adapted from a manga, this story switches from past to present in telling the tales of a group of kids who used to form a 'club' and decided that one day the world would be taken over by evil forces. one of them ("Friend") decided to 'make it happen', and with that, creating a cult following that threatens on mankind's existence. the story is gripping enough, and promises to set up a nail-biting finale but sadly the 2nd and 3rd installments of 20th C.B. slows down its pace

20th C.B. is one of the few mangas I've read and it plays on the conventions to form its own medium intelligently. The plot flows two ways, past and the present and it reveals very slowly. This film tries to be faithful to the manga which makes it a bit hard to comprehend, it should have taken some risk and form it's own basis to fully sprout as passable cinema. I can't comment how good it works stand alone, but the plot should capture your attention enough.

"Headache-inducingly convoluted plot and cast of characters but the action and faithfulness to the series is impressive."

I liked this more than I should have. A few cheesy scenes and some parts that were added without thought to the flow of the movie didn't bother me as much as it usually does.