20th Century Boys summaries v.18+

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 6:56 pm

Due to legitimate concerns about unscrupulous people (read: assholes) stealing my scripts to make scanlations, I'm not going to make my scripts public immediately. For now, there will only be summaries.
Update: The "other guys" have finished their scanlations, so I have put up my scripts in the usual place.

Volume 18
Chapter 193: Gu-tarara Su-darara

Chapter starts with a flashback, Sanae remembering working at a grocery store. She is attracted to an older guy working there (Naito-senpai). Naito is singing Kenji's song, and muses that it must have been written by a guy who worked at a convenience store, for its line "gu-tarara su-darara" (kind of a sing-songy way of saying "lazy and tiring").
Back in the present, Otcho is searching for Sanae with several gangsters from the church. When they find her, Sanae bursts into tears and says she was unable to stop the Ice Queen. Otcho demands to know what the Ice Queen was like, and Sanae tells him that everyone called her "Kanna." She also shows him the bag full of Kenji's tapes. Otcho says that she should take Katsuo home and forget all about what happened; to live a normal life free of danger.
When Sanae mentions that Naito-senpai knew the song on Kenji's cassette, she recalls that he said it "came over the radio once in a while." However, the version on Kanna's tape didn't have the "gu-tarara su-darara" line. Otcho is shocked by this. Obviously he realizes something. Otcho busts into the Ice Queen's ramen shop and demands to see Kanna. She walks down the stairs to confront him. Meanwhile, at the northern camp, the sheriff asks where the alien is, and the guard sheepishly says he let him in already.

Chapter 194: Two Who Survived

Chouno has a dream in which all the townsfolk are saying "gu-tarara su-darara." He screams at them to stop, and then wakes up in a sweat. An emergency alarm is sounding. When he goes outside, an officer giving orders tells him that aliens have attacked. Other guards are saying that the alien, who has a huge head, long hands and a guitar-like weapon, has already breached the camp walls and calls himself "Yabuki Joe."
In Tokyo, the Ice Queen's faction is moving into its new base. Otcho is catching up old times with Kanna. She says the Genji Faction was too weak-willed; their actions were like picking up grains of rice in a desert. She doesn't have time to help out with tearful family reunions. She doesn't cry anymore. Otcho asks, "Why August 20th?" The answer: "It's Uncle Kenji's birthday." Otcho says that every one of her men is going to die on that day. She says it doesn't matter. Every person she's ever loved has died, and now it's her turn (as she bares her arm to show the vaccine scar).
In the first year of the Friend Era, Kanna met with the boss of the Chinese mafia. She gives him the vaccine shot that was sent to her, saying she wouldn't use it, but he unveils a huge pile of vaccines. Kanna is shocked. Otcho asks (in the present) if something happened then, and Kanna says she doesn't cry anymore, as tears pour down her cheeks.

Chapter 195: My Daughter...

In the flashback, the Chinese boss tells Kanna that he got those vaccines by attacking a government convoy. Rather than allow people to spend millions to get them, he'll take the vaccines from those in power and give them to everyone, for a fair price. He says that she was right when she first said that Friend was trying to take over the world. She can't afford to die; she's a living witness to that truth. He is willing to provide her with funds, given that she takes the vaccine with him and his men. So she does.
Then she walks across town to visit Chaipon, the Thai boss, who is sick in bed. He asks if there was any big news that day. Kanna says, "you know the media doesn't give out any real news these days." "No, something big enough to even surpass that." Then he tells her to "live on, for [the mafia's] sake, too." She wonders what he means. He says that army transport vehicles can't be attacked that easily. The vaccines they "took" were fakes. Nothing but dextrose. They had to do that in order to fool Kanna into taking her vaccine. The mafia is connected by ties stronger than blood, and Friend killed their partners. So the mafia lead an attack on Friend's HQ that morning. But if there was no news about it...
Kanna understands what that means. Chaipon's last words to Kanna was that she must live on, because she is their daughter. He died three days after that. Back in the present, Kanna is telling Otcho that they had to put on that act to convince her to take the vaccine, but deep down she only took it because she wanted to survive. Otcho says that August 20th will be the same as the mafia's failed attack. "There once was a man who told us to run at the first hint of danger. He is still alive inside of you. No... he might really still be alive."

