20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope (a J!-ENT DVD Review)
March 3, 2010 by Dennis Amith
The second “20th Century Boys” film in the trilogy tries its best to incorporate as much story from multiple volumes from the popular manga series in 140 minutes. Unfortunately, you can tell that there are a lot of details missing and sometimes certain storylines seem a bit out of place. But for the most part, I enjoyed how this film ended and had things set up for the final film in the trilogy.
Images courtesy of © 1999, 2006 Naoki Urasawa, Studio Nuts/Shogakukan. 2009 “20th Century Boys” Film Partners. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: 20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope
DURATION: 140 minutes
DVD INFORMATION: NTSC, Region 1, Anamorphic Widescreen 16×9
RATED: Not Rated: Parental Guidance Suggested
COMPANY: Viz Pictures
Released on February 16, 2010
Based on the manga “20-Seiki Shonen” by Naoki Urasawa
Directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi
Screenplay by Takashi Nagasaki, Yusuke Watanabe
Executive Producer: Seiji Okuda
Produced by Nobuyuki Iinuma, Morio Amagi, Ryuji Ichiyama
Music by Ryomei Shirai
Cinematography by Satoru Karasawa
Production Designer: Naoki Soma
Starring:
Airi Taira as Kanna (older)
Haruka Kinami as Kyoko Koizumi
Etsushi Toyokawa as Otcho
Takako Tokiwa as Yukiji
Toshiaki Karasawa as Kenji Endo
Teruyuki Kagawa as Yoshitsune
Hidehiko Ishizuka as Maruo
Takashi Ukaji as Mon-chan
Hiroyuki Miyasako as Keroyon
Katsuhisa Namase as Donkey
Fumiyo Kohinata as Yamane
Kuranosuke Sasaki asFukubê
Shirô Sano as Yan-bô / Mâ-bô
Mirai Moriyama as Comic Artist
Kanji Tsuda as Moroboshi
Takashi Fujii as Friendship Party Promotor
Hanako Yamada as Friendship Party Promotor
Arata as Masao Tamura
Nana Katase as Mika Shikishima
Chizuru Ikewaki as Convenience Store Clerk
Airi Taira as Kanna Endô
It is now 2015, and Friend rules a disturbing new world. Kenji has been missing since Bloody New Year’s Eve of 2000, and his niece Kanna is now in high school. Her history textbook contains a fabricated story about Kenji and his friends being the terrorists behind the horrific events of 2000. Kanna, knowing the truth, openly resents this, and as a result she is sent to Friend Land, a facility where people with rebellious anti-Friend behavior are re-educated.
The surviving secret base members have spent the last 15 years in various activities opposing Friend and his regime, trying to find out the truth about Friend. Soon they discover the shocking existence of The New Book of Prophecy, the sequel to The Book of Prophecy, describing an event: In 2015, at a church in Shinjuku, a savior will rise to uphold justice but will be assassinated. Who is the savior? Once again, Doomsday looms near…
Naoki Urasawa is well-known in the manga industry. Having created excellent titles such as “Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl”, “Pineapple ARMY”, “Master Keaton” and “Monster”, his manga series “20th CENTURY BOYS” (known in Japan as “20-seiki Shonen”) was the winner of the 2001 Kodansha Manga Award, Winner of the 2003 Shogakukan Manga Award and Urasawa was the recipient of the “Excellence Price at the 2002 Japan Media Arts Festival”.
In 2008, the manga received its adaptation and the trilogy is one of the most expensive Japanese films with a budget of 6 billion yen and featured a cast of over 300 people. It’s natural to say that the manga series “20th CENTURY BOYS” was quite epic as the manga was not just enjoyable but also complex with sci-fi elements but also action and suspense, so what would appear to be unlikely for a live action film, became reality and now the second “20th CENTIRY BOYS” film has been released stateside in the US titled “20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope”.
Taking on the reigns as director is Yukihiko Tsutsumi, known for directing popular Japanese dramas such as “Kindaichi Shonen no Jikemo”, “Ikebukuro West Gate Park” and the “Black Jack” and “Trick” films and cinematography by Satoru Karasawa (“Keizoku”, “Sairen”).
