Billy Bat

The best manga I have ever read, and I've read a few. Even for Urasawa's standards, this was an absolutely phenomenal read.

Story: 10/10
Gripping yet heartwarming. The final message was beautiful, a critique of society but with a message of hope. The last chapter was absolutely amazing.

Art: 10/10
Beautiful art, but that's to be expected of Urasawa. The landscape panels, the character designs and how they aged. I thought the little billy bat segments were cute and felt like a standalone comic on it's own with it's unique art-style.

Characters: 10/10
All the characters are likable in their own way. They have depth, motivations, hopes, even the fictional characters feel like real people. It sends a powerful message that every person has a story to tell. Even without the beautiful art and interesting story, I'd recommend this manga because of its characters.

Enjoyment: 10/10
The beginning was a bit slow but after the 3rd volume, it becomes a manga that's impossible to put down. I enjoyed every single page of it and I plan on eventually reading it again, just to relive everything again.

Overall: 10/10
This is my first time giving a manga a perfect 10. Sometimes I give them an overall 10 but a 9 in one or two of the aspects but in this case, everything's a ten. I'll recommend it to anyone no matter what genre they're into, because I think Billy Bat has something for everyone.

When I heard Naoki Urasawa was making a new manga I was extremely excited. I am a massive fan of his works, so it was amazing when I first found out about Billy Bat.

The first couple of chapters I was a little confused by the comic in a manga idea and how we were introduced to the comic bofore the characters in the manga. Also when I first read it I was a little unsure whether it was actually a manga by Urasawa, because of the style the manga had begun. But all my doubts where removed when I we were finally introduced to the main character Kevin Yamagata.

Story.

Like all of Naoki Urasawa's mangas Billy Bat is no doubt a cativating thriller that makes me want even more every time I read the resent update. The idea of being haunted by your own creation interests me too. The story so is brilliant and well planned.

Art.

Urasawa's art may not be the prettiest or best looking, but his art is easy to follow, not like some commen shoujou manga. Personally I love his art, and he will always be my favourite mangaka not just because of the captivating plots he comes up with but his raw talent he has with drawing.

Character.

The characters in Billy Bat are strong and well made. No two characters look the same, and due to Urasawa's art style it is easy to see his characters in real life. All character backgrounds are realatiable and realistic, therefore making it even easier to simpisize with the charaters.

Enjoyment.

I am really enjoying this manga, I can't wait for the next update! I highly recomend Billy Bat to anyone who enjoys any other manga by Naoki Urasawa

Billy Bat is an intricately woven mystery-thriller; it's a manga where twists and turns are around every corner and one which you will have to invest quite a bit of time into before any kind of revelation or payoff, but my is it gripping.

We begin with Kevin Yamagata; a Japanese-American cartoonist whose series Billy Bat - which follows the adventures of an anthropomorphic bat detective - is published by the reputable Marble Comics and adored throughout America. However, by chance Kevin learns of a manga which features a similar protagonist to his in Japan. Realising he may have unconsciously plagiarised the character whilst in Japan some years prior, he travels there hoping to meet with the author, but what he discovers is a web of conspiracies, murder, cover-ups and betrayal which all seemingly lead back to his bat character. Before long, however, it becomes evident that Billy Bat is something far beyond Kevin, as he's whisked into a mystery surrounding the bat's inception millennia ago and how - since the beginning of time - it has influenced history.

'Begin with' is an opportune phrase as - while Kevin is the protagonist - like much of Naoki Urasawa's work, the cast is impressively extensive, with Urasawa dipping in and out of different time periods and into the minds of numerous characters. The story is sinuous to say the least, but following it is never a chore. Urasawa nails the pacing, with much of the later content split into story arcs which usually consist of eight chapters (one complete tankobon). As a manga which portrays no less than fifteen different time periods - ranging from the 1st century to the 21st - it rarely comes across as confusing or disjointed, with Urasawa utilising sublime, almost cinematic transitions, along with many familiar faces in the form of characters based on real-life historical figures, which many readers will be able to pinpoint.

These characters - along with the inclusion of many real-life incidents, such the the Shimoyama affair, the JFK assassination, the falling of the Berlin Wall and even the 9/11 attacks - make the series feel as though it's grounded in reality. Billy Bat has a certain familiarity about it; it's an evocative series which balances fiction and non-fiction well, all the while displaying just how much planning and preparation Naoki Uraswawa and Takashi Nagasaki have put into the story.

It does require a certain amount of patience, however. Much like in 20th Century Boys - one of the authors' previous series - a hundred and one questions are proffered before only a handful are answered. Urasawa grips readers with frequent twists and startling cliffhangers at the end of every chapter - the story itself never sours - but readers of an impatient disposition may encounter some frustration with how long certain questions are held in limbo.

