誰にも止める権利はない

 It has come to my attention that this is far and away the most read of the three 20th Century Boys reviews. And that confuses me, because this is the third film in the trilogy - as such, there is a LOT of stuff that needs catching up on, so here is a link to the first movie, and here is a link to the second film. Read them, and you will know what's what.

Today, 20^th Century Boys, Part 3 – The Last Chaper: Our Flag.

Previously, on 20^th Century Boys – thanks to the New Book of Prophecies, Friend is assassinated, rises from death and is now looked upon as a new god, basically ruling Japan even moreso than he already had. The remaining heroes are run deep underground and Kenji is alive. And now, the balls to the wall conclusion...

Flashing back to 1969, we see Sadakiyo (or maybe not...) getting done for shoplifting then jump forward to a bold, new 2017 to see that the New Book of Prophecies is unfolding as planned... and that according to it, there will be an alien attack that wipes out most of mankind, leaving the World President and his friends unharmed. In a giant complex that was once Tokyo, a walled city that Friend (now World President) has remade in his image – the image of Tokyo that existed when they were children. Cut to outside, where Otcho and The Artist are still helping fight against the FDP, breaking into TokyoFDP, so that Otcho can launch an interior attack. After almost getting captured by the Global Defense Force (Friend’s military arm), he meets up with Katsuo and Sanae, two “orphans”, and tells them of life outside TokyoFDP which spurs them on to join the underground resistance – The Genji Faction, which is lead by Yoshitsune. In return, they let Otcho know of Friend’s plan to end mankind and make him aware of another resistance faction and its leader, The Ice Queen. They also play for him the big popular song of the day – Kenji’s song.

Otcho soon meets up with Kamisama, Koizumo and Father Nitani who now own the bowling alley built on the lot where Kenji and his childhood gang built their hideout and immediately finds out that The Ice Queen is Kanna. During their conversation, Otcho reveals that he has suspicion of Yoshitsune (due to his remembrance of the shoplifting incident), and that he cannot be bought back into the group. Menawhile, Yoshitsune is trying to get in contact with her, via Yukiji who implores him to allow the Genji Faction to rise up against Friend. A move that he can’t, or won’t do, revealing that he was mistaken for Sadakiyo that day.

Meanwhile; Naimu Haru, his manager, Maruo and Mrs Ichihara (who can find anyone) have launched their own investigation into the location of Kiriko and may have found her. During this time, Haru reveals that long ago he played drums in Kenji’s band, and has long known that Friend is evil. Haru pledges to Billy, noodle cook extraordinaire and bassist for the band, that when Kenji comes back, they will play again.

Maruo soon meets up with Keroyon who is trying to make amends for his cowardice on Bloody New Year’s Eve by hiding Kiriko, introducing them as she tests her newest vaccine. On herself, almost dying in the process. Flashing back to Kanna’s birth, we see that Kiriko almost immediately sees that Friend is evil and has been working to right what she did since then – also revealing that Friend is Kanna’s father and that Friend told her his real name (don’t worry, folks, I’m trying not to spoil everything in this).

Meanwhile, in the Ice Queen’s underground palace – Otcho has found his way in and meets with Kanna again, letting her know that he is not a fan of her tactics but will fight with her and that Kenji may still be alive through the use of his song. She soon realises it to be true as the version of the song she knew as a little girl has a new line she has not heard before – and soon, it becomes a rallying cry of hope for those fighting against Friend.

Oh hey there, Kenji – you riding your bike? Cool, keep it up. What’s that you are doing? Going from outside town to outside town, playing your song and trying to find a way in? Well, I’m sure Officer Chono can help with that. But first, you get to inspiring the people. I’m sure that Chono will remember his time with Kanna and help you in your plan past the barrier, perhaps with the help of Kanna’s ex-neighbours. Fake permits X1000 for all!! And lo, the plan doth work so the entire town gets in, spreading the song of hope (for completion sake, the song is called Bob Lennon, but I will continue calling it the song of hope from now on). That was easy...

Too easy, as it seems that Manjome let him in so that they could meet again. Manjome, bitter after falling from grace in Friend’s eyes reveals how they met and how he was responsible for not only Friend’s original magic trick in the lab those many years ago, but all subsequent acts that bought Friend to the position that he is in. He also revealed how Kenji survived the actions of Bloody New Year’s Eve.  From this, Kenji revealed the life he’d led since then, and refuses to believe that Manjome is repentant in any way, defying his orders to kill Friend, and refusing to let him kill himself with one of the best lines in the whole series.

