May 23, 2023
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,
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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.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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