Taiwan News Interviews Manga-ka Naoki Urasawa About 20th Century Boys

The Taiwan News recently interviewed manga-ka Naoki Urasawa and director Yukihiko Tsutsumi about the live action movie version of Urasawa's manga thriller 20th Century Boys. Based on the seinen manga series of the same name, 20th Century Boys is about a group of childhood friends who discover that they share a secret from their past that has played a pivotal role in the strangely authoritarian world that they live in today.

VIZ Media announced at San Diego Comic-Con '08 that they will be releasing the first volume of the manga in January 2009, but no official word if their partner company VIZ Pictures will release the film in the U.S.

Meanwhile, in the Taiwan News interview Urasawa-sensei talks about what led him to create this epic rock 'n roll sci-fi suspense story:

Q: What inspired you to create the story of 20th Century Boys?
Naoki Urasawa: I had an idea for a manga that was based on some mysterious symbol. I was in the bath on the day I finished drawing Happy! (a manga series about an aspiring tennis pro that Urasawa drew before 20th Century Boys) and a passage of a speech flashed in my head. It goes, "Without them we wouldn't have lived to see the 21st Century. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the 20th Century Boys!" I faxed the idea to the [Big Comic Spirits] editor right away.

Check out the rest of the interview, and see the other hot manga for 2009 that were also announced at Comic-Con '08.

Image credit: © 1999, 2006 Naoki Urasawa, Studio Natsu / Shogakukan © 2008 20th Century Boys Film Partners