Thoughts on 20th Century Boys volumes 1-22 + 21st Century Boys manga

[jougetsu]

Woohoo! All done! After a week of late-nights because of its relentless cliffhangers I have finished Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys manga! Hoping to watch movie one this weekend and catch movie two in theaters this week.

Summary: A tale of latent homosexuality & obsession friendship, rivalry, and really GAY fascism

Comments

[tl__dr]

Ah, I can't believe how much I agree with every word of this post!

Kanna very nearly ventures into Mary Sue territory a few times but I like her well enough to give her a pass on it. I wish we got into Kiriko's head a little more, she was quite underdeveloped for someone who played such a significant role. Was the relationship between her and Kanna's father ever romantic? Or was it only ever manipulation and 'business' for him?Kanna and Nina are similar characters to me in that I love them the way Koizumi and Lotte love them (like a dorky fangirl, basically), and as a result I too give them a pass on how perfect they are. Plus there's a gentleness and humanity to Urasawa's perfect characters, and the way they act as foils for the world around them, that makes me love them so much more than your typical randomly magical, strong, lovable heroine. She acts as a conduit between the other characters, too, and her purpose to me just seems less to be held up as an example of perfect supergirlhood but to bring the rest of the cast together

[jougetsu]

I find it interesting that in literature/media the Maiden/Young Girl Archetype is usually the one that is the power of good and foil for the darker, grittier aspects of the world. A female character isn't usually characterized as evil/amoral until she's well into middle age (Madonna/Mother or Temptress Archetype) or old age (Crone Archetype). Eva (not evil, but not the kind of pure 'good' like Nina or Kanna) and Dream Navigator Takasugi come to mind.

Contrast this to men, who are more often portrayed as evil amoral from childhood onwards (Johan and Fukubei come to mind) compared to their female counterparts. So it's a bit easier to give the girls a pass because it's quite entrenched in literary tradition.

Kiriko was more a plot device than a character, IMHO. We never get into her head in any significant way and it's sad because Urasawa could have made her much more compelling.

I also share every one of your ships! And found this series remarkably shippable overallYay for fandom twinness