Urasawa Naoki Manga

From here: Growing older is pretty rough and Kenji is finding out just how hard it can be as life starts wearing down on him. On top of trying to make ends meet running a convenience store, he has to care for the niece that his missing sister left in his care. Memories of youth make it easier, until those memories come back to haunt you. Kenji and his old friends are slowly being drawn into a mysterious conspiracy that could threaten the world. Who is the mysterious "friend", and how does he tie into Kenji's youth? Why are there disappearances and deaths tied into Ochanomizu University? The friend's memories hold the keys to the puzzle, but years between cloud the clues. The strange occurances and the reach of the "friend" conspiracy grow by the day. It will all culminate on New Year's Eve 2000. Will Kenji and the rest of the group be able to put together the puzzle and save the world? Note: The last two volumes of the story were serialized under the name 21st Century Boys and are not included here.

Billy Bat is a comic-in-a-comic and the real protagonist is a Japanese-American artist named Kevin Yamagata who draws Billy Bat for "Marble Comics". Shortly after they transition to the artist in his studio with his assistant, two actual detectives, who look like Laurel and Hardy in Dick Tracy era suits and trench coats, knock on the door and appropriate Kevin's room for the purpose of conducting surveillance on a room in an adjacent building. One of the detectives, the skinny "Laurel", sees Kevin's work and it turns out he's a Billy Bat fan. The other chubby "Hardy" detective picks up a page and says that the characters look familiar and accuses Kevin of translating an old "Jap" comic. As Hardy remembers the comic he thinks Kevin is ripping off, we make another Urasawaesque time jump to 1949 Tokyo and the chapter ends.

Miyuki Umino was a senior in high-school. Although Miyuki, her two younger brothers and her younger sister were poor, they were happy living together. But, one day all of a sudden her older brother's debt of 250 million yen fell upon them. To pay back the debt Miyuki quit school. What was the incredible choice she took to do this?

Monster weaves the riveting story of brilliant Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a famous surgeon with a promising career at a leading hospital. Tenma risks his reputation and promising career to save the life of a critically wounded young boy. Unbeknownst to him, this child is destined for a terrible fate. A string of strange and mysterious murders begin to occur soon afterward, ones that professionally benefit Dr. Tenma, and he emerges as the primary suspect. Conspiracies, serial murders, and a scathing depiction of the underbelly of hospital politics are all masterfully woven together in this compelling manga thriller.