This is another series that is just…like I can’t even cover half of it without explicitly giving parts away. There’s so much to it...
One thing to note: this series does flashback a lot, and does it extremely well, so you just need to hang on.
The basic plot is that Kenji and his friends have formed a club in their secret base, a grass hut that they built in a meadow. They meet there a lot in the summers of 69-70. Like all kids do, they make up adventures about how they’re going to save the world, to the point where they write down their stories in a book called The Book of Prophecy with their own secret symbol.
Fast forward to their thirties, and nothing has gone the way they planned. They all have grown up, some have families, some have great jobs, some have less than stellar jobs, one (Otcho), has gone missing. Kenji, himself has turned his father’s liquor store into a convenience store and is raising his niece, who was suddenly dropped off to him and his mother one night by his sister, who has also disappeared.
And then The Friends spring up. It’s a slow burn, but little by little Kenji starts recognizing things that he and his friends invented in their childhood stories…but The Friends are trying to do them for real to bring about the end of the world. So which one of them is actually The Friend and leader of the cult?
I just really love the concept of this. Plus, it never tries to like take the methods The Friends use too seriously. It’s stated numerous times that it’s unbelievable because those are things a kid would think up…because that’s exactly what happened. Would such a tactic play out in real life? Eh, I don’t know about that, but I do think the reactions to things happening are dead on. Just completely dead on. This is probably one of the more accurate looks at a post apocalyptic society that I’ve seen, partially because it’s only really focused on Japan (with some asides in the US, London, the Vatican, and Hong Kong, but those are brief). It also really tries to utilize each member of the cast. At one point I was a little concerned that Otcho was almost too strong of a character because he’s So. Damn. Cool. And I questioned the sanity of taking your main character out of the bulk of the series…but when the lead comes back, it’s in a way that I completely wouldn’t have thought to do. And it’s amazing. I also really like how Kanna is depicted – it’s a version of the teen girl trying to save the world that doesn’t make me want to punch myself in the face. All of the characters get a decent amount of screen time and all get a good amount to do. A lot of side characters come back in deft ways, and it really shows how random, typical people are impacted by events like germ warfare and like an actual giant robot trying to destroy cities. The Friends are suitably creepy and there’s a lot of intrigue trying to figure out who this "Friend" is and what’s going on with his followers, too.
The only thing I can say is at times the pacing feels a little slow, but honestly, I think that’s because there’s a lot going on, but this is a tight, tight series and the pieces make sense once you’re reading them. Some people may not want to invest the time/effort to read this long of a series, but it is completely worth it.
