20th Century Boys

Directed by: Yukihiko Tsutsumi

Starring: Toshiaki Karasawa, Etsushi Toyokawa

Synopsis:

In 1969, Kenji, an elementary school kid and his friends built a secret base during their summer holidays. They fantasized that they had to fight villains who were out to conquer the world and wrote their story into the Book of Prophecies. Years later in 1997, Kenji becomes a convenience store manager and leads a regular life after giving up his dreams to become a rock star. His boring life is suddenly turned upside down when his old classmate dies mysteriously and an entire family in the neighbourhood disappears. At the same time, a religious cult and its mysterious leader, Friend, emerges and a strange chain of events duplicating exactly the events described in the Book of Prophecies follow. Is this the beginning of the end of the world? Who is Friend?



Review:

It’s fair warning to anyone checking this out that this movie is the first of a proposed trilogy (the second part has recently been released theatrically in Japan – the trailer for which can be found on the second disc) and so it’s going to end on a big cliffhanger. However there is plenty of drama, action and revelations to be had in this first instalment of what is destined to be an epic story.

Based on a popular manga series, 20th Century Boys builds an epic story around a “book of prophesies” that Kenji and his friends wrote when they were kids – essentially a fantasy story about the end of the world. One of his old school friends however has decided to make the events they made up actually happen. The story builds slowly, introducing us to an adult Kenji who learns that the family of one of his regular customers has completely vanished, leaving the local police baffled. When Kenji goes to the missing person’s house to retrieve an unpaid for shipment of beer, he notices a strange symbol written on the wall. It turns out that not only does this symbol represent a strange cult which is recruiting large numbers of people, but it stirs something in Kenji’s memory. When he attends the 20th year Elementary school reunion, he re-discovers old friends and learns that the mysterious cult might have a direct link to their childhood. Events slowly spiral outwards – a deadly virus hitting major world cities, a strange man who gives Kenji what looks to be a genuine ray-gun – providing more and more epic scope to the story.

The acting is very straight forward, although the child actors do an excellent job in the flash-back scenes. The characters are however well-defined and the viewer has no problem discerning who is who. Director Yukihiko Tsutsumi keeps things very much grounded in reality with a soap-opera style of framing. For the most part, 20th Century Boys visually resembles a made-for-tv movie, albeit a very exciting and compelling one. Eventually however, the story opens up to showcase the Cult’s masterplan – or at least part of it, as a giant robot rumbles through downtown Tokyo spraying the deadly virus.

Verdict:

Probably the best sci-fi epic to come along since The Matrix, with believable characters and a very compelling story. Luckily part 2 is already on its way...

8 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)