Before you continue reading this review, here are the disclaimers once again:If you have not watched this movie, do not read this unless you are OK with the spoilers which I'm going to mention. I do not take responsibility for spoilling the fun before you get the chance to see this for yourself.
The story continues 15 years after the Bloody New Year's Eve in 2000 and Japan is now under the control of Tomodachi who twisted the facts and made Kenji and Co. appear as the terrorists who tried to wipe out mankind. By projecting himself as the saviour of the world, Tomodachi has gained a strong following and earned "admiration" from people worldwide.
At the same time, Kanna has already grown up to be a senior high student while the gang of 7 who worked together to fight the Tomodachi at that time have either passed on, disappeared or lying low. Kenji's whereabouts are still unknown while Occho is behind bars. Even though the gang have been made to bear the blame for what happened 15 years ago, Kanna knows the truth and is still hoping to meet Kenji again. She also feels deep hatred for Tomodachi who is responsible for the current state of things.
Kanna starts to get closer to the identity of Tomodachi as childhood friends of Tomodachi like Sadakiyo and Yamane start popping up, claiming that Tomodachi misled them and betrayed their trust. She also gets picked to take part in a brainwash programme held at Tomodachi Land as she always behaves violently in school when people badmouth Kenji. However, the biggest revelation she discovers is the fact that she may be Tomodachi's daughter but none of her elders seem to be willing to talk about this.
A new book, "The new book of prophecies" (Shin Yogen no Sho) surfaces and Kanna & Co. realize that this is written by Tomodachi as a continuation from what Kenji & Co. had written when they were kids. At the beginning of this book, it is mentioned that a righteous saviour will be killed in a Shinjuku church. While Kanna & Co. try to decipher what this means, they fail to realize that this is part of a ploy for Tomodachi to grab full control of the situation and gain influence...
As this is the 2nd installment of the 3-part series, it would be best to manage your expectations. You wouldn't see any ending or major revelation here. This is just a connection point to the finale. As such, we are still none the wiser as to the identity of Tomodachi. Apparently, Kenji and Occho have the answer but I believe the production crew will save the big revelation till the very end. I was not too pleased with the first part of this movie. They had some developments which did not really fit into the story at first but they made sense at the end. It took a fair bit of time to get back into the pace of things. Thus, it takes a bit of patience to ease into the story and get used to the momentum of the developments. Things start to get more interesting after Kanna gets into Tomodachi Land. However, the lack of closure leaves me quite dissatisfied. On its own, this movie probably wouldn't do too well on my scoreboard because the beginning is abrupt and the ending leaves too many questions unanswered. Given the fact that this is a connecting installment, I'm prepared to look at this movie in a different manner.
Frankly speaking, I had an answer as to Tomodachi's identity at the end of Part 1. I was pretty sure that he would be the one. However, judging from Sadakiyo and Yamane's words, the revelation that Yoshitsune was actually wearing a similar mask which Sadakiyo wore when they were kids as well as the fact that Tomodachi was exchanging identities with Sadakiyo at one time, it has thrown my guesses off course. If Fukube is really Tomodachi, why did Yoshitsune wear the mask at that time? One clue given was that Tomodachi didn't get to go to the Osaka Expo at that time and exchanged identities with Sadakiyo so that nobody knew about this. As such, besides Kenji who went to Chiba for a holiday, Tomodachi must be the only one in the gang not to go to the Osaka Expo at that time. Another suspcious thing was that Yoshitsune disappeared halfway on the way to the church when he spotted No.13 on the rooftop of a building. Where did he go and what was he up to? As such, I'm now guessing between Yoshitsune and Fukube. Since Part 3 has an entirely different ending from the manga, the final identity of Tomodachi may not be Fukube after all. Yoshitsune seems more suspicious now as compared to the rest, at the least for the time being.
Although Karasawa Toshiaki is the lead, he only appears in one miserable scene (not counting those flashbacks when Kanna & Co were thinking of him) at the end where he's singing while riding a motorbike. As such, for fans of Karasawa, you will be sorely disappointed because you will not see much of him. You have to be patient and wait for Part 3 where Kenji gets back into the action. In exchange for Kenji's absence, Occho takes on a bigger role this time although he was behind bars for most of the beginning. Once he got out of prison, that's when the action begins. Although the character setting for these main cast members should be in their 50s, Toyokawa Etsushi certainly doesn't look like one. That long hair and well-built body just makes Occho very appealing! ^__^ On the other hand, Tokiwa Takako pales in comparison this time because her role was mainly projected as a guardian of Kanna. On the surface, she seems to have mellowed down and tried to stop Kanna from getting too involved with Tomodachi but I believe given her character, she's not the type to lie low without making any effort on her own to solve the problem. Hopefully, she will get more screen time in the final installment.
