Billy Bat

Billy Bat (ビリーバット) is an ongoing Japanese seinen thriller manga series written by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki and illustrated by Urasawa. The series was announced in issue 45 of the Japanese manga anthology Weekly Morning in 2008, and its first chapter was released in the next issue of Morning on October 16, 2008. Kodansha is collecting the individual chapters into tankōbon volumes, and has released three volumes so far, on June 23, 2009. Volume 1 was the fifth best selling manga volume in its week of release, selling over 145,000 copies in that week.

The story is set in 1949 and follows Japanese-American comic book artist Kevin Yamagata as he draws the popular detective series "Billy Bat". When he learns he may have unconsciously copied the character from an image he saw while serving in occupied Japan, he returns to Japan to get permission to use Billy Bat from its original creator. Upon arriving there, however, he becomes embroiled in a web of murder, cover-ups, and prophecy that all leads back to Billy Bat.

It is soon evident, however, that the truth of Billy Bat's nature is far larger than Kevin could ever guess, spanning millenia and across the world.

Main characters
Kevin Yamagata
 * Kevin Yamagata in 1949 is a Japanese-American comic book artist drawing the popular detective series "Billy Bat." When he learns he may have unconsciously copied the character from an image he saw serving in occupied Japan, he returns to Japan to get permission to use Billy Bat from its original creator.