20th Century Boys Vol. 16

20th Century Boys, Volume 16 begins in 1970, when the World Exposition is coming to Osaka.  We see 1970 from the point of view of Sadakiyo or Fukube.  Sadakiyo wears a mask and is picked on by all his classmates, all except Fukube, who only tolerates him.  Sadakiyo works hard to become friends with Kenji's group.  He lets them read his extensive manga collection, but they mostly ignore him.  The part in 1970 has a dreamlike quality to it.  We don't know if they are really there, or if it is just part of the game in Friendland.  Perhaps the game allows the user to change the past.  Fukube grows up to become the Friend, so it's likely we're seeing it from his viewpoint.

The series does become a little confusing at times.  Earlier on, we thought that Sadakiyo would grow up to be the Friend.  Is Fukube just a character in the game?  We come to the 2014 timeline (2017?  2018?), where a group of kids are waiting to watch puroresu.  The grandfather of one of them dreams wistfully of the past, of steak dinners, of Antonio Inoki.  Inoki was a professional wrestler popular from the 1960s through 1990s, who became the promoter of New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1972.

I like the renewed focus on childhood antics in this volume, although the post-apocalyptic timeline was a little hard to follow.  It features new characters mixed with a few old characters.  I really can't say enough good things about this series; it's great.  Take a look at the cover.  You're seeing 1970 from Fukube's point of view.  A lot of the first half of the volume is like that, as if you're playing a game, and this is what you see.