The characterisation is phenomenal, with both the fictional and non-fiction based characters portrayed immeasurably. Certain characters are more well-rounded than others, but for such a huge cast, Urasawa works wonders. I'm delighted to say, both the protagonists and antagonists are superbly crafted; with a heart, a soul, emotions and clear motivations. It's especially great to see the more villainous characters looked after, so to speak. One dimensional characters can cause a story to fall so utterly flat, but Urasawa deserves much praise. He has created a multitude of level-headed, layered, intelligent, intriguing, well-written, well-implemented characters sure to leave an impression.

Urasawa's handiwork continues in the art, which rarely misses the mark. Certain panels could do with a little more detail, but all-in-all, the characters are appropriately differentiated and well-drawn, the backgrounds are stunningly detailed - especially in the page spreads - and, as before, Urasawa's use of transitions from one scene to the next is second to none. Urasawa utilises a different style for the comic-in-a-comic sequences of Billy Bat - it's more cartoonish and Americanised - which works exceedingly well and adds yet another flavour to an already appetising manga. The flow of his artwork and panel placement is admirable, with the dramatic beats hitting their mark and the action sequences thrilling to follow.

Ultimately, Billy Bat is a precisely planned and efficiently presented manga; it's clear to see how in control Urasawa is. Despite such a gigantic cast and involved plot, he never loses his way. The story is well-rounded and confidently written, with the characters consistent and appealing. Additionally, the drama is realistic and attentively developed, with many of the story arcs able to garner substantial emotional investment. Overall, Billy Bat is an immersive, gripping and highly stirring read; among Urasawa's best.

This manga was very suspenseful with a large host of interesting characters. It has a multitude of main characters, who may all begin their stories in different places or in different ways, but that have paths that come to intersect, even across generations. That's part of what makes this story so interesting, that it's being told at such a massive scale, but that it still seems to flow well and seem consistent, with characters coming up again and again in unexpected ways or places. The characters are also interesting, especially as it shows them in all sorts of circumstances as well as a at various points in their life, so it manages to develop them a great deal. It also shows a large slice of history, primarily from 1950 to about 2015, though it has events outside that as well. Within this period, it manages to tie a number of major world events into the plot, which makes the plot feel even more massive scaled. However, despite all this, there is the major issue that after that crazy ride, the payoff at the end is kind of weak. While at the beginning it starts focusing on smaller stories that slowly connect themselves to a bigger plot, which are interesting stories in their own right, as it goes on the focus on the larger plot becomes more and more important with the smaller stories ultimately never really having much of a conclusion at all. Hence, at this point it feels that all that matters are the main plot, solving the final mystery and reaching the end. How this ultimately happens though felt quite weak for the massive build up to it, and in the end, I was left somewhat dissatisfied. If there was more care given to showing how the main characters ended up and gave them some sort of meaningful conclusion, than it may have been fine. But it goes full speed towards the conclusion for quite a bit, but then just sort of sputters off when it gets there. Still, the journey there was quite an interesting ride. The art isn't a style I'm particularly fond of, and it started out a bit rough, but overall quality wise it was definitely pretty good. 

tl;dr: A manga that has a story at a tremendous scale but doesn't really have an ending that does that justice.

Running from 2008 to 2016, Billy Bat is the next mystery-thriller from Naoki Urasawa, though this time written in combination with Takashi Nagasaki. People discussing Urasawa usually tend to solely mention Monster, 20cb, and Pluto, giving Billy Bat a pass. Is this due to a lack of quality? Is it simply too new? Let’s Rock.

PLOT: We begin in 1949, comic artist Kevin Yamagata is semi-successful with his comic “Billy Bat” (which the first chapter and a half simply are). However an investigator looking into some soviet spies drops by his office. The investigator comments that he’s seen the Billy Bat character before as a manga in Japan. Yamagata, feeling like he may have unintentionally plagiarized the character. sets off to Japan. However what he finds isn’t simply a manga with a bat, but a multi-thousand year conspiracy about prophecy, power, and the icon of god. I say “begin” because the plot will move a lot in both directions, looking into the past, and progressing into the future. It’s intricate and intriguing, and in my opinion one of Urasawa’s greatest plots. Not only does it span a good amount of time, it heavily involves real world conspiracies. To avoid _too many_ spoilers I’ll only mention the JFK Assassination, Disney’s ghost writer, and Nazi spies. I find that the use of reality adds more weight and impact to everything. No matter what it does, it makes it connected and always comes with an interesting twist, being plenty surprising. The ending will be hit or miss depending on the person. I wouldn’t say it’s the most narratively satisfying but it’s incredibly thematically satisfying. Which party you lean towards will decide how you feel about it. I personally enjoyed it. Back to the main plot however, it’s a lot of different conspiracies over time, all involving the bat. They can feel episodic as it’s heavily arc based, but they all build into the larger narrative. Nothing is unimportant, even what seems irrelevant at first.

9/10, it’s crazy cool and uses real world elements for great effect.

