History Manga / BillyBat

* HarsherInHindsight: [[invoked]] Intentional within the ''Billy Bat'' comics, since they're predicting the future: The boss at Billy Bat World and his friend wonder if "a sexy, MarilynMonroe-ish-thing" in a comic that's clearly about UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy is going to be killed by a GovernmentConspiracy.

''Billy Bat'' is a [[Main/{{Seinen}} seinen]] thriller manga by Creator/NaokiUrasawa (the man behind ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys'', and ''Manga/{{Pluto}}'') and Takashi Nagasaki, with the former providing the artwork.

A manga [[Main/{{Seinen}} seinen]] thriller manga by Creator/NaokiUrasawa (the man behind ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys'', and ''Manga/{{Pluto}}'') and Takashi Nagasaki, with the former providing the artwork.

A manga [[Main/{{Seinen}} seinen]] thriller manga by Creator/NaokiUrasawa( the man behind ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys'', and ''Manga/{{Pluto}}'') and Takashi Nagasaki, with the former providing the artwork.

A manga series by Creator/NaokiUrasawa, the man behind ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys'', and ''Manga/{{Pluto}}''.

* TimeyWimeyBall: [[spoiler: A bat doodle beats the astronauts to the moon(?), and it seems {{Jesus}} is affected too.]]

* ManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: Or in front of the man: Chuck Culkin, Kevin's Creator/WoodyAllen-looking assistant who took over ''Billy Bat'' after Kev went to Japan, is "played" in public and in business by a WaltDisney-lookalike.]]

** [[spoiler: And the real Chuck Culkin]] is one to UbIwerks.

** In a meta-example, Chuck Culkin's relationship with [[spoiler: the man who portrays him in public is very similar to UbIwerks's relationship with Walt Disney]].

* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Kevin, seemingly, in chapter 93. Confirmed in chapter 192 -- at the age of 100, "drawing to the last".]].

** Jackie Momochi in the World Trade Center plaza just after the reveal that the last number sequence includes 9.11.2001 [[spoiler: unfortunately for the Bat crew it ''is'' 9/11 and they're too late]]

** [[spoiler: Jackie Momochi being the successor, turns out it's Kevin Goodman, a 3 year old kid. Also, it was the boy that Kevin Yamagata was meant to save, not JFK.]]

** [[spoiler: There's actually three bats. It used to be one being until it fell to earth in prehistoric times. "Black" and "White" are on earth manipulating humanity while the third one was observing things on the moon.]]

* SavingTheWorldWithArt: Literally. Mangaka who can see Billy Bat can create manga that actually influences the course of history. But this being Urasawa, it's most certainly played with. [[spoiler: Kevin Goodman prevented Kiyoshi from resetting history and destroying the world, but he changed too much. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero It's heavily implied that his changes set the course for 9/11...and possibly something even worse.]]]]

* RealityWarper: The bat allows people to either [[YouCantFightFate predict the future]] or [[WindsOfDestinyChange change it]], [[MindScrew (apparently)]]. It used to have the power to "fix" reality but they've run out of "lives" and this one's all we've got.

* PetTheDog: [[spoiler: for ''Lee Harvey Oswald'']]

* NoKillLikeOverkill: The lengths Chuck Culkin Enterprises would go to protect its interests, from killing bootleggers and "fan artists" of Kevin Yamagata's bat to obliterating a "cult of bat-worshipers" in Tibet [[spoiler: they're just hiding]] to plowing into a crowded newsstand just to kill one snooping lawyer [[spoiler: they're stopped by Audrey who happens to need an exceptionally brave lawyer to find a certain Japanese-American artist hiding in Texas]].

* ManipulativeBastard: the Bat and whoever is/tries to control it.

** HumansNeedAliens / PunyEarthlings: Seeing as the bat's origin was [[spoiler: a meteor that crashed to earth]]: "Ever since that time... You all [humanity/those who can see the bat] has never stopped asking me (puts on [[HumansAreMorons pouty/whiny face]]) [='=]'''''What should I do?'''''[='=]"

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: "Who's gonna read a comic Ethat isn't for kids?"

* HitlerAteSugar: [[spoiler:Hitler hosting Fake!Chuck Culkin, a german soldier of jewish descent, to his private house and showing him to his private art gallery]].

