Jmovie review: 20th Century Boys

Easiest cosplay ever, except you probably can't see where you're going.

This is the first of my most anticipated movies of the year besides Watchmen. Actually, its very similar to Alan Moore's masterpiece because both movies are based on incredible comics which IMHO are classic literature. I remember reading the manga years ago and becoming so hooked on it and waiting every week for the next chapter. To me, 20th Century Boys is the greatest mystery manga I ever read. Its so good that it makes many other mangas pale in comparison. When the manga ended, there was a sense of relief that the mangaka did not milk it too much and sense of loss that I could never look forward to the next chapter again.

Shuat-su!

20th Century Boys is the tale of the everyman, Kenji and his childhood friends. Kenji & Co are characters that most people who grew up in the 20th century can relate to. Playing make believe games with friends during childhood. Having a secret base and having problems and adventures that seem trivial once you grow up, except in the case of 20th Century Boys, their childhood stories have huge repercussion in the future.

At long last, we get to hear Kenji's guitar!

20th Century Boys is a tale of childhood fantasies brought to life. Of the everyman who became a hero because he had to. Most of all, its a fucking well written mystery manga. I'll not spoil the plot since its more fun to watch it without knowing anything. I actually recommend watching the movie before reading the manga because there are a lot of details left out of the movie and make the manga more enjoyable. As to whether to finish reading the manga and spoil part two of the movie, I have to say I enjoyed the hell out of part 1 despite knowing everything.

Hhhmm, I wish I had a child hood friend who looked like Tokiwa Takako.

There's no way they could have screwed up the movie storyline wise. They rearranged a few bits, cut out small stuff but generally everything is word for word very similar to the manga. The casting is spot on. I wasn't sure about Karasawa Toshiaki (Love Complex) but he has made the important role of Kenji his own. Toyokawa Etsushi (Aoi Tori) is probably the perfect casting call as Shogun. There's lot of cameos from famous faces and good actors just playing bit parts but they really made a lot of effort to get it as close to the manga as possible instead of trying to 'interpret' it.

Hello nurse!

Its hard for me to judge the movie because I'm looking it from the perspective as a fan. All I want is that it is faithful to the source material because the source material should not be altered unless absolutely necessary. In the realm of comic book adaptations like LXG and V for Vendetta, it just pisses me off when they change stuff for no reason at all. Fingers crossed that Watchmen is the same as the comic. Happy to report that 20th Century Boys is exactly the same as the manga. The only downside is that the CG can be bad and the final sequence of events did not flow well. Its very forgivable to me because Japan can't afford to spend 100 million on a movie. It doesn't harm the story much or the emotions. Tomodachi is still scary as hell and I got goosebumps when Kenji & gang were going to face the villain.

Shogun! Too bad they had to leave out his back story.

If there's one major complaint about the movie, its the casting of older Kana. Its going to affect part two more since she's the major character there. Ever since I saw the picture of the actress Taira Airi, I was worried. Nothing about her looks like Kana except she's got two eyes, two ears, a nose and a mouth. Frankly, she looks like a brat especially in that running scene at the end of the movie and Kana is not a brat. She is a girl who has to shoulder a huge responsibility. Whoever plays her has to have an air of maturity. She has to have those sad eyes that look like she is always deep in thought.

Ready to face Tomodachi.

If Fukuda Mayuko (Jyoou no Kyoushitsu) were older, she'd be perfect for the role. She would be able to show the burden that Kana carries in her acting. In the manga, fans care more about Kenji than Kana and miscasting her in the movie will make it even worse. I have a feeling that I would not even care about her at all in part 2 but as long as Shogun's prominently in the story, my attention span will be fine. I'm looking forward to see how they're going to do Tomodachi-land.