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Billy Bat #5
Billy Bat 5
LHM-0605-ZL198
200 pages, Paperback
First published November 22, 2010
7 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
Naoki Urasawa
350 books2,725 followersUrasawa Naoki (浦沢直樹) is a Japanese mangaka. He is perhaps best known for Monster (which drew praise from Junot Díaz, the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner) and 20th Century Boys.
Urasawa's work often concentrates on intricate plotting, interweaving narratives, a deep focus on character development and psychological complexity. Urasawa has won the Shogakukan Manga Award, the Japan Media Arts Festival excellence award, the Kodansha Manga Award and the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. In 2008 Urasawa accepted a guest teaching post at Nagoya Zokei University.
Series list (not including short stories collections):
- Pineapple ARMY (パイナップルARMY) 1985-1988, written by Kazuya Kudo;
- YAWARA! 1986-1993;
- Master Keaton (MASTERキートン) 1988-1994, written by Hokusei Katsushika;
- Happy! 1993-1999
- MONSTER 1994-2001
- 20th Century Boys (20世紀少年) 1999-2006
- 21st Century Boys (21世紀少年) 2007
- PLUTO 2003-2009, based on Tezuka Osamu's Tetsuwan Atom
- BILLY BAT 2008-2016
- Master Keaton Remaster (MASTERキートン Reマスター) 2012-2014
- Mujirushi (夢印-MUJIRUSHI-) 2017-2018, collaboration with Musée du Louvre
- Asadora! (連続漫画小説 あさドラ!) 2018-ongoing
Urasawa's work often concentrates on intricate plotting, interweaving narratives, a deep focus on character development and psychological complexity. Urasawa has won the Shogakukan Manga Award, the Japan Media Arts Festival excellence award, the Kodansha Manga Award and the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. In 2008 Urasawa accepted a guest teaching post at Nagoya Zokei University.
Series list (not including short stories collections):
- Pineapple ARMY (パイナップルARMY) 1985-1988, written by Kazuya Kudo;
- YAWARA! 1986-1993;
- Master Keaton (MASTERキートン) 1988-1994, written by Hokusei Katsushika;
- Happy! 1993-1999
- MONSTER 1994-2001
- 20th Century Boys (20世紀少年) 1999-2006
- 21st Century Boys (21世紀少年) 2007
- PLUTO 2003-2009, based on Tezuka Osamu's Tetsuwan Atom
- BILLY BAT 2008-2016
- Master Keaton Remaster (MASTERキートン Reマスター) 2012-2014
- Mujirushi (夢印-MUJIRUSHI-) 2017-2018, collaboration with Musée du Louvre
- Asadora! (連続漫画小説 あさドラ!) 2018-ongoing
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
July 17, 2025
Gathering Momentum
There is this one scene I can't unsee.
Picture yourself a young couple on their way to Dallas where the husband has been sent by his father to prove himself in the local branch of Golden Cola. Imagine them picking up a friendly-looking hitchhiker on their way to Dallas, exchanging amused considerations on Khrushev's taste for Golden Cola (read Pepsi?), and on the progress the young interracial couple embodies in the US of A of the early Sixties, the whole conversation ending cheerfully, in a generous toast raised by the hitchhiker to the happy newlyweds...
Then, picture them parking the car in the hitchhiker's hometown, the fictional city of Paladin, TX, when he invites the couple to come and take part in jolly night festivities. A joyous fire is seen in the distance, in the corn fields. The young woman prefers to wait in the car, inviting her husband to have a peek as she waits for him to return and tell her.
Imagine the two men going deep in the fields, only lit by the far-off blaze, joining the merry gathering.
Imagine white-robed, pointy-hooded men circling a Black man, setting fire to him.
•○•○•○•○•○•○•○•○•○•
Appart from the horrendous, highly unnerving and revolting events happening in Paladin, TX, in this volume, the scattered lines of the plan for JFK'S assassination end up forming a pattern. Lee Harvey Oswald is carefully trained and led towards a murderous finale, while Kevin discovers that, while the drawings are his former assistant's, the man who parades as Chuck Culkin and pretends being the creator of Billy Bat, is not him at all. Is there still time to try and stop the dark events on their tracks?
See also
Dark Interlude, in Nightmares and Geezenstacks – Fredric Brown
There is this one scene I can't unsee.
