By Naoki Urasawa
Synopsis: Failed rock musician Kenji's memories of his past come rushing back when one of his childhood friends mysteriously commits suicide. Could this new death be related to the rise of a bizarre new cult that's been implicated in several other murders and disappearances? Determined to dig deeper, Kenji reunites with some of his old buddies in the hope of learning the truth behind it all.
The volume ends with a small but thematically resonant revelation. A stranger (whose identity is almost comically obvious) comes across the manga compendiums of his youth and is amused to find they still use the same symbol to signal a story's continuing on the following page. The reader instantly recognizes it as a key component of the symbol of the Friend's cult. While on the surface, it's another clever tie between Kenji's childhood and the reality being put forth by the cult, symbolically it perfectly encapsulates the main idea of the novel. These sudden developments in Kenji's life are finally, and literally, guiding him to "What's Next." This is ultimately a story about the stray hopes and dreams of adventure, in this story personified by comics themselves, that every now and then end up building the adult that our childhood selves always dreamed of being. Read Full Review
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