Naoki Urasawa

Classic Adamas

Classic Adamas

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I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with Monster and 20th Century Boys. I'm curious as to how Zeta feels about those works and his other, less famous works.

I haven't read many manga, and even less to completion, but I think Monster remains one of my favourite works of fiction. At its core it's the same good vs evil we've seen countless times before, but it's very well done. I feel Tenma is impossible not to like and sympathise with, while there's nothing likeable about Johan.

The ending of the manga and the implications of it all is pretty disturbing but also quite fitting.

Aside from that, I've read a little bit of Keaton and 20th Century Boys, but not too much.
 
Captain Cadaver

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Monster was by far his magnum opus, with everything after that being a slow decline. 20th Century Boys had an interesting premise, some good characters and more entertainment value than his other works, but it didn't reach the same levels of depth as Monster, its antagonist's motivations ended up being very underwhelming (especially compared to Johan) and some of the elements in its second half really take a huge amount of suspension of disbelief when it comes to some plot points. Pluto started off good before quickly becoming mediocre in adding nothing to the standard ideas of android existentialism (for which you're better off just watching Blade Runner or 1995 Ghost in the Shell) and the general consensus on Billy Bat seems to be that the ending was disappointing.

In short, Monster is one of the best works in the medium and 20th Century Boys is still fairly good despite its flaws, with the rest of his work being decent to mediocre. I'd say a lot of this is down to the problems that come from relying on mystery as a central part of one's manga as what answer is given to such burning questions can make or break the series, with it being more difficult each time to create a satisfying reveal after using up most of your good ideas.
 
Yoshi

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Monster is one of the best Manga ever made, only with it being disappointing near the very end.
 
Warmmedown

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I don't know why but for some reason her name always reminds of an airship. Legit. I've had these thoughts for years. Help.
 
Fantastische Hure

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I’d think if you watched enough, or even just some, anime you’d know that the name Naoki is a name for males. Naomi is for females though I think.
 
Fantastische Hure

Fantastische Hure

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Mystic said:
I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with Monster and 20th Century Boys. I'm curious as to how Zeta feels about those works and his other, less famous works.

I haven't read many manga, and even less to completion, but I think Monster remains one of my favourite works of fiction. At its core it's the same good vs evil we've seen countless times before, but it's very well done. I feel Tenma is impossible not to like and sympathise with, while there's nothing likeable about Johan.

The ending of the manga and the implications of it all is pretty disturbing but also quite fitting.

Aside from that, I've read a little bit of Keaton and 20th Century Boys, but not too much.
Click to expand...
MONSTER is AMAZING!!!
 
Classic Adamas

Classic Adamas

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I don't know if anyone is interested, but Mangasee has fresh Viz scans of Monster. Look really good. Back when I read it there were only some rough looking scans.
 
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