Meanwhile, in TokyoFDP, Friend’s alien attack message has the city in a panic. But the GDF are still there to try to capture Kanna and her faction, who actually lets herself and Otcho be taken to Friend HQ. Unknown to them, Yoshitsune and Yukiji below, waiting to help break them out. Above – Otcho is handed over to Chief of Security, Yanbo (or is it Mabo?) and Kanna meets with her father for the first time in the flesh, pulling a gun on him. Otcho and Yukiji meet up with Yanbo who is trying to atone, and shows the duo how far Friend’s alien attack plan has progressed. Kanna, however, has been tricked and told she will be made a far worse “villain” than her uncle. Yanbo introduces Otcho and Yukiji to Professor Shikishima, who was blackmailed into joining Friend’s cause many years ago, designing both the Bloody New Year’s Eve robot, but also the bomb robot for the alien attack and giving Otcho a specially designed rocket launcher that can destroy the new robot.

Back in ’69, it is revealed that Friend has written a story about his love of the upcoming Expo, and how it will lead to a peaceful and harmonious progress for mankind, revelling in the fact that his story has made him (at least momentarily) popular. Then the mask/identity switch that Sadakiyo spoke of in the second film happens, leading to Friend losing his identity and the birth of his new dream. Meanwhile, in 2017, Friend reveals that he was behind the original attacks and his plan is in fact to destroy the world. Kanna reunites with Yukiji and tells of what happened; gaining forgiveness for not becoming like her father and revealing to Yukiji that Kenji is alive.

Somewhere in Japan, the DJ reveals that he was another of Kenji’s old classmates, and has been playing the song of hope because he thinks that it is something that Kenji would like. Who he reveals it to – Friend’s assassin (number 13), who now realises that Friend has tricked the world, so they team up to head to Tokyo.

Back in Tokyo, since Friend’s reveal, chaos has broken out. Yukiji tells her students what Kenji told her on Bloody New Year’s Eve (“If you are in danger, run for your life – don’t get killed”), Yamazaki reveals to Chono that he was responsible for Cho-san’s death and Kanna tells her faction to save all the live they can, with a new plan. A music festival to lure the people to the one place Friend revealed would be safe from the attacks – the site of Expo 15. And, as they gear up for the new plan, Marou, Keroyon and Kiriko get the new vaccine to Tokyo.

Attack Day – Kanna, Koizumo and Haru make final preparations for the festival just as a massive throng of people show up, all singing the song of hope. Friend, however, makes ready his plan and launches the new robot attack (in a cutscene that I swear they took from the offcuts of FFVII – even the music is reminiscent of that game), ravaging TokyoFDP with the new virus as those at the festival (true to Friend’s clue) remain safe. At the vaccine station, chaos reigns supreme, though, with a massive attack by the Genji Faction at FriendHQ that is talked down by Yukiji, leading to Friend launching the bomb robot. Outside, Otcho manages to take down one of the two virus UFOs but loses the other in the smoke, leading to Number 13 regaining his identity and destroying the other, sacrificing his life in the process.

Meanwhile, Kenji confronts the still active bomb robot. As it stops, he begins a perilous climb into it, eventually confronting Friend and crashing the robot, with outside help from Otcho. As Otcho pulls Friend from the crash, he demasks him, revealing Yoshitsune who revealed that it was he who pretended to be Friend as children, which leads to Kenji and Otcho reuniting to confront the actual Friend. Friend then revealed that it was Kenji who started Friend on his road, as Friend took the blame for Kenji’s shoplifting. Friend then reveals his true identity (and no, I will NOT reveal it here) and goes to restart the bomb robot before being talked down by Kenji, who begs forgiveness for making Friend into what he was. Needless to say, this action ends with Friend dying, the robot being destroyed and no forgiveness being given.

Meanwhile, back at the concert, the lack of Kenji causes the crowd to turn, forcing Kanna to reveal herself as The Ice Queen...Then Kenji shows up, reveals that Friend is dead, kicks the world’s ass with the song of hope and we all live. Just this once, EVERYBODY LIVES!!

