NIJU SEIKI SHOUNEN / 20TH CENTURY BOYS

I normally don't put up mini-posters for movies inspired by Japanese manga, but I recently sent fellow CAFer Duane Capizzi a few of them and he said he really was interested in this one. This poster is for the live-action version of Urasawa Naoki's science fiction mystery that was seemingly inspired by Stephen King's IT.
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This is the second of a planned trilogy. It's full title is NIJUSEIKI SHOUNEN: SAIGO NO KIBO (THE LAST HOPE).

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The plot, as I understand it, involves, Kenji and his old school friends who are slowly drawn into a mysterious, possibly worldwide conspiracy involving the mysterious "Friend" (who reminds me of any number of Steve Ditko characters) that somehow ties into their youth (and old T Rex lyrics).

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The previews looks cool. Here's a YouTube link for the first movie's trailer: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=FOcVeVBTh1E

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In it, you see the friends find out they are involved in something called the "Tomodachi" / Friend Conspiracy (there are several allusions here to the Aum Cult and their sarin gas attack on Tokyo back in 1995), one of their friends dies mysteriously, some lady says in a sing-song voice, "Kenji, let's play," some mysterious shaggy-haired dude kicks serious butt, a child's drawing of a giant robot is part of the plot somehow and, oh yeah, they discover that the world is scheduled to end on Dec. 31, 2000, the last day of the 20th Century.

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Here's the new trailer for Part II:
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=ni_NIUuSN0M

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Kenji is missing and the mysterious Tomodachi has become a popular world leader. There are lots of dystopian scenes of a 1984 like totalitarian society. And Buddhist monks pack serious fire power. (I know gun sales have increased since Obama became president, but this is ridiculous!) Enjoy!