Billy Bat is a Naoki Urasawa's most experimental work and one of the most thought provoking manga that i've ever encounter and i really had the pleasure to read it.

Billy Bat is a mystery-thriller manga where twists and turns are around every corner and one which you will have to invest quite a bit of time into before any kind of revelation or payoff and it is quite gripping. The setting of this story spans over the course of history and we see that how multiple important events in the past were heavily influence by this creature named "Billy Bat".

The story begin with Kevin Yamagata, a Japanese-American cartoonist or mangaka whose series Billy Bat which follows the adventures of an anthropomorphic bat detective and it was adored throughout America. However, by chance Kevin learns of a manga which features a similar protagonist to his in Japan. Realising he may have unconsciously plagiarised the character whilst in Japan some years prior, he travels there hoping to meet with the author.

But what he discovers is a web of conspiracies, murder and betrayal which all seemingly lead back to his bat character. Before long, however, it becomes evident that Billy Bat is something far beyond Kevin as he's whisked into a mystery surrounding the bat's inception millennia ago and how since the beginning of time it has influenced the history of humanity.

Like his other works, the cast is impressively extensive, with Urasawa dipping in and out of different time periods and into the minds of different numerous characters. As a manga which portrays no less than fifteen different time periods, ranging from the 1st century to the 21st century, it rarely comes across as confusing or disjointed, with Urasawa utilising sublime, almost cinematic transitions along with many familiar faces in the form of characters based on real life historical figures such as Albert Einstein, Adolf Hitler etc.

All the characters from different time periods stay parallel to the main story which make this manga super intriguing as we see that one action of the characters in the present really changes the event of history that made the readers feels as though it's grounded in reality.The characterization is amazing in this manga, with both the fictional and non fictional characters portrayed immeasurably. Both the protagonists and antagonists are crafted well, with a heart, a soul, emotions and clear motivations.

The ending is where this manga truly shine in my opinion, where we finally see the bigger picture of the entire grand narrative. The conversations with the bat and that's what contributes to the ending where he makes a statement "Humans are foolish" is amazing.

My only complain is that the first 2 volumes or so are kinda hard to get into because all the stuff that you don't know the context yet are just thrown at you back to back that it didn't give you enough time to understanding the plot. And the pacing in those 2 volumes are slow. But just like his other works, it does require a certain amount of patience. It's just the setup of the entire story and when it reaches that crucial moment towards the end, it will be absolutely worth it.

So overall Billy Bat is an immerse, gripping and evocative series that balance between fiction and non fiction very well. With the realistic drama and story arcs that able to garner substantial emotional investment.