And then, because this is based on an anime, and they do things like that – we get a rather sweet little coda. I won’t spoil it for you, but it involves Friend Land Bonus Stage.

I cannot talk this series up enough, in all honesty. You know how you always have that one thing that you recommend to everyone – well, 20^th Century Boys is mine. I am a sucker for giant, sprawling post-apocalyptic stories, and that is exactly what this is – with the added bonus of showing the lead up. Seriously, everything that this movie series does, I am a huge fan of – huge interconnected character webs, multi-generational stories, multiple hero’s journeys. It has everything, even the smallest amount of WSD (which travelled across from the manga, so I will allow it).

One thing in particular to note about the whole trilogy is how good the acting is, both adult and child. You truly believe that this is the end of the world to them, for them, and because of them. Every character is played brilliantly, in particular both the child and adult Kenji, adult Kanna and adult Yukiji. And everyone involved in Friend, from voice actor to body actor is great, coming together to make one of the best antagonists that I have seen on film in a long while.

As I said at the very beginning of this review series, you really should see these films. I’m not saying that they will change your life, but you will be better off for having seen them.

Night Comes Down Upon The Earth

Today, 20^th Century Boys, Part 2 – The Last Hope.

A brief rundown for those who didn’t read yesterday – in part one of 20^th Century Boys, a cult lead by the mysterious and charismatic Friend sprung up and basically took over Japan. As the cult’s symbol and actions were created by Kenji and his friends when they were children, they took it upon themselves to try and stop the cult – they failed. At the end of the millennium, the cult, now the ruling political party of Japan, launched a huge virus attack that killed millions, including Kenji. A more detailed rundown can be found here.

After flashing back to 1969, showing that Sadakiyo and another boy knew about the Book of Prophecies (with the other boy writing a totally new book himself, in which a saviour will rise at a church), we jump to 2015 to show that the mysterious other prisoner is Otcho. And that Japan is totally under the thumb of the FDP with the new plan being to make Friend into a god. Soon enough, we get reintroduced to Kanna, now working in a noodle shop and able to kick the asses of two groups of warring mafia (looks like she IS the last hope after all), yet still finding time to be a high school student.  After offending her artist neighbours by playing Kenji’s song too loud, she and “Auntie” Yukiji influence them to create the comic that tells the tale of a hero out to save the world (no, they are different artists to The Artist).

Friend (given that he had at least something to do with the New Book of Prophecies) plans to visit a church and put his plan of becoming a new god into action. However, to a lot of people, he already is a god, having seemingly bought Japan into a new golden age of peace –he is also gearing up for his most wonderful stamp: Expo 2015. Well, except for a huge Chinese/Thai mafia turf war that threatens to consume Shinjuku, causing the police to raid the entire area, to remove illegals (but really to arrest everyone, Kanna included). One officer, Chono, the grandson of one of the officers who originally investigated the Friend cult in ’97, finds out Kanna’s relationship to Kenji and is introduced to the Book of Prophecies and Kenji’s song. From this, he pledges his help in getting the truth out. Meanwhile, Kanna and her classmate, Koizumi, get signed up for the Friend Land program, for reprogramming – but that will be revisited soon enough.

At the church Friend plans to visit, Kanna has managed to accidentally enlist the Thai and Chinese mafia as bodyguards as well as the head priest, Father Nitani. Unfortunately, Chono ends up selling out Kanna’s location to his “uncle Yamazaki”, the now chief of police (and ex-partner to, and killer of, Cho-san) leading to Kanna’s friend being killed and Kanna making the decision to go and investigate Friend Land. Meanwhile, Otcho and his artist friend bust out of prison, digging and swimming for their lives.

Meanwhile, at Friend Land (the most brainwashy place on Earth), Kanna and various others are lead to believe that Kenji (who is still believed to be alive) and the other survivors of his group are the most evil terrorists ever due to their actions on Bloody New Year’s Eve. So much propaganda is laid on them, including the Expo official song – The Hello Hello Expo Song and its creator, Naimo Haru. Friend Land really is a Disneyland of “Destroy The Terrorists”, which does not sit well with Kanna, especially when Koizumi gets kidnapped. It turns out that Yoshitsune is working undercover at Friend Land and is a commander of the resistance and tells her that to leave she must complete the Bonus Stage, so she and Koizumi become seemingly model students to do so.

