ジュンの絵描きブログ

Busy with school work, hence the lack of any recent blog entries. But I did manage to take some time to catch 20th Century Boys today, and I must say that it blew me off my feet.

In a nutshell, the movie talks about a book of prophecies written by a group of boys as a childhood game. In the book, prophecies were made about how the world will end. The movie focuses on the boys as adults and suddenly realising that a series of events related to a cult led by this guy called "Friend" (友達) is causing those prophecies to come true. It was also prophecised that they will be the ones to save the world, and thats what they do - A motley crew of a convenience shop owner, a photocopy machine salesman, a stationery shop owner and so on.

I must say that the thing that struck me most was how smooth the story progressed, even with the frequent flashbacks to what they did as kids. Being over 2 hours long, it also gave off a sense of being very epic. The audience is always kept in a sense of anticipation as twist after twist reveals themselves, usually in a suspenseful manner with appropriate music.

However, I was really disappointed with the ending, and the way they did their special effects (read: explosions). I felt that it was really rushed towards the end but I guess this was inevitable considering the amount of stuff they had to pack into one movie without making fans feel annoyed at a feeling of incompleteness (like what Red Wall did). It ended appropriately at least on a not-so-cliffhanger that gives us a teaser of what to expect in the next installment.

All in all, I have no idea how people can say that this movie "sucks" (a lot of people do, citing a confusing plot, or even worse, a boring one). It does not. You just have to go into the cinema prepared to devote your full attention to what is happening or else you will be lost. You'd also have to have an appreciation of a good storyline and not merely looking for action because acton is something that will not happen very frequently in this movie. Having said that, the movie is far from being a bore-fest - It is lively and moves quickly.

Not a very good review, but I'm writing this before going to sleep. Heres hoping that more people will catch this excellent movie and enjoy it. As for me, I'm heading down to the nearest manga site to read this series.

And finally, a trailer to pique your interest: