20th Century Boys: Beginning of the End

2008 2h 22m JA

👍

6.7

SOLID

🥫

36%

ROTTEN

⭐

6.6

IMDB

★6.7TMDB · 107🥫36%Rotten Tomatoes★6.6IMDB · 2,949

Science FictionAdventureMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In 1969, Kenji, an elementary school kid and his friends built a secret base during their summer holidays. They fantasized that they had to fight villains who were out to conquer the world and wrote them in the Book of Prophecies. Years later in 1997, Kenji becomes a convenience store manager and leads a regular life after giving up his dreams to become a rock star. His boring life is suddenly turned upside down when his old classmate dies mysteriously and an entire family in the neighbourhood disappears. At the same time, a religious cult and its mysterious leader, Friend emerges and a strange chain of events duplicating exactly the events described in the Book of Prophecies follow. Is this the beginning of the end of the world? Who is Friend?

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Toshiaki Karasawa
Kenji Endô
Takako Tokiwa
Yukiji
Teruyuki Kagawa
Yoshitsune
Hidehiko Ishizuka
Maruo
Takashi Ukaji
Mon-chan
Hiroyuki Miyasako
Keroyon
Katsuhisa Namase
Donkey
Fumiyo Kohinata
Yamane

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi
Writers: Yasushi Fukuda, Takashi Nagasaki, Naoki Urasawa
Languages: Japanese
Countries: Japan, Thailand

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 18 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Japan, Thailand.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "20th Century Boys Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi, shot by Satoru Karasawa. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Nobuyuki Ito shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Toshiaki Karasawa and Takako Tokiwa and Teruyuki Kagawa carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt1155705 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Yukihiko Tsutsumi directs. Satoru Karasawa behind the camera. Nobuyuki Ito cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in Japan, Thailand. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 18 years ago.
2International production across 2 countries: Japan, Thailand.
3Part of the "20th Century Boys Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi, shot by Satoru Karasawa. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Nobuyuki Ito shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Toshiaki Karasawa and Takako Tokiwa and Teruyuki Kagawa carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt1155705 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Satoru Karasawa
Editing: Nobuyuki Ito
Production design: Naoki Soma
Stunt coordinator: Yuta Morokaji
Runtime: 142 min · 2h 22m
Status: Released
Budget: $20,000,000
Box office: $31,244,858
Return: 156% of budget
Original language: JA
IMDB: 20th Century Boys: Beginning of the End (2008)
Rotten Tomatoes: 36% 🥫 Rotten
IMDB rating: 6.6/10 · 2,949 votes

Part of

20th Century Boys Collection

Kenji and his friends in the club created an amateur comic book that imagined an apocalyptic future in which strange illnesses and bands of armed insurgents threatened to destroy the world. A fanatical cult known as Friend found the book and they've made it their business to turn it into a reality, and now Kenji and his old friends have to infiltrate the cult and stop them before it's too late.