Kenji's (Toshiaki Karasawa) life is going nowhere, and not even very fast. He has hit his forties and is stuck running a convenience store with his aging mother. He seeks solace in the memories of his youth when, together with his friends Otcho, Yoshitsune, Maruo, Donkey and tomboy, Yukiji, he built a secret hideout in a wheat field. There the gang wiled away their days listening to rock and roll and dreaming up an epic science fiction tale of the future, about giant robots destroying the Earth, which they called the Book of Prophecy.
At a school reunion Kenji is reunited with Yoshitsune and Maruo. He learns that Otcho disappeared some years ago in Bangkok, Yukiji (Tokiwa Takako) is working as a customs officer at Narita airport and Donkey has joined a mysterious cult led by a mysterious figure known only as "Friend." When Kenji reads of Donkey's suicide in the newspaper he investigates the cult further, only to discover their emblem bears a striking resemblance to the symbol Otcho designed for their gang's base camp many years previously. When stories in the press begin to echo the opening events from the Book of Prophecy, Kenji tracks down Yukiji and the rest of the gang, fearful that "Friend" might be plotting Armageddon – and might be someone they know!
Like so many Japanese films these days, 20th Century Boys is based on a successful manga, written by Urasawa Naoki and first published in 2000. It is also merely the first part of a proposed trilogy of films that is being touted as one of the biggest, not to mention most expensive, undertakings in Japanese Cinema. However, as is so often the problem when adapting comic books to the big screen, there is the overwhelming need to please the mercilessly loyal fans of the source material. At nearly two and a half hours, 20th Century Boys is a long haul, for very little pay off.
The narrative straddles at least three different time periods, switching between the 1960s, the days leading up to the turn of the millennium, and a fascist future state where it appears "Friend" is now in control of Japan, making the story painfully complex and convoluted for the casual viewer unfamiliar with the comics' seven-year run. It is also disappointing, that after having sat through a good two hours of characterisation and exposition, the final act – when giant robots do descend upon Tokyo as the clock ticks down to Y2K – is rushed to the point of being almost incomprehensible.
What is interesting is to see a film of this nature in which the heroes have all hit middle age, and quite frankly, have no real heroic qualities. It also seems apparent that the group already know what is going to happen, and who is to blame, but time has taken its toll and their fading childhood memories are sketchy at best. The great irony being that Kenji and his friends cling nostalgically to the memories of their youth, but when called upon, they can't recall anything of real worth. No doubt hardcore fans will have plenty more positive (and perhaps negative) observations to make about the production, but the uninitiated in the audience are more likely to be left irritated at the film's lack of real plot, rather than tingling with anticipation at what is yet to come.

James Marsh