With regards to Taira Airi's performance as Kanna, I am judging her purely based on this movie since I've not seen her past performances. If you are talking about Kanna's headstrong side, Taira looks the part but somehow, her voice decreases the credibility of her role when she gets agitated. Her voice becomes too sharp and screechy when Kanna gets angry or frustrated so it was a bit unbearable for me. However, when she's supposed to show the softer and more mature side of Kanna, I think she did pretty well. As Kanna is a senior high school student in this installment, I am guessing that Taira's performance will improve in the final installment when Kanna becomes an adult. I think she looks better in casual clothes than in school uniform so that outfit does bring out the tomboyish and yet delicate character of Kanna in a better way.
As per the first installment, there is a galore of famous supporting cast members but the most eyecatching out of them would be Yusuke Santa Maria and Koike Eiko. Wow, Sadakiyo looks really horrifying, judging from Kanna and Koizumi's reaction when they saw his face in the brain wash simulator. He certainly doesn't look like he's the same age with Kenji & Co. Yusuke Santa Maria really went all out to potray Sadakiyo. His appearance time may be little but he left a strong impression on me. By the way, for those who know Urasawa Naoki's other famous work, "Monster", don't you feel that Sadakiyo's manga image looks very close to Lunge? Likewise, Koike Eiko's potrayal of Takasu was very eye-catching. Well, I felt like laughing whenever she appeared because her actions were so exaggerated and funny. Seems like she's going to continue the reprisal of her role in Part 3 as well. Oh, there's also a surprise addition from Taiwan i.e. Chen Zhaorong who played the Chinese mafia chief. Those who have seen those long Taiwanese soap dramas would know him very well. To think one of the top guys in Taiwan would come to Japan to play a small role. Nonetheless, he still did OK. At least it was quite memorable. He still had a name and some lines so this is better than playing a mere stranger on the road.
On the other hand, you have people like Fujiki Naohito appearing for so long and yet his character doesn't impress me that much. Chouno was rather irritating in my opinion. That wishy-washy behaviour and too trusting attitude put me off. Nonetheless, since he's the grandson of the police detective who detected that Tomodachi is up to no good, he would appear again in Part 3, most likely as a source of help for Kenji & Co since Tomodachi's subordinates have already infiltrated the government and police force.
At the end of the movie, do not be in a hurry to leave the cinema. I guess the producers realized that some people leave without seeing the trailer for the next part so they actually put a countdown timer at the end. When I was there, most of the people stayed. Be warned, the credits roll is more than 4 minutes long. And that is where you see the finale's trailer. And one final thing, do not be fooled by the roadshow date flashed on the screen. 29 Aug is the screening date for Part 3 in Japan, not in Singapore. So don't assume Part 3 is coming to our shores soon. Given the fact that it took almost a year for Part 2 to come here, I am expecting that the finale can only be seen next year. What a long wait! It had better turn out to be a worthwhile wait, hopefully.
And my ratings for this movie...
Story: 7 out of 10 (Before the point when Kanna and Koizumi went to Tomodachi Land, I was quite bored with the story. The action in the 2nd part compensated for the lacking beginning.)
Acting: 7 out of 10 (Due to the huge number of characters, there is little room for development for most of the characters. Taira Airi is doing OK and Toyokawa Etsushi is doing great to fill the void left by Karasawa.)
Theme song: 7 out of 10 (Same groovy theme song as before)
Visual effects / Scenery: 7 out of 10 (The robots and weirdo machines are toned down this time. In fact, nothing fanciful this time. It's the scale of some of the events which are seeking to impress e.g. that street parade, the funeral service of Tomodachi. Boy, they really know how to spend all that money!)
Teamwork / Chemistry: 6 out of 10 (Compared to the first part, there isn't much of teamwork to speak of. When everyone gets together in the finale, that will probably be something to talk about.)
Total: 34 out of 50
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