a Series in 2004. It also won the Grand Prize at the 37th Japan Cartoonists Association Awards, and the Seiun Award in the Comic category at the 46th Japan Science Fiction Convention, both in 2008. The series won the 2011 Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material in the Asia category for Viz Media's English releases, and won the same award again in 2013. Fans in the United Kingdom voted it Favourite New Manga at the 2012 Eagle Awards. 20th Century Boys was nominated twice, 2010 and 2013, for the Harvey Award in the Best American Edition of Foreign Material category, and three years in a row, 2010–2012, for the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series. Manga critic Jason Thompson called 20th Century Boys "an epic saga of nostalgia, middle age, rock n' roll, and a struggle against an evil conspiracy." He compared the story to several novels by Stephen King, such as It, where "a group of childhood friends who reunite as adults to deal with leftover issues from their childhood manifested in monstrous form." Thompson wrote that despite being a manga aimed at a male audience, the series gained fans of all ages for its great premise, storytelling and the mystery behind Friend. In addition to King's It, Thompson and Tom Speelman of Polygon both suggested that the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult also served as an inspiration on the manga. Anime News Network'''s Carlo Santos felt the pacing of the series is very well written, and praised the intricate and interconnecting plot and its twists, as well as the well-developed characters. He also noted Urasawa's art and dialogue, saying "it takes real skill to build a story as multi-layered as this one and still have it make sense as the characters explain things". Including it on a list of "10 Essential Manga That Should Belong in Every Comic Collection", Matthew Meylikhov of Paste praised the cast as one of "the most expansive and diverse" in any manga and how Urasawa makes each character independently recognizable as they age through the decades. "20th Century Boys becomes an experience featuring horror, science fiction, post-apocalyptic futures, wild humor, epic landscapes, and more as an apex accomplishment in manga." Films20th Century Boys was adapted into three films. The first live-action film debuted at number two at the box office, grossing 625.61 million yen (approx. $5.78 million US), and rose to