Title: Wonder Boy Vol. 2
Author: Kazumi Yamashita
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 828
Genre: Supernatural, Drama
Publication Date: July 28, 2026
The Story
The second omnibus of Wonder Boy continues to be episodic adventures of our mysterious boy traversing time and space (literally) to observe humanity. As with the nature of this series, I’ll break down the main story and character components in the following section.
Characters
Yurika – In this story, our boy remains nameless as he visits a small town. There, a girl named Yurika is having a bit of an identity crisis. She doesn’t know if she truly exists, and feels that everyone and everything is ignoring her. Our boy catches up with her on the way to school, saying he transferred in and he’s a third-year student like her. She wonders why he keeps staring at her, then she notices a sunflower that has endured the test of time. We then switch to a new location within a city. A 35-year-old woman with a long history of violence and abuse is going around and hijacking buses, killing their passengers. Our boy tries to intervene, but how are these two connected?
The Monkey with the Crystal Balls – Here, we come across a traveling entertainer who refers to himself as a monkey. First, he claims that an orb can split into different colored orbs, each with a unique power or ability if you gaze into them. Then, he told another story about his upbringing, using our boy as a plot device in the story, calling him Daikichi. The man was nothing more than a swindler. When he wasn’t selling toys to children, he was swiping food and coins when people turned their attention away. One day, they traveled to a poor village that had land taxes due, but no way to pay them. The owner of the land took the heads of two people who begged them to reduce the tax, stating that a third head would cause them to waive the tax for that year.
Berra and Callibari – This is a two-part tale of a man named Berra from the Romu tribe. One day, an old woman read his fortune and said that he was destined for greatness. An ominous presence fell over the village, and they knew they needed to leave. As they fled, soldiers on horseback surged forward, killing all except Berra. Berra was thrown in prison, where he met our boy, who referred to himself as Luca. The general who slaughtered them all was named Callibari, and the only thing Berra could remember was that he smelled like flowers. Without a will to live or the ability to read, Berra surrendered himself to a deathly fate, but Luca wouldn’t give up on him. For the next two years, he taught Berra how to read, how to communicate, and several different languages.
One day, Berra was informed that the tower he was imprisoned in was set to be demolished, and therefore, he would be executed. On the day of his execution, he heard the Romu whistle and realized that there was another Romu out there still. He broke free, slew the guards, and was about to flee when all of the other prisoners rallied behind him. He realized that this was his chance to build something and take his revenge on Callibari. Twenty years passed. He had not only amassed an army, but he even became King of a neighboring nation. The day had finally come for him to take his revenge, but when he arrived, what would Berra find?
Professor Franz Kaufmann – This was a fun chapter as it served as a meta story. Franz is a researcher of folklore, and he was reading about Great King Berra from our previous chapter. His granddaughter came in with some coffee for him, and he said that he wasn’t investigating the tales themselves, but the mysterious Wonder Boy that appeared in all of them. He said that he wanted to prove the boy’s existence, but he didn’t need to look far, as our nameless boy paid him a visit. He said that Franz doesn’t remember, but they had met before. We get a flashback to how our Wonder Boy gave him the courage to stand up to his strict father, telling him that he wanted to research folklore instead of going into the military. When we return from the flashback, the boy is gone, and his research is complete
Kaori Murayama, the Forty-Year-Old Office Worker – Here, we have Kaori, who joined a developmental planning company that makes use of land to erect buildings on. She’s the oldest in the office aside from the CEO, who is two years older than her. She worried about fitting in, along with being single at her age. Every night, she took the train home and witnessed our Wonder Boy in the window of an apartment building. Somehow, she became captivated with him to the point where she had to go see him. After finding the place where she spied him, she noticed the door was unlocked. After her knocks went unanswered, she opened it to see the boy in a vast field, and then it all disappeared. Since then, she saw the world in a different light.
Luki Iscariot – Born with a deformity, his father saw him as nothing but a defect. He told Luki that he couldn’t do anything, so he shouldn’t even bother trying. One day, his father stole the money his late mother left him for tuition, and Luki broke, killing his dad with a shovel. That’s when our Wonder Boy appeared and showed Luki a dark and grim future, all with the lesson that all it takes is a single small moment to change the future for the better. Can Luki change his?
Kyouhei and Ruriko, Husband and Wife – This was a rather quick chapter about an 80-year-old couple named Kyouhei and Ruriko. We get a flashback to when Ruriko was under the eye of her strict father, so she ran away to meet up with Kyouhei. They ran away together until they were in a bus accident. The Wonder Boy appeared and asked if they wanted to continue on, and so they did, living a peaceful life. Back in the present, he wondered why they didn’t opt to use his powers to stop time and live on forever. He then wondered why nobody ever chooses eternity.
