"20th Century Boys" gets its international premiere in Paris... and invades the Louvre!

by Chris MaGee

The first film in the proposed trilogy of Yukihiko Tsustumi's big screen adaptation of Naoki Urasawa's manga "20th Century Boys" has become one of the most eagerly anticipated films in Japan this year. It's got a huge budget (relative to other Japanese productions) and a cast of thousands... Okay, maybe not a cast of thousands, but at least dozens including such heavy hitters as Kenichi Endo, Naoto Takenaka, Arata, Renji Ishibashi, Teruyuki Kagawa and many, many more; but you need to have that kind of varied and talented cast if you want to tackle a story about a worldwide conspiracy involving secret cults, giant robots and multiple timelines.

Well, now "20th Century Boys" has been completed and recently had its international premiere in Paris (a city with a huge manga and anime fan base), but not before stars Toshiaki Karasawa and Takako Tokiwa made history by holding a press conference and a gathering of fans at the historic Louvre Museum. I guess some of that huge budget got funneled into the P.R. campaign if they pulled something like this off. If you want to take a look at the fan pandemonium in the City of Lights then head over to Sanspo.com for pics of the press conference that feature the Louvre's most famous tenant, the Mona Lisa.

Thanks to Jason Gray for the heads up about this story.