But in order to make this film work and go big, the film had to feature major talent and “20th Century Boys” features an all-star cast which includes Toshiaki Karasawa (“Imouto yo”, “Boku ga boku de aru tame ni”, “Oishinbo”); the reunion of actress Takako Tokiwa (“Beautiful Life”, “Meguriai”, “A Fighter’s Blues”) and actor Etsushi Toyokawa (“No Way Back, “Aoi Tori”, “Love Letter”) known for their romantic drama “Aishiteiru to ite kure”; Teruyuki Kagawa (“Tokyo Sonata”, “Tokyo!”, “Hero”); Hitomi Kuroki (“Shitsurakuen”, “Ring:Saishusho”, “Good Luck!!”), singer Fumiya Fujii and the visual kei band Nightmare.
“20th Century Boys” is a film that revolves around former rock musician Kenji Endo (Karasawa) who is now working at a convenience store which his parents once owned but was bought by a major company. Kenji’s older sister (Kuroki) left home and in the process, left her young baby Kanna to her brother without explaining why. Meanwhile, there are mysterious deaths happening around the world which stared in Africa with a violent virus which kills people and somehow are drained of their blood. Also, a cult known as the “Friends” that is growing in popularity in Japan. In Japan, the police find out that the missing Shikishima family, the professor missing is an adviser to the student that was found dead.
As Kenji tried to deliver milk to the home of Shikishima (before he found out that the professor is missing), he sees a logo with an eye with a hand pointing up. He seems to recall the logo but doesn’t remember. So, when he attends a reception for a friend, he meets up with current friends and some older ones which he doesn’t remember. But one friend asks if Kenji was “The Friend” because the logo that they used.
One day, a major attack virus attack happens in San Francisco and while his mother is reading the newspaper, Kenji sees that his old friend that knew as “Donkey” as a child is dead and then plans to go to the funeral. As he prepares for it on the morning of, he finds an envelope and it’s a letter from Donkey posted a week before he died. Inside it’s the logo and immediately Kenji shows his friends and they remind him of how the logo was a symbol of their club when they were younger.
At the funeral, his friends remind him that they buried a box in the ground which had items when they were children and part of the club. As they reminisce of the past, they find a flag and the symbol of their club which is the symbol that “The Friends” are using. Is it someone from their club that is in charge of this new cult?
Meanwhile, murders are happening in the city and we learn how The Friends have permeated into Japanese culture. From the police force to politics, their numbers are growing quickly. But life changes for Kenji one day when he meets the man who killed Donkey and has been gravely injured by trying to escape the cult and tells Kenji that the Friends are using his prophecy (which he wrote as a child) about how the evil forces would destroy the world but in the end, nine people would fight against the evil and win. Telling Kenji that is what’s happening right now and he is the only person that can save the world but chilling words when the man tells Kenji that he must protect his sisters young child Kanna.
So, someone in Kenji’s past has took the prophecy literally and has created a cult called The Friends and are enacting everything from “The Prophecy” which has led to many people being injured or killed. Since Kenji and friends created “The Prophecy”, they know that as adults, they are the heroes that must take on the Friends (who are the League of Evil) who are disguised as a savior of society. But they are just regular people, how can they even stand up against a religious cult that has grow so popular, let alone forces that have gone so deep into the police force and political system?
In “20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope”, takes place 14 years later after the New Year’s Eve incident. Not much is known of what happened to Kenji Endo and his friends but 14 years later, the future indicates that things did not go well. Kanna, Kenji’s niece is now a teenager who has lived with Yukiji but has kept the flame ongoing for her missing uncle. Working at a restaurant and has developed street smarts, she is very weary of the police, especially knowing that the influence of the religious cult known as “The Friends” has permeated into major society from politics to the police and has changed the world.
As Kanna tries to research on the disappearance of Kenji and his friends, Otcho (Shogun) is trying to break free from prison in order to protect Kanna. Meanwhile, lies are told of how Kenji the terrorist and his friends have hurt society and society has painted them as a satanic group who murdered countless people on “Bloody New Year’s Eve”.
The majority of the film focuses on Kanna and her friend Kyoko Koizumi as they manage to hook up with one of Kenji’s good friends Yoshitsune who works at the Friend theme park and has been monitoring “Friend” activities underground. But the Friend is up to something more sinister, especially since it is learned that he had created a “new prophecy” when he was a child after discovering Kenji’s “Prophecy” at the old clubhouse. And this new prophecy details of a major assassination. Who will be killed?
The main characters of “20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope” are:
Kenji Endo: The main protagonist of the book. A former rock musician who led the rebellion against the friend and has disappeared after “Bloody New Years Eve”. He is seen as the “satan” of society.
Maruo: Kenji’s chubby friend (played by Hidehiko Ishizuka) who is also missing since the “Bloody New Year’s Eve”.
