It's time to play.

20th Century Boys has been on my 'to read' list for a good while now, but there is just so much Manga out there and I haven't gotten around to it yet. But when it comes to adapting graphic novels Japan tends to remain faithful to the source material, as such I thought I'd take a chance of seeing the films before I read the comics.

This has been called an epic undertaking but this film is not an epic all on it's own. It is quite long (almost 2 hours and 20 minutes) but it passes pretty quickly and leaves you salivating for more at the end. The story itself centres around Kenji and his childhood friends. A strange man known only as 'Friend' as been inducting people into his religious cult. This cult seems largely responsible for a series of events that were written down by Kenji and his friends when they were children.

This is an aquired taste. If you are not used to the Japanese film making style then you may find yourself a little confused by this. The subtitles are not great, there's a bit of dodgy translation here and there, but it's mostly just daft little things like misuse of past and/or present tense. The subtitles also run a little fast sometimes but none of the dialogue is mumbled and it's generally easy enough to keep up with.

The acting is generally very good but there is a bit of over acting here and there. It's very well directed and is edited in a manner that creates a quirky top coating to a very dark story. The music is also very well used and there are some great songs in there (T-Rex, Bob Dylan, need I say more?).

As I have not read the comics I'm not going to recommend it to fans of the books, but I will say that watching this has caused me to bump 20th Century Boys right to the top of my 'to read' list.