Naoki Urasawas 20th Century Boys,
Volume 3 by Naoki Urasawa
Ordinary Is Extraordinary
R to L (Japanese Style). It turns out that the Friends plan to destroy the
world was dreamed up long ago by a gang of boys playing good guys
against bad guys...And now, the only one who can stop this diabolical plot
from succeeding is the one who came up with it--Kenji!Kenji races home
and picks up the newspaper: sure enough, the mystery microbe has hit
London. He thinks back over everything that has happened and what he
and his childhood friends dug up, and is forced to face the unbelievable
truth--someone really is putting into motion the story Kenji made up as a
child, and people are dying because of it!
Personal Review: Naoki Urasawas 20th Century Boys, Volume 3
by Naoki Urasawa
This volume focused heavily on Kenji's present and his difficulties in
understanding what is happening, after the revealation in the last chapter

of Volume 2, Kenji is thrown into a tailspin. Why is it about? What did that
guy mean 'This was all your plan'? Why did Donkey want to talk to him? As
Kenji rushes home to sort things out he desperately tries to think of a
reason, any other reason, that this string of craziness could be happening.
But the facts are simple--the game they came up with as kids is being used
as an evil plot today.
The question is--who's this 'Friend'? In Donkey's letter he hints that he
thought Kenji was, makes sense since Kenji came up with the game to
begin with, but discounted him after observing him for a while. Who else
then could it be? As the mystery deepens you get a definite sense of
creepiness in my opinion. I mean some of the games I played as a kid
could be considered stupid and immature, but what if someone took them
seriously? What if the 'World War 3' game I played with my sister and best
friend in junior high was taken as literal truth? Let me tell you I was a
bloodthirsty kid--it wouldn't be pretty.
We learn more about who the 'Friend' is...sort of. We learn who may be the
friend and that Kenji isn't the only one investigating this weird 'cult'. We
also learn the possible identity of Kanna's father and that Kenji is more
important to the Friend and his cult then originally believed.
For the most part this volume stays firmly in the one time, only diverting as
necessary to short flashbacks to particularly important quotes (such as
how Kenji finally remembers, or mostly remembers, who the Friend could
be). When Kenji finally meets the 'Friend' and sees what his 'concert' is like
(remarking 'This isn't funny' and 'This isn't rock'n'roll to me!') he begins to
understand that he can't just let things lie. This won't go away. Those he
loves are in danger and as impossible as it it, if he doesn't act things will
only get worse.
20th Century Boys can really be considered the opposite of the normal
'ordinary kid gets super powers' trope. Kenji doesn't have any super
powers, he's about as ordinary as you can get, but because of who he is
he can make a difference. That's pretty powerful if you ask me.
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