This is literally my favorite manga ending of all time. This is Naoki Urasawa at the peak of his game and beyond. When I finished Billy Bat at the end of 2018, I wasn't expecting the world to turn into what we got in 2020-2021, but looking back at it, man, Naoki feels like an Old Testament prophet.
Just binged this whole playlist today, and it was an excellent way of re-experiencing Billy Bat. It's so great to see someone analyzing the masterful (but criminally under-discussed) works of Urasawa Naoki... Thanks for making these videos, and I'm looking forward to seeing more quality content on this channel!
Thanks Moonlight! I'm hitting all your comments now and Im really loving your perspectives. Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy what's coming up next on the channel
Really enjoyed watching through your Billy Bat series! Billy Bat is one of my absolute favorite manga, and it's such a shame it's not talked about as much as Urasawa's other works. Excited to see what's up next for your channel :]
I'm serious i've read billy bat half a year ago and it still drives me crazy,every other naoki urasawa stories had clear motivations and endings,spoilers:johan is in coma(from another monster) ,friend is katsumata and roosvelt indirectly caused all events,wanting to destroy humsnity
I think Urasawa still leaves a lot of interpretation in his series. For example who the real Monster of Monster is and how much does it take to make a person into a monster. Or how friend managed to consolidate so much power and why he used it to simply follow a book his friends wrote as kids. You're right though, for those series they answer the immediate question like who friend is. In Billy Bat, he tries something else and leaves the big question (Billy) unresolved
@@SeaGee thank you for the answer,i think in monster real monstets were viera and franz,johan was just a kid who was influenced by monstets,book(nameless monster)he has no name,he has no idendity,he was living with franz,where he probably read a lot of his books and he lived in three frogs,knowing only anna and mother,mother betrayed him,by making a choise,and then johan saved her sister,convincing her that it all happend to him
And also i had this question for a long time,where do you think johan and anna were going,after burning down their house(which i think franz did(from another monster),they clearly were trying to cross border,only answer i have the were trying to find shuwald because thats only person they saw,besides mother,franz and capek
In case of 20th century boys,fukubei always wanted attention and he wanted to defeat kenji in his own game,katsumata hated kenji,but also was the person who saved him from suicide,katsumatas goal was to destroy world while playing with kenji,because kenji destroyed his world by stealing that toy thingy
Great thoughts! Thanks, it's been a hot minute since I've read 20th Century. I think Johan and Anna were simply going Away. Any direction that puts distance between them and the experiment. Running to the hills would probably seem like a good natural border to distance themselves. For who the monster is, I totally agree. Another Monster makes sure to paint Peter Chapek as the other Monster right at the end. Echoing Bonaparta as the monster in the original. Although Fuhr is certainly a very creepy dude...
The easy answer is that it's a coincidence. Timmy just happened to write exactly what was going to happen. I've got my own conspiracy theory that he was the last wish user (consumed the second to last earth) which might have given him that info subconciously but that's never really brought up in the series. So no strong answer to this either way sadly
Thank you very much , for the magnificent explanation .. i just finished reading billy bat im the metro (10 min ago) , i filled empty after that .. but i didn't like the ending
And also it drives me crazy not knowing what 3 billies were trying to do,i have headaches,tell me most logical explanation without vagueness,were white and black bat competing against each other to save/destroy earth and the third bat was just instrument for destruction?
You know, i really have no idea. I think the Billies planned to end the world with Kurusu but the Billy (white?) interacting with Kevin Goodman gave Goodman the tools to change it. This Billy having been influenced by Kevin's desire to save the earth. After that the Billys got sick of humanity so setup Kevin to go to the cave so they could reunite and then leave the earth.
There's definitely a "merge" that happens in the cave between the three Billies. You could see the Billies as loosely related to a person's competing desires. Them merging in the cave is Goodman confirming his final desire, to draw draw and keep drawing. From a more literal perspective, no idea why they merge together.
@@SeaGee yes so black bat appears to "bad" people a s white bar to "good" people,i dont think bats are influenced they just look for people that can bring earth to hell faster or pull it back from hell
Timmy always feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy because when we first meet Kevin, he’s like 20 years old then he meets up with Timmy who was like 18 at the time and Kevin would I think it be 38 and by the time all the stuff happens and we get to near the endings Kevin would be like in his late 70s early 80s and is still very only healthy while Timmy is wheelchair-bound so he’s somewhere in his 60s early 70s and the world has gone to complete crap by this point that makes me think Timmy ended up speeding at the end of the world trying to secure resources which probably lead to wars because since this happened in America in Timmy specifically hoarding resources, by extension America is hoarding resources and because of the amount of money and power and influence he has he can pretty much do it anywhere so probably start stomping on international toes in America, refuse to do anything about it’s a war broke out, leading to the world. We see near the end, but no one blames Timmy, because you put on a good face, and a nice smile people believe you, so I think the dark world that Timmy was seeing was just the world he’d end up creating cause you gotta think if you start poisoning drinkable, water, and stuff like that, you’re gonna eventually ruin something and it’s not like people need much reason to start a conflict so MegaCorp doing that I can imagine it at least that’s my theory
Billy Bat and Monster battle it out for my top spot. I think Monster is a better written story but I really love Billy Bat. Then it's Pluto. Then 20CB.
@@SeaGee I see. I have it nearly identical except with 20th cb being at the top instead of the bottom. Btw, I’m sure you get this a lot, but have you seen friend identity theory (the one where it states that fukubei never existed and it was katsumata’s alter ego)? (I think it massively buffs 20th cb’s writing and is my personal favorite theory of any literary work)
Ultimately Hitler is trying to get a wish from Billy. I think he sent "Chuck" to America to maximise his chances of finding the scroll. Note that he tells "Chuck" his wish should "Chuck" get control of it.
Couldn't hitler find scroll without image spreading,obviously phiny working on chuck found it,obviosly image spreading has nothing to do with finding the scroll
Ahaha Stonks! I think he's looking for people who can see the bat. Like how he tells Einstein he's going to ally with Japan to try and get control of Zofuu. He may be doing the same thing in America to see if any other "bat prophets" exist across the sea. Alternatively it may have been as simple as the bat told him to do so. When he talks to Einstein he says that he's been in contact with that bat. So Hitler did have a bat connection
This is literally my favorite manga ending of all time. This is Naoki Urasawa at the peak of his game and beyond. When I finished Billy Bat at the end of 2018, I wasn't expecting the world to turn into what we got in 2020-2021, but looking back at it, man, Naoki feels like an Old Testament prophet.
Just throw in the world virus from 20CB and Id say Urasawa might be hiding a time machine somewhere
@@SeaGeemaybe he can see the bat...
@@Niffunn maybe he saw Tomodachi, and that's why he wrote 20th Century Boys lol
Just binged this whole playlist today, and it was an excellent way of re-experiencing Billy Bat. It's so great to see someone analyzing the masterful (but criminally under-discussed) works of Urasawa Naoki... Thanks for making these videos, and I'm looking forward to seeing more quality content on this channel!
Thanks Moonlight! I'm hitting all your comments now and Im really loving your perspectives. Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy what's coming up next on the channel
Really enjoyed watching through your Billy Bat series!
Billy Bat is one of my absolute favorite manga, and it's such a shame it's not talked about as much as Urasawa's other works.
Excited to see what's up next for your channel :]
Thank you for making these videos
Thank You for watching! Billy Bat is criminally underread
This was one of the most confusing stories I’ve ever heard. Listened to all ur vids on this and subscribed keep up the good work
I'm serious i've read billy bat half a year ago and it still drives me crazy,every other naoki urasawa stories had clear motivations and endings,spoilers:johan is in coma(from another monster) ,friend is katsumata and roosvelt indirectly caused all events,wanting to destroy humsnity
I think Urasawa still leaves a lot of interpretation in his series. For example who the real Monster of Monster is and how much does it take to make a person into a monster. Or how friend managed to consolidate so much power and why he used it to simply follow a book his friends wrote as kids. You're right though, for those series they answer the immediate question like who friend is. In Billy Bat, he tries something else and leaves the big question (Billy) unresolved
@@SeaGee thank you for the answer,i think in monster real monstets were viera and franz,johan was just a kid who was influenced by monstets,book(nameless monster)he has no name,he has no idendity,he was living with franz,where he probably read a lot of his books and he lived in three frogs,knowing only anna and mother,mother betrayed him,by making a choise,and then johan saved her sister,convincing her that it all happend to him
And also i had this question for a long time,where do you think johan and anna were going,after burning down their house(which i think franz did(from another monster),they clearly were trying to cross border,only answer i have the were trying to find shuwald because thats only person they saw,besides mother,franz and capek
In case of 20th century boys,fukubei always wanted attention and he wanted to defeat kenji in his own game,katsumata hated kenji,but also was the person who saved him from suicide,katsumatas goal was to destroy world while playing with kenji,because kenji destroyed his world by stealing that toy thingy
Great thoughts! Thanks, it's been a hot minute since I've read 20th Century. I think Johan and Anna were simply going Away. Any direction that puts distance between them and the experiment. Running to the hills would probably seem like a good natural border to distance themselves.
For who the monster is, I totally agree. Another Monster makes sure to paint Peter Chapek as the other Monster right at the end. Echoing Bonaparta as the monster in the original. Although Fuhr is certainly a very creepy dude...