Chapter 196: Everyone's Song

Sanae sings Kenji's song on the way home with Katsuo, as they pass the EDF's big laser tower. Katsuo thinks her song is weird, but it cheers him up.
Otcho tells Kanna that Kenji might be alive because there is a different version of his song playing on the radio, and Sanae knew the song as well. This infuriates Kanna. She doesn't believe Kenji is alive, because if he was, he would come to save her. But he isn't... because he's dead. She doesn't want to get her hopes up for nothing. Otcho is disgusted: "If he is alive, what would he say about you now? You're going to die along with all your friends." Otcho is getting desperate. He borrows a radio from one of Kanna's workers and rushes up to the surface in the hopes of finding a signal of Kenji's song, to convince Kanna. He remembers when he first heard of his son's death, and prays that "Kenji will sing for him" to keep him from losing any more loved ones. Kanna says "I'm going to finish it all. Goodbye." But right as she turns around, the song begins playing on the little radio, including the "gu-tarara su-darara" line, which Kanna says she doesn't recognize.
Up north, the guards are accosting villagers, demanding to know where the alien is being hidden. One man (who is singing "gu-tarara...") says he's not hiding. He's eating dinner over at the Tanabes'.

Chapter 197: Come Together

The chapter begins with a scene of a radio DJ playing the song "everyone wants to hear." He desperately announces that he's got tons of copies of it, on record, tape and CD. "Somebody, anybody, request this song! I've got thousands of copies! Gu-tarara Su-darara!"
A teary-eyed Kanna cradles the radio, murmuring, "Uncle Kenji..."
Up north, the guards have surrounded the house the alien is in, demanding (through a megaphone) that he come out peacefully. The door opens and we can see a man's legs stepping out from the doorway.
Back at the base, Kanna calls for all her workers to come together. She solemnly and apologetically says that they are cancelling the August 20th attack plans. But instead of everyone being angry or dejected, all the men are serene and placated, saying that Kanna is their leader and they will do whatever she tells them to, without complaints.
The alien walks out from the house among the guards, with an acoustic guitar. "Hey everybody. Here's a little number for you all."

Chapter 198: Get Up, Joe! Stand Up!!

Joe begins playing his song. It's the same song that everyone knows. The guards are panicking, but despite orders to fire, none of them can do it. Chouno recognizes it as that old crappy song that Kanna played for him, years ago. Tears fill his eyes. Suddenly the song reaches the end and the "gu-tarara su-darara" line comes in. Joe repeats the line over and over, growing more agitated in his playing, as the officer continues screaming for them to open fire. BANG!
In Tokyo, Otcho and Kanna are talking about future plans. Kanna regrets criticizing the Genji Faction for doing nothing more than freeing political prisoners, one at a time. Otcho says she shouldn't worry; Yoshitsune's got a terrible memory, he'll have forgotten all about it. "What he'd really be mad about is if you didn't come back." Suddenly there is an explosion. Across the city, a plume of smoke is rising.
Joe falls backward onto the ground, his sunglasses clattering. Officer Hoshi (Chouno's partner) shot at him. On the ground, Joe is muttering, "Get up, Joe! Stand up!!" Lines from Ashita no Joe. He gets up and continues playing the song, despite a bloody right leg.
On the way to the scene of the explosion, Kanna and Otcho run across one of her subordinates. He said the base was attacked from all sides. No one was resisting, but "they" were attacking anyways.
Joe walks closer and closer to Hoshi, looking truly diabolical and terrifying, saying "I'm singing a song. When a man is singing a song, you don't shoot at him."

Chapter 199: Encore, Encore!!

