This is the story of a gang 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! R to L (Japanese Style). 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 kilometers 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? 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 gang of boys who try to save the world.
About The Author
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 is a
three-time recipient of the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award, a
two-time recipient of the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize, and has received
the Kodansha Manga Award. Similarly, Monster has been
nominated three times for the Eisner Award in America. 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.
