misticloud sent me old scans of his essays in Myojo that weren't translated yet. A few more translations will follow.
Shige is a new 'my boom', so please bear with it XD
In this vol. we find out that there is a manga otaku hiding in this fail-prone idol. And that he is really bent on having what he wants when he wants it. Also, he takes pride in knowing all the book stores in Shibuya.
Please do not repost without permission.
Note on the topic of this essay: 20th Century Boys is a manga that was published between 1999-2006. The manga has been adapted into a trilogy movie. The first one was shown in August 2008, second in January 2009 and the last will be shown on August 2009.
Vol. 30 -Missing-
It seems like I'm missing a few screws. I'm also often told that I'm a scatterbrain. Indeed, I can recall instances of me losing my wallet, nearly brushing my teeth with facial wash and heading overseas but forgetting my passport and having to go home to get it. And I always thought those were within the category of general mistakes. However, I guess I really am missing a few screws. An incident convinced me of that.
A manga titled "20th Century Boys" was adapted into a movie and the world was full of talk about it. I've read some other works of manga artist Urasawa Naoki but not "20th Century Boys" and I really wanted to read it. It definitely wasn't because of easy thoughts of just following the trend. It was just pure coincidence that it was adapted into a movie when I really wanted to read it. Also, my desire to keep myself up to date with the latest trend made me decide to read it.
And so, I just bought Vol. 1- Vol. 3. And I tried reading it.
...... Interesting. I finished the three volumes and got to the last page, it said "Vol. 4 -End-". Huh? This was supposed to be Vol. 3. That's strange. I was thinking that when I looked at the cover and on it was the number "4" very clearly printed. I made a mistake. And I didn't even realize it until I finished reading... Yes, I actually mistook Vol.4 for Vol. 3 and bought it. I think it's already a bigger problem than missing a few screws. I've committed a hopeless mistake. Frustrating. I immediately ran to the book store to buy Vol. 3. No, the "20th Century Boys" fever was already burning in me and I was prepared to buy up the rest of the 22 volume series. However, a store stocked with all volumes of a manga that is all the rage doesn't exist in the first place. I went to all the bookstores nearby and no matter where I went, I couldn't even find any volume of this manga on their shelves. I went to a few stores and managed to find Vol. 3 that I was missing but I just really wanted to read the rest of it. I wanted to read it immediately. I was getting excited about it and even went to Shibuya, and dropped by all the book stores I knew. I was able to gather Vol. 5 and Vol. 9 - Vol. 22 by doing so, but Vol. 6, 7, and 8 were nowhere to be found. Why was it just those volumes? No matter where I went, those 3 volumes were out of stock. I take pride in the fact that there isn't a single book store in Shibuya that I do not know of, but no matter which book store I went to, those 3 volumes were missing. I couldn't give up and went to the station next to Shibuya and then the one after that... repeatedly getting off the train and heading towards the book stores. I was gradually getting closer to the station nearest to home while I looked for Vol. 6, 7 and 8, soaked in perspiration. (Well, frankly, I can't deny that by then I was already thinking of making this the topic of my essay here...) There are piles of Vol. 1-5 and Vol. 9-22, why is it that only Vol. 6, 7 and 8 are missing?! (My personal opinion is that those volumes are included in the movie adaptation showing now and that's why they are selling out.) , I thought angrily while I was on my way home and called the manager who said he has all volumes of the manga, got him to bring them for me at work the next day and managed to read Vol. 6, 7 and 8. That's how I managed to finish reading all of it in a total of three days.
Ah. After reading this part, you must be thinking that I should have just asked my manager to bring them for me from the start... right? It's different. After buying Vol. 1,2 and 4 and at the point where I found it interesting, I just had to collect all volumes. That's how my personality is like. The collector spirit in me was on fire.
It seems that somehow I am missing a few screws. I didn't know the difference between Vol. 3 and 4. Someday, I will definitely get my hands on Vol. 6, 7, and 8 that I'm still missing. I won't give up just because I've read them once. It's enough that the only one "missing" is myself.
*Related Wagahai entry:
jweb85.blog48.fc2.com/blog-entry-255.html ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Thanks for reading.