20th Century Boys

20th Century Boys (Japanese: 20世紀少年, Hepburn: Nijusseiki Shōnen) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It was originally serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from 1999 to 2006, with the 249 chapters published into 22 tankōbon volumes. A 16 chapter continuation, titled 21st Century Boys (21世紀少年, Nijūisseiki Shōnen), ran in the same magazine from 2006 to 2007 and was gathered into two tankōbon volumes. It tells the story of Kenji Endo and his friends, who notice that a cult-leader known only as "Friend" is out to destroy the world, and that his cult icon bears a striking resemblance to a symbol developed during their childhoods. The series makes many references to a number of manga and anime from the 1960s–1970s, as well as to classic rock music, its title being taken from T. Rex's song "20th Century Boy".
A trilogy of live-action film adaptations, directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi, were released in 2008 and 2009. The manga was licensed and released in English by Viz Media, and distributed in Australasia by Madman Entertainment. The films were also licensed by Viz in North America and by 4Digital Media in the United Kingdom.
20th Century Boys has received critical acclaim and has 36 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. It has won several awards, including the Shogakukan Manga Award, the Kodansha Manga Award and the Seiun Award.
In 1969, young boys Kenji, Otcho, Yoshitsune and Maruo build, in an empty field, a hideout they call their secret base, in which they and their friends can get together to share manga and stolen pornographic magazines and listen to a radio. To celebrate the event, Otcho draws a symbol for the base that would represent their friendship. After their friends Yukiji and Donkey join the gang, they imagine a future scenario where villains would try to destroy the world, and in which the boys would stand up and fight; this scenario is transcribed and labelled Book of Prophecy (よげんの書, Yogen no sho).
In the late 1990s, Kenji is a convenience store owner, finding solace in his childhood adventures as he takes care of his baby niece Kanna and his mother. After Donkey is reported to have committed suicide, Kenji stumbles upon a large cult led by a man known only as "Friend". With current events beginning to resemble actions from the Book of Prophecy, Kenji and his former classmates try to remember who knows about the book. They find more events unfolding such as bombings and virus attacks in San Francisco, London, and a major Japanese airport.
Kenji and his former classmates eventually uncover a plan to destroy the world on New Year's Eve of 2000, referred to in the latter part of the story as the Bloody New Year's Eve, with the use of a "giant robot", which is later revealed to be a giant balloon with robotic appendages, which spreads the virus throughout the city as well as other cities. Kenji manages to get inside the robot to plant a bomb, but is presumed dead when it explodes. From this event, the members of the Friendship Democratic Party (友民党, Yūmintō) gain widespread political popularity and power by presenting a vaccine that counters the virus, and thus take all the credit for saving the world.
Fourteen years after Bloody New Year's Eve, Kanna is a teenage girl who works at a Chinese restaurant. After she tries to defuse some interaction between various mafia groups, she discovers that a patron's friend had witnessed a Chinese mafia member get killed by a corrupted policeman. The mafia member mentions an assassination attempt on the Pope as he visits Japan. She then finds herself being hunted by members of the Friends while trying to unite the mafia groups to her cause. Meanwhile, Otcho manages to escape a maximum security prison.
Kyoko Koizumi, who attends Kanna's school, impulsively takes on a school assignment of covering Bloody New Year's Eve, but soon becomes entangled in activities involving both the Friends and the people who oppose them. After surviving a brainwashing program, she joins with Kenji's friend Yoshitsune and his resistance force.
Friend reveals a new plan, a continuation of the Book of Prophecy, in which he plans to kill every human being on Earth except for sixty million of his followers, but he is then assassinated by his chief scientist Yamane. Following this, Friend's funeral becomes a worldwide spectacle, held in a stadium with the Pope giving the address. Partway through the service, Friend appears to rise from the dead, and is shot in the shoulder by his own assassin. By saving the Pope, Friend is elevated to deity like status. Meanwhile, there is a worldwide viral outbreak that threatens to kill everyone except those who have been vaccinated.
The final portion of the story takes place in a newly remodeled Japan, under the "Era of Friend", who has instituted numerous bizarre changes, including the establishment of an Earth Defense Force, reputedly to protect Earth from an imminent alien invasion, exiling those without vaccinations, and forbidding travel across regions, under penalty of death. During this time frame, Kanna, who is revealed to be Friend's daughter, leads an insurgency against Friend's government, enlisting the aid of numerous groups, including the survivors of rival gangs and mafia organizations. During this, Kenji, apparently also risen from the dead and carrying his trademark guitar, reappears.