Bonus Stage is a VR version of 1971 (the night Donkey witnessed Katsumata hanging from the science lab rafters), in which the players act out roles in the creation of Friend in one of three way – someone who is totally devoted to Friend, someone who doesn’t question or someone who endures harassment. Koizumi talks with young Yoshitsune and Sadakiyo, while Kanna finds out much more about the history of not only Kenji , the gang and what Donkey saw that night, but also her own clues as to who Friend actually may be, as another witness to the hanging was revealed – a classmate named Yamane. And finds out a lot more about her own existence than she wanted to know. While in the real world, Yoshitsune shuts down Bonus Stage before anything else can happen.

Meanwhile, Otcho and The Artist meet up with Kamisama, the prophet from the first film, who fills them in on the changes since they were locked away. Kamisama is now a rich man, having profited on stocks in a company that sold virus protection, a company owned by Yamane. Kanna finds out that, through Mon-chan, Yukiji already knew about The New Book of Prophecies. Back in the real world, Koizumi and Kanna have a new teacher at school – the same face that Koizumi saw behind Sadakiyo’s mask, Kiyoshi Sada, who kidnaps Koizumi and reveals that as a child, Friend pretended to be him. During their time together, Sadakiyo shows Koizumi Friend’s childhood room and eventually gives her the memo that he was going to give to Mon-chan.

As Sada kills himself in penance, he tells Kanna where her mother was in the year 2000 and tells her to go find her. On her search, Kanna finds out that her mother was in part, responsible for the creation of the virus, working under Yamane. Meanwhile, at Yamane’s house, Otcho and the artist are “invited” to a meeting at the school lab where he reveals that a second virus, even deadlier, has been made, and that Kiriko helped him to see the the truth in Friend’s lies. It’s here that Otcho learns of Friend’s upcoming church visit and vows to assassinate him.

Upon finding out the location of the church and that Kanna is alive, Otcho, the artist, Yoshitsune and Koizumi head to meet them. Just in time to help stop an assassination attempt on Kanna, however, in the throng of people wanting to see “their leader and Friend”, Otcho is able to meet face to mask with Friend, who reveals yet more about his past – goading Otcho with stories of his own deceased child.  From there, Friend is assassinated by Yamane, who in turn is killed by Kanna’s would be assassin. From there, we move to a random performance by Naimo Haru and quickly cut to his manager, being told about a virus attack by men in suits and gas masks, showing that (at the least) the manager (who looks a little bit like a grown up Maruo) seems to be tied into everyone more than first thought.

At the location of Friend’s funeral, Manjome, now Friend’s second-in-command visits with the body and realises that Friend’s plan is not yet complete – with the open ceremony of Expo 2015 now being Friend’s funeral. During the world wide broadcast of the funeral, Friend’s plan to be made a god comes to fruition and “rises” from the dead – thus forcibly installing himself as a new god in the eyes of pretty much everyone. From there, there is worldwide virus attacks made much the same as those said to Haru’s manager – much in the line with the major prophecy, “satanic salesmen will destroy the world”.

Jumping forward in time to 2017, the 3^rd year of Friend – an underground radio station (run by the most Anime looking character in the whole series) is broadcasting Kenji’s song to nobody. And the final scene of part 2, Kenji is alive.

To be concluded...

Now, you would think that since part two is the middle section of our journey, that it would be somehow slower or sparser than the set up or conclusion chapters, but no. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, behaving more like a sequel than a straight up continuance – ramping up the stakes, the danger, the interplay between characters and all stops in between; even going so far as to totally introduce a number of characters (and reintroduce previously established characters in new and different ways). I think this is because 20^th Century Boys, rather than be taken as 3 films in a trilogy, should ultimately be taken as one giant story, split into three.

Friend Says It's Fine, Friend Says It's Good

Out of all the films I saw last year, none surprised me more than the film series I will be doing over the next couple of days. It’s the big screen adaptation of a somewhat unknown (to western audiences, at least) but multi award winning anime, and one of the biggest, most expensive film projects ever to come out of Japan. So big, in fact, that one film could not handle it, so it was made into a trilogy. And, in my opinion, the fact that these films exist is the main reason why we definitely do not need a live action Akira. Over the next three days, I will be covering the entirety of the live action adaptation of Naoki Urasawa’s 20^th Century Boys.

