VitaX said:
After finishing this manga, the ending wasn't quite what I had pictured. Though it was satisfying to some degree. I'll post my thoughts below:
My thoughts on 20th Century Boys:
- The introduction of Friend (1997) and how he relates to Kenji in the beginning was amazing and thrilling. One of the best introductions of a manga if not the best out there.
- Events up to "Bloody New Years Eve" (1997-2000) was done brilliantly. The 3 year time skip that showed how much the world had evolved and what happened to Kenji in that time period was awesome. And then going to face off against the robot on New Year's Eve was epic as well. I was a bit surprised this was done roughly 200 chapters before the end of the manga though because I had thought this was going to be the climax of the story.
- The time skip (2000-2014) at first had me concerned with where the story was going. But when Friend was revealed to have won the bout with Kenji and his scheme made him the savior of the world things were bound to get interesting. 1997-2000 was the getting ready to fight arc if I have to give an explanation of it. The time skip was more psychological as it dealt with "Friends" past and what happened exactly in the past. Skeptical for a while until Otcho and Yoshitune turned up badass as ever. I liked how both character's evolved into something much greater. I wasn't sure how I was going to adjust to 50 year olds saving the world now but it was more epic then the previous arc "Bloody New Years Eve". The introductions of Sadakiyo and Yamane were done brilliantly. I wasn't sure about this virtual world of 1970 at first but it turned out to be very interesting. The hanging hill and science room bits were explained in greater detail later on which was great. A thing that annoyed me for a while though as it was never truly explained was what exactly happened on "Bloody New Years Eve". Yeah we got to hear some vague stories from Yoshitune, Maruo, Kenji, and Otcho but it wasn't enough to satisfy me. I'm most curious about the face-off between Fukubei and Kenji on the robots. The most we ever got to see of that was Kenji saying "You...but you're dead." I was hoping we'd get more details on that part later on but I guess not. The death of Fukubei was surprising to say the least. But when he appeared again and saved the Pope's life I had thought it was just another one of tricks but...
- The next time skip (2015-2018 or Friend Year 1 - Friend Year 3) wasn't to me liking. Not quite sure why I didn't like it as much as the previous arc but to me it just wasn't as good. The whole "alien invasion" bit started to get annoying after a while. Not to mention Kenji was still nowhere to be found (I knew he'd pop up sooner or later but after going 140 chapters or so without him was starting to effect the story for me). I didn't like how they introduced a new character, the DJ, and that he was an old friend of Kenji. In my mind, I don't believe at this point of the story a new character needed to be added in. To me it felt there was too many characters to look after at this point and that it would start effecting the story. For me it did. I also thought it was unrealistic for Yanbo and Mabo to come back into the story and have designed the flying saucers for "Friend". Seemed ridiculous to me. It was a bit of a shock that the "Friend" now was not Fukubei, wasn't sure if I liked that or not. But it made for an even more interesting story now. When Kenji and "Friend" finally faced off, I wasn't too sure as to how it would play out. It wasn't exactly how I had imagined it would take place. Can't say for sure if I liked it or not.
-Final scene being the reunion of Kanna and Kenji wasn't a bad place to end. I was somewhat disappointed that the final scene wasn't with Kiriko as well. Overall I give it about a 9.6/10. One of the best manga's I've read. Would give a perfect 10 but I just didn't like how the story kept getting more and more jam packed with characters and having their character's being built upon and not having a real conclusion for them.
Pretty much exactly as VitaX stated. I enjoyed the evolution of Kanna, Otcho, and some of the others. But, Kenji's return just didn't sit well with me. I did like the "don't cry Kanna," scene at the end. But, it's funny, I find the lack of answers in this story unsettling. While, I thought it actually benefited Monster. Weird...
I can't decide between a 9 or a 8. Because, I loved the first 150 or so chapters and just liked the past few chapters.
