The climax of our story is finally at hand! Mankind faces a crisis, and Kenji is hustling 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 has from when he was a twentieth century boy.
Reads R to L (Japanese Style).
Author Biography
Naoki Urasawa's career as a manga artist spans more than twenty years and has
firmly established him as one of the true manga masters of Japan. Born in Tokyo
in 1960, Urasawa debuted with BETA! in 1983 and hasn't stopped his impressive
output since. Well-versed in a variety of genres, Urasawa's oeuvre encompasses
a multitude of different subjects, such as a romantic comedy (Yawara!
A Fashionable Judo Girl), a suspenseful human drama about a former mercenary
(Pineapple ARMY; story by Kazuya Kudo), a captivating psychological suspense
story (Monster), a sci-fi adventure manga (20th Century Boys), and a modern
reinterpretation of the work of the God of Manga, Osamu Tezuka (Pluto: Urasawa x
Tezuka; co-authored with Takashi Nagasaki, supervised by Macoto Tezka, and with
the cooperation of Tezuka Productions). Many of his books have spawned popular
animated and live-action TV programs and films, and 2008 saw the theatrical
release of the first of three live-action Japanese films based on 20th Century
Boys. No stranger to accolades and awards, Urasawa received the 2011 Eisner
Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material-Asia, and is a three-time
recipient of the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award, a two-time recipient of the
Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize, and also received the Kodansha Manga Award. Urasawa
has also become involved in the world of academia, and in 2008 accepted a guest
teaching post at Nagoya Zokei University, where he teaches courses in, of
course, manga.