Prophecy continues to impress and intrigue through two volumes Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Tetsuya Tsutsui
Translation: Kumar Sivasubramanian
What They Say:
As Paperboy starts to issue video warnings of crimes they plan to commit against ever-larger targets of internet outrage, Lieutenant Yoshino and the Anti Cyber Crimes Division attempts to get one step ahead of the newspaper-masked terror group. But even as they contend with the authorities, the greatest threat to Paperboy’s master plan may come from a totally unexpected place—within…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Paperboy represents the anonymity of the internet in its best and worst ways. On one hand, the four Paperboy representatives are trying to do a good thing; they’re trying to right the wrongs in the world. They’re going about it by using the anonymity of the internet—becoming a symbol instead of a representative—to reach a desired end, mitigating a good portion of the immediate risk to them personally, but at the cost of raising the stakes on if they ever get caught. By the end of the volume, it’s clear that having four Paperboys was just as big of a mistake as going about this crusade at all.
The internet comments at large are exactly what’s wrong with the internet, perhaps best personified in the bill that Shitaragi Tadashi is trying to pass and the commenters that celebrate the threat to his life. It’s the best kind of hypocritical commentary that is likely indicative of a lot of politicians. He bemoans internet anonymity then commands his team, the Shitaragi Supporters Association, to comment on the post…10 posts per person. In a post demanding a bill is passed to make everyone use their real name or a pre-determined and registered alias. Its two sides of an extreme.
Prophecy is excellent at digging straight into the extremes with little left in the middle ground. Between the Paperboy and the Anti Cyber Crimes Division’s aggressive pursuit of them, there’s not much left. Fight extreme with extreme and the one who’s a step ahead will win. There are but hints of the Paperboys’ slip ups. The so-called leader lets slip a Paperboy-like comment on the streets of Akihabara, streets full of cameras. And another of them goes directly against that leader. He uses a public phone and calls the police, seemingly ready to confess it all.
In Summary:
I feel like Prophecy, as long as the internet exists in its current form or similar to it, will always be prescient. Someone will always be gunning to “do the right thing” in all the wrong ways and the police will of course have to try and catch him / her. There will always be dirty politicians looking for the current cause to grasp onto to raise their approval rating. There will always be people willing to fight for the right cause. It’s a matter of how to go about it.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Vertical Comics
Release Date: February 10th, 2015
MSRP: $12.95
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