Today, Part 1: The Beginning Of The End; tomorrow, Part 2: The Last Hope; and then, Part 3: The Last Chapter – Our Flag.

More sprawling, more epic than Watchmen could ever hope to be (but no doubt owing it’s existence to that story’s creation). 20^th Century Boys is, in my mind, the best film series to come from Japan ever. It has everything – destruction, hope, fear, love, joy, alienation, friendship, humanity; all wrapped around an absolutely brilliant story.

Let me just say that I flat out implore you to see these films as soon as possible. There is only so much I can say in this thing without it just turning into 5000 words of “see them NOW!”. See them, see them, see them (ok, that’s out of my system...for now). And yes, these will be less review and more me telling you almost everything that happens....so, out of respect, I fire off the biggest spoiler horn ever.

* VERY LARGE SPOILER HORN!*

The story spans from 1969 to 2017 and tells the tale of a Japan that is taken over by a cult lead by a mysterious, enigmatic masked man named Friend. Kenji and his friends get drawn into the mystery in 1997 after the death of one of their own, which leads them to the symbol of the Friend Cult, a symbol that they came up with as children. As respect to their dead friend, they pledge to get their symbol back. But what spooks them the most is that attacks that are believed to be caused by the Friend Cult mirror those written by Kenji as a child, which leads them to believe that Friend is closer to them than they would like.

Opening with a quick scene in 1969, the film almost immediately jumps to 2017, which lets you know right off the bat that we are in for a long journey. We head to a prison cell where two, as of yet, nameless prisoners are talking between cells – a comic book artist and freedom fighter. On hearing the tale of how The Artist ended up there (drawing a comic in which a hero rises to fight the villain), the freedom fighter tells the story of Kenji, the central character of this whole story.

Jumping to 1997, we find Kenji unsatisfied with his lot (as heroes often start), working in a convenience store, having to look after his niece, Kanna, having to give up his dream of rock stardom (breaking up his band in the process) – but soon gets pulled into the investigation surrounding the disappearance of a local college professor and his family. As the investigation continues, the professor’s name keeps springing up in relation to other deaths. However, during a trip to the professor’s house, Kenji sees a mysterious symbol which shows up again, during his school reunion.

Flashing even further back to 1969, we get the creation of Kenji’s little band of brothers –Otcho, Yoshitsune, Maruo, Keroyon, Fukube, Mon-chan, Donkey and Yukiji. They are dealing with the usual kid things – making secret bases, hiding from bullies, that sort of thing. But that isn’t too important right now, and it will come back. What is important is that the talk of the reunion is the rising popularity of a strange religious cult led by a man named Friend. Soon enough, it is revealed that Friend tells of a prophecy identical to a story written by Kenji as a child, and the symbol that he saw was created by them as children. And this leads them to speculate that Friend is one of their own.

Soon, though, they find that Donkey has died, seemingly of suicide. However, on the day of the funeral, Kenji receives a letter about the symbol, which leads to all manner of speculation about his death. From there, the gang heads out to find the book – buried as part of a time capsule from their time as kids. In there, they find the original symbol, the flag of their gang.

During a flashback, we see both the fact that the gang promise to open the capsule only when they have to fight the Evil Organisation, and that another student saw what they did – Sadakiyo, a strange young lad with his face always hidden behind a monkey mask.  We also see Donkey’s glee at mankind finally walking on the moon, which leads to a discussion of Collins, the one astronaut who didn’t. Flashing forwards, we are introduced to Friend, who is definitely associated with the group in some way – likening himself to the Collins of the group.

Moving further with his own investigation, Kenji soon discovers that both the cult and Professor Shikishima are tied in with Donkey’s death, and that the cult has a far deeper hold on society than he thought. Soon enough, though, the cult shows that it is merciless, removing opposition to it, sometimes through violence, and are even under investigation for possibly having biological weapons (leading to the death of the head investigating officer –Cho-san, at the hands of his unknown to him cult member partner - Yamazaki). During this time, Yukiji, now a customs agent gets drawn into her own investigation, soon meeting up with Kenji and reminding him of the true artist – Otcho, who has now disappeared and prime suspect for Friend’s true identity.

(Don’t worry; I am not doing a step by step walkthrough of the films, much as I may want to...well, I’ll try)

 Flashing back to 1969 again, we get the creation of the Book of Prophecies, a co-production between all the members of the gang. All who provide ideas that are coming true, thanks to Friend.  In the book, humanity gets wiped out – first via a virus, then by a giant robot. And it is during this time that Kenji finds out that Friend has Donkey murdered for trying to get people to see that he, Friend, is bad (as a child, Donkey witnessed the death of another class mate, Katsumata, which ties in to Friend’s creation) – and that he has been charged , from the words of Kamisama – a homeless man who fashioned himself as a prophet, with protecting his sister’s baby and saving the world.

Thus begins the true hero’s journey – with Kenji finding out that his own family is involved somehow in the Friend cult, with his sister Kiriko (Kanna’s mother) somehow being involved in the creation of the virus.  Running from what they remember from the Book of Prophecies, the group find themselves in a race against time to stop the next round of attacks, at Narita Airport. A race that they lose quite handily; as they are reminded by Manjome, a higher up in the Friend cult, that when the Book of Prophecies was written, Narita Airport was not built. And so, Haneda Airport goes up in flames. Kenji and Yukiji, though, see firsthand the hold that Friend has over his followers as, following their failure to take Kanno, they turn on one of their own, immolating him and gutting the convenience store.

Following this, Kenji interrupts a Friend-sponsored rock concert, making himself known to all and meeting Friend face to ... mask, who reveals Kenji as the mind behind it all – a charge he rallies against. As Kenji is pulled away by Friend loyalists, Friend says that he is not to be hurt as his part is not over. Nor is Friend’s, as he is up for election in the next elections, moving his cult from that to a full-fledged political party. In the rubble of his store, Kenji finds the true Book of Prophecies and reads in horror at what is to come at the end of the millennium – a full fledged virus attack on Tokyo. And that, according to the book, it’s up to he and his friends to stop it.

Jumping to the year 2000, we find that not only are Kenji and his friends still after Friend, but now they have a much harder task ahead of them, as the Friendship Democracy Party (FDP) has won the election and has placed Kenji in the position of Number 1 Terrorist. Moving to an unnamed SE Asian area, we are introduced to a longhaired, ass kicking badass. It’s Otcho, who is soon drawn back into the group as well as being cleared of being Friend. Kenji leads an underground resistance against the FDP, and is trying to both reunite the 9 heroes and decipher the Book of Prophecies.

As they can only gather 7 of 9, they have the idea to bring in Yanbo and Mabo, the twin bullies from their childhood –as they too knew of the Book of Prophecies. However, this is in no way a good idea, with the expected outcome.  Kenji, however, still believes in the power of music and is surviving primarily as a busker, with only one song (“If you put all you’ve got into it, a song can change the world”) and is still protecting Kanna – eventually sending her out of the city as the end of the millennium draws closer. The group builds in numbers, both in human and in weapon form, as they prepare to strike against the FDP and soon find themselves on the run.

Soon enough, the attacks written about in the Book come to pass, with a giant virus-spreading robot let loose of Tokyo (hey, it’s Tokyo – that was bound to happen eventually, and also, the robot kind of looks like it just stepped out of a cutscene in any number of steampunk flavoured JRPG video games) on what is soon to be known as Bloody New Year’s Eve, killing everyone with awesome CGI blood. And it is up to the heroes to band together to stop it. And, with Kenji delivering a rousing speech all about rockers who didn’t die young, the heroes have a world to save. But, saving the world comes at the price of Fubuke and Kenji who both give their lives to blow the robot up.

Returning to the prison, we see a prisoner trying to dig his way out. And outside of the FDP headquarters, a grown up Kanna is proclaimed the world’s only hope. Or, at the very least, public nuisance number one.

To be continued...

Part one is, given the trilogic nature of this particular beast, a lot of character introduction and story set up, particularly as it pertains to the death of Donkey (and it really should, since that is the catalyst of the entire adventure), with lots of jumps between 69 and 97. As far as anime goes, this is one of my favourite tricks (going back to the first time that I saw Akira) and it is used to great effect, not only in part one, but all throughout the trilogy. Moreso in the first film, particularly when it shows Kenji and Yukiji standing up to bullies Yanbo and Mabo - basically kids being kids, when the biggest problem in the world was someone bigger than you.