Chouno is amazed at Joe's presence. He thinks, "This is it! This is the man, Endo Kanna talked about! This is the savior!!" But before he can call out to Joe, Sheriff Serizawa shows up and demands to know why they haven't shot him dead yet. Chouno intervenes and says Joe is just a human. Serizawa orders him to shoot Joe anyway, and when Chouno further refuses, he threatens to shoot Chouno first. Chouno begins singing "gu-tarara su-darara," insisting that you can't shoot a man who's singing a song. Suddenly an officer rushes up, saying that the north fence has been broken down and there is a huge crowd of people invading the base. Aliens? No, they're calling themselves "hippies." As Serizawa orders them to use heavy firepower to secure the border, Chouno sees that their savior is gone. The officer reports that the villagers are all singing a "weird song" and heading towards Chouja's palace.
In Tokyo, the man says that their unresisting comrades were shot and imprisoned. Before Kanna can rush off to save them, a helicopter flies over the area, broadcasting a "message to the Ice Queen."
In the north, the townfolk are singing "gu-tarara" and taking Chouja's food out of the storehouses. Before the guards can stop them, the 'hippies' show up demanding to know where the concert is. When Serizawa attempts to maintain order, the hippies all lift him and carry him away. Joe's got his guitar, standing in front of a crowd of his fans, all calling for an encore. Looking more annoyed than happy, Joe says, "Man, you guys have been following me since I started this tour. I guess next, I'll be playing somewhere in that direction. Go ahead and follow me if you want." Chouno catches up to Joe as he gets on his bike, saying "Wow, you really can't get shot if you're singing a song!" Joe replies, "You idiot, look at my leg. Doesn't matter if you're singing; when you get shot, you get shot." Chouno asks where he's going. The answer: Home. Tokyo.
Meanwhile, the helicopter's message is that if Kanna wants to see her friends released, she must surrender herself within 24 hours.

Chapter 200: The Beginning of the Changing of the World

The DJ from earlier in the story drives a beat-up old convertible through the country to an empty cafe. He begins talking to the "man behind the counter," though we don't see or hear him. DJ wonders how "he's" doing. When he first met "him," it must have been the same feeling Brian Epstein did when he first discovered the Beatles. "I thought his song really could change the world." Right now, "he's" on a national tour. DJ plays the song all the time, but no one ever writes in to request it. He leaves some cash on the counter and walks out the door, at which point we see that there is in fact, nobody behind the counter at all. He drives to a radio tower in the middle of nowhere and says, "I'm DJing here. I play his song over the radio."
In Tokyo, Kanna reaches their base. It's empty, and everything is destroyed. She is heartbroken. Otcho tells her not to fall into Friend's scheme. Friend isn't the kind of man who keeps promises. They need the help of the church and the Genji Faction. Kanna says they don't have time for that. Otcho says he "knew something was wrong." If they had spies in the faction for that long, why attack now, all of a sudden? And why ask for Kanna to give herself up? Suddenly they are surrounded by the Pal Squad.
Kanna and Otcho are blindfolded and taken to some kind of facility. The guard escort tells her that 48 men were killed, the rest taken into custody. They are brought to a room and their blindfolds are removed. In the room is a table. One one side are two chairs, on the other is Manjoume. He tells them to sit down. "I have an offer to make. I want to kill Friend."

Chapter 201: Something That Must Not Be Seen

At a TV studio, Maruo and Haru are meeting up with a producer. Haru has a new song that's sure to be a hit. Once they are in a private meeting room, the man tells them they're attempting to locate the source of the radio broadcasts. It's coming from Hokkaido, far north beyond the wall. The government announced that Hokkaido was wiped out by the virus, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The producer asks what this song is, but Haru advises him that he'd be better off not knowing. The producer has been asked to set up a new sports show, but he doesn't know what to do. He was looking through old materials and found broadcasts of a sport called "rollerball." The players on roller skates try to lap one another on a circular track, with some pro-wrestling level action thrown in. Maruo and Haru reminisce for a bit, but then the producer pulls out another tape, that contains something "he shouldn't have seen."
Otcho is disgusted by Manjoume's offer. He knows Manjoume is simply lusting for power, and when Friend dies, he'll be World President. Manjoume responds by laughing.
On the rollerball tape, an odd man bursts onto the scene. The tape is old, so the audio fades in and out, but it seems like he's saying something about creating a new organization that will defeat the "Tokyo Bombers" team. The man's name is Chuck Manjoume. The producer wonders why a man who graduated from Harvard Business School and worked as a first-class consultant would stoop to owning such a fishy, seedy business. When he looked further into these things, he discovered something even worse...
In the interrogation room, Manjoume says, "Yes, at one time I wanted it all... but where does the top lead? I'll tell you a story, but it will be very, very long. It started with a knock on my office door..."
A flashback begins. Manjoume is reading a newspaper with his feet on his desk. A man walks into his office and introduces himself as "Hattori." It's Fukubei, as a young man.

Chapter 202: Something That Must Not Be Heard

The year of the flashback is 1980. Manjoume realizes that Hattori is the boy he once saw, in the '60s. Hattori says that what "Pierre-sensei" is doing isn't good enough. Delighting one hundred people doesn't mean you can delight ten thousand. "Miracles have to be more entertaining." Manjoume is completely lost. He says, "I'm done with your kind of garbage. Nothing good will come from working with you." Hattori lays out three masks: The superhero mask with the dot on the forehead, the Ninja Hattori-kun mask, and the Friend-mark head-sock thing. He asks, "Which one do you like?" Manjoume says, "What are you getting at? Why are you here?" "The Plan."
Kanna says, "What plan?" Manjoume responds, "You see? I told you this would be a long story. Too long."
The next thing the producer shows Maruo and Haru is a video from a show "Amazing Children Worldwide," a variety show with astonishing things kids can do. There were 100 episodes made in the early 1970s, but none of them were quite what he wanted, so he was thinking of going with the rollerball-type program, until he saw one certain episode. Chuck Manjoume appears to announce next week's episode, which will feature a boy with ESP, who can bend spoons. However, the show was canceled before the next week's episode could be made. When the producer looked into why it had been canceled, he found a small news article about a show being scrapped because a spoon-bending boy was found to be a hoax. If Manjoume really went to Harvard and worked as a consultant, why are all his businesses attention-grabbing TV stunts? Did he really go to Harvard? Maruo and Haru acknowledge the weight of these findings, but they're more interested in the unnamed boy from the article...
In 1972, Manjoume is accosting young Hattori for screwing up his business. Hattori says he "didn't cheat, he really bent the spoon." Hattori is upset that he didn't get on TV. He told everyone he would be on TV, and when he wasn't, they picked on him. They made fun of him, saying maybe he was that anonymous boy from the article. "So? It's the truth, ain't it?" "I'm not 'Boy A.'" Hattori says he will be carrying out his plan. What plan, Manjoume asks. "Revenge. Revenge against everyone who called me a liar, against everyone who called me a fraud, against everyone who picked on me." As Manjoume walks away, Hattori calls out, "I'm going to do it! You'll see! I'll call you when I put my plan into action! I'll conquer the world... and destroy the human race."

Chapter 203: Something That Must Not Be Known

Friend is standing before his cult audience in the late '90s, about to perform his levitating trick. Behind the curtain, Manjoume wonders how anyone can believe this garbage a man who wears a mask is saying. At Friend's signal, he and another man begin pulling a wire to raise Friend up in the air. The people are astonished, but even more astonished is Manjoume. How can anyone be fooled by this third-rate magic show stunt?! But when he looks into the crowd and sees their staring, wondrous expressions, he remembers a quote. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what it is. They just want something to believe in." All of a sudden, even the man standing next to Manjoume who helped him pull the wire begins saying, "Wow! He's really floating in midair!"
In the present day, Otcho is holding back a furious Kanna. "I don't care! I knew you were frauds long ago! Give me back my friends!" Manjoume says that he did not take her friends, the Earth Defense Force did. He only controls the Pal Squad, but he's in charge of their interrogation anyways. Otcho says that it doesn't matter, he's still asking them to kill a man who's already pretended to die and deitized himself, all for Manjoume's ambitions. Otcho says they were crafty about it: he saw that body in the classroom in 2015. He saw Fukubei being killed. Manjoume agrees: that was Hattori's body. Suddenly he begins trembling. "Do you know what this building is? It's a shelter... Three months ago, we were having a regular meeting..."
Men are reporting survival rates for different countries and continents. All the numbers given are in the 40% percent range, which is higher than original estimates. They attribute this success to the leadership of the World President. After the men leave, only Friend and Manjoume are left.
Friend: "That many survived? I wonder if I have to do it again."
Manjoume: "Surely this is enough."
Friend: "I wonder what Fukubei would have done."

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 6:56 pm

Nice and fresh, here are the jamz from Volume 19.
It should be noted that the obi that comes with the book says "Six years after it started, the story is finally reaching the final turning point."

