20th Century Boys 14

20th Century Boys, Volume 14, published in 2003, takes place in the 2014- timeline.  Kenji died in 2000, on "Bloody New Year's Eve," when he saved Japan from a giant robot, although history (written by the Friends) has branded him a terrorist.  The Friend is dead, killed by former Friends microbiologist, Yamane, and Manjome Inshu has taken his place.  Now Kyoko, along with Yoshitsune,is ready to enter the virtual world.  Kanna, Kyoko, and the remaining resistance fighters break into Friend World to do so.  In the virtual world, they are in 1971.  This transitions into a flashback to 1971 and a revelation which I won't give away here.

I've been reading more manga the past few days, and I love it.  20th Century Boys is perhaps Naoki Urasawa's greatest series, although I do love Monster and Master Keaton, both of which I have to catch up with.  I also have the complete Pluto, based on Osamu Tezuka's Astroboy.  I didn't know how much I'd like 20th Century Boys after Kenji dies, but Urasawa has a unique ability to eat up scenes and develop characters.  His artwork is spectacular, too, as most of the characters appear in three timelines or more, ranging from 1971 to 2014 and onward.

A unique fight between Good and Evil, 20th Century Boys runs 22 volumes, plus two volumes of 21st Century Boys. I can only guess at what is going to happen; if I'm right, it'll look like I read further volumes, and if I'm wrong, it'll look like I'm stupid, so I won't on this review.