Get ready for the next phenomenon as Nakoi Urasawa’s hit manga finally hits our screens as a live-action trilogy…
I know what you’re thinking, another multi-part manga adaption, can it really keep audiences interested in one movie, let alone three? Well, if the first part is anything to go by, then yes, it actually might…
It’s the late 1990s, and general loser Kenji Endo (Toshiaki Karasawa, Cassern) works in his mother’s convenience store, caring for his sisters baby girl, his dreams of being a rock star are long behind him. But at a school reunion he soon finds he has a far greater connection to a mysterious cult and strange deaths around the world, an icon he and his childhood friends came up with.
As the mystery deepens, it all seems to relate back to a story they came up with as children, the ‘book of prophecies’, which foretold devastating events in Tokyo and around the world, and the destruction of mankind at the eve of the new millennium. But just who from their tight-knit group could be trying to make it come true? And without the book itself, just how can Kenji and his friends stop it from happening?
Director Yukihiko Tsutsumi (Sushi King Goes To New York, Happily Ever After, Keizoku: The Movie) approaches Nakoi Urasawa’s immense 24-volume best-selling manga with the respect it deserves. Tsutsumi follows much of the original narrative, spanning five decades and several continents, looping back and forth on itself in flashback – he was said to have demanded a budget of 6 billion yen, an unheard of amount in the Japanese film industry.
With engaging performances from Toshiaki and the rest of the cast, director Yukihiko quickly pulls you into a plot that unfolds from such an inconspicuous start, but eventually pits our humble heroes against giant mechanized robots and deadly viruses. There’s great support from Etsushi Toyokawa as Occho, Kenji’s best friend – hardly seen in this episode, one expects him to play a much greater role in subsequent parts.
The mix of fondly remembered childhood and an increasingly dark, and bizarre present make a spellbinding mix. It’s reminiscent of some of Stephen King’s work, particularly It, where ghosts of the past come back to haunt adults – even if in 2oth Century Boys those ghosts are somewhat more innocuous. It only makes the journey, from the mundane everyday to science fiction, somewhat more believable.
Sure, there are plenty of questions left unanswered, but what do you expect for a proposed trilogy? This feels very much like a film in it’s own right. And if some of the recent ‘multi-parters’ have seemed a rather cynical move to gain repeat audiences, often lacking the content to pull a single decent movie, 20th Century Boys seems to have it in spades. It’ll be interesting to see if the series can keep the pace over the next parts, or if it quickly runs out of steam.
20th Century Boys (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£19.99) by 4Digital Asia on 4th May 2009.
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DVD details
Distributor: 4Digital Asia (UK)
The UK 2-disc DVD release of this film comes in an attractive looking package including a 24 page 'prophecies' booklet. The transfer of the film is good, though it should be noted 4Digital have yet to release Blu-ray discs.
Sadly the second bonus features disc tells a rather different story. There's a documentary around the Japanese premiere – little more than poorly shot footage from the event; a featurette on the Paris premiere, which is more of the same; and various UK and Japanese teasers and trailers. Only the series of cast interviews included give a little more insight into the production.
Once again, some sort of featurette - or even just some screen notes - on the original manga, so rarely included on releases like these, would have added so much to this release.