I felt puzzled finishing, which I don’t usually feel in any Urasawa works, seeing this makes me understand it better because I was mad confused 😭
Can you please tell how Timmy predicted the attack on towers without seeing the bat?
The easy answer is that it's a coincidence. Timmy just happened to write exactly what was going to happen.
I've got my own conspiracy theory that he was the last wish user (consumed the second to last earth) which might have given him that info subconciously but that's never really brought up in the series. So no strong answer to this either way sadly
@@SeaGee maybe...
But if possible read Homunculus manga and please do a video. There's a deep depth in the story.
I remember having read that ages ago but I hardly remember what happened. I will add it to the list
@@SeaGee sure. Will be waiting. ✌️✌️✌️
Thank you very much , for the magnificent explanation .. i just finished reading billy bat im the metro (10 min ago) , i filled empty after that .. but i didn't like the ending
And also it drives me crazy not knowing what 3 billies were trying to do,i have headaches,tell me most logical explanation without vagueness,were white and black bat competing against each other to save/destroy earth and the third bat was just instrument for destruction?
You know, i really have no idea. I think the Billies planned to end the world with Kurusu but the Billy (white?) interacting with Kevin Goodman gave Goodman the tools to change it. This Billy having been influenced by Kevin's desire to save the earth. After that the Billys got sick of humanity so setup Kevin to go to the cave so they could reunite and then leave the earth.
@@SeaGee to runite?how? And also i think bat from the scroll is black and the bat from the comic drawings is white
And the are comepting,you can tell that from last conversation with bats
There's definitely a "merge" that happens in the cave between the three Billies. You could see the Billies as loosely related to a person's competing desires. Them merging in the cave is Goodman confirming his final desire, to draw draw and keep drawing. From a more literal perspective, no idea why they merge together.
@@SeaGee yes so black bat appears to "bad" people a s white bar to "good" people,i dont think bats are influenced they just look for people that can bring earth to hell faster or pull it back from hell
Timmy always feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy because when we first meet Kevin, he’s like 20 years old then he meets up with Timmy who was like 18 at the time and Kevin would I think it be 38 and by the time all the stuff happens and we get to near the endings Kevin would be like in his late 70s early 80s and is still very only healthy while Timmy is wheelchair-bound so he’s somewhere in his 60s early 70s and the world has gone to complete crap by this point that makes me think Timmy ended up speeding at the end of the world trying to secure resources which probably lead to wars because since this happened in America in Timmy specifically hoarding resources, by extension America is hoarding resources and because of the amount of money and power and influence he has he can pretty much do it anywhere so probably start stomping on international toes in America, refuse to do anything about it’s a war broke out, leading to the world. We see near the end, but no one blames Timmy, because you put on a good face, and a nice smile people believe you, so I think the dark world that Timmy was seeing was just the world he’d end up creating cause you gotta think if you start poisoning drinkable, water, and stuff like that, you’re gonna eventually ruin something and it’s not like people need much reason to start a conflict so MegaCorp doing that I can imagine it at least that’s my theory
I also think that
What’s your ranking on the 4 main urasawa works?
Billy Bat and Monster battle it out for my top spot. I think Monster is a better written story but I really love Billy Bat. Then it's Pluto. Then 20CB.
@@SeaGee I see. I have it nearly identical except with 20th cb being at the top instead of the bottom. Btw, I’m sure you get this a lot, but have you seen friend identity theory (the one where it states that fukubei never existed and it was katsumata’s alter ego)? (I think it massively buffs 20th cb’s writing and is my personal favorite theory of any literary work)
And now it's the Oxenfree score, I think?
Please can you tell me what hitler was trying to do by spreading billys image in america?
Ultimately Hitler is trying to get a wish from Billy. I think he sent "Chuck" to America to maximise his chances of finding the scroll. Note that he tells "Chuck" his wish should "Chuck" get control of it.
@@SeaGeethank you for your answer but how this action woul maximize chances,neither chuck nor hitler could see the bat?
Was hitler like:if i i give bat glory,he will give me wish,stonks!?
Couldn't hitler find scroll without image spreading,obviously phiny working on chuck found it,obviosly image spreading has nothing to do with finding the scroll
Ahaha Stonks! I think he's looking for people who can see the bat. Like how he tells Einstein he's going to ally with Japan to try and get control of Zofuu. He may be doing the same thing in America to see if any other "bat prophets" exist across the sea. Alternatively it may have been as simple as the bat told him to do so. When he talks to Einstein he says that he's been in contact with that bat. So Hitler did have a bat connection
What is the song that is playing?
It's a few songs from the Night In The Woods OST. "Pierogies in the Dark" and "Fireflies on the Porch" are the two longer songs
@@SeaGee Thanks! I think the Billy Bat videos were done really well.
Thanks so much, I really appreciate it