Billy Bat

Add to My List

Add to Favorites

Alternative Titles

Japanese: BILLY BAT

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 20

Chapters: 165

Status: Finished

Published: Oct 16, 2008 to Aug 18, 2016

Genres: Drama, Mystery, Supernatural

Themes: Detective, Historical, Psychological

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Morning

Authors: Urasawa, Naoki (Story & Art), Nagasaki, Takashi (Story)

Statistics

Score: 8.45¹ (scored by 13,953 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #161²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #277

Members: 53,891

Favorites: 1,837

Available At

Official Site

Resources

Wikipedia

8.45

Ranked #161Popularity #277Members 53,891

MangaMorningUrasawa, Naoki (Story & Art), Nagasaki, Takashi (Story)

Add to List

Volumes: /20

Chapters: /165

* Your list is public by default.

Edit
Synopsis

Japanese-American Kevin Yamagata now authors the renowned detective comic book "Billy Bat" after serving in the Allied Forces in World War II. But as his series becomes a massive hit, Kevin discovers that his famed character, Billy Bat, already existed before within a Japanese comic. Worried that he may have unconsciously copied something he saw during his time there, Kevin returns to Japan to find Billy Bat's original creator and seek permission for him to use their character. However, as he traces back Billy Bat's roots, he finds himself unraveling a dark and twisted history of murders that somehow involve the character he thought he created.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit
Background

No background information has been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding background information here.

More characters
Characters

Billy Bat

Main

Goodman, Kevin

Main

Yamagata, Kevin

Main

Hitler, Adolf

Supporting

Christ, Jesus

Supporting

Oswald, Lee Harvey

Supporting

Einstein, Albert

Supporting

Kiyoshi, Kurusu

Supporting

Luther King, Jr., Martin

Supporting

Shishou

Supporting

More reviewsReviews

Jan 23, 2017

HayaK

Recommended

This is simply the best Manga i have ever read!

The Manga started pretty weird but we all know Naoki Urasawa. He is not just drawing Manga, his works are simply art with a way deeper meaning than it might appear at first glance.

Billy Bat is using historical information, known conspiracy theories and different aspects of life in a way.. it just simply blows your goddamn mind. I read his other works and many other seinen or just manga with deeper meaning but Billy Bat is just something else. And don't lemme start with the ending.

Give it a shot.
You might think it's weird or boring ...

Open

Gift

Dec 13, 2018

WitchJacqueline

Recommended

Running from 2008 to 2016, Billy Bat is the next mystery-thriller from Naoki Urasawa, though this time written in combination with Takashi Nagasaki. People discussing Urasawa usually tend to solely mention Monster, 20cb, and Pluto, giving Billy Bat a pass. Is this due to a lack of quality? Is it simply too new? Let’s Rock.

PLOT: We begin in 1949, comic artist Kevin Yamagata is semi-successful with his comic “Billy Bat” (which the first chapter and a half simply are). However an investigator looking into some soviet spies drops by his office. The investigator comments that he’s seen the Billy Bat character before as a manga ... in Japan. Yamagata, feeling like he may have unintentionally plagiarized the character. sets off to Japan. However what he finds isn’t simply a manga with a bat, but a multi-thousand year conspiracy about prophecy, power, and the icon of god. I say “begin” because the plot will move a lot in both directions, looking into the past, and progressing into the future. It’s intricate and intriguing, and in my opinion one of Urasawa’s greatest plots. Not only does it span a good amount of time, it heavily involves real world conspiracies. To avoid _too many_ spoilers I’ll only mention the JFK Assassination, Disney’s ghost writer, and Nazi spies. I find that the use of reality adds more weight and impact to everything. No matter what it does, it makes it connected and always comes with an interesting twist, being plenty surprising. The ending will be hit or miss depending on the person. I wouldn’t say it’s the most narratively satisfying but it’s incredibly thematically satisfying. Which party you lean towards will decide how you feel about it. I personally enjoyed it. Back to the main plot however, it’s a lot of different conspiracies over time, all involving the bat. They can feel episodic as it’s heavily arc based, but they all build into the larger narrative. Nothing is unimportant, even what seems irrelevant at first.

9/10, it’s crazy cool and uses real world elements for great effect.

CHARACTERS:With that much plot detail something had to give, and that sadly was characters. Kevin Yamagata just isn’t as interesting as some other Urasawa protagonists. I think the epitome of this problem is when Kevin hooks up with a girl in early volume 2. It’s so focused on tying the plot in that the girl is completely devoid of anything interesting and her exit from the story has little impact. There’s not a lot of flesh given to a lot of characters save for some more character focused arcs. I rarely found myself connecting to anyone (notable exceptions were Kiyoshi Kurusu and Diane Goodman, who to the end of both of their arcs had become exceptional). Though there weren’t really any bad characters. Kevin(s) felt like typical leads, thrust into situations they don’t know and largely defined by their abilities and perception being based around those. They were simple, and effective for the plot, but with Urasawa I’ve come to expect more character writing. Takes on historical figures were interesting to see however. Lee Harvey Oswald was quite interesting in contrast to the usual public image of him. Adolf Hitler was also a surprise. A lot of characters were unique in manga for their natural existence in different time periods and locations, but I don’t think any of the characters will stay with me too long.

