Billy Bat

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One of Urasawa's best works, it's so weird and different that there's no other work of art similar to this. At the same time, it works so well. I know that not everyone will like it, but if you're used to strange works, you should definitely give it a try. I did, and I don't regret it.

The art style fits perfectly. It's weird in the sense that on one page, you have a cartoonish design, and in the next panel, you have something more realistic or extremely detailed. This isn't a bad thing; it actually matches the vibe and doesn't disturb your immersion, which is ... rare. Drastic changes in style usually break immersion and make no sense, but in some cases, they can be used effectively.

As for the characters, I think I've never seen such a strange combination in a story. You literally see Jesus, Lee Harvey Oswald, Martin Luther King, and Hitler in the same story, and somehow it works perfectly.

But again, if you're not used to strange stories, conspiracy theories, and odd characters, you probably won't get it at all

Naoki Urasawa's big three thrillers: 20th Century Boys, Monster, and Pluto. Compared to these, Billy Bat is more of a niche thriller, but it has its loyal fanbase, especially since it's set during the Cold War era.

Let's start with the good stuff: Billy Bat has a ton of settings, tons of information, a non-linear narrative, loads of characters and their backgrounds, and of course, Naoki Urasawa's signature use of foreshadowing, all of which make this work stand out.

Now for the bad: reading it can be exhausting. You have to remember a lot, and sometimes you forget earlier plot points. The pacing can drag at times, ... making you feel impatient, and only the desire to uncover the truth keeps you going. But when you finally reach the end, you might feel like the so-called "truth" isn't that great. You'll probably think, "That's it?" and then feel a wave of dissatisfaction. This is a common issue with Urasawa Naoki's works. Finishing one of his stories often feels like the music is building up to a peak but then suddenly cuts off at a weird way, leaving you feeling a bit lost and let down. It feels like a weak ending ruins the whole thing.

But after calming down and reflecting on the whole reading experience, you'll realize that even though the ending was meh, the storytelling, narrative techniques, and foreshadowing were actually brilliant. So overall, I'd give it an 8 out of 10, but don't expect too much from the foreshadowing payoffs.

With the works of Urasawa that I’ve read, I can safely say I’m not a fan of his. To me it appears some of his works contain the same common ground of presentation—one slow, tedious, stretched-out slog of an endeavour—that I’m repulsed by. Billy Bat’s insidious nature too dictates improper planning and lack of direction.

There are some positives I can extract out of this manga. Billy Bat has a well-established premise that exudes intriguing mystery through a bizarre comic character. This peculiar entity maintains its mystique dimension throughout most of the manga. The manga is reliant on historical context that I find to be solid ... enough, though sometimes it can be a bit cheesy. And while being considerably slow, the first 90 or so chapters manage to enthrall with some gripping reveals and events.

The second portion of the manga which involves the second Kevin as the protagonist is certainly inferior to everything prior as it feels all over the place. The chapters with the first Kevin as the protagonist had elaborate self-contained storylines that felt significant and memorable; something I can’t say about everything after where nothing sticks out or manages to form a path encompassing clear direction.

Don’t you find it disappointing how the continuous deepening of the mystery only leads to an ending that feels so anticlimactic and underwhelming? When I take into consideration how some of Urasawa’s works were serialized simultaneously, I can’t help but think there isn’t a full-fledged picture in his mind (or the one whom he collaborates with). It clearly manifests in Billy Bat’s lack of cohesion. As a whole the story doesn’t really make any sense and feels too disjointed to determine a solid finalised impression of its overarching narrative. By the end it’s not clarified what Billy Bat is and how it came to be a universal entity. Implementing some symbolic purposes isn’t enough when the character or concept itself isn’t clear or doesn’t make sense. You can talk forever about the message conveyed through an idea and how it’s fascinating, but if it can’t secure a believable and consistent spot in the narrative, it’s bad writing.

And the message itself? I tried to piece together the scattered bits and came to the conclusion that Billy Bat is the manifestation of a two-sided coin of ideology or will. The "wrong" way to use Billy Bat is by dividing, corrupting and contaminating the world—a process that is done by people who fall into the category of: Having a desire to rewrite history in order to appease one's selfish wishes and regrets (which can also be a desire to repair humanity's mistakes; both are things that could lead to the destruction of the universe) and having a desire to conquer the world by means of brainwashing, indoctrination and authoritarianism (using Billy Bat’s radiation of happiness and influence as a weapon to control the masses as depicted by the imposter Chuck Culkin and his successor)—these are 2 of the 3 Billy Bats who are divided.

And so the "real" Billy Bat—the one whose usage is "correct"—is the one who has the power to unite the entire world and portrays humanity in its most pure and ideal way. "Keep drawing" Billy Bat as it will be the force which humanity will be dependent on unanimously: That’s what I got from the two Kevins’ realization and the ending portion with the two soldiers. Billy Bat can lead to either the destruction of humanity or to its unification.

The progression of the plot is dependent on precognition whose telling controls the characters, and therefore the characters remain superficial with no explored-upon or elaborated motivational merit. And that includes both empty shells of protagonists. The two Kevins are driven by a willingness to unite the world by using Billy Bat, and that’s about it. The second Kevin is especially bad considering not only is he a derivative character, but he also lacks personality.

Billy Bat insists everything that occurs is according to its plan, and so some characters are detached from free will. Although it's a theme that is touched upon with some characters, it affects too much of the cast to justify their lack of depth since then it would be indicative of redundancy.

Even the characters that seem to have more depth to them fall flat. Take for example a character like Kurusu: They clearly tried to write an elaborate characterisation of him and his motivations, but ultimately it was as hollow as it was badly concluded. He’s a one-dimensional character who represents the side of persons who want to use Billy Bat to erase their regrets and past life. But the worst part about him is that he was introduced as an ominous, scheming individual with an intriguing mystique only for his character to end on a side-story undertake that is related directly to no relevant character—not even the first Kevin whom confrontation with him at the beginning has established a long-term conflict to be resolved.

What you need to understand from this is that the manga is entirely dependent on its plot. And that’s a problem when—along with the negatives of the plot I’ve presented thus far—it has many questionable elements. There are many cuts that try to provide tension and thrill, but their over-usage ruins the flow of the story. Some characters know certain info without reason; they go to a certain place, but their reasoning or justification to go there are nonexistent. It’s not complemented well by Billy Bat’s convenient telling which has tendencies of serving as a plot device. Other forms of convenience include the second Kevin managing to stop Kurusu from destroying the world by altering the preconceived future sight of Kurusu fulfilling his wish. So basically, the plot struggles to be the great dominant force of the manga.

I’ve tried Billy Bat several times and ended up dropping it until recently when I picked it back up and finally read it from start to finish. I felt like there was something, an aura which gravitated me towards trying it again and again. As I’ve said, there is an excellent premise here. The surreal mystery and uncertainty of the start are impeccable. But after finally finishing it, it felt like a miss-opportunity; a luring idea whose true potential has been neglected.