuase there are many plot twits and yeah.. just read it, please More people need to talk more about this manga, even though i haven't read onster, and i have been spoiled. maybe minor or big. i don't know. i don't care, cuz im gonna read it very soon and see if my enyoment is still high even though i know things that i shouldn't.


Art: 8
the is very good, and especially some scenes are breathtaking and beautiful. very nice.


CHaracters: 10
my favoirte part of the manga or the story. My favourtie character is fubuki, because.....
But my all time favooutie character is otcho and Yoshitsune, becuase otcho has an interesting arc where he meets a particular person who trians him to be a better person of what happen to him in past and general speaking, he is goat. Yoshitsune becuase he is very interesting and i like how he cope with the idea of "leeadership" even touhg he has a had time to to be a leader.



Enyoment: 10
fun, thrilling and marvelous. I read this manga around a week and there days and there are 249 chaperts total. Weird flex, but ok.


overall: 10
im glad that i read it even thoug this manga was a hold-on in a very long time, but i picked it up again and lov every bit of the story.

Just when I thought there couldn't exist something better than Monster, I was surprised by how far superior Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys is. Sadly no anime adaptation exists for this manga yet. And I could only hope that in the current era where old works are being revived , this may get an anime adaptation soon.
The Plot : 10/10
Just Perfect ! Multi-layered stories with a switch back and forth through timelines without ever feeling out of place , This is a story that is perfectly executed with lots of suspense and intense to the fullest. The childish cover may dismiss a lot of people from reading it , but the content is very very mature. I have never seen such a perfectly executed story in a manga before, I am still quite surprised that this is a manga not a story in 3-part book for example, also another thing that I adored is the variety this manga offered , which I think is the key to success to any long running manga. It is true that the last third is a little weaker than the the first two thirds , but let me say that these first two thirds are just way out of league .
The Characters 10/10:
Loads of characters have been introduced and all of them made an impact in this manga, also about 95% of these characters have been fleshed out fully. It's very easy to relate to them and their characters. and I liked them all . Kenji , Kanna , Yoshitsune , Otcho , Fukubei , Mon-chan , Yukiji , Kami , Manjoume, Donkey , Keroyon . just a few off my mind right now but I didn't really hate any characters. I also liked how he introduced a lot of characters and he made it work and gave them their own personalities with their own way of thinking.
The Art 9/10
Naoki Urasawa's distinctive art strikes again , which is very useful in drawing the facial expressions and unlike with Monster this time character designs do not look recycled at all. And there is a big improvement in the art style in this manga over Monster.

Also check out the Reception this manga got.

Reception :
20th Century Boys has 36 million tankōbon copies in circulation, was the third top-selling manga series of 2008, and the ninth top-selling of 2009. The series has also won numerous awards, including the 2001 Kodansha Manga Award in the General category, an Excellence Prize at the 2002 Japan Media Arts Festival, the 2003 Shogakukan Manga Award in the General category, and the first ever Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for a Series in 2004. It also won the Grand Prize at the 37th Japan Cartoonists Association Awards, and the Seiun Award in the Comic category at the 46th Japan Science Fiction Convention, both in 2008. The series won the 2011 Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material in the Asia category for Viz Media's English releases, and won the same award again in 2013. It was nominated twice, 2010 and 2013, for the Harvey Award in the Best American Edition of Foreign Material category, and three years in a row, 2010-2012, for the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series.
Manga critic Jason Thompson called 20th Century Boys "an epic saga of nostalgia, middle age, rock n' roll, and a struggle against an evil conspiracy." He compared the story to several novels by Stephen King, such as It, where "a group of childhood friends who reunite as adults to deal with leftover issues from their childhood manifested in monstrous form." Thompson wrote that despite being a seinen manga aimed at an older audience, the series gained fans of all ages for its great premise, storytelling and the mystery behind Friend.
Carlo Santos of Anime News Network felt the pacing of the series should have been quicker, but praised the intricate and interconnecting plot and its twists, as well as the well-developed characters. He also noted Urasawa's art and dialogue, saying "it takes real skill to build a story as multi-layered as this one and still have it make sense as the characters explain things".
Overall 9.7 /10
Ceiling 9.7 is 10
So it is a 10/10(Masterpiece)

