20-seiki shônen: Dai 2 shô - Saigo no kibô (20th Century Boys: Chapter Two - The Last Hope) (2009)

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A successor to the Japanese sci-fi blockbuster Twentieth Century Boys (2008) this adaptation of Naoki Urasawa's manga begins where its predecessor left off. The initial installment concerned a group of friends who shared tight bonds as children, but grew into adults with a more tenuous connection to… More A successor to the Japanese sci-fi blockbuster Twentieth Century Boys (2008) this adaptation of Naoki Urasawa's manga begins where its predecessor left off. The initial installment concerned a group of friends who shared tight bonds as children, but grew into adults with a more tenuous connection to one another, all vaguely dissatisfied and bored with life -- particularly convenience store worker Kenji (Toshiaki Karasawa). As kids, they penned a book of dire prophecies, an imaginative work describing the need to save the world from an elusive cadre of villains; when the individuals grew up, the global disasters actually started to happen, and it seemed incredibly bizarre, bordering on inexplicable. A mysterious fellow named Friend turned up, claiming that a terrorist named Kenji was responsible for the cataclysms, but the friends all pondered Friend's real identity and his motivation for unveiling Kenji as the culprit. This time around, the year is 2015. Kenji has apparently died in a bomb explosion set by Friend in the first installment, and as a result, everyone around the world regards Friend as their savior. Unfortunately, Kenji's evil legacy lives on in the form of his niece, Kanna (Airi Taira), who continues the struggle against Friend, almost completely unaccompanied by Kenji's old allies. At about the same time, Otcho, who had been thrown into prison as one of Kenji's collaborators, breaks out of prison and treks off to find Kanna when he learns that she is about to fall prey to assassination. Then a new Book of Prophecy turns up as a sequel to the original, with the direst of predictions in it. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi