20th Century Boys
24 primary works
Book 1
War is over. The Friend is dead. Mankind no longer faces the threat of extinction. Peace has finally come to Tokyo... Or has it? The mystery still remains. Nobody knows who the Friend was and where he came from. The only clue is hidden deep within the memories - the memories of the hero Kenji. It is time to open Pandora's Box to discover what is left at the bottom.
Book 1
Humanity, having faced extinction at the end of the 20th century, would not have entered the new millennium if it weren't for them. In 1969, during their youth, they created a symbol. In 1997, as the coming disaster slowly starts to unfold, that symbol returns. This is the story of a group of boys who try to save the world.
Failed rock musician Kenji's memories of his past come rushing back when one of his childhood friends mysteriously commits suicide. Could this new death be related to the rise of a bizarre new cult that's been implicated in several other murders and disappearances? Determined to dig deeper, Kenji reunites with some of his old buddies in the hope of learning the truth behind it all.
Failed rock musician Kenji's memories of his past come rushing back when one of his childhood friends mysteriously commits suicide. Could this new death be related to the rise of a bizarre new cult that's been implicated in several other murders and disappearances? Determined to dig deeper, Kenji reunites with some of his old buddies in the hope of learning the truth behind it all.
Book 2
The climax of our story is finally at hand! Mankind faces a crisis, and Kenji is hustling to try to save the world and the people he loves. But he also must solve the mystery of the Friend. Who is he and why did he become evil? The answer is tied to a memory Kenji had when he was a twentieth century boy.
Book 2
The Friend, an enigmatic cult leader who plans to destroy the world, declares, 'The cosmos has begun choosing those who are true friends'. Meanwhile, horrifying incidents are taking place: the emergence of a mysterious virus, the revelations of a man on the run... Kenji tries to find out who this Friend is, but the answer is still far ahead. The footsteps of doom slowly creep closer and a shadow falls over the city...
Yukiji remembers who came up with their group's enigmatic symbol: Otcho. She also discovers that, nine years earlier, Otcho had been working in Thailand but mysteriously vanished. Could Otcho be the mysterious Friend? Also, a legendary detective is hot on the trail of the Shikishima kidnappers, but the clues he uncovers lead him dangerously close to the Friends cult. Is his life now in danger as well?
Yukiji remembers who came up with their group's enigmatic symbol: Otcho. She also discovers that, nine years earlier, Otcho had been working in Thailand but mysteriously vanished. Could Otcho be the mysterious Friend? Also, a legendary detective is hot on the trail of the Shikishima kidnappers, but the clues he uncovers lead him dangerously close to the Friends cult. Is his life now in danger as well?
Book 3
Humanity, having faced extinction at the end of the 20th century, would not have entered the new millennium if it weren't for them. In 1969, during their youth, they created a symbol. In 1997, as the coming disaster slowly starts to unfold, that symbol returns. This is the story of a group of boys who try to save the world. It turns out that the Friend's plan to destroy the world was dreamed up long ago by a group of boys playing "good guys against bad guys"...And now, the only one who can stop this diabolical plot from succeeding is the one who came up with it--Kenji! Kenji races home and picks up the newspaper: sure enough, the mystery microbe has hit London. He thinks back over everything that has happened and what he and his childhood friends dug up, and is forced to face the unbelievable truth--someone really is putting into motion the story Kenji made up as a child, and people are dying because of it!
Book 4
Humanity, having faced extinction at the end of the 20th century, would not have entered the new millennium if it weren't for them. In 1969, during their youth, they created a symbol. In 1997, as the coming disaster slowly starts to unfold, that symbol returns. This is the story of a group of boys who try to save the world.Kenji wrote "The Book of Prophecy" in his boyhood. Now this childish fantasy has become the scenario for the Friend's fiendish plot to destroy mankind. Kenji goes underground and waits for a chance to fight back. Meanwhile, the evil organization is closing in on a man called Shogun in the ganglands of Bangkok. The mystery grows deeper, the fear more intense, as we near the final battle at the turn of the century... Is there really any way to save the world from annihilation?
Book 5
The giant robot has already been built and now awaits the Great Awakening... With the Friend's identity still a mystery, the countdown to the apocalypse continues, day by day, minute by minute--for on December 31, 2000, humanity will meet its final hour. Hoping to get as many people who knew about their group's emblem involved in their clandestine efforts, Kenji's crew reaches out to their childhood antagonists: the twins Yanbo and Mabo. Back when they were kids, Yanbo and Mabo terrorized Kenji and company to no end. As adults, and with a crisis looming, will the evilest brothers in history now fight on the side of good?
Book 6
Fourteen years after "Bloody New Year's Eve" brought the world to the brink of extinction, Neo Tokyo in the year 2014 has fully recovered and become a thriving, multiethnic metropolis. Kanna has survived the chaos and is now 17 years old--and has just stumbled upon a terrible truth that may change her destiny. Meanwhile, at a maximum security prison ten kilometres out in the middle of Tokyo Bay, a young manga artist learns firsthand the chilling downsides of the world he now inhabits. Things go from bad to almost unbearable when he's thrown into solitary confinement right near one of the prison's most notorious inmates. Has all hope been lost, or will this mysterious prisoner offer the frightened artist his only true shot at escape?
Book 7
This is the story of a group of boys who try to save the world! As boys, Kenji and his friends came up with a bunch of stories about an evil organization bent on world destruction. As adults, someone is now turning their fantasies into reality! Out in the middle of Tokyo Bay, a man called Shogun is trying to break out of Umihotaru Prison, a maximum-security island fortress, so he can save the world. Accompanied by a frightened young manga artist, these two men are prepared to risk everything as their daring escape plan grows deadlier by the minute. However, the prison authorities will do whatever it takes to return Shogun and his reluctant companion to custody.
Shogun's ultimate goal: Tokyo, where a girl he calls the "final hope" lives, but a murder in Kabuki-cho has triggered a chain reaction of terror. Can Shogun reveal the truth about the false peace created by the Friends? And what are the facts behind the disaster that took place in the final moments of the 20th century?!
Shogun's ultimate goal: Tokyo, where a girl he calls the "final hope" lives, but a murder in Kabuki-cho has triggered a chain reaction of terror. Can Shogun reveal the truth about the false peace created by the Friends? And what are the facts behind the disaster that took place in the final moments of the 20th century?!
Book 8
This is the story of a group of boys who try to save the world!; As boys, Kenji and his friends came up with a bunch of stories about an evil organization bent on world destruction. As adults, someone is now turning their fantasies into reality! What really happened on Bloody New Year's Eve? Kenji, Otcho and Maruo have just driven their dynamite-loaded truck under the robot…where they see what a poor relation to the giant robot they dreamed up in their childhoods it actually is: just two legs with caterpillar treads, held together by an enormous hot air balloon, with cloth hanging down to disguise the underside.
Meanwhile, at the meeting of the government's crisis control committee, Manjome Inshu unveils the Friend's benevolent plan to distribute worldwide a vaccine against the virus being spread by the robot. The Friends, he says, have been developing such a vaccine since the terrorist germ attacks of 1997. At the same time, the Friends will contribute a monument they were building for their headquarters to serve as a blockade against the robot. The Friends are saving the day! Or are they?
Meanwhile, at the meeting of the government's crisis control committee, Manjome Inshu unveils the Friend's benevolent plan to distribute worldwide a vaccine against the virus being spread by the robot. The Friends, he says, have been developing such a vaccine since the terrorist germ attacks of 1997. At the same time, the Friends will contribute a monument they were building for their headquarters to serve as a blockade against the robot. The Friends are saving the day! Or are they?
Book 9
This is the story of a gang of boys who try to save the world! The year is 2014, and Neo Tokyo is completely under the control of the Friend. Kanna has decided to stand up and avenge Kenji--will she be able to muster up enough support for her cause? Kanna makes her way to a mafia-operated casino and quickly finds herself at a high stakes table. Is she lucky (and smart) enough to turn the odds in her favor at the bizarre and fast-paced game of Rabbit Nabokov? While Kanna marshals her forces, Koizumi Kyoko experiences true horror at the reeducation camp known as Friend Land. Going back in time in their "Virtual World," she meets Kenji and his pals as boys in 1971 and sees something that is strictly taboo: the Friend's childhood face! Will she live to report back on the Friend's identity?
Book 10
It appears that Kanna's ambitious gamble has paid off as the leaders of the local Thai and Chinese mafias agree to both call a truce and offer to back her up. This doesn't sit too well with Yukiji, though, who is furious that Kanna would risk her life in such a brazen way. But one thing seems certain: when it comes to fighting the Friends, there's no limit to how far Kanna will go. Meanwhile, Koizumi Kyoko begins following Kanna in an attempt to tell her about everything she learned while at Friend Land. Her behavior, however, does not go unnoticed by the Friends, and a menacing dream navigator suddenly appears to inform Kyoko that she will need to go to Friend World for further reeducation. Luckily for Kyoko, there are no immediate spaces available, but will she have enough time to get help from Kanna and Yoshitsune before her number is called?