Volume 19 - The Man Who Returned
Chapter 204: The Final Catch

Manjoume tells Kanna and Otcho, if Hattori died for certain on January 1st 2015, who is this new "Friend"?
In the flashback meeting, Friend asks about the progress of the Mars migration plan (still far in the future). He then remarks that he needs to hurry up, because Fukubei would have already put the human extinction plan into action. He would have completed his work.
In the present, Manjoume repeats that he wants them to kill Friend.
Out in the countryside, Chouno is fishing with Joe. As they talk about fishing, Chouno continually calls him "Kenji" but never gets a sign of recognition out of Joe, prompting him to wonder if he'd lost his memory. Joe says that his dad was not what you would call a responsible man or good father, but when it came to fishing, his personality changed entirely. Ever since Joe was left alone by a river once at age 5, he'd hated fishing, but there was always one thing he wanted to catch (Chouno supposes the memory-loss theory is wrong then). Joe then starts speaking of his travels and makes references to the manga Karate-Baka Ichidai, but his statements are nonsensical to Chouno. Chouno gets to the point and asks if he knows Kanna Endo. Suddenly Joe stands up and says "I'm goin' back to Tokyo. I always wanted to catch that snakefish in the gravel pit. I wonder if it's still there."

Chapter 205: Something Huge Is Coming

Maruo, Haru and the assistant TV producer are visiting God's run-down bowling alley. Kyoko Koizumi and Damian are there, too. God says that Friend's society is starting to come apart at the seams. He speaks of an old pro bowler friend he once had. On a particularly good day, he was bowling a perfect game, but on the 3rd ball of the 10th frame, he left one single pin. After that, he never won another game and retired. Friend's society is unraveling in the same way. The end is near. Maruo asks if he had a dream, and God says he hasn't seen any dreams in a while, and has no idea what kind of end is coming. Suddenly, Kyoko throws a perfect strike in a lane behind them. God demands to see it again, and suddenly he frantically grabs her, proclaiming her the patron goddess of bowling, and Kyoko wonders why the scene seems so familiar to her. (Remember her experience in the VR machine, circa 1971). But then he hears calling in the distance. He whirls around, eyes bloodshot and proclaims, "Something huge is coming!"
Joe and Chouno are walking into a town, simply called "the Barrier." It separates the areas of Tohoku and Kanto (which is where Tokyo is located). An architectural monstrosity looming over the town is called the Kanto Army Castle. The army has built a Great Wall and you can't get through the barrier without a note of passage. A store is selling them for cheap, but Chouno and Joe decide to play it safe and follow someone buying from that same store to the barrier. There, they witness the guard shoot the man dead. The hills around the checkpoint are covered in graves.

Chapter 206: Ace of Spades

A man is attempting to buy a counterfeit note of passage. The dealer assures him that it won't be detected. When he walks outside with his note, a man in cowboy getup asks to see the note, then storms inside and demands the seller give the man his money back for such a poor counterfeit. After an altercation with the store guards, the money is returned. The cowboy's name is Ace of Spades, spelled with a kanji that makes it read "Ichi the Spade." He recommends that the man take a safer route, a bus called the "Adios" outside of town.
Elsewhere in town, Joe and Chouno are hiding from some furious young toughs they don't remember offending. The Ace of Spades spots them and, after a tense staredown with Joe, takes them into his bar. On the wall is a bounty poster for a runaway policeman: Chouno. No wonder they were being attacked in town. They disguise him with a bolero hat and heavy blanket cape. Joe mutters, "999," because Chouno looks like Tetsuro from Galaxy Express 999. Ace says that over 3,000 people have been shot for using those fake notes of passage. In comparison, the Adios has a 40% chance of getting you through. However, there was once a guy who got through because the counterfeit pass he made was perfect. He's still in town but doesn't operate anymore. When Ace takes them over to meet him, he turns out to be none other than Ujiki, the squinting manga artist who lived next to Kanna years ago.

Chapter 207: The Melancholy of Ujiki the Mangaka

Joe manages to force their way into Ujiki's house by claiming Chouno was a big fan of his manga and urges him to get autographs and the like. Suddenly, the Ace of Spades says that the Kanto Army is about to do an inspection. Since Chouno is the wanted man, he takes him off to a secure location, leaving Joe and Ujiki together. Joe compliments Ujiki on his manga. Ujiki mentions that his partner is in Tokyo. Ujiki had rushed out to the country to help his ailing mother, and soon after all the walls and gates had been erected. Joe asks why he stopped drawing the passes, if someone made it through the barrier. Ujiki says that he originally made three, and the other two people were shot, all because of him. So he stopped. However, a search of the trashcan turns up recent attempts at the counterfeits. He's still reluctant to do them, but after a conversation in which they compare the difficulty of repetition in art (no drawing is exactly the same, just as no song is ever played exactly the same twice), they grow a bit more open to each other.
At the Ace of Spades bar, Chouno is huddled back in the corner away from the door. Soldiers burst into the room and announce that they had a tip-off a wanted criminal was in the building. Ace simply points at Chouno, accepts the reward from the officers, and grins malevolently as they drag the young man out of the building.
At Ujiki's apartment, Joe's pass is complete. He grabs up Ujiki's latest manga, promising to take it to his partner in Tokyo, and walks out.

Chapter 208: Breakthrough

The Ace of Spades is beating up a drugstore owner, demanding more medicine. The owner insists he's all out of that kind, and has to sell him a different type.
Joe is now walking down the street to the barrier, Ujiki desperately trying to convince him not to go. The guys sitting around on the street begin to take up bets on whether he'll get through or not. However, it ends up falling through when nobody bets on him making it out alive. At the barrier, Joe sees Chouno in the back of an armored vehicle, pounding on the window. He thens turns and walks up to the gate. They allow him through the "First Gate," but the second one is much tougher. All the men in town wait in anticipation for the signal gunshot, but it never comes. Instead, Joe walks back through the first gate, saying, "It worked." The Ace walks up and asks if he can buy that pass. Joe asks, "With the money you got for selling my pal out?" Ace scowls and takes them to the 2nd story of his saloon, where his sister is lying sick. He says there's no more medicine in town, and that's why he needs to get beyond the barrier. Joe turns to Ujiki and asks if he can make 200 notes of passage, for each person in town.

Chapter 209: The Great Escape

In a room full of TV monitors playing classic anime shows, a ponytailed man sits, listing himself as one villain after another. He asks, isn't anyone going to come and defeat me? I'm the true evil here! The view pulls back to show that he is inside the Kanto Army Castle.
In Ujiki's apartment, he's finishing up work on the passes. He asks Joe if it's true that he really broke through the northern border with just a guitar. Joe responds by asking, maybe if you showed the guards your manga, they'd want to read the rest. Ujiki says they'd only kill him when he was done. Music is different. Joe says, "A song ain't never gonna change the world."
At the barrier, a crowd of half the town is there, facing a line of guards. All of their passes pass the test, but the guards are too freaked out to simply allow them passage. Ace demands to let them through, saying they'll be in deep shit if he sick sister can't get her medicine. Then the rest of the town comes, led by Joe and Ujiki. Joe takes his guitar and as soon as he begins singing, the gates open.
Up in the TV control room, the ponytailed man nods approvingly. Evil, he says, is only cool when it has a powerful opponent. And now here's the hero. Vengeance makes for good drama, doesn't it? The man turns around and we see he is the nameless brown-haired man who has been working for Friend for years. "I remember very well when I pushed that woman's dear lover in front of that train..."

Chapter 210: Seven Samurai in the Wilderness

Through the gate, all the men are amazed to see the huge city spread before their eyes. They are back home. Joe point out that the great castle, when viewed from the other side, is just like a cheap theater set, flat and fake. Ujiki, spurred on by Joe's miraculous gate opening, decides to try his luck by showing his manga to the guards at the "castle." Joe still has to rescue Chouno, and with the addition of Ace, who has a bit of "business" to attend to, and four other guys, they make seven. Joe says he doesn't like that number, because it means some of them will die (as in the film Seven Samurai.) The men go into town to eat and plan their attack on the castle. After a filling meal they nod off to sleep, until Ace wakes up and notices that Joe is missing. He's gone ahead by himself. They rush off to get their weapons and follow. But Joe has already snuck into the fortress. He wanders the halls completely alone, until he finally runs across the unnamed "villain," sitting in a throne. And his first words are, "I knew I recognized you. You're Kenji, right?"

Chapter 211: Found You

The year is 1989. A much younger Kenji is on a public phone apologizing to his boss. Much of his excuse is related to his band's gig the previous night, but ultimately his boss doesn't buy it and apparently fires him, over the phone. He sighs and walks across the street. An old lady is slowly tottering the other way. The light turns red, but Kenji stands there in the middle of the road, as the cars honk madly at him, until the old woman is safely across. Behind Kenji, we see a smiling young man (who looks nearly identical to Johan from Monster) with brown hair.
As Kenji looks for new job listings in the bookstore, he witnesses a young man putting a book (actually a volume of Yawara!) into his jacket, and warns him not to steal it. The guy puts it back and storms off, and then the clerk comes over to yell at Kenji for reading in the store. Once again, the brown-haired boy is watching, from another aisle.
As he walks home at night, Kenji suddenly feels a burst of inspiration as a song pops into his head. He hurriedly takes out his guitar to figure out the chords before he can forget it. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees an arsonist (one who's been causing frequent trouble) just in the act. Still holding his guitar and frantically trying to figure out the chords, he runs over and scares the arsonist away. After this encounter, the brown-haired boy comes up says, "I've seen you do three good things today. You're the hero I've been looking for." They talk for a bit and Kenji gives him a ticket to his band's next show. But just as he introduces himself, the boy runs off without a word. We watch the young man go to a bookstore, steal a volume of Pineapple Army, then light the ticket and use it to start a fire, while gloating, "I've found my hero."
In the 3rd year of Friend, they have just met again.

