20th Century Boys 1: Beginning of the End (2008)

Years after a schoolboy writes a book of prophecies, a mysterious super-villain uses it as his master-plan of world destruction.

Director:

Yukihiko Tsutsumi

Writers:

Yasushi Fukuda (screenplay), Takashi Nagasaki (screenplay)

Stars:

Toshiaki Karasawa, Etsushi Toyokawa, Takako Tokiwa

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Toshiaki Karasawa	...	Kenji Endô
Etsushi Toyokawa	...	Otcho
Takako Tokiwa	...	Yukiji
Teruyuki Kagawa	...	Yoshitsune
Hidehiko Ishizuka	...	Maruo
Takashi Ukaji	...	Mon-chan
Hiroyuki Miyasako	...	Keroyon
Katsuhisa Namase	...	Donkey
Fumiyo Kohinata	...	Yamane
Kuranosuke Sasaki	...	Fukubê
Shirô Sano	...	Yan-bô / Mâ-bô
Mirai Moriyama	...	Comic Artist
Kanji Tsuda	...	Moroboshi
Takashi Fujii	...	Friendship Party Promotor
Hanako Yamada	...	Friendship Party Promotor

Storyline

In 1969, Kenji, an elementary school kid and his friends built a secret base during their summer holidays. They fantasized that they had to fight villains who were out to conquer the world and wrote them in the Book of Prophecies. Years later in 1997, Kenji becomes a convenience store manager and leads a regular life after giving up his dreams to become a rock star. His boring life is suddenly turned upside down when his old classmate dies mysteriously and an entire family in the neighborhood disappears. At the same time, a religious cult and its mysterious leader, Friend emerges and a strange chain of events duplicating exactly the events described in the Book of Prophecies follow.

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Plot Keywords:

tokyo japan | osaka japan | london england | bangkok thailand | punctuation in title | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Fantasy | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Did You Know?

Connections

Followed by 20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope (2009)

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Soundtracks

Like a Rolling Stone
Written and performed by Bob Dylan

User Reviews

"Kenji-kun asobi masho"

The sheer scope or this production alone deserves an applause. Having read the 20th and 21st Century Boys first, as said by Etsushi Toyokawa in his interview "I attempted to emulate the expressions in the Manga" (some creative license with the translation). Such attention to detail again deserves yet more respect. These things aside i appreciate this trilogy more as the Japanese Matrix if it didn't become as up-itself.

I thoroughly enjoyed this series and found the conclusion to be pleasantly conclusive, though something of this magnitude is difficult to draw together, but i feel the memory-machine wrap-up was a brilliant way of concluding a magnificent series. The series was done as accurate to the manga, in many cases down to the very character type cast, as i wish Battle Royale was replicated to.

So heavily recommended i am steps away from handing it out on the street as well as bowling ball lessons, please watch.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France] Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese Thai English

Release Date:

30 August 2008 (Japan)

Also Known As:

20th Century Boys 1: Beginning of the End

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$38,231,562

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cine Bazar, Dentsu, Nippon Television Network (NTV)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

142 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1