The series spans several decades from 1969 to 2017, the last of which in the chronology of the series, becomes 3FE (3rd Year of the Friend Era). The series makes three distinct timeline cuts during the story; one from 1971 to 1997, one from 2000 to 2014, and one from 2014 to 3FE. Several parts of the series are also told in flashbacks to previous events as the characters attempt to unravel the mystery of who Friend is and how to stop his plans of world destruction; most of the character's childhood backstories through the 1970s and 1980s are told in this fashion.
On the day he gave his editor the manuscript for the final chapter of Happy!, Naoki Urasawa was relaxing in the bath when he heard a speech on television by someone from the United Nations say "Without them, we would not have been able to reach the 21st Century..." and wondered "Who's 'them'? Who are those people?" Envisioning "them" appearing to a cheering crowd in his head, he came up with the title 20th Century Boys and then the T. Rex song "20th Century Boy" began to play in his head. Having been planning to take a break from weekly serialization after consecutively creating Yawara! and Happy! with that schedule, Urasawa said he was not looking forward to drawing, but "had" to fax the new idea to the editorial department at Big Comic Spirits since it had come to him. He also felt the need to get started on the series right away since it was around 1998 and the end of the century was approaching.
Although he creates a "movie trailer" in his head when starting a new series, Urasawa does not plan the story out in advance. For example, a young woman appears in the first chapter pulling a curtain open to reveal a giant robot (as envisioned in the trailer). While writing that scene Urasawa could hear a baby crying in the convenience store next door and included that in the manga, thus it cuts to 1997 with Kenji and a crying baby Kanna in a convenience store. The author did not initially know that Kanna would grow into that young woman.
When asked if scenes in 20th Century Boys reflect his own childhood experiences, Urasawa said about 1/10 did. He also explained that the spoon bending seen in the series was based on Uri Geller. A few weeks before the September 11 attacks, Urasawa turned in a manuscript for 20th Century Boys where two giant robots fight and destroy buildings in Shinjuku. But after the attacks, the artist could not bring himself to illustrate that scene and created a chapter almost entirely devoted to Kenji singing a song, in order to express how he felt. When Urasawa began 20th Century Boys in 1999, he was already writing Monster semimonthly and continued to serialize both at the same time. Although he was briefly hospitalized for exhaustion at this point, Monster ended in 2001 and Urasawa began writing another series simultaneous to 20th Century Boys in 2003 with Pluto. While working on 20th Century Boys, Urasawa injured his shoulder to the point he could not draw, and even considered retiring as a result.
Expo '70 is a crucial element of the films' plot. The films use Expo '70 as a symbol of the financial prosperity of Shōwa era Japan, and the depiction of Expo '70 in the films is an example of Shōwa nostalgia.
Written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa, 20th Century Boys was originally serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from October 4, 1999, to April 24, 2006. The 249 individual chapters were published into 22 tankōbon volumes by Shogakukan from January 29, 2000, to November 30, 2006. Takashi Nagasaki is credited as "co-producer" of the manga's story. A sequel that concludes the story, titled 21st Century Boys, was serialized in the same magazine from December 25, 2006, to July 14, 2007; the 16 chapters were released into two volumes on May 30 and September 28, 2007. 20th Century Boys received an eleven-volume kanzenban re-release between January 29 and November 30, 2016. The single kanzenban reprint of 21st Century Boys, released on December 28, 2016, includes a new ending. A one-shot manga titled Aozora Chu-Ihō ("Blue Sky Advisory – Kiss") was published in the February 2009 issue of Big Comic Spirits, it was credited to "Ujiko-Ujio", the pen-name of the fictional manga creator duo Kaneko and Ujiki in 20th Century Boys.
Both 20th Century Boys and 21st Century Boys were licensed for English-language release in North America by Viz Media in 2005, however their release was delayed until after their translation of Monster had finished. The first English-language volume of 20th Century Boys was released on February 17, 2009, and the last of 21st Century Boys on March 19, 2013. It had been reported that the reason for the delay was at the request of Urasawa, who felt there was a change in his art style over time. However, when asked about it being due to his request in 2012, Urasawa was surprised saying that he did not know about that and simply suggested Viz did not know which order to publish the two series. In 2017, Viz licensed the kanzenban editions of both 20th Century Boys and 21st Century Boys. The first volume of 20th Century Boys: The Perfect Edition was published on September 18, 2018, and the single volume 21st Century Boys: The Perfect Edition was published on June 15, 2021. Viz's initial release was distributed in Australasia by Madman Entertainment.