Yoshitsune: Another close friend of Kenji (played by Teruyuki Kagawa). He has been secretly working in disguise at the Friend theme park and monitoring their activities underground.
Mon-Chan: A close childhood friend of Kenji (played by Takashi Ukaji) who has discovered pages of a “New Prophecy”.
Donkey: A childhood friend of the gang (played by Katsuhisa Namase) known as Donkey because he would chase after them on his bare feet and always had snot running down his nose. His death is what started Kenji’s investigation of “The Friend”.
Yukiji: The strongest girl (played by Tokiko Takawa) during Kenji’s childhood who promised Kenji that if anything happened on New Year’s Even, she would raise Kanna.
Otcho: A childhood friend of Kenji (played by Etsushi Toyokawa) who is fantastic with guns and fighting. He has been kept in prison for 14 years, trying to find a way to escape.
Kyoko Koizumi: A classmate of Kanna who wanted nothing to do with her because she is related to Kenji but due to circumstances, she ends up helping her and Yoshitsune.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope” for the film is quite entertaining as there are a variety of locations of where the film is shot and many shots are done during the outdoor scenes. But the film looks as good as it can on DVD, there are some compression artifacts and combing that can be seen at times.
Audio is presented in Japanese language in Dolby Digital with English subtitles. For those with modern receivers and a good home theater setup, “20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope” sounds much better with audio settings on stereo on all channels for a more immersive soundscape. The film is front and center channel driven and dialogue is clear.
I will say that if Viz Pictures decides to release the film on Blu-ray, I would be the first in line as I would love to see this movie in HD. I can imagine the lossless audio for this film to be awesome as well.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
I am reviewing a unfinalized screener copy of “20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope” with no special features.
As a big fan of Naoki Urasawa’s work and also a big fan of the “20th Century Boys” manga series, I couldn’t wait to watch “20th Century Boys”. But also as a big fan of Japanese cinema and dramas, what a pleasant surprise to see so many all-star talent featured in this film. But how did I feel about the film adaptation?
First, let’s discuss the manga and movie comparison. For the most part, there are fans who are dedicated to a popular series. May it be a comic book or an animated series and when you take a long series and have to make it to a long film, the results from many films that have done that are typically 50/50 when it comes to fans response.
For me, having known that film adaptations can only go so far and not capturing every detail, I was pretty much prepared for “20th Century Boys” to miss certain key storyline details. You have three films and there is only so much story to tell in these films from a long series. But I do give the screenwriters some acknowledgment because they had to waddle through as much storyline from the manga series and make it to a live action film.
The film incorporates what transpires from vol. 6 of the manga series and on. One thing that I noticed is that with the second film, things are more rushed and that pertinent details were omitted in order to include so much of the storyline into the movie. Where the first film did well in establishing Kenji and his friends, the second film felt it was trying to incorporate as much as it can from the manga series in movie format and there is only so much you can do when there is so much story. So, the character of Kyoko Koizumi comes off like a dingbat and for some reason, I’m not sure if she’s supposed to be a comic relief character because the way she acts is quite odd.
Even the characters of Chono Shohei, the manga artists Ujiko Ujio and the prison sequence from the manga featuring Kakuta and Shogun were cut down dramatically. So, with the film running at 140 minutes, not only does it seem quite long, you feel that there is something missing to the storyline and the truth is, there is a lot of detail from the manga series that did not make it to the final cut of the second film. This was a major criticism among the Japanese fans of the manga series who watched the film and I have only read the first six volumes of the manga series which comprises the first 20 minutes of the film and after that, I can tell there were details missing and some plot sequences seemed confusing.
As for the DVD, I can’t comment on the special features since my screener copy didn’t include them.
Overall, “20th Century Boys” was a film that was 50/50 in terms of fan appreciation towards the film. I expect the same with those who are familiar with the manga series in the US to feel that it is too difficult to capture Urasawa’s manga series in a film adaptation. But for me, I admit there was campiness, there was also some scenes that seem like they came out of left field. I absolutely enjoyed the first film but somehow things felt out of place for the second film. I did enjoy the final half of “20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope” (which I don’t want to spoil) but I can’t wait to see how the final film in trilogy completes the story.
For me, “20th Century Boys” like the manga series is a trilogy that you want to stay in for the long haul. I’m sure it was difficult for the writers to incorporate as much story from the manga series into the films but for the most part, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. So far, I really enjoyed the first film, while its sequel was OK but I hope the final film is enjoyable and I can’t wait to see it!
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