Book 11
Is the Friend really Kanna's father?! Will she still be able to stand up and fight, despite this anguishing news? Meanwhile, Koizumi Kyoko and Sadakiyo have gotten away from the Dream Navigators by the skin of their teeth, but as Yoshitsune once warned, these people will chase you to the ends of the earth… With Kanna in shock over the truth of her paternity, will she have the strength to go and rescue Koizumi? Also, back in the summer of 2002, Mon-chan succeeded in tracking down Sadakiyo and got him to commit to paper the truth about the Friend's identity and his actions. But to prove his loyalty to his trusted Friend, Sadakiyo took measures to ensure that the 'Mon-chan Memo' stayed hidden. What exactly was 'the Lie of 1970' and how far will the Dream Navigators go to prevent it from being revealed?
Book 12
Will 2015 bring an end to human history?! An urgent but mysterious messsage left by her mother Kiriko in 2002 finally reaches Kanna. But where is Kiriko, who developed the germ warfare weapons used on Bloody New Year's Eve, and what is she doing now? Memories of New Years past flood the minds of Kenji's friends and family. Will Yoshitsune's clandestine actions eventually prove fruitful, or are they doomed to repeat the tragedies of the year 2000? Meanwhile, Otcho and Kakuta are busily trying to track down Kiriko's former colleague, Dr. Yamane. Unexpectedly, their search leads them to the very neighborhood that Otcho, Kenji, Maruo and the rest of their childhood pals grew up in. Can a visit to their old school shed new light on a bizarre incident that happened when they were all in the sixth grade?
Book 13
The Friend is dead. As the news spreads around the world, the members of the Friends' executive committee are faced with a dilemma: Is it all over, or will the events predicted in the New Book of Prophecy still be carried out? Otcho insists that things are not over at all, and that is exactly what his old nemesis-Number 13-tells the fractious Friends' committee, where quite a few members are prepared to call it quits. Soon thereafter, certain members begin disappearing, one after another. Also, Otcho relays to Kanna what he learned about her mother, Kiriko. In 2003, Kiriko appeared at Dr. Yamane's laboratory just as he was developing his deadliest virus yet. The two lab partners would work in tandem, with Yamane developing a new virus and Kiriko contributing a vaccine. But was Dr. Yamane simply being naïve, or did he realize that he was helping to create the means for the Friends to annihilate 99 percent of the world's population in the year 2015?!
Book 14
Humanity, having faced extinction at the end of the 20th century, would not have entered the new millennium if it weren't for them. In 1969, during their youth, they created a symbol. In 1997, as the coming disaster slowly starts to unfold, that symbol returns. This is the story of a group of boys who try to save the world.
Book 15
Sorting through the volumes of research his dearly departed mentor left behind, a young priest, recently returned to Rome, stumbles across a mysterious (and potentially dangerous) book that prophesizes the end of the world. Uncertain as to the text's true meaning, Brother Luciano's search quickly leads him to a startling revelation: the Friends may have operatives inside the Vatican, and the young priest's life is most likely now in danger. Around the globe, the mysterious and deadly virus continues to spread as the death toll mounts. However, Kanna, Otcho and Yoshitsune have another concern: despite what is being reported in the media, several people have claimed to see the Friend alive and walking the streets of Tokyo. But what does this bode for the pope's visit to Japan and the 2015 World Exposition in Tokyo?
Book 16
Contrary to what his actions as an adult have led Kenji and his pals to believe, back when they were children, Fukube really wanted to be their friend. Fukube even went so far as to let them read all the latest manga magazines he diligently purchased in the hope of winning their friendship. Yet despite all this, Fukube still felt like an outsider. Fostering a sense of superiority toward all the other children around him, how did Fukube's actions as a little boy serve as an indication of the kind of man he would eventually become? Next, the clock is rolled forward to the third year of the Friendship Era, a frightening time in which the virus has decimated most of the world's population, and the vaccine is available only to a lucky few. Tokyo has been quarantined behind a giant wall that is patrolled by both the Global Defense Forces and the Friend's secret police, and yet while life on the inside is made to resemble Kenji's childhood from the 1960s, the world beyond the wall is a desolate wasteland. Two young siblings come to the aid of an injured man who has managed to break through the barricade, and his name is Otcho!
Book 17
It is the third year of the Friendship Era. Darkness covers the earth, and the world is under the control of evil. The Friend has become President of the World, and he reigns from within the enclosed walls of Tokyo City. Most people believe in the Friend, but hidden below the surface is a small ray of hope. Someone known as the Ice Queen is calling for the people to rise up, and she has deemed August 20 the day to take up arms... But can anyone really stop this nightmare?
Book 18
Far, far from Tokyo, a man approaches the checkpoint at the Northern Border... Everyone north of the gate is dead, but here he comes on a motorbike with a guitar strapped to his back. Who is this man who calls himself Joe Yabuki, and why does he break out in song? Is he a Messiah here to save the people, or is he just a deluded nut?