The trilogy of 20th Century Boys live-action films, directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi, were first announced in 2006. In February 2008, the main cast was announced, as well as the trilogy's budget of 6 billion yen (approx. $60 million US) and that Urasawa will contribute to the script. Filming of the first two movies was planned from January 3 to the end of June, and of the third from mid-August to the end of October. English rock band T. Rex's "20th Century Boy", the song from which the series gets its name, was used as the theme song to the films.
The first movie's premiere was held in Paris on August 19, 2008, at the Publicis Champs-Elysées cinema with a press conference at the Louvre Museum, which was attended by Toshiaki Karasawa (Kenji) and Takako Tokiwa (Yukiji). The first film was released on August 30, 2008, the second on January 31, 2009, and the third was released on August 29, 2009. The first movie covers volumes 1 to 5 of the manga, and the second covers volumes 6 to 15, but differs from the original story on some key points; important characters missing in the first movie were introduced in the second. The final film in the trilogy covers the remainder of the volumes, but with several changes to the main story.
The first film in the trilogy is available on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan from VAP, and in Hong Kong from Kam & Ronson. A UK DVD release was announced by label 4Digital Asia, and released on May 4, 2009. On the same day, Part 2 received its UK theatrical premiere at the 8th Sci-Fi-London annual fantastic film festival. Part 3 received its UK theatrical premiere on May 7, 2010, at the Prince Charles Cinema in London as part of the 2nd Terracotta Film Festival. Following this, 4Digital Asia released a 4-disc boxset containing the complete trilogy on May 31, 2010. Viz Media licensed the trilogy for North American release. The first film had its US theatrical premiere at the New People opening in San Francisco on August 15, 2009. The second film premiere followed at the same cinema on August 21, 2009, and the third film premiere followed on the same day as the Japanese premiere on August 28, 2009. Part 1 received its US DVD release on December 11, 2009. A launch event was held at the New People cinema in San Francisco with a theatrical screening. Part 2's DVD release had a similar launch event on February 9, 2010, with a one-night-only theatrical screening. Likewise, Part 3 had a launch event and theatrical screening at New People on May 20, 2010.
20th Century Boys has 36 million copies in circulation; it was the third top-selling manga series of 2008 in Japan; 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. Fans in the United Kingdom voted it Favourite New Manga at the 2012 Eagle Awards. 20th Century Boys 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 manga aimed at a male audience, the series gained fans of all ages for its great premise, storytelling and the mystery behind Friend. In addition to King's It, Thompson and Tom Speelman of Polygon both suggested that the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult also served as an inspiration on the manga.
Anime News Network's Carlo Santos felt the pacing of the series is very well written, and 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". Including it on a list of "10 Essential Manga That Should Belong in Every Comic Collection", Matthew Meylikhov of Paste praised the cast as one of "the most expansive and diverse" in any manga and how Urasawa makes each character independently recognizable as they age through the decades. "20th Century Boys becomes an experience featuring horror, science fiction, post-apocalyptic futures, wild humor, epic landscapes, and more as an apex accomplishment in manga."
20th Century Boys was adapted into three films. The first live-action film debuted at number two at the box office, grossing 625.61 million yen (approx. $5.78 million US), and rose to number one the second week. The second film debuted at number one, grossing approximately $6,955,472 US. The third film followed also debuting at number one, and earned approximately $22,893,123 US by its second week.
Writing for Empire, Justin Bowyer gave the first film a three out of five rating. He praised the action and faithfulness to the original manga, but stated that those unfamiliar with the source material may find the large cast of characters and complex story confusing. Bowyer also suggested waiting for all three films to be released. A fan of the manga, Jamie S. Rich of DVD Talk felt too much had to be cut to fit three films, with the development of characters suffering as a result. He did comment on how close the actors looked to their comic book counterparts and ultimately recommended the film. In an opposite view, both The Guardian's Cath Clarke and Time Out London's Trevor Johnston gave the first film two out of five stars and cited the faithfulness to the manga as a negative, feeling that some of the material could have been cut. Charles Webb of Twitch Film voiced similar criticism in a review of the second film. However, he praised the character Friend and Etsushi Toyokawa's performance as Occho, as well as the ending that makes the viewer anticipate the final installment in the trilogy. Jamie S. Rich also felt that the second movie "more than fulfills its prime directive of enticing me to stick around" for the final film. On the third film, Burl Burlingame of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin wrote, "The steam seems to have run out of the franchise during this third part, and it's simply an OK capper to the series", but praised the special effects. Variety's Russell Edwards also cited the special effects in the final installment as the best in the trilogy.