20th Century Boys Chapter 2 (2009) May 11, 2009
Posted by ayasawada in Film, Manga.Tags: 20th Century Boys, Film, naoki urasawa
add a comment
Last Monday, the second movie in the 20th Century Boys live-action trilogy received its UK premiere as the closing film of the Sci-Fi London Film Festival. I can’t tell you how excited I was about seeing it. After watching the first part back in November, I’d been eagerly awaiting the next installment and feared that the usual slow Japan to UK transfer would mean waiting a year for the second and third parts (if they appeared at all). Since then, the trilogy has been picked up for UK DVD release and Viz have finally started releasing the graphic novels. Relief all round for Naoki Urasawa fans. ^^
So how about the second movie? Well, it certainly had me on the edge of my seat throughout, if only because I really wanted to know what happened next. I did enjoy the film but, on first impressions, I also found it a little disappointing. But that shouldn’t take away from what is still a fabulously enjoyable film.
SPOILER WARNING (more…)
20th Century Boys Part 1 (2008) March 4, 2009
Posted by ayasawada in Film, Manga.Tags: 20th Century Boys, Film, Japanese movie, Manga, naoki urasawa
1 comment so far
Twentieth Century Boys is perhaps one of the most famous manga, if not literature, in Japan. Widely praised and penned by the ‘master of the thriller’ Naoki Urasawa (who wrote Monster amongst other titles) it is now the biggest budget movie in Japanese cinema history, with the story being adapted into a trilogy of films, each released over a 12 month period.
The story revolves around a group of old school friends who discover that an apocalyptic scenario they wrote as children seems to be coming true. The scenario features everything from bombings and killer viruses to laser guns and giant robots. All the while, Japan comes under the grip of a mysterious cult led by ‘Friend’, a masked man who uses the same symbol the kids once adopted. And at the centre is Kenji, a washed out wannabe rock-star, who may be world’s only hope.
It’s a densely plotted, multi-stranded, multi-flashback, multi-character thicket of a thriller spanning some 22 volumes. Quite how that’s going to pan into nine hours of cinema will be interesting to see, but it seems to be going well so far.
(WARNING: Minor spoilers ahead)
