20th Century Boys continues with the 10th volume, and the payoff to Kanna’s gamble.

Title: 20th Century Boys, Volume 10
Story and Art: Naoki Uruasawa
English Adaptation: Akemi Wegmuller
Touch-up and Lettering: Freeman Wong

Available from Amazon.com

The Premise

Kanna’s gamble has paid off. The Thai and chinese mobs have agreed to a truce in order to save the pope. Meanwhile, Koizumi Kyoko tries to get to the bottom of what she saw in Friend Land, while also avoiding being sent to Friend World for further re-education.

High Points

The reveals with Sadakiyo are very nicely done. He’s not The Friend, and indeed, Kenji has known that for a while, as we see in flashback. However, Sadakiyo knows what The Friend looks like.

Speaking of which, this volume manages to, on its own, make Sadakiyo (who we’ve never really gotten to know before), into a very sympathetic character. This is kind of one of Naoki Urasawa’s strong suits as a writer – taking characters who we’ve never seen before (and in some of his other works, may never see again), and turns them into very fleshed out and interesting characters who the audience cares about.

Low Points

The flashback makes it feel like the entire plotline we’ve been on with Sadakiyo has been a partial red-herring.

Scores

Originality: 5/6
Artwork: 6/6
Story: 5/6
Emotional Response: 5/6
Characterization: 6/6
Flow: 6/6
Overall: 5/6

In total, 20th Century Boys, Volume 10 gets 38 out of 42.