Manga Review: 20th Century Boys – Vol. 11

After something of a break, I’m starting the manga reviews back up again, starting with Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys.

Title: Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, Volume 11
Story & Art by Naoki Urasawa
English Adaptation by Akemi Wegmuller
Touch-Up and Lettering by Freeman Wong

Available from Amazon.com

The Premise

Sadakiyo provides Kanna and the remnants of Kenji’s crew with the “Mon-Chan Memo” – a hastily written memo by Mon-Chan (now deceased) with information from Sadakiyo on the Friend and his plans, but its hastily scribbled and faded, so there’s more investigation that needs to be done.

High Points

The whole reveal that Kanna’s mother designed the “Bloody New Year’s Eve” virus is chilling and very well done.

Low Points

This volume’s primary focus is more on setting up a new focus for the next arc of the story, iwth the investigation of the “Mon-Chan Memo” and determining the Friends plans for 2015.

Scores

Originality: 5/6

Artwork: 6/6

Story: 4/6

Emotional Response: 5/6

Characterization: We have some great character development for Kanna, and finally there’s some character establishment for her mother, Kiriko. 6/6

Flow: 6/6

Overall: 5/6

In total, 20th Century Boys – Volume 11 gets 37 out of 42.