Picture yourself a young couple on their way to Dallas where the husband has been sent by his father to prove himself in the local branch of Golden Cola. Imagine them picking up a friendly-looking hitchhiker on their way to Dallas, exchanging amused considerations on Khrushev's taste for Golden Cola (read Pepsi?), and on the progress the young interracial couple embodies in the US of A of the early Sixties, the whole conversation ending cheerfully, in a generous toast raised by the hitchhiker to the happy newlyweds...
Then, picture them parking the car in the hitchhiker's hometown, the fictional city of Paladin, TX, when he invites the couple to come and take part in jolly night festivities. A joyous fire is seen in the distance, in the corn fields. The young woman prefers to wait in the car, inviting her husband to have a peek as she waits for him to return and tell her.
Imagine the two men going deep in the fields, only lit by the far-off blaze, joining the merry gathering.
Imagine white-robed, pointy-hooded men circling a Black man, setting fire to him.
•○•○•○•○•○•○•○•○•○•
Appart from the horrendous, highly unnerving and revolting events happening in Paladin, TX, in this volume, the scattered lines of the plan for JFK'S assassination end up forming a pattern. Lee Harvey Oswald is carefully trained and led towards a murderous finale, while Kevin discovers that, while the drawings are his former assistant's, the man who parades as Chuck Culkin and pretends being the creator of Billy Bat, is not him at all. Is there still time to try and stop the dark events on their tracks?
See also
Dark Interlude, in Nightmares and Geezenstacks – Fredric Brown
December 21, 2019
Un tome excellent ! J'ai frissonné plusieurs fois d'angoisse. Je comprends toujours pas tout mais j'ai grand plaisir à lire.
Même les histoires à côté sont super, j'étais très contente de revoir 2 personnages vu dans un tome précédent et le traitement de l'histoire était excellent
Même les histoires à côté sont super, j'étais très contente de revoir 2 personnages vu dans un tome précédent et le traitement de l'histoire était excellent
December 14, 2023
➺
3.5/5 🌟
March 30, 2025
É dedo no cu e gritaria
September 4, 2021
This will definitely not be published in the US. Another master volume by Urasawa!
August 17, 2020
5 Stars
No one so brilliantly mixes fiction with reality as Urasawa does. Just one word for him - legend.
No one so brilliantly mixes fiction with reality as Urasawa does. Just one word for him - legend.
March 29, 2025
Well, that was indeed a bonfire.
Read
April 30, 2025the cliffhanger they give at the every volume end 😭💥
Read
October 3, 2019The Oswald story, which dominates the second half, does not count among the highlights of the series for me (yet?) (though I love his meetings with Kurusu and certain other bits), but the Yamagata sections of that story are perfect—moving, exciting, unpredictable.
The first half of this volume, on the other hand, is unadulteratedly great. For the first time, Urasawa is reaching into history rather than his own imagination to supply the horror, and he is not sensationalist and not exploitative, he does it sensitively, waking the reader up to consider the historical horrors that existed and were. The fact that the main characters of the section are characters from an earlier volume, characters that I was certain were not going to re-enter the narrative, means that Urasawa’s bag of tricks is still full. In this he reminds me of Ursula Le Guin and her revealing and very careful use of pronouns: no matter how many times Ursula suddenly reveals that a character she has only identified by name or title rather than pronoun is female, and no matter how many times Urasawa brings back minor characters in a new, larger role, it always takes me by surprise.
The first half of this volume, on the other hand, is unadulteratedly great. For the first time, Urasawa is reaching into history rather than his own imagination to supply the horror, and he is not sensationalist and not exploitative, he does it sensitively, waking the reader up to consider the historical horrors that existed and were. The fact that the main characters of the section are characters from an earlier volume, characters that I was certain were not going to re-enter the narrative, means that Urasawa’s bag of tricks is still full. In this he reminds me of Ursula Le Guin and her revealing and very careful use of pronouns: no matter how many times Ursula suddenly reveals that a character she has only identified by name or title rather than pronoun is female, and no matter how many times Urasawa brings back minor characters in a new, larger role, it always takes me by surprise.
January 6, 2022
Las historias de Urasawa podrán ser la madre de enrevesadas en tiempos, escenas y subtramas de thriller político pero más allá de esa genialidad, sus personajes son el corazón de sus obras sin duda. No importa de qué trate, hace que te encariñes con ellos y luego es un sádico que te pone a llorar.
