20th Century Boys: Beginning of the End

In 1969 Kenji Endo spent his childhood days dreaming of changing the world through Rock and Roll. Jump to 1997 and his aspirations of becoming a rock star have all but faded. Instead, he has decided to take over his family’s work running a liquor store that is soon to be a franchise convenience store all the while looking after his niece who was left in his care by his sister before she vanished. Soon his world is rocked when the police drop by to question him about the disappearance of family and the suicide of a friend. During a class reunion, Kenji learns of a mysterious cult that appears to be behind the disappearances with a symbol that was created by Kenji and his friends when they were children. Even worse, a virus has broken out threatening to wipe out all of Japan. Everything appears to be linked to “the Book of Prophecy”, a story Kenji wrote when he was a child. So goes the story of 20th Century Boys, a sprawling epic about childhood dreams and the consequences that must be dealt with for having them.

Based on the manga by Naoki Urasawa, 20th Century Boys is the first of a trilogy of films to be released that deal with a boy’s comic and the apocalyptic future it prophesizes. This first film is an adaption of the first six volumes in the series, compressing around 1200 pages of story into roughly two and a half hours of screen time. Having read both the original comic and now seen the movie, I can confidently say that the film makers handled the transition admirably.

The trilogy on the whole is one of the biggest in Japanese history with a budget of 6 billion yen( roughly 55.68 million US dollars) and a cast of 300 actors. With a cast that large it’s impossible to get to know every character but the film makers do an impressive job of sneaking small bits into the film that return later to provide a massive payoff. There are a few actions scenes spread thinly throughout but when they do occur they are suspenseful and executed wonderfully though the special effects can be considered small potatoes when compared to American cinema.

For all its strengths, 20th Century Boys truly stands on the performance of the lead Toshiaki Karasawa as Kenji. His portrayal of a nice guy trying to do right by everyone brings a character that most of us can relate to. As the movie progresses so does his character’s growth, becoming more determined to discover the meaning behind the events transpiring around him.

It’s because of all these things that 20th Century Boys: Beginning of the End manages to provide an exciting on its own rather than falling into the trappings of page for page adaptations. From the very start of the movie, a sense of intrigue is introduced that lingers right until the end. If this first offering and the accompanying trailer at the end of the credits is any indication, this may be trilogy that may prove to rank amongst the best in cinema.

20th Century Boys: Beginning of the End - A