Nippon TV Nabs SF Live-Action Thriller

In Japan, Nippon TV has been able to acquire the rights for its most ambitious live-action project to date. “20th Century Boy” (”20 Seiki Shonen” — 20世紀少年), a sci-fi thriller trilogy based on a hit comic by Naoki Urasawa, will be its next big feature.

The film series focuses on a convenience store manager named Kenji played byToshiaki Karasawa (”Casshern”). As a teenage boy he wrote a prediction about the end of the world. Now, as an adult, he is watching everything he invisioned as a teen begin to unveil in real life. Alarmed that, apart from a himself and a few of his friends, nobody else seems to be picking up on what is happening, he makes it his quest to try to stop it and the fiendish, mysterious cult-leader named “Friend” who is out to destroy the world.

The first film in the trilogy will be released on August 30, 2008, the second late in 2008 or early in 2009 and the third in the fall of 2009. The budget for the entire trilogy is six billion yen ($57 million USD), with location shoots set up in several different locations throughout the US, the UK, Thailand and China.

The English rock band T.Rex has agreed to have its “20th Century Boy” song play as the trilogy’s theme song. This 1973 song helped inspired the motif of Urasawa’s original manga, according to AnimeNewsNetwork.

“20th Century Boy” co-stars Etsushi Toykawa (”Great Yokai War”) portraying Otcho and Takiko Tokiwa (”Brave Story”) as Yukiji.