Japanese manga artist Urasawa Naoki first drew attention on these shores thanks to the widespread success of Monster, the long running anime series based upon his original manga. Fans love the man for his ability to craft long, complex story lines that tackle difficult themes, often with some sort of ethical or religious dilemma at the core. Well, no doubt thanks to the success of Monster another Urasawa series is making the transition, this one titled 20th Century Boys.
The series aims to hit the airwaves in early 2008 with a plot that revolves around a group of friends trying to stop the arrival of Armageddon. The real life Aum death cult is apparently a major influence on this and the work also fuses 1950's sci-fi references and a nostalgia-heavy soundtrack. Do this stuff wrong and it comes off as pretentious twaddle. Do it right and it's genius. Urasawa tends to do it right.