‘20th Century Boys 2′ coming to DVD

VIZ Media is bringing manga-to-film sci-fi adventure film 20TH CENTURY BOYS 2: THE LAST HOPE to DVD in the U.S. on February 16, 2010. It is the second chapter of a blockbuster trilogy that’s based on a popular manga by Naoki Urasawa.

The series is about a group of childhood friends led by Kenji, who as children wrote “The Book of Prophecy,” which accurately depicts the coming of a cult organization that tries to take over the world and bring about doomsday. The leader of this organization is “Friend,” an enigmatic masked figure whose identity and true intentions remain unclear.

In the first chapter, 20TH CENTURY BOYS: BEGINNING OF THE END (available on DVD from VIZ Media), Kenji and his friends struggle to stop a giant virus-spreading robot from destroying Tokyo and the rest of the world.

In THE LAST HOPE, it’s been ten years since the cataclysmic events of 2000. Kenji is missing and “Friend” now oversees a New World Order. As a new Book of Prophecy predicting the rise and fall of mankind’s savior surfaces, Kenji’s associates struggle to uncover the truth about “Friend.”

The final chapter, REDEMPTION, sees a destructive virus hitting Tokyo which leads the government to build a wall around the city to keep it quarantined. It’s been three years since “Friend” took control of the world. He now predicts that aliens will destroy the world on a set date and that only true believers of “Friend” will survive the coming apocalypse. The resistance movement continues its efforts to oppose the ruling Friendship Democratic Party as Kenji reenters Tokyo.

REDEMPTION was released in Japan last August, with a simultaneous limited screening in San Francisco. VIZ Media has plans to release it on DVD later this year.

20TH CENTURY BOYS is one of the most ambitious undertakings in the Japanese film industry. The trilogy has a budget of 6 billion yen and the cast numbers in the hundreds. Below are trailers for all three films.

20TH CENTURY BOYS trailer

20TH CENTURY BOYS 2: THE LAST HOPE trailer

20TH CENTURY BOYS 3: REDEMPTION trailer