First off i would like to say that this is my 1st review ever so don't expect anything very informing.
Now a little about the manga itself....
1st i would like to say that this is something u don't see often:originality.
This manga does not only take quite a new step in the terms of the storyline but also the writing.
The characters really talk,they don't simply exchange lines.When ur reading it u can actually feel that the characters are communicating.
The characters,the character building is just great:most of the characters like Kenji have a very interesting history together and a somewhat dramatic 1 aswell.And by dramatic i don't mean this cliche about some1 losing a family or something like that.The characters have great personalities which do a great part in making u either like or hate them.
The Story...
the story itself may seem kind of like a cliche...
u know?
the old "we're going to save the world" theme?
well lol,yes it's exactly like that but it's the kind of a world saving story which really makes u want to continue reading.
The story constantly switches between present and past,in the present it focuses on Kenji trying to get answers to his questions while the past events are greatly connected to those answers.
The story also contains a suprise or 2 but for the sake of not spoiling i won't mention any right now ; ].
Overall,if ur looking for a manga with a deep story,likeable characters and more than the usual writing style then the 20th Century Boys is definetly ur cup of tea : ].

20th Century Boys, basically, is a story of the dreams and hopes of a group of friends going very, very wrong.
The short number of pages per chapter allow the reader to devour a chunk of them everytime you read it, and the great story helps too: the plot is well laid out, the suspense is beautifully done, the world building is wonderfully done and extremely detailed, and the characters are great, especially Kenji: is struggle to fight the future he created is touching, and you can't help but root for his success. The art, of course, is top notch, as expected from Naoki Urasawa.
My main criticism of 20thCB is the amount of loose ends that never get addressed, and characters that vanish out of thin air.
The ending, while great, felt rushed, some chapters feeling like filler and there were a few unneeded clichés.
Overall, 20th Century Boys is a compelling manga, that I recomend every fan to give a shot.

More like 22 (+2) volumes of blue balls.
20th Century Boys promises a lot, shows the most exciting teases and engrossing demonstrations but all the build up is hardly worth a damn when nothing comes after.
I held off from reviewing this until reading 21st Century Boys since that seemed to be the real conclusion to the story and while is does a better job of giving some closure it's still awful.

Art: one of the few things that are absolutely impeccable about this manga. Urasawa is good or nearly perfect at everything that comprises the visual aspect of the manga. His characters fit right into the world with their appearance, with normal and grounded deisgns they appear extremely human. It accomplishes two things, first if all it makes the story appear more realistic and second it ascribes depth to characters without even writing anything. Now I wouldn't call most characters in 20CB particularly multi-layered or well developed but their appearance is a lot of the time enough to assume their personality. Some faces show wear and tear after decades of hard or just miserable living while others give away that everyone is cranium department is on paid leave for the foreseeable future. You look at these characters and you can already assume who they are and how they act just cause you can likely find someone to compare them to in real life unless your flat is your universe and venturing outside seems like too dangerous of an idea. This description might make it seem like Urasawa is some genius of photorealism but while his backgrounds and inanimate objects look very realistic, his characters are anything but. They are cartoony and often exaggerated to highlight their defining features yet the range of emotion and human expressions on character faces is incredibly lifelike.
Also worth mentioning is fluidity with which everything moves. Urasawa is amazing at depicting movement, force and momentum so every time any of that is involved it's a joy to see. This talent also bleeds into paneling and helps pacing tremendously. Panels are done is such a way that scenes and particular actions never stay on page longer than they should, making the viewer to over pages with speed that a relative match to what happens in the story. Even dring drawn out dialogues he usually never overloads any page with too much dialogue, spreading it out so that the flow is always consistent.