Adoré este tomo, cambiar todo este momento histórico para dar su versión de lo ocurrido, su teoría conspirativa, el fin del mundo, etc... ha valido la pena solo para ver al emblemático supuesto asesino de JFK ser un héroe.
Lágrimas.
Adoré este tomo, cambiar todo este momento histórico para dar su versión de lo ocurrido, su teoría conspirativa, el fin del mundo, etc... ha valido la pena solo para ver al emblemático supuesto asesino de JFK ser un héroe.
Lágrimas.
September 29, 2017
C'è il Ku Klux Klan e l'integrazione fra bianchi e neri, ripescando personaggi già mostrati in precedenza, c'è l'ossessione e la manovrabilità di Oswald, c'è Chuk Culkin, quello vero e quello falso, che si svelano a Kevin Yamagata in fuga, ci sono pipistrelli bianchi e neri, come al solito. C'è la promessa di un sacrificio e di un finale tragico e c'è Kevin Yamagata che unisce i tasselli e cerca di dare al tutto una sterzata verso il bianco.
September 10, 2019
Creo que este manga se sale bastante de la norma de lo que suele hacer Urasawa, sí que hay misterio, y no deja de ser un thriller, pero cómo mezcla la "fantasía" con la historia universal me parece fantástico, y eso mezclado a su clásico buen uso de personajes, dan por resultado una gran obra.
¿Será Billy Bat mejor villano que Friend o Johan? Eso está por verse, pero sí es probable que sea el villano de Urasawa que más daño haya hecho
¿Será Billy Bat mejor villano que Friend o Johan? Eso está por verse, pero sí es probable que sea el villano de Urasawa que más daño haya hecho
November 24, 2019
The plot kind of reminds me of an older Stephen King mystery. There’s a ridiculous number of subplots and side stories that seem to have little connection with one another which I’m sure is leading to a grand reveal. Lee Harvey Oswald, President Kennedy, the fake author of Billy Bat, Martin Luther King, the racist southern story exploring civil rights, the side stories are enjoyable but the main plot is completely lost on me and I have no idea where it’s trying to go.
January 20, 2023
দারুণ। একই সাথে বর্ণবাদ, কু ক্লুক্স ক্ল্যান, কেনেডি হত্যাকাণ্ড, এসপিওনাজ আর জালিয়াতি সব মিলে মিশে একাকার। কি অসাধারণ দক্ষতায় আপাত অবিশ্বাস্য সব ঘটনাগুলো এক বিন্দুতে এসে মিলে যায়। দিস ভলিউম ওয়াজ সো গুড!
December 17, 2024
JFK?
JFK assassination?
No way.
If I think about it, in a way, Jesus was responsible for the JFK assassination according the lore of Billy Bat. Of course, quite indirectly, as in a butterfly effect indirectly.
JFK assassination?
No way.
If I think about it, in a way, Jesus was responsible for the JFK assassination according the lore of Billy Bat. Of course, quite indirectly, as in a butterfly effect indirectly.
January 1, 2018
The story is still very good and interesting after 5 volumes...
March 13, 2019
No está siendo mi tebeo favorito de Urasawa pero aún así es brillante. Este tomo casi me saca la lagrimilla y la trama se vuelve cada vez más interesante. Poco a poco todo va estando conectado.
November 19, 2019
Intense.
March 3, 2020
Ah qu’il me tarde de savoir la suite
January 12, 2021
Phần này đọc đến đâu sởn gai ốc đến đấy! Câu chuyện về Oswald quá lôi cuốn...
October 15, 2022
"A menos que alguém tente algo nada vai mudar"
Chorei.
Chorei.
April 14, 2023
I'm still confused yet so enthralled.
December 13, 2023
نجمتين علشان كلاحة اوزلو شخصية غتتة وسخيفة بشكل
February 3, 2024
Oswald, neri e bianchi, "sai già perché l'hai scritto tu"
November 14, 2024
🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅
December 26, 2024
Best arc by far.
April 16, 2025
At last, Yamagata and Oswald met! I’m just not sure what Oswald’s purpose is. I can’t wait to find out!
May 12, 2025
Just escalating upwards🌟. Not a single boring page!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews