Introduction to 20 世紀少年 (20th Century Boys) Part 1

Title: 20th Century Boys Part 1
Official site: here
Original manga / Scriptwriter: Urasawa Naoki
Director: Tsutsumi Yukihiko
Theme song: 20th Century Boy by T.REX





Introduction:

"20 seiki shounen" (20th Century Boys) was serialized from 1999 to 2007 by Urasawa Naoki who had also created other popular titles like YAWARA and MONSTER. To date, it has sold more than 20 million copies. Besides Japan, this manga is also published in 12 countries in translated format i.e. the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand. It has also won the Enclare International Manga Festival's Best Serialized Manga award which was held in France.

As this story involves scenes from around the world and spans about 50 years, the movie adaptation will be split into three instalments. It had been said that this manga cannot be made into a live adaptation due to the scale of production but this has become the first-ever Japanese movie which has 3 parts. The total production expenses come up to about 6 billion yen and location shooting was done in New York, London, Paris, Beijing and Bangkok. The first instalment is shown from summer 2008 while the second and third are anticipated to be screened in 2009 New Year and 2009 Autumn.

Due to the fact that there are many characters in this story, the movie series will boast of a star-studded cast comprising of at least 300 actors and actresses. At the moment, the 7 main characters are Karasawa Toshiaki (Kenji), Toyokawa Etsushi (Occho), Tokiwa Takako (Yukiji), Kagawa Teruyuki (Yoshitsune), Ishizuka Hidehiko(Maruo), Sasaki Kuranosuke (Fukube) and Ukaji Takashi (Mon-chan). As for the rest of the lineup especially for the 2nd and 3rd instalment, announcements will be made gradually.

As you can see from the cast relation chart, this is a huge and complicated web of relationships. Just to name some of those who will also be appearing in the 1st instalment: Miyasago Hiroyuki, Namase Katsuhisa, Kohinata Fumio, Ishibashi Renji, Kuroki Hitomi, Fujii Takashi, Yamada Hanako, ARATA, Katase Nana, Ikewaki Chizuru, Fujii Fumiya, Oriental Radio, Oikawa Mitsuhiro, Takenaka Naoto, Moriyama Mirai, Sano Shiro, Mine Ryuta etc. This movie looks as if it is going to get almost everyone in the industry involved by the time it finishes its trilogy. It will be good news for the movie-goers since there's a lot of stars to see at one go but as to whether hardcore fans will like the match-up, that's a different story. I for one, have not read the manga yet (the Kinokuniya in Singapore seems to be out of stock) so I may just read the manga after the trilogy ends. It appears as if the movie will have a slightly different ending from the manga.

I will be watching the preview of this movie tomorrow (or should I say today afternoon since it's past midnight now). Hopefully, I can get the review up after that, assuming that I'm not tired out by the movie. Mind you, this is 142 minutes long so be prepared for it. This movie will be screened officially in Singapore next Thursday i.e. 16 Oct.

By the way, I have inserted the blog part provided by the official website just below the stats counter. After clicking on it, something will happen on this blog. Do try it for yourself!