Story: 20CB is the worst thing I've read by Urasawa and a massive disappointed overall. It's a mystery with build up and suspense of unparalleled intensity but what was the point of it? The actual mystery and resolution to it sucked. I'm gonna assume here you've read 21CB cause if you haven't then you didn't actually finish this manga.
I will make a note of how brilliantly done the perpetual cycle of reveal and further mystery is done. Every other chapter we learn something new while also getting to ask new and intriguing questions. Questions so interesting that they make thousands upon thousands greedily go through chapter after chapter just so that their curiosity is satisfied. This means Urasawa succeeds . He made you care for characters and care for what happens to them and their world. He made a mystery so interesting that no matter how drown out and repetitive his very formulaic plot progression is the readers still ask for more.
I will also note that while this all sounds amazing, it all falls apart in the end. Me and many other people will probably agree that despite all his flaws, Urasawa is an excellent writer, meticulously introducing new plot threads and having them carefully tie into overarching story which makes this manga all the more peculiar.
So many characters are introduced simply as convenient plot tools that push things forward and then fall dead or fade from relevance. This relates not only to some minor characters either. The circle of Kenji's gang seems to grow bigger and bigger all the time. Other group of children related to antagonists gain a new member just before the end and that (from this description) seemingly minor character is actually the big bad himself.
Think this is appropriate time to say that the Friend, the main driving point of this mystery is simply awful. I can't go in much depth without spoilers but I'll generalise my problem with them is that not only their motivation is rediculous but they're not even an actual character with nothing, absolutely nothing else.
I saw the point how the childish reason behind a huge chunk of planet bleeding to death is a brilliant thematic tie in of how children tend to overdramatize things, how they take silly things seriously and don't know how to finish stories but I think that's trash. Even if this was more than a theory sparked by hard to process gap between terrible writing of the last stretch of the manga and Urasawa's talent, even if it was more than that, what's the point to it? This virtually non-existent theme is not doing any favors to the story so why bother, what's there to praise? Nothing.
Another thing is paranormal and psychological elements of the manga.
First of all everything related to precognition, telekinesis and everything else supernatural is just there to make sense of the plot without bothering to make Friend's plan make sense in a real word. How did he gather so much power and people devoted to him to an extent that they will kill heretics or give birth to his children? "Charisma" and other "esp" garbage, it's never actually explained or used outside of convenient situations so why bother. There are two events that make more sense of his popularity but even then, the entire humanity here is a supremely impressionable bunch. I think if they heard war of the worlds radio it would end with mobilizing military and launching nukes into space instead of a mere "panic".
Finally my last point is that it just drags on too long, much like this review at this point Urasawa just keeps coming up with the new "real" threat until reaching some arbitrary goal.
The result: jumbled mess of a story with screw all instead of conclusion.

Fun factor: if you're into mysteries for the ride alone, give this a shot, you'll love it more than you might expect. If you prefer the ride had a point and went towards a certain destination I'm not sure there's anything here for you. While most of this manga was a thrill, the ending is so bad that if I knew beforehand I probably wouldn't bother reading it.

“20th Century boys is a lengthy manga”you’re right. I mean it's 300 chapters long and the first few chapters of the manga seem a little bit too mysterious,too off and a little confusing. Let me just tell you this,it's totally worth it.

To start off, the story of this masterpiece.
- The story was carefully organized in a way that in every 5th chapter,there’s a ground-shaking revelation. And it doesn’t just focus on our main character(s), it also gives light to the side-characters,to the side-villains and even to the deuteragonists. The substance of the plot and characters are so overwhelming that it opens up a passageway where the readers could solve,reflect and learn. The personality of the characters, the little mannerisms, their ideologies,their level of thinking,their experiences, their WHOLENESS….they’re just remarkable.
-The first part of this manga may seem a little mundane but after reading this,you will remember the first CHAPTER. You will remember each “useless” moment. You will remember everything,and you will miss those little moments. That’s how great this manga is
- Since this is a spoiler-free review, that’s all I can say for now.

This story has many great traits but suffers from repetitive themes and the lack off some satisfying payoff. Since my enjoyment varied heavily from arc to arc, I want to rate them separately:

1st arc: 9/10
What I enjoyed here was the way the conspiracy was built up and the characters were sucked into it. This really had me on the edge of my seat. Also the link between the harsh adult life and the childhood nostalgia was a strong point.

2nd arc: 6/10
The enjoyment soon vanished, when I realised that the second arc offers pretty much the same progression as the first but with less interesting characters and less nostalgia. It becomes a drag to read due to the many chapters and the late reveal of one of the very few actual secrets of this story.

3rd arc: 5/10
What once started as a thrilling conspiracy story is now some sort of post apocalyptic adventure that lost any sense of threat. Unnecessary comebacks, the power of music and again the same story progression as in arc 1 and 2 really take the enjoyment out of this manga. It becomes painfully obvious, how Urasawa stretches the little actual mystery there is to endless lengths while recycling the same plot progression over and over.

Despite the good art and nostalgia qualities this manga became a frustrating experience to me because of several things. Most of the stuff you read doesn't affect the outcome of the story, an important character ends up being totally useless and the great reveal everyone was hoping for turned out kinda lame. Also you have some doctor that basically holds the key to all the secrets being kept out of the story with lame excuses just to avoid early reveals, someone becoming a public leader by hiding from public for most of the story and way too many implausible constructs (like that game and most of friends far from fail-safe plans) that had the single purpose of keeping the story alive for as long as possible. I would recommend you to read the really good first arc and google everything that happens after that. Safes you a lot of time and disappointment.

A global conspiracy plunging the world into chaos, with the fate of everything hinged on finding the answer to a single question! Unfortunately, 20th Century Boys doesn't seem to have been written with an answer to this question, and so the whole thing feels like an empty promise.

The story is extremely engaging and constructs an elaborate conspiracy rich with intriguing characters and dark secrets. With each mystery solved, a dozen more take its place. The further you read, the less you know, until the situation becomes so desperate that the fate of the entire world is at stake. Through it all, everything comes down to the one question we've been asking since the beginning: "Who is Friend, and what's his motive?"

I feel it's my responsibility to let you know (without spoiling much) that the "big reveal" will occur in literally the last 5 pages of the final chapter, and it is the biggest ass-pull I've ever witnessed. No foreshadowing, no plot relevance, just something completely inconsequential which "resolves" the central mysteries with a handwave. This leaves a very bitter aftertaste, since the manga endlessly teases at the 'big reveal', literally every few chapters, building up our expectations so high despite having absolutely nothing to offer.

That said, the story is still extremely entertaining. The characters are memorable, the story is engaging, and the artwork is unique and full of expression. The story evolves through shifting character focus, a setting that changes drastically, and the ever-deepening mystery at its core. Despite that mystery having an utterly boring and anti-climactic resolution, it is still intriguing all the way to the end.

It's a surreal mystery that combines a level of realism that is unusual for anime with an utterly absurd premise, which succeeds in being simultaneously a wacky comedy and a dark thriller. The execution is nearly perfect; it knows how to tell a gritty, dramatic story that never holds back from putting its characters through hell, while also embracing its goofiness to have a consistent layer of humor and crazy premise. This aspect of the story weakens, however; as the circumstances gradually become so far-removed from reality that a suspension of disbelief is impossible, while being told that everything happening is the logical result of some mundane event from the characters' childhood.

As long as you can manage your expectations for the ending, this is a fun read. It is emotional, compelling, and complex. The important characters are unique and multi-dimensional, and develop throughout the story. The plot is far from cliche or predictable, and never stays in one place for too long, even if that means is goes to some pretty ridiculous places. The constant teasing at the 'big reveal' becomes obnoxious and is unfortunately the driving force of the plot, but the story mostly manages to stand on its own despite that.

In 1999 acclaimed mangaka Naoki Urasawa began his next big thriller. A story of Mystery, Suspense, Childhood Dreams, Manga, and Rock and Roll. At 22 volumes with a 2 volume epilogue we have 20th Century Boys. Let’s rock.

STORY: We begin with the humble life of Kenji Endo, working a convenience store while caring for his aging mother and baby niece. He’s living the life we all fear, one where we’ve grown away from our friends, failed out of our dreams of being a musician, and now battle just to make ends meet. However all is not peaceful in the world. A cult based around someone only by the name of “Friend” is shaking things up, and a mysterious set of deaths using a virus to make people bleed out and die have taken over the news. One day while doing a liquor delivery Kenji discovers something at the scene of one of the mysterious deaths. An old symbol that he and his friends used for their secret base as kids, and how that symbol connects to the cult of Friend. Thus Kenji sets out on a quest to get to the bottom of this before the world ends with the twentieth century. However to avoid going into spoilers, the story is quite the twisty and turny one. Do not expect a simple ride of a mystery, this goes far beyond that. However that is most definitely not a bad thing, the tale feels fresh, shocking, and unique as it carries on. It’s interesting and won’t go the tired ways of old, always holding something unexpected. It is however, not perfect. Some pieces are bit iffy and questionable, other pieces feel like they drag on for no reason. Going wild tends to lead to hits and misses, but luckily this is far more hit than miss. It won’t be for everyone, but I think a majority of people will enjoy the ride.

8/10, fun and exciting with a few bumps along the road.

