Prophecy The Copycat: The Return of the Masked "Hero"?

After our review on Prophecy, we will tell you about its spin-off, Prophecy The Copycat! Does this series mark the return of Paperboy?

Prophecy The Copycat

Original title: Yokokuhan – The Copycat / 予告犯 THE COPYCAT

Type: Seinen

Kinds: Drama – Mystery – Psychological – School Life

Scriptwriter:  Tsutsui Tetsuya

Draughtsman: Obata Fumio

VO Editor:  Shueisha

VF Editor: Ki-oon

Release date : 08/09/2016

Number of volumes in Japan: 3

Number of volumes in France :3

Status: Finished

Public price : 7.9€

Synopsis :

Takeru, Sota and Kyoko are three childhood friends who share a common dream: to leave their neighborhood as soon as possible. For them, violence, alcoholism and prostitution are part of everyday life. The speeches of Paperboy, the vigilante with the face covered with a newspaper who promises to fight to make the weakest proud, do not leave them indifferent. After Kyoko is attacked by a gang of high school thugs, Takeru and Sota decide to follow the model of the anonymous Internet user. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" becomes their new creed, and death their only sentence…

Paperboy is back!

The universe of Prophecy The Copycat is dark, there is a mixture of misery and violence! We find ourselves immersed in this world surrounded by violence that seems to be "normal" in this Japanese neighborhood. We follow three characters, Takeru, Sota and Kyoko. After a trigger, Kyoko's aggression, Takeru and Sota follow the example of "Paperboy"! They decide to avenge Kyoko and all the other people who are humiliated by people stronger than them. But everything will not go smoothly since a neighborhood cop will decide to chase them in order to stop these new Paperboys.

For those who are afraid to find a copy / paste of Prophecy in this new opus, rest assured, this is not the case! Indeed, there are a number of glaring differences between these two series (by the same author) that are obviously related. As in Prophecy, there are masked Heroes, but that's the principle of a Copycat you will tell me! Then, the way of proceeding of the Paperboy is different, they do not communicate by YouTube video, but by inscriptions on the walls of the city. They ask citizens for money to carry out their misdeeds. So many differences that make this manga different from Prophecy and just as interesting!

Regarding the characters, in this first volume, we get to know Takeru, Sota and Kyoko, the main characters. Little is known about them, but enough to imagine what they may have experienced and the environment in which they must live, which is not without difficulty.

Regarding the graphics, I really like the drawings! The way characters are drawn, the scenery, or certain facial expressions. I can imagine very well the emotion that the character can feel and I like it a lot! Obata Fumio's pencil stroke is not as fine as Tetsuya Tsutsui's, but is still very appreciable The only criticism I will make to the graphics concerns the inscriptions that are inscribed on the walls. In the manga, they are not always very readable and that's a shame. I have to go back several times to try to decipher what is written and it "cuts" my reading a little. But other than that, the graphics are very satisfying!

Prophecy The Copycat is a good series to discover if you are not afraid to plunge into a world of violence and misery!