Chapter 212: From Behind

In a cafe, a young Kiriko is talking with the man who proposed to her. He is trying to convince her to follow her dream of being a doctor and not to worry about her family's store, but she is unconvinced. As she is walking out, he tries to ask for her engagement (again, it seems) but we can see that a man behind them has been taping the conversation.
In a different scene, the brown-haired man, in his 20's now, is sitting before Friend. Friend has given him several cassette tapes, which he says are investigative reports about a certain woman. The young man listens to a tape for a bit and says, "It's such a small world. I can't believe the woman you spoke of was his sister. The guy I decided was my hero, in high school..." Friend holds up a photo of the man talking to Kiriko earlier, and says, "This man is a nuisance. Banish him." The man grins and says, "This is evil, right?" Friend replies that there is no good or evil in his universe. The young man pauses for a moment and asks, "Are you the same person as before? ...not that it matters. I don't care, you're still my Friend."
As ordered, the young man pushes Kiriko's friend off the train platform. As he walks up the stairs out of the station, he says, "Now, let's see Friend's work."
At a cafe, a man (facing away from us) is talking to Kiriko. He begins to repeat the same things the other guy said to her at the beginning of the chapter. She looks up, astonished, but the mystery man continues talking. Behind him, the brown-haired man is struggling, barely able to contain his laughter.
In the present, seated on his throne before Joe, he has no need to hide his maniacal mirth. "That was your sister, right? You're Kenji, right?"

Chapter 213: A Terrible Man

Back in the town, Ace and Ujiki have gathered together some more people eager to take down the Kanto Army Castle. The new recruitments are a rather sorry lot, but they're better than nothing.
Back in the "throne room," the young man continues, as Joe looks on impassively. "This is where it gets even better! Act 2 of my brilliant life starts in 2000! You remember how I kidnapped that robotics professor's daughter! I made that robot! You remember the one? It spread the virus around and killed all those people! And that's when you died. Ooh, I bet you didn't like that. Now, here comes the real climax. I wonder where you were during the 2015 Expo... I had a whole park full of salesman with gas masks on. Each one had a suitcase. I'd hand him the suitcase, shake his hand and say good luck. You know what was in those suitcases? I'm evil. The worst. And what are you now? The hero? How lame. You're Kenji, right?"
Joe sits down and says, "It just doesn't seem real. I can imagine you pushing the guy off the platform. But that robot, the scientist built that, right? Not you. The salesmen with the suitcases? You just handed them out. Want me to tell you why only the first murder seems real?"
Suddenly a soldier bursts in and says, "President! The townsfolk are rioting! We can't control them!" The man tells him to kill them. Kill them all. Kenji says, "Oh, they call you President? Kill them all? It's your soldiers and citizens who are doing the dying. You're just talking."
Downstairs, the outlaws have broken in and are frantically freeing the incarcerated prisoners, including Chouno.
Up above, Joe says, "So, Mr. President, what's your name?" When he receives no answer but a gun pointed furiously at his face, he finally takes off his sunglasses and spits, "I'm Kenji."

