VIZ Pictures, an affiliate of VIZ Media, LLC that focuses on Japanese live-action film distribution, will release the science fiction feature 20th CENTURY BOYS 2: THE LAST HOPE on DVD on February 16th in North America through its distributor, VIZ Media. 20th CENTURY BOYS will carry a MSRP of $24.92 US / $35.99 CAN.

The 20th CENTURY BOYS saga is based on Naoki Urasawa’s manga series, 20th CENTURY BOYS (published in the US by VIZ Media), which has become a national phenomenon in Japan, selling over 20 million copies of the 24 volumes. Urasawa is the creator of many famous works such as the hit manga series, MONSTER and PLUTO also published in the US by VIZ Media.

The film is directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi, who began directing commercials and music videos at Nihon Television. One of his most recent films includes Happily Ever After (2007) is also released by VIZ Pictures and distributed by VIZ Media. Both Naoki Urasawa and Music Director Ryomei Shirai are fans of the 1970’s rock music scene and chose “20th Century Boy” by T.REX (Imperial Records) as the main theme song.

The story began in 1969 when a young boy named Kenji and his friends write “The Book of Prophecy” in which they write about a future where they fight against an evil organization trying to takeover the world and bring about doomsday. Years later in 1997, a mysterious cult being led by a man only known as “Friend” emerges and begins to gain strong influence over society. A series of catastrophic events begin to occur mirroring the prophecies made up by the young Kenji and the greatest fear is the climax of “The Book” becoming a reality; December 31st, 2000, a terrifying giant virus-spreading robot will attack the entire city of Tokyo leading to the end of mankind. The only people who know about “The Book” are Kenji and his childhood friends. Who is “Friend”? Will Kenji and his friends be able to save mankind and live to see the 21st Century?

In 20TH CENTURY BOYS 2: THE LAST HOPE it is 2015, and “Friend” rules a disturbing new world. Kenji has been missing since the Bloody New Year’s Eve of 2000, and his niece Kanna is now in high school. Her history textbook contains a fabricated story about Kenji and his friends being the terrorists behind the horrific events of 2000. Kanna, knowing the truth, openly resents this, and as a result she is marked as a problem child by her teacher and sent to the Friend Land program because of her anti-Friend behavior. Friend Land is a facility where people with rebellious behavior are re-educated. As the program begins, Kanna and her classmate Kyoko Koizumi achieve high marks and are sent to the advanced program called the Bonus Stage, where they find themselves in a virtual reconstruction of 1971, when Kenji and his friends were kids. There, each of the girls learns crucial secrets about “Friend.”

The surviving secret base members have been separated since Bloody New Year’s Eve but each has spent the last 15 years in various activities opposing Friend and his regime. As Kenji’s friends all try to find out the truth about Friend, they discover the shocking existence of The New Book of Prophecy, the sequel to The Book of Prophecy. The New Book describes an event: In 2015, at a church in Shinjuku, a savior will rise to uphold justice but will be assassinated. Who is the savior? Once again, Doomsday looms near…

To celebrate this DVD release, VIZ Pictures will be holding a special screening event at VIZ Cinema in San Francisco on February 9th at 7:30PM. Ticket for admission is $25.00, which will include a ticket for the screening, a copy of the 20TH CENTURY BOYS 2: THE LAST HOPE DVD, poster, and pin! Additionally, VIZ Pictures is raffling off 20th Century Boys T-shirts before the show so come watch the film for a chance to win! Tickets are available at the box office or online at www.vizcinema.com. For more information about this event, please visit www.vizcinema.com or www.viz-pictures.com.

“20th CENTURY BOYS has been a mega hit since it mesmerized audiences with it’s U.S. theatrical premiere of 20th CENTURY BOYS 1: BEGINNING OF THE END in the summer of 2009, and we are excited to announce the U.S. debut of 20th CENTURY BOYS 2: THE LAST HOPE,” says Seiji Horibuchi, President and CEO of VIZ Pictures. “We also hope fans in the San Francisco Bay Area can join us for the one night only special screening at VIZ Cinema to experience 20th CENTURY BOYS on the Big Screen.

Needless to say FP will have copies available.

Okay, all of you who keep up with me and my rants and reviews, remember the other week when I was going on about how 20th Century Boys has been falling behind and why Volume 3 wasn’t out already? Well, almost as if someone at Viz actually reads these articles, here it is! That’s right this week 20th Century Boys Volume 3 By Naoki Urasawa shows up this week. But don’t blow all your energy just yet, it’s an exciting week.

20th Century Boys Vol. 3

It’s also a Viz Big editions week. Fushigi Yugi 2, Dragon Ball Z 4, and Rurouni Kenshin 6 Viz Bigs are all coming in. Oh, and so is the new Shojo Beat Magazine for July. And TokyoPop thinks they can play the game too putting out the first Gravitation Collection. Though if we’ve learned anything from them, it’s that they only ever do first volumes of these things. At least we can trust Viz to finish out the series.

Gestalt Vol. 1

There are also 2 premier series that have got my antennae twitching. The first of which is the Lucky Star manga by Kagami Yoshimizu. A lot of the girls out there went mad for the anime, and the mechandise we have been able to get in, and how could you not? It’s so cute. And now’s your chance to read the cuteness. Okay, and the second book coming in is the third series to release in America by Yun Kouga (creator of Earthian and Loveless), called Gestalt. The premise? Ages ago the gods were at war. One god was cast out and found refuge on an island known only as G. I shouldn’t have to tell you the artwork is pretty, but it is, and definitely worth checking out.

Samurai Champloo Box Set

Finally, got some DVD news for you all. A new Samurai Champloo thin pack box set came in and it’s only $69.99 (compared to the original box set that was closer to $180). There’s also the latest volume of Darker Than Black, and D. Gray-Man. There will also be much more showing up that I can’t even conceive of while I write this on Monday afternoon. Anyways, thats all this time.

Ja Ne!