21st Century Boys

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As the short epilogue to 20th Century Boys, most of what I have said about 20th Century Boys applies to 21st Century Boys.

Despite the time gap between the release of the final chapters of 20th Century Boys and the beginning of 21st Century Boys, there is virtually zero dissonance between the two series, and thus you can very easily get right into 21st Century Boys as soon as its predecessor is over.

The narrative this time around is far more heavily focused on one thread rather than multiple converging threads as you might be used to with the bulk of 20th Century Boys, however, ... this could just be because all of the threads have converged already.

Although my problems with 20th Century Boys are kind of amplified here, with very questionable uses of ESP and other supernatural business like ghosts and people somehow being able to feel the emotions of a data clone of themselves in a VR attraction, at this point in the story I wasn't able to care so hard about my problems with the story as much as I was engrossed with seeing satisfying ends to nearly every character's arcs.

Despite the nature of 21st Century Boys as being written for the expressed purpose of providing an ending that fans wanted to the series, it never felt like fanservice or rushed to shut fans up, which I will admit makes me respect Urusawa's integrity as an author for not caving in fully to fan demand.

This is filled with spoilers

This was the manga where Im like. I want a conclusion i want it to end. Ive read 20th century boys and I loved it but I was desperate for more. i want an actual ending to such a great journey. I dont want to prolong the journey any longer, not only that, they put some sort of I can feel you with my heart mechanic therefore I must drive the story forward to this direction. The virtual reality word is evident and “realistic” enough fro me to comprehend. The esp aspects sure is unrealistic but Im still fine with it ... because its not overpowered. On this part of the manga however its soooo overpowered and the threat doesn’t feel like a threat at all. The real threat died a long time ago I want a closing ceremony to the epic master piece that is 20thcentury boys. Thats why Im considering this medium as separate from the main series.cause I understand I enjoyed the main series more than this. i prefer if this was more heart warming moment than another kenji saves the world stuff.

If you are reading 21st Century Boys to gain a sense of closure with the answer to the final mystery, then the manga delivers exactly that. However, the answer we received through these 2 volumes was not satisfactory and it ultimately felt like a massive letdown.

While Fukubei wasn't some complex or philosophically deep villain, his character was sufficiently flushed out in 20th CB for the reader to understand his motivations, albeit it being rather childish and shallow. Additionally, because he was much more prevalent as himself in the story, the reveal that he was Friend felt a lot more shocking yet satisfying and sensible. Katsumata, ... the second "Friend", on the other hand is a much shallower and uninspiring villain. Just a reminder, his name was only mentioned in a couple of instances throughout 20th CB, so we almost know nothing about who he is as a person aside from the fact that he was another forgotten person from Kenji's childhood. His motivation feels even less compelling than Fukubei and it did not make much sense for him to harbour a lifelong hatred towards Kenji, especially considering the fact that it was Fukubei who started bullying him. Such poor character writing is baffling considering the fact that this was written by the same Urasawa who created Johan in Monster. Aside from the reveal, the part where Kanna started telepathically communicating with child Kenji from the VR and vice-versa made little to no sense and at this point, I believe she was given that ability for convenience to finish the story.

Overall, 21st Century Boys is the underwhelming conclusion we got to a genuinely amazing manga that was losing it's steam. Does this ruin everything else the series has going for it? Absolutely not. For all it's flaws, Urasawa was still able to craft one of the best mysteries in manga spanning decades, but at the very end of that journey, we got what was equivalent to Kenji's gang realizing that the scary ghost at the Hanging Hill was just a Teru teru bozu.