20th century boys part 2: The last hope

Title - 20^th century boys part 2: The last hope
Language - Japanese
Genre - Sci- fi, conspiracy

I reviewed the first part of this trilogy a while ago (the review can be found here) and finally decided to watch the next part.  As the films carry on from each other there will be spoilers for part one in this review.

Part two is set 15 years after part one, Kenji and his friends failed to stop the giant robot from spreading the virus and in the aftermath Friend, the cult leader form the first film has risen up to be the new ruler of Japan.  History tells us that Kenji was the person responsible for the robot and virus and he is missing, presumed dead.  The rest of Kenji’s gang are in hiding except for Shogun who is still in Friends prison where he is only known as Number 3.

In the fifteen years since the end of the first film Japan has become slightly futuristic looking city, there are blimps in the air, giant monitors on the sides of buildings and loud speakers in the street all of which are used for advertising and spreading propaganda about how good Friend is.  The scenery is like a more realist, less futuristic blade runner with out the hover cars.  Most of the population seem happy but at the beginning of the film we see that there is a lot of violence as the Chinese mafia is at war with the Thai mafia in the back streets.

The film starts with the sides of the mafia fighting in a number of back streets.  The gunshots are heard in a nearby café.  When one of café regulars mentions where the fighting is happening the waitress runs out into the middle of the gun fight and forces both sides to stop.  We discover that the waitress is Kanna the baby from the first film and she knows the truth about her Uncle Kenji but know one will believe her.

A body is found during the aftermath of the mafia fight which is first assumed to be a victim for the violence but it turns out that is was an assassination by a corrupt police man. 

The customer who first told Kanna where the fighting was taking place than asks her for help, she has a friend who knows why the man was killed and they need Kanna’s help to protect her as it has information on Friend and what he is planning next.  The information leads Kanna to ‘Friend land’ a summer camp used to brain wash people into supporting Friend.  The murdered man was in Friend land and took part in something known as the bonus round.  Kanna decides to get into friend land to see if she can find out what is happening.

At the same time as this is all going on Shogun and a manga artist who has been imprisoned for righting the wrong type of manga make their escape from the prison and meet up with one of the other heroes from the first film.

Kanna and one of her classmates enrol on a stay in Friend land and they meet up with Kanna’s uncle Yoshitsune, one of the heroes from the first film who tells them that only the best students get to go into the Bonus round, but warn against it as it is dangerous.  Kanna ignores the warnings and pass the tests to get into the bonus round, along with her classmate.

The Bonus round uses virtual reality to take two girls back in time to when her uncle and his friends first wrote the book of prophecies, specifically to when ‘Donkey’, the group member who’s death set the current events in motion went into the school and saw the ghost.  Kanna sees two other boys one of whom has hanged himself and the other who is watching him.  The second by has a copy of the new book of prophecies and the first boy comes back to life.  Whilst this is going on Friend enters the room to speak to Kanna and to tell her who her farther is.  While Kanna is talking to the adult Friend her classmate is on the roof looking for the child version of Friend to try to find out who he actually is, she approaches a masked child who takes his mask off.

Yoshitsune pulls the plug on the computer that runs the bonus round and Kanna sets off find out about the new book of Prophecies.

Shogun is now on the trail of Friend during his investigations he is approached by an old lady who recognises him as one of Kenji’s friends and she hands him a copy of the new book of Prophecies.  The book was written but the children Kanna saw in the past and, reading through the book Shogun realises that they are approaching the final chapter in it where Friend is made into a god and the human race is ended.   Shogun, Kanna and Yoshitsune are now in a race against time to work out what the final prophecy means and how they can stop it.

20^th century boys’ part 2 is long which i find unusual for a middle film; it picks up well form the first part and is still as good.  The film keeps things as real as possible but still has a slight feel as being what an anime would be like if it came true. 

The future of 2015 manages to carry the feeling of what a child may imagine which is as it should be being as it is meant to be based on the books of prophecy.

The film also manages to keep the identity of Friend a secret, just when you think you know who it is the plot takes a turn to remove that character as a red herring.

There are a couple things in the film that you are never sure if they are real, there is a bit about Kanna having esp but, like the ray gun and the robot in the first film you can’t tell if it is real or just part of the fantasy set in motion by Friend recreating the books of prophecy.

I enjoyed the second part of 20^th Century Boys and regret not watching it sooner and I’ll be watching part 3 for next weeks blog.