Shou, Takeshi, Yoshi-bou, and… – When they were kids, Shou, Takeshi, and Yoshi would play pogs, but Takeshi only did so because Shou was terrible at them. Since Shou’s family ran a candy store, he always made Shou steal candy for them if he lost. As they were playing, the Wonder Boy shows up and joins them. He gave Shou the courage to start winning, and when he did, he finally gained Takeshi’s respect. They sneak out to see a comet together, making a wish. What they wished for remains to be seen, but 52 years later, the same comet is supposed to come by, and they made a promise to see it together… but there’s a problem. Takeshi went on to work for the government and was caught in a scandal. They wondered if he would show up, and then the comet came…
NX-521236 – In the year 2,100 CE, humanity has the technology to warp drive through space and terraform exoplanets. A robotics engineer named Sandra created over a million robots that will terraform three planets, but one of them was made special. That robot is NX-521236. NX’s job is to receive the signals for all of the other robots to learn about the progress of the terraforming until it arrives on the third and final planet. The terraforming takes 1,000 years to complete, and through it all, robot after robot breaks. NX, who cannot understand emotions, was given a special knitted hat and sweater by Sandra, and through that, he keeps looking at her photo while he performs his job. Our Wonder Boy tagged along for the entirety of the ride so he could see humanity’s project first-hand. When the terraforming is complete, NX’s function ceases to be of importance, so it’s his time to break. Wonder Boy has an idea to make his self-destruction meaningful.
Ryou-chan – Another short chapter where our Wonder Boy visits someone. He recalls the times when his four daughters, who were princesses, came to wake him up, how he lay at the side of his wife who had given birth to a son, a prince who would succeed him. Then, he was informed that tragedy struck. There was an uprising in his country, and he was forced to abdicate the throne. As he recalls this, the Wonder Boy gives him an option to forget everything except for the things that were precious to him.
The Man – Our Wonder Boy is in a classroom when a professor tells him to stand up. He asks him, “What is the greatest thing humanity has ever created?” This is when he remembers a time when he visited a primitive man… a man who cannot speak and does not know language. He hunts to survive until one day, a tribal conflict erupts into violence over the possession of a tree, which is thought to be the earliest known object of worship. His compassion for others shone through, and after the bloodshed, he climbed the tree, letting his emotions resonate with everyone below. Our Wonder Boy then answers the professor, even if the professor had a different answer to the question.
Mumekiku and Shuuhei (Part 1) – Here, the Wonder Boy shows up in a rural village and tells Mumekiku and Shuuhei that they are destined to be together. Time passes, and their families drift apart in their own ways. Mumekiku continues to work for her family while Shuuhei dreams of something bigger. He wants to move to Tokyo, but the Wonder Boy tells him not to. He leaves, and Mumekiku follows him. He discovers him at an upscale establishment and begins to work there as a hostess. One day, he witnesses Shuuhei talking to another woman. Could Wonder Boy’s proclamation be all for naught?
Final Thoughts
This second omnibus was just as good as the first. I was a bit surprised that we ended things on a multi-part story, but when you have an episodic series such as this, it makes sense to use a multi-part story to serve as a cliffhanger ending of sorts.
There were some interesting facets to Wonder Boy’s character this time around. At one point, he mentioned that there was no God in the world. Throughout the first volume, we wondered if he was an angel of sorts, but when he said that there was no God, it didn’t come off metaphorically. Does this still make him an angel? If not, then what exactly is he? That was a question asked multiple times within the stories, and I don’t believe that was empty rhetoric. There was a meaning behind that question, as it was supposed to make us think about what he truly is.
Also, we saw during the Berra chapters that he can take the form of a woman and fall in love. He, himself, didn’t quite understand why he became so attached to Berra, and why he even committed sexual acts with him, although it could be just another step in furthering his understanding of the human race. Still, this was a new side to his character as he particularly remained neutral in human affairs, for the most part.
Franz’s chapter stuck out as well. While it might have seemed like a lighthearted meta story, it did confirm that the Wonder Boy’s existence has been documented throughout human history, although, in this case, it looks as if it was merely passed off as folklore. That’s an interesting take that kind of protects him as the main character, but if he has been written about, or even depicted, does that mean others are aware of him, too, or were those images planted in Franz’s books because he was curious about him for his research? That would be something our Wonder Boy would do, but it was left pretty open-ended for us to determine.
Another favorite chapter of mine was NX’s. Taking a glimpse into a future that very well may come to pass one day was an interesting take, and it wasn’t something completely far-fetched. Also, seeing an emotionless robot experience emotions for the first time was almost heartbreaking to read.
Overall, this series has once again created a cornucopia of incredible stories that got you invested in their individual characters, and while the Wonder Boy himself grew, we still haven’t answered the important questions about him. Still, witnessing him interacting with humans in order to understand the human race as a whole is very interesting, and it makes you want to see what he learns next!
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press
