Growing up in the ’60s, Endo Kenji and his friends discovered rock, played around with having secret bases and imagining the future, writing a book called “the Book of Prophecy”, depicting a villainous world takeover. Fast forwarding to the late ’90s, it seems like someone is making the prophecies come true. Rounding up the old gang, they come to the conclusion that it must be someone they knew from their childhood doing this. The question is, who?
Now, this is a gem. I read and loved the manga the movies are based on immensely, and the casting for the movie versions is nothing short of perfect. They all look, behave, and act like I’d imagine they would from reading the manga. Urasawa Naoki, the mangaka behind it, has done a bunch of other very good stories, including Yawara!, Monster and PLUTO (a retelling of Tezuka Osamus magnum opus Astro Boy). I recommend reading the manga very much, as it is brilliant. The movies differ a little story-wise from the manga, but this first installment of what will be three movies is excellent.
I will try to not spoil too much, but the first movie is basically telling the story of the end of the world as we know it, with the epic climax being the use of biological weapons and a giant mechaish robot attacking Tokyo, with Kenji and his comrades trying to stop it all from happening, all the while trying to figure out the mystery behind the man known only as “Friend”, the leader of a weird cult that has been gaining in popularity. It has a lot of suspense, and like I said, I’d recommend giving it a watch. The whole trilogy has been licensed by Viz and they will start distributing them this fall, from what I’ve heard. The manga has also now (finally!) started to be available from Viz. Get them.