CHARACTERS: 20th Century Boys has a lot of characters. Kenji himself is a rather great character in my opinion. The hero with a guitar, Kenji’s got an interesting way of pursuing his justice. He’s been through the ringer and will carry the burden and risk himself so he doesn’t have to see others hurt. However rather than some great detective or ace combatant, Kenji’s approach is more of a revolutionary, doing great public displays to get his message heard. He also intends to hurt nobody in his fight, saving his destruction for his opponent’s tools, and is so adamant about not facing others with violence that we’ll see him go out of his way to preach his message even when his allies are ready to just shoot their enemy and be done. In the cast we’ve also got Kenji’s childhood friends, Maruo, Yoshitsune, Yukiji, Otcho, and Mon-chan of note. They’re all likeable characters, whether in the present or looking back into the past, and they all have great arcs of their own. Yukiji was a personal favorite of mine and I found her relationship with Kenji charming and bittersweet. Another character of note is Kanna, to avoid going into spoilerific details I’ll just briefly say that her direct approach and personality made her a highlight of the series. The series villain, “Friend” is quite intriguing. His game of being one step ahead and pulling off crazy pieces that seem something out of an old shounen manga make him an entertaining villain, figuring out what he’d do next and who was beneath the mask kept the intrigue high. Even when we knew what Friend would do, the execution was always interesting and amazing. I will say however, that Friend’s truth tends to fall into the trend of “the mystery so grand no answer will satisfy.” I didn’t find the answers bad or unsatisfying, but they aren’t some world-shattering ground-breaking unforgettable twist. However what I’ve covered is only a fraction of the cast. The mangaka duo Ujiko Ujio, Shono Chohei, Koizumi Kyoko, and God are all also quite worthy of mention, but talking about them tends to lead to spoiler territory. The downside of having such a large cast is the amount of them who don’t really get much development, but in general I loved the varied faces and values. I’ll also go ahead and discuss here the setting and themes and whatnot. Mostly with Kenji, but a few others too, there’s a great emphasis placed on music (as the series title may have tipped you off to). There’s an emphasis on classic rock and the power of music to move people. The guitar on Kenji’s back isn’t for show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6fMWguYVME. There’s a pretty big emphasis on classic manga (specifically super robot). Growing up the cast would always share and discuss the various manga running in Sunday and Magazine, and a lot of those old tropes are reflected in Friend’s grand plan.

8/10, a few stand out characters and no real misses. I found the cast endearing.

VISUALS: I said before while discussing Monster that Naoki Urasawa’s art isn’t as much amazing as it is incredibly functional, and honestly my stance on that has changed. Not in a bad way, I still find Urasawa’s art to never really mess up or downgrade, but this time he has pulled out his A game. In part I think his ability to integrate overly cartoonish pieces from classic shounen manga seamlessly into semi-modern society is impressive. Seeing things like Giant Robots, Laser Guns, Earth Defense Troopers, and whatnot put not only cohesively into a grounded location, but to the point where I thought to myself “Yep if that existed in real life that’s exactly what that would look like” is impressive. He also just generally hit it out of the park with designs, the iconic design of Friend, a cast who manages to all look distinct with grounded designs, and just the amount of detail in some pages is astounding. I don’t really have any complaints I could make that aren’t just comparing to “”Well Makoto Yukimura did this” or “Kentaro Miura did that.” It all flows well and works cohesively. I got really pulled into some of his settings. I’ve always had a weak point for run-down cities and semi-slums and both of those were put in amazingly.

9/10, nothing to complain about, just stuff to write home about.

FINAL SCORE: 8/10

I really loved this series and would love to rate it higher, but it’s not the flawless masterpiece some people praise it to be. It’s an intriguing story with a big cast of loveable characters rendered in amazing art. You can feel the love of the culture of music and manga imbued into this series, it feels like Naoki Urasawa wanted to take the kinda thriller story of Monster but write it about his personal loves and passions. If any of this sounded interesting to you I highly recommend checking it out. Being Naoki Urasawa I feel like I can recommend this to nearly everyone, save for those who lack the stomach for blood and violence. For fans of rock and classic manga, there will be many a fun little nod to those in this series.

Ladies and gentlemen allow me to introduce you to one of the greatest manga I have ever read and also by the one of the most innovative mangaka in recent history. Yes I'm talking about '20th century boy' by Naoki Urasawa. Now before I review you this great piece of art I must mention that before reading this manga I was a sucker for shounen-type mangas, I used to be crazy about them and thought that no manga could ever overwhelm them but shounen mangas like naruto,bleach are never-ending so I gave 20th century boy a chance cause it was short and I read alot of great reviews about it and boy oh boy was I surprised.

Not only did this manga went beyond my expectations it soon became my favourite manga beating naruto and bleach by a long shot. Frankly speaking I was a bit skeptical judging this manga by the character art and the story. The main character was NOT a charming or an attractive young man or woman no the main character was a normal average joe and even the female characters weren't that attractive but soon after reading the first few chapters I realised that the art,background of the story is what makes this manga so damn good. The biggest factor which pulled me towards this manga was the story and the way Naoki Urasawa portrays it, its just outstanding,fascinating and simply breath-taking. The unpredictability of this manga is one of its stronger points and frankly speaking I read the chapters back to back and I didn't find any part boring, I was completely engrossed in this series. Readers would keep guessing who is 'friend' (the main antagonist) till the end and won't be disappointed. I wont ruin the story for you guys, I just wrote this review to encourage people to read this manga.

I ahve no idea why a manga like this one hasn't been turned into an anime series. If you like 'Monster' which is also by the same author then 20th Century Boy won't disappoint you at all!

Final Score:- Perfect 10