7/10, there wouldn’t be any real complaints if it weren’t for Urasawa. There’s nothing to write home about without comparison to external knowledge.

VISUALS:The art in Billy Bat is a unique topic, mostly for its varying styles. In being a manga about manga/comics there are many a times that things are told through the comics themselves, switching into the style of whatever in-series artist drew the comic. This keeps the manga visually interesting, and whenever the series focuses more on fiction it becomes quite intriguing to look at. I can still see in my mind Billy Bat walking on a flat plane consisting of his comics, and that’s a cool image. Urasawa’s ability to represent different art styles is also a nice little touch. The real world art is pretty standard Urasawa fare. Like with Monster I found the art to be largely not surpassing functional. All of the characters were visually different and nothing ever looked bad but there were only maybe 3 moments within the 20 volume manga that I ever found myself wowed at the art. After 20th Century Boys I expected to be wowed once more but I never found myself as impressed. Still not being the greatest is by no means bad, and there were still things I found myself quite impressed with. The depiction of JFK and his Wife just wasn’t that.

8/10, there’s a lot of smart design and varied/unique visuals. Just not a lot of uber-frameable moments.

FINAL SCORE: 8/10

Billy Bat is an interesting manga, a very interesting manga. I can see someone coming off of Monster and being disappointed that it doesn’t have Monster’s level of skilled character writing but it makes up for that in plot. I wouldn’t call myself Billy Bat’s biggest fan but it was an intriguing read that I think I’ll come to find I enjoyed more than I initially thought. For anyone into conspiracy stories and meta-narratives about art I’d definitely recommend Billy Bat. It’s not Urasawa’s best work but I do believe it holds to his standard of quality, and that’s a high standard.

Open

Gift

Sep 23, 2020

AshishSubedi

Recommended

Don't be deceived by the title that seems childlike; it seems so at first glance but when you take the initiative to learn it you shall realize how the entire melody of the comic is paced by the title itself.
The story seems to be a simple mystery initially, but as you move on you realize that it is much more than that.The story starts from one point and then diverges through several roots and later the network of these roots of story lines converge once again to convey the theme. The narrative is rather adventitous.
The anti-climatic ending itself justifies the greatness of the comic.
Several anecdotes ...

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Western countries in manga[Modern History edition]

by KoKoJin81

45 Entries · 9 Restacks

Sleep. Draw. Repeat. Manga about Artists

by TheMangaManiac

27 Entries · 56 Restacks

Manga with great world building

by Slinkdogdoubbleg

17 Entries · 10 Restacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

Japan's Weekly Manga Rankings for September 24th - 30th

The weekly manga and light novels rankings for September 24th - 30th Rank / This week's sales by copies / Cumulative sales / Titles Manga *1, *,683,751 *,683,75...read more

Oct 5, 2012 4:44 PM by Snow | Discuss (40 comments)

Japan's Weekly Manga Rankings for May 23 - 29

Here are the weekly manga & light novels rankings for May 23rd - 29th. ranks/ this week's sales by copies/ cumulative sales/ titles Manga *1, 134,466 *,134,...read more

Jun 1, 2011 5:26 PM by dtshyk | Discuss (26 comments)

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Billy Bat Chapter 165 Discussion Stark700 - Aug 27, 2016	44 replies	by Garolnape »» Feb 5, 1:24 PM
Poll: Billy Bat Chapter 28 Discussion Td99 - Feb 28, 2010	13 replies	by YourRarted »» Jan 22, 3:57 PM
Poll: Billy Bat Chapter 1 Discussion Beatnik - Jun 4, 2009	10 replies	by Mayuka »» Dec 27, 2022 11:42 AM
Poll: Billy Bat Chapter 156 Discussion Stark700 - Mar 2, 2016	12 replies	by UnknownGhost5 »» Dec 22, 2022 7:56 AM
Poll: Billy Bat Chapter 155 Discussion Stark700 - Feb 28, 2016	8 replies	by UnknownGhost5 »» Dec 22, 2022 7:46 AM

Billy Bat
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More characters
Characters

More reviewsReviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Billy Bat Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

EditSynopsis

EditBackground

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More charactersCharacters

More reviewsReviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations Recommendations

More newsRecent News

More discussionsRecent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Billy Bat
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More characters
Characters

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion