Of Smiles and Sunshine

20th century boys was such a wonderful manga! its plot is so intruiging, and at the end of every chapter u'll want to read on what happens next. the themes running through the story is so... unique. although this story talks about futuristic japan and the things (albeit horrible) that happened in the future, there is always the theme of the 60s, rock, "old" manga etc. that's pretty weird imo, but totally cool in its own way.

the artwork was fabulous! every detail drawn in each frame was so cool. i particularly remembered one scene where they showed someone telling something horrendous to chouno and otcho, where chouno was totally stunned, but otcho remained calm. however the next statement this person said, that kanna was still alive, totally stunned otcho. i thought that was... amazing. every drawing was so detailed that i felt i had been to the places kenji and friends had been to.

a major theme underlying the entire plot was about being unable to let go. one of the characters followed "friend" because him had not being given the attention he craved as a child, and while "friend" staged all the evil world domination and destruction of humanity due to how he had been wronged in the past and how others had not given him attention too when he was a child.

as children, we might not have thought about the impact of our actions on others, and might have done something cruel to others but in our eyes we don't see it as being "evil". the evil bullies of kenji's childhood thought they were playing with kenji's group when they were children! i guess memories gets warped with time, we only remember those we want to remember...

hate arises because we are unable to let go and forgive. if the young "friend" or his followers had been able to come to the concensus (which seemed impossible since they were merely kids then) or had seen the bigger picture, this hate might not have escalated to pushing humanity to the brink of extinction.













i had a dream again... i dreamt of the person i hated most. i dreamt that i was friends with him, studying together in the same room, doing homework together with him and my friends. it felt... so peaceful. and for once i was happy. but i wonder... is this a sign that i have come to consensus within myself, to have unravelled the tight knot deep in my heart and to have let go? but then again, this scenario would probably never happen in reality.













there is no way to defeat despair. the only way to overcome it... is to keep on walking.

i wish i had done this back then.