This is a spectacular manga by famed mangaka Naoki Urasawa. Words fail to describe his brilliance. This manga takes a long step away from the wide eyed women n the overly muscular males that many view as your typical anime/manga cartoons.
The story is about a bunch of boys (plus one girl) who make a secret base... stuff that kids normally do... and talk about how one day they will save the earth from an evil emperor. the kids make a comic of what would be their adventures, but all that fades away as they grow older. Now the year 2000 is approaching and something strange is going on. All the stuff they wrote as kids is suddenly becoming true and the centre of all this chaos is the symbol they formed as children. Now its up to them to find out who among them is causing this and put a stop to it.
the story, when said, sounds very cliche and tried, but the brilliance of the manga is the way the story is told. The author seemlessly weaves though the past present and the future building up the suspense though every step of the way. The style of the drawings just adds to the chilling feeling that the manga brings, the characters seem less cartoony and more like caricatures of real people. Another highlight of this manga is the use of Rock and roll as a medium of change. '20th century boy' by the band T-Rex has been seen as an inspiration for this manga (the song pops up at a lot of key points)
For those who have read Stephen King's 'IT', they will find some similarities concerning the characters.But.... All in all its a brilliant story (haven't completed reading it.... its 22 vols!) After 'Monster' Urasawa shows us again how a good thriller is told!