* GratuitousNinja

* HeKnowsTooMuch: The reason why [[spoiler: Jackie Momochi is in danger. Not only she saw Kurusu with one of the sniper teams, but also has bat-visions about the other sniper teams, including the one on the grassy knoll.]]

* DarkIsNotEvil[=/=]LightIsNotGood: It's vaguely implied that the white (unfilled) drawing of The Bat is evil while the black (filled-in) one is good. [[MindScrew Or is it]] [[DarkIsEvil the other]] [[LightIsGood way around?]]. [[spoiler: Zofuu-sensei says the white one is sort of MadOracle, and the black one manipulates people into doing bad things.]]
** Turns out [[spoiler: The white bat wants to save the world using humans while the black bat wants to destroy humanity to save the world. The '''third bat''' (whose "color" isn't mentioned) has been observing them from the moon for millennia.]]
* DarkMessiah: [[spoiler: From a certain point of view, Fake!Chuck and his bastard son, Timmy, to Kevin Yamagata and Kevin Goodman]].
* DeclarationOfProtection: [[spoiler: Lee Harvey Oswald to Jackie Momochi, as he decides to buy her time to escape]].
* DecoyProtagonist: Where is Kevin, anyway? [[spoiler: This is taken to its extreme after Kevin gets killed by a sniper in Chapter 93, and the new protagonist is Kevin Goodman]]

* DefectorFromDecadence: [[spoiler: Fake!Chuck Culkin, a lieutenant stationed at a POW camp, tried to desert but was captured, possibly in part because he's also part jewish. ]]

* BadFuture: [[spoiler: By 2032, the world has become dystopian wasteland, partly run by Billyland.]]

---> '''Radio Announcer''' (paraphrased): [[spoiler: The US president has enacted the Neo-[[UsefulNotes/JamesMonroe Monroe Doctrine]] and recalled all US troops abroad to create [[TheGreatWall a defensive wall]] between the US and Mexico, Japan and China are at war over a tiny island, China is also at war with Uygurs in Tibet, [wherever Timmy is, apparently southern California] is going to have [[GlobalWarming a severe sandstorm]], and the UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion has collapsed due to overwhelming numbers of refugees. [[MoodWhiplash And now for some happy news]]: Billyland UsefulNotes/{{Somalia}} has opened to great acclaim!"]]

* AncientConspiracy

* AdaptationDecay: In-universe. Some of the people in the conspiracy express that Chuck Culkin's Billy Bat is nowhere near quality-wise to Kevin's. [[spoiler: If the conspirators searching for the original Bat's scroll succeed no one will remember Kevin's version at all.]]

** [[spoiler: Kanbei]]
** [[spoiler: and now Kevin]]
* AlternateUniverse: As if time manipulation by a cartoon bat wasn't enough! [[spoiler: There used to be many, but now there's just one.]]

* BigBad: So far, Agent Finney and Kurusu from EAI seem to fill the role, also it is implied that General Walker, [[spoiler:Fake! Chuck Culkin and Henry Charles Devivie]] are part of the same circle. Should be noted, due to his ambivalent nature, that there are times when the same could be said of the Bat himself. [[spoiler: by the year 2017, most of them have died to old age or other circumstances, and the current human BigBad is Timmy Sanada, Kevin Goodman's old protege, who has taken over Culkin Enterprises and is the illegitimate son of Fake!Chuck Culkin. In fact, Timmy did such a bad job that its the main reason the world is a wasteland in the BadFuture.]]

* BigBad: So far, Agent Finney and Kurusu from EAI seem to fill the role, also it is implied that General Walker, [[spoiler:Fake! Chuck Culkin and Henry Charles Devivie]] are part of the same circle. Should be noted, due to his ambivalent nature, that there are times when the same could be said of the Bat himself. [[spoiler: by the year 2017, most of them have died to old age or other circumstances, and the current human BigBad is Timmy Sanada, Kevin Goodman's old protege, who has taken over Culkin Enterprises and is the illegitimate son of Fake!Chuck Culkin.]]

** [[spoiler: The next chapter reveals there's 93 Billylands around the world that are oasis from devastating effects of climate change (that Timmy's company exacerbated when they took control of much of the world's water supply)... If you can get to them.]]