Naoki Urasawa Appreciation Thread

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Ihkljhkjh

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This guy is by far my favorite author, in general. Monster was what got me into comics, and 20th Century Boys and Pluto made sure I stayed. Billy Bat is looking awesome so far too, though I think I may be the only one who's reading it. It's one of those mystery stories where I have no idea how everything will be tied together.

There's at least one moment in each of his stories that just makes me break down and cry:

Monster - Grimmer finally realizing his humanity

20th Century Boys - Sadakiyo realizing that there are people that care about him

Pluto - Gesicht's backstory with his son; his death

Any thoughts/questions on Mr. Urasawa?
 
The only work by him I've seen is Monster.

I thought it was pretty good. (definitely was the most realistic anime I've ever seen.) I can't wait for it to get released on DVD here, already!
 
I personally consider Naoki Urasawa to be Japan's answer to Alan Moore.
I find it particularly interesting how, despite the frequently dark tones of his works, he tenRAB to create protagonists who take the burden of heroism on themselves, not because they're exceptionally strong or skilled or competent, but because they're exceptionally good. It's a refreshing contrast to the antihero model that's so overused nowadays.
 
I'll say that his works are very humanistic. No matter how how dark his series' gets, he always still shows the good in people.
 
I think Moore is a bit more philosophical and personal.

Naoki Urasawa is more like an adult-genre artist. His stuff is the type of stuff you might find businessmen or women reading in the airport. Very novelistic, page-turner type stuff.

If people have money to blow, they should check out the Yawara set from Animeigo. I personally hope the Yawara manga makes it over here one day.
 
Both seem to be based on reconstruction through deconstruction, which is, they use the adult themes to push a simpler moral. Stuff like Supreme and 20th Century Boys are such a joy to read to because of the heavier material that is in the stories or preceding them.
 
This thread made me go out and buy the Yawara boxset from Best Buy. I kinda figured that I already own all of Monster and what has been released of 20th Century Boys and Pluto so I might as well have a monopoly on all the stuff he's released. All that's left is Master Keaton.

O-chan
 
Yeah, I'm glad someone made this topic. Urasawa is one of my favorite authors, and almost every one of his works could fight for the title of best manga ever. Other than Happy!... That one drove me crazy, even though there were some great characters in there, I think he pushes it a bit hard.

Anyone enjoying Billy Bat?
 
Reading Billy Bat can be a drag, not because it's not awesome, but because it seems like there's no one to talk about it with.

I really want to know how the hell that bat syrabol got on the moon...and what Jesus' execution has to do with all of this
 
I'll only about a quarter of the way into the manga for Monster, so far, but I'm already a fan of Urasawa. The writing for this series is just so top-notch, and even though it seems so impossible to keep a series with writing that is THAT damn good going on for too long, I constantly keep getting surprised by how Urasawa's amazing writing talent allows him to constantly 1-up whatever he previously did with each consecutive chapter of the series.

I also love how, no matter how dark or grim situations can get in Monster, it never drastically changes the main characters enough to make them any less likable than they already are. And I think that Urasawa is definitely best when it comes to writing characters. As Desensitized said on another forum, before, he doesn't allow most other characters to be written off as 1-dimensional and useless people, no matter how small their role may be, which is something that most other authors of any kind could learn from him. I at least know this for sure in Monster, since I have yet to read any of Urasawa's other works. But trust me, I'll be sure to start 20th Century Boys as soon as I have completed Monster.
 
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