Really wanted this to be masterpiece tier like 20th and 21st century but unfortunately it fell short. Still enjoyable but not as satisfying

Take everything that made 20th Century Boy interesting - the time skips, the many changes of scenes and characters, the foreshadowing - take all of that, execute everything about it badly, and also remove all the payoffs, and you end up with Billy Bat.

The ending is terrible, feels like a total non-sequitur, and suggests that nothing in the preceding story was even remotely relevant.

Some more things that prove irrelevant:





It's outright bizarre to me that the creator of Monster could create such a terrible story. To me, the non-ending felt like an ultimate insult, and I consider the resulting story worse than any random isekai or harem nonsense. I wonder if something went wrong with having a co-author? In any case, I can't recommend this story to anyone.

A gripping tale that spans several countries, time periods and characters. You thought a story about mangaka would be boring or uneventful? Think again. As Urasawa uses his trademark thriller style to spin this tale you won't be able to stop reading. The way the characters and plot threads come together is once again a testament to Urasawa's talent.

The kid in the middle of a minefield, or the soldier tasked with helping the kid? maybe we are both.

Yes this is a serious question that's how meta and how real this manga gets at the end, you see our times are not that different from the ones depicted in the story.

I tried to read this manga a couple of years ago and it didn't catch my attention initially. The summary for this series didn't sound interesting and I didn't think the author could be able to write another manga like "Monster" and "20th Century Boy" so I'm glad I was wrong. I liked that this series has a blend of both of them.

People have to remember that Urasawa Naoki's manga's needs to build up for it to be amazing. You need to see the bigger picture rather than reading a couple of chapters only. An example would be the first 15-30 chapters of this manga because it was boring for me. At that point of the manga I wanted to quit, but I knew that things would pick up at some point so kept reading, and I'm glad I did.

I recommend that keep reading after the Shinobi arc because that was the point where things started to pick up for me. Luckily I started reading this when 118 chapters have been translated because I don't think I would have remembered all the things that happened in this manga by reading one chapter each week/biweekly/month.

... Last updated on August 8th, 2014, 11:43am

I always thought that Monster was Naoki Urasawas Magnum Opus. His Maus or Watchmen if you will but apparently this could be the ONE. I further consider Urasawa to be japan´s best living (Osamu Tezuka can´t be beaten) comic author as he never stops and just goes on from one high point to the next with his Astro Boy "remake" Pluto being the next best thing to Monster and Billy in level of writing and art quality. Happy is the "worst" for reference but still a 7,5/10 as he can do no wrong it seems.
The amount of well defined characters here is awe inspiring, the multicultural touches are a breath of fresh air and the century spanning conspiracy is coming together nicely. The series is further exceptionally well researched with his Walt Disney and Kubrick stand-ins being the best examples. The current arc is even about 9/11 and that isn´t a topic the average mangaka would be willing to touch or would be even allowed by his editors.
Why aren´t animation houses and TV-networks fighting over the rights to his mangas as this could be a killer HBO series or Madhouse anime. Berserk is the best thing on japanese the market right now, then comes Vinland Saga and then we arrive here so expect perfection like nowhere else.
Read it now and remember: The Bat is always watching!

... Last updated on March 28th, 2015, 11:58am

this series level of insanity is frighting
if you are into real life Urban legends, UFOs and Global Conspiracies
then you ain't seen anytin yet!
beware of the Bat!

... Last updated on January 6th, 2013, 5:36am

This manga is simply awesome. The mangaka has kept me into this manga because every chapter I'm wanting to know who and/or what the bat is. They have done their research on history and tied the bat to everything in a great fashion.
If the mangaka keeps this up it will only get better and better, there is still so much that can be done.

I got blind-sighted when I saw "Naoki Urasawa" on the cover and tried my best to like this manga.

Perhaps I've come to expect a certain level of realism when it comes to an Urasawa series, and even when it blends elements of fantasy I always found how he incorporates it into the story to be tastefully done. With Billy Bat, he threw all subtlety out the window and dove right into the thickets of mysticism and curses.

Each chapter of this manga does not seem to fall into place with any of the other chapters, and therefore the pacing sometimes seems off. Not to mention some events are just wholly unbelievable, even when they incorporate tidbits of historical fact. Urasawa's token cliffhangers are still present, but they do not grab me like with previous works, and sometimes I just find myself wishing for the chapter to end.

Overall, I am disappointed.

All these plot threads, all these theories of what really happened in history appropriated for this manga. It draws on events from all over the place, Jesus, JFK, the rise of Nobunaga, the moon landing (even Einstein!). And it's tying them together perfectly. Furthermore all these characters are introduced and eventually tie in, even if it takes decades. And then there's the mystery of the black vs white bat.

Wow. Simply wow.

... Last updated on September 3rd, 2012, 3:27am