Is 20th Century Boys similar to Monster?

Mar 17, 6:38 AM

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Feb 2024

I've heard a lot of good things about 20th Century Boys. However, I'm shaky about whether or not to put it on my plan-to-read list since I heard a lot of good things about Monster which was written by the same author and I didn't like the anime all that much. So here are the reasons I didn't like Monster, could you tell me if 20th Century Boys has the same elements.
1. The villain barely showed up and was the opposite of over-the-top.
2. The plot was fairly slow-paced.

Mar 17, 6:48 AM

NatanaelAstra

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Aug 2019

You can’t compare the two imo. But I try…

The villain isn’t a straight up villain in 20th century Boys at the beginning. It’s more like a mystery.

The plot is kind of slow paced I would say because there are a lot of characters that need to be introduced and a lot of build up. But it’s still really gripping and doesnt get boring at all in my opinion.

It’s my fav manga and I didn’t really like monster too.

I think a good comparison would be IT by Stephan King because the story has kind of the same structure.

Hope that helps.

Mar 17, 6:58 AM

hi777

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Jan 2024

256

I haven't completed monster but from what I have watched I don't think they are similar , some character are similar but it's not straight copy yes the plot is slow paced but the villian still has more appearance than Johan but not that much

Mar 17, 7:59 AM

viciousdrop

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Jan 2023

Yes and no. Yes because you can tell both of them are Urasawa's, because of some characters that are similar and both main vallains are psychopaths. No because of the plot and the pace. Something common in Urasawa's stories is this idea that we have so many shades inside, we're not just "that", and so our choices and morality are very fluid.

Mar 17, 8:02 AM

RandomPerson9348

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Mar 2022

213

I'd say that, in general, Naoki Urasawa isn't for you. All of his plots seem "slow-paced" because of his writing style. They aren't, but can seem so because he loves to handle a large cast and build up to the reveal of every important plot point. I am a huge fan of his because of this, but I can see why someone might not like it.

As for just these two examples - Monster works because Johan doesn't show up much. It isn't about him as much as it is about the chaos he leaves behind. He isn't over-the-top to prove that exact point. He is just a simple human being who is capable of causing all that chaos.

20th Century Boys has much more of the villain than Monster, but in a completely different sense. As someone else pointed out, it's more suspense and mystery-based than Monster, and has an even larger cast.

If you do want to try more Urasawa, then try Pluto. Much shorter, beautifully animated into 8 hour-long episodes, and still just as good as anything he has ever written.

Mar 17, 1:32 PM

khromex

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Dec 2022

Saiunknown said:
I've heard a lot of good things about 20th Century Boys. However, I'm shaky about whether or not to put it on my plan-to-read list since I heard a lot of good things about Monster which was written by the same author and I didn't like the anime all that much. So here are the reasons I didn't like Monster, could you tell me if 20th Century Boys has the same elements.
1. The villain barely showed up and was the opposite of over-the-top.
2. The plot was fairly slow-paced.

20cb has the thriller and is faster imo

Mar 17, 1:50 PM

Truly_Evil

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Oct 2020

181

I will say that the 5th comment in this thread has summarised everything perfectly and you might take his advice.
Some things which I will add to that are that there are much more things happening in the 20th CB so it might be deemed as faster paced among those two.
And that it takes place in the 2nd largest scale among all Urasawa mangas if that interests you to look into it.

Mar 18, 8:21 PM

VinayVSD

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May 2021

No, They Are Not Similar

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Is 20th Century Boys similar to Monster?

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