Chapter 214: The Man Who Returned

Somewhere in the castle, the seven samurai (save one) are looking for Joe/Kenji. When the head of the soldiers comes to accost them, they hear the people outside singing Gutarara Sudarara. The soldiers have all surrendered and the castle is done for. The leader gives in and drops his gun.
They finally burst into the throne room and see the brown-haired man standing before the chair, pointing his gun at Kenji sitting on the ground. Ace says, "That's the leader! We gotta take him out!" But before he can throw his knife, Kenji speaks. "I'm Kenji. New Year's Day, 2000. Right at midnight, at the eve of the 21st Century... I barely escaped Shinjuku with my life. I lost my memory. I forgot I was Kenji Endo. I wandered around Japan without my memories. I even came back to Tokyo once. But I felt the terrifying memories coming back. I was so, so, so scared. So I ran. I ran as far as I could away from being Kenji Endo... but the 2015 Expo. I heard the news. The virus broke out and the whole world started dying. My memory came back. No... I couldn't run anymore. I spent three days and nights in the mountains. Three days and nights screaming and crying. And on the fourth morning, I made a stand. I made a decision. I'm gonna be a hero. I just couldn't run away from everything... Why are you carrying the murder of my sister's boyfriend on your back like this? I got a question. What's your name? Name yourself. You're no villain."
During this speech, the man's agitation grows into panic, until at the last question, he turns the gun to his own head. Kenji jumps on top of him and pushed the gun away. He says, "It's hard being evil. Being a hero is much easier." Outside, the people are still celebrating and singing his song. As the morning sun breaks over the mountains, they all turn towards Tokyo...
Where Kanna has come to see Yoshitsune again. As they embrace, she says, "Yoshitsune, I'm going to kill Friend." Otcho watches on.

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 6:56 pm

reserved

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 6:57 pm

reserved

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 6:57 pm

reserved

Fan Boy Joined: 30 Mar 2005 Posts: 2

Considering Urasawa's love of red herrings, and messed-up twists, it's really possible that "Yabuki Joe" will turn out to be Fukubei. I mean, it has to be someone we know already (or a result of something we already knew happened). And Joe has that same crowd-mesmorizing ability that Fukubei and Kanna have. Of course, Kenji always seemed to have enough hidden charisma to reach and effect people, but never to this scale. Even stranger would be if "friend" turned out to be Kenji. I think the demand for tylenol amongst readers would grow exponentially.

Or, Joe could turn out to be related to Kenji the same way the current "friend" (I like to translate it as "pal". It gives a slightly creepier feeling) is related to Fukubei. All I know is the likelihood of Joe being Kenji is really small. Since when has this series ever stuck with the obvious? What do you guys think about it?

Stephen: I hope you find some resolution to the problem of people stealing your scripts soon. I've been using your scripts to compare against my own translations for a while and it's helped a LOT with developing my understanding of grammer (I do, of course, always research into why they differ... you aren't infallible after all :p). So thanks, and good luck with your Beck job.

Scoundrel Joined: 17 Feb 2003 Posts: 403

think your mom is kenji
no definite proof though

Fan Boy Joined: 30 Mar 2005 Posts: 2

Quote:

think your mom is kenji
no definite proof though

As it stands, if that were true, it wouldn't surprise me.

Hell, the only thing that WOULD surprise me is if it turned out all of the obvious answers were true.

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2005 12:24 am

I'm keeping up with the comic weekly, but I wonder if anyone else is too... it's getting pretty damned good recently. I can't wait for the next tankoubon so I can read it all at once again, instead of weekly tachi-yomi (still makes me feel bad).

I kinda sense that it could be ending soon, but knowing Urasawa, there's more in store, I guess.

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2005 4:59 am

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about tachi-yomi. I used to do that a LOT when I was a piss-poor college student, and I didn't feel any guilt in doing so.

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2005 1:32 pm

And if this teaches you anything, it's that Summer Soldier is a shameless low-down dirty motherfucker.

Scoundrel Joined: 17 Feb 2003 Posts: 403

I think we were already taught this by the fact that he has a cellphone
picture of his own penis.

This was further compounded by the fact that I have on good authority
that he likes to touch his penis to objects that he feels belongs to him
to mark his territory. Sometimes multiple times to establish a dominant
ownership.

He also feels that he has dominant ownership of male anuses.. not
limited by species.

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2005 4:35 pm

Actually, I became permanently estranged from that lovely picture when I lost my cell phone, sad to say.

Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2005 11:02 pm

Summer Soldier wrote:

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about tachi-yomi. I used to do that a LOT when I was a piss-poor college student, and I didn't feel any guilt in doing so.

I've got about another four months as a semi-poor Monbusho funded student, and then I return back to the US, where I actually do work in college, but get no money from the government. It's funny how it works. But that's besides the point.

Here's to hoping for some major progress in the story before I leave...it can go in any direction from here.

Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2005 11:11 pm

Dude, that's my tax money you're spending on the streets of Susukino. Give it back to me, goddamnit!