Original Title: 20世紀少年 | Nijusseiki Shōnen | 20th Century Boys: The Beginning of The End
Release: 2008
Country: Japan
Director: Yukihiki Tsutsumi
Running Time: 142 Min.
Cast: Toshiaki Karasawa | Etsushi Toyokawa
Written by Miguel Douglas
Published: 11.09.08
Stemming from the manga by creator Naoki Urasawa, 20th Century Boys tells the story of a group of childhood friends as they discover their dolescent stories regarding the end of the world coming to fruition by the hands of a deadly cult. Interestingly enough, 20th Century Boys is poised to be one of the biggest budgeted Japanese films ever conceived; spanning three films, its budget consists of around 6 billion yen (roughly $60 million). With it epic scope already quite established, how does the first film of the trilogy fare?
20th Century Boys primarily follows Kenji Endo, a complacent man who cares for his adolescent niece and also runs a convenient store. Kenji, who at times longs for a return to his youthful days, wishes to live the remainder of his life in peace. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case—when one of Kenji’s old childhood friend’s is apparently murdered, it leads Kenji and his old friends into a conspiracy that involves a mysterious cult by the name of “Friend” and their ambitions to control the world.
First off, I have to say that 20th Century Boys is one of the better manga-to-film adaptations out there. From the looks of the characters, to the establishment of the scenes, the film duplicates the manga quite well. More specifically, numerous scenes within the film are seemly lifted from the pages of the manga and are painstakingly accurate, which is sure to please fans. The film does move at a considerable pace, which is quite a challenge since it’s running time is roughly 2 ½ hours. Considering that this is based off a lengthy manga series, certain elements were bound to be left out to save on time. This inevitably leads to some continuity issues that might perplex viewers unfamiliar with the manga storyline. For the most part though, the array of characters from manga series do get showcased within the film, and even though they aren’t entirely fleshed out they do provide substantial weight the overall story in the end.
Another interest element of the film was the way director Yukihiko Tsutsumi handled the constant time relapses that occurred within the film. One would seemingly think this would be a difficult task to pull off (which I imagined it was), but Satsuma presents it in a way that is easily understandable from viewer’s standpoint, constantly transitioning from one time period to another parallelling the situation and providing the necessary clues to a puzzle that slowly unfolds throughout the film.
Out of all the other elements of the film, I have to mention the music. The music displayed throughout the film at times was just unnecessarily meandering and overly “heroic” in its composition. I felt it was entirely too contriving at moments, disrupting what the viewer could’ve felt from the scene merely alone. The added music provoked an atmosphere of “cheesiness” at times, hindering some of the films stronger scenes from reaching their true potential.
Overall, if you’re a fan of the 20th Century Boys manga, I definitely recommend you give this film as watch. Even if you aren’t, 20th Century Boys is a film that is a fun as it is interesting and is sure to provide a surprising experience to the viewer. Hopefully the eventual part two will remedy some of the issues present within this film, but for the most part it’s a well made film stemming from the mind of a extraordinary author and for that a recommend 20th Century Boys.