CHARACTERS:With that much plot detail something had to give, and that sadly was characters. Kevin Yamagata just isn’t as interesting as some other Urasawa protagonists. I think the epitome of this problem is when Kevin hooks up with a girl in early volume 2. It’s so focused on tying the plot in that the girl is completely devoid of anything interesting and her exit from the story has little impact. There’s not a lot of flesh given to a lot of characters save for some more character focused arcs. I rarely found myself connecting to anyone (notable exceptions were Kiyoshi Kurusu and Diane Goodman, who to the end of both of their arcs had become exceptional). Though there weren’t really any bad characters. Kevin(s) felt like typical leads, thrust into situations they don’t know and largely defined by their abilities and perception being based around those. They were simple, and effective for the plot, but with Urasawa I’ve come to expect more character writing. Takes on historical figures were interesting to see however. Lee Harvey Oswald was quite interesting in contrast to the usual public image of him. Adolf Hitler was also a surprise. A lot of characters were unique in manga for their natural existence in different time periods and locations, but I don’t think any of the characters will stay with me too long.

7/10, there wouldn’t be any real complaints if it weren’t for Urasawa. There’s nothing to write home about without comparison to external knowledge.

VISUALS:The art in Billy Bat is a unique topic, mostly for its varying styles. In being a manga about manga/comics there are many a times that things are told through the comics themselves, switching into the style of whatever in-series artist drew the comic. This keeps the manga visually interesting, and whenever the series focuses more on fiction it becomes quite intriguing to look at. I can still see in my mind Billy Bat walking on a flat plane consisting of his comics, and that’s a cool image. Urasawa’s ability to represent different art styles is also a nice little touch. The real world art is pretty standard Urasawa fare. Like with Monster I found the art to be largely not surpassing functional. All of the characters were visually different and nothing ever looked bad but there were only maybe 3 moments within the 20 volume manga that I ever found myself wowed at the art. After 20th Century Boys I expected to be wowed once more but I never found myself as impressed. Still not being the greatest is by no means bad, and there were still things I found myself quite impressed with. The depiction of JFK and his Wife just wasn’t that.

8/10, there’s a lot of smart design and varied/unique visuals. Just not a lot of uber-frameable moments.

FINAL SCORE: 8/10

Billy Bat is an interesting manga, a very interesting manga. I can see someone coming off of Monster and being disappointed that it doesn’t have Monster’s level of skilled character writing but it makes up for that in plot. I wouldn’t call myself Billy Bat’s biggest fan but it was an intriguing read that I think I’ll come to find I enjoyed more than I initially thought. For anyone into conspiracy stories and meta-narratives about art I’d definitely recommend Billy Bat. It’s not Urasawa’s best work but I do believe it holds to his standard of quality, and that’s a high standard.

This is simply the best Manga i have ever read!

The Manga started pretty weird but we all know Naoki Urasawa. He is not just drawing Manga, his works are simply art with a way deeper meaning than it might appear at first glance.

Billy Bat is using historical information, known conspiracy theories and different aspects of life in a way.. it just simply blows your goddamn mind. I read his other works and many other seinen or just manga with deeper meaning but Billy Bat is just something else. And don't lemme start with the ending.

Give it a shot.
You might think it's weird or boring at time. Maybe you dislike history. But if you understand the deeper context. This is probably the most brilliant piece of "Manga-Art" you can find on this planet. Trust me.
You won't regret reading this Manga and it might inspire you.

Having felt curious because of a new manga series that got translated online, I started reading Billy Bat and realised how amazing it was. It was indeed very confusing at first because I thought it would be an Americanized comic about a detective, however I realised it was so much more.

Urusawa has definitely put a lot of work into this manga due to the fact that it has a lot of significant historical references such as the birth of Jesus and the assassination of J.F. Kennedy.

What I love the most is that it deals so much with racial discrimination and an actual insight of the so-called assassinator of Kennedy, Oswald. The manga is very powerful in a non-cliched manner such that people will feel that it is decent and original.

Don't be deceived by the title that seems childlike; it seems so at first glance but when you take the initiative to learn it you shall realize how the entire melody of the comic is paced by the title itself.
The story seems to be a simple mystery initially, but as you move on you realize that it is much more than that.The story starts from one point and then diverges through several roots and later the network of these roots of story lines converge once again to convey the theme. The narrative is rather adventitous.
The anti-climatic ending itself justifies the greatness of the comic.
Several anecdotes are potrayed here, from first human landing on moon to the Kennedy assassination and so on, thereby giving it a historical fiction attribute. It was a great experience to learn about the japanese history and what helped the country to ascent the level to as it is.
We are introduced to myriad of characters gradually, seeming to become a mishap but after thorough reading, all of the character makes sense.
The human struggle to rise against the religious bias and racial prejudice, the change in social behaviour in a particulae generation with progress of time and the overall effect of the wars on civilians are the recurring synopsis.
The art is fabulous, the layout is great and the dialogue is highly aprreciable. Urusuwa's genius is coveyed through every aspect of the comic.
Highly recommended to those who enjoy slow paced innovative thrillers!