20th Century Boys: The Last Chapter-Our Flag (Saishû-shô-Bokura no hata) (2009)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Alternate Ending More…-Press Conference Promo Theatrical Trailer Teaser Trailer Trailer-Eastern Eye Trailers
Rating
Year Of Production	2009
Running Time	149:41
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Yukihiko Tsutsumi
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Yasushi Fukuda Naoki Urasawa Naoto Takenaka Teruyuki Kagawa Arata Kôichi Yamadera Renji Ishibashi Gregory Pekar Ryûnosuke Kamiki Mayuko Fukuda Hitomi Kuroki Eiko Koike
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Dual
RPI	Box	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, alternative ending after credits

     It is 2017. The resurrected Friend has become a god and World President after a deadly virus released on his orders killed more than half of the Earth’s population. Tokyo has been encircled by a giant wall to protect the residents from the virus, although some people survive outside the walls, saved by the vaccination discovered by Kanna’s mother Kiriko (Hitomi Kuroki). And there is a new prophecy from Friend: on 20 August 2017 aliens will invade the Earth and the remainder of the population will be killed by a new, even more deadly virus. Only those who believe in Friend will be saved. Inside the wall, Kanna (Airi Taira) is a resistance leader urging the people to rise up on 20 August and attack Friend, Yoshitsune (Teruyuki Kagawa) still leads the few remnants of their old group while Maruo (Hidehiko Ishizuka) is on the track of Kiriko and a possible vaccination for the new virus. Otcho (Etsushi Toyokawa) scales the wall from outside searching for Kanna and Yoshitsune with the news that he believes Kenji (Toshiaki Karasawa) is alive and may be coming to save the world. As 20 August looms, all the main players gather for a showdown that will either finally reveal all or lead to the total destruction of humanity on this planet.

     Part three of the trilogy 20th Century Boys: The Last Chapter – Our Flag (20-seiki shonen: Saishû-shô - Bokura no hata ) starts off with a recapitulation of the first two films and then proceeds to try to tie up the many character story arcs and other loose ends. Indeed, much of The Last Chapter – Our Flag is bogged down in exposition: what a number of the characters have been doing, what really happened during “Bloody New Year’s Eve” or outside the Shinjuki Church, explanations for the virus and Friend’s resurrection and “magic” tricks, another version of the school lab sequence. As such, it takes about 45 minutes for the story to get started and although there are some good minor action sequences involving Kanna and Otcho, and tension in the sequence when Kanna confronts Friend, there is not really enough of these two characters who made Chapter 2 – The Last Hope so interesting. The Last Chapter – Our Flag also returns to the extensive use of CGI effects that were so prevalent in Chapter 1 - Beginning of the End although parts of the climax, with flying saucers spewing the virus over Tokyo while a giant robot rampages through the city, are exciting enough. .

     20th Century Boys is an epic trilogy based on the hugely popular manga by writer Naoki Urasawa. The third film, 20th Century Boys: The Last Chapter – Our Flag, certainly tries to tie everything together but almost drowns under the weight of all the exposition. As well, like that other famous third firm The Return of the King, it has trouble making up its mind when to stop and we have two endings of the film, one before and one after the credits, so make sure you don’t stop watching. Indeed, while the first ending ties up the plot, the second actually has more to say about motivation, and friendship, and its opposite: the effects of alienation from society.

     To its credit, at it’s core the 20th Century Boys trilogy, and especially this last chapter, is about more than action; it is also a reflection on friendship, alienation and isolation, and what it means to be a man of the 20th century. While not a total success due to the myriad of character arcs and plot strands condensed into three films, the 20th Century Boys trilogy has an intriguing premise, interesting ideas, some good action and set pieces but it really is a case of some parts being better than the whole.

Video

     20th Century Boys: The Last Chapter – Our Flag is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, close to the original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     There is nothing wrong with the print, although it was not as sharp as I would have expected. Colours are muted yet natural, blacks and shadow detail are fine, brightness, contrast, skin tones good. I saw no film artefacts except some edge enhancement.

     The English subtitles are in a yellow font and I did not notice any spelling or grammatical errors. Captions translating Japanese signs are in white.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     While Part 1 offered a choice between Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps and Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kbps, Part 3 follows Part 2 in only having a Dolby Digital 2.0 track at 224 Kbps.

     The good news is that this is still a very good audio track. It was surround encoded. Dialogue was clear, effects were good and music and effects were in the surrounds. On my system the subwoofer was very active, especially with the flying saucers and crash of the robot’s feet in the climax.

     Lip synchronisation is fine.

     The score by Ryomei Shirai used both electronic and orchestral music and added some Japanese and Western pop songs including 20th Century Boy by T-Rex. It was an effective support for the film.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Alternative Ending (24:30)

     This is an extended version of the ending that occurred after the credits with a few additional pieces, such as Kanna meeting her mother.

Press Conference Promo (4:41)

     An extended ad for the first film.

Original Teaser (0:35)

Original Trailer (1:42)

Eastern Eye Trailers

     Trailers for other films from Madman. Included is The Grudge: White Ghost & Black Ghost (1:13), Love Exposure (2:12), Goemon (2:18), Survive Style 5+ (1:36) and Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (1:14).

     The three films have been released separately in Region 1 US, Region 2 Japan, Region 2 UK and elsewhere. The Region 1 discs are single discs which seem to have similar video and audio to ours and only trailers as extras. The Japanese Region 2 release is not English friendly.

     In Region 2 UK there are two disc editions of the first two films but I cannot find The Last Chapter – Our Flag available on the sites I checked.

     The complete trilogy is also available in Region 2 Japan and Region 2 UK. The UK version seems the best as they have a 4 disc edition with a 24 page booklet (made up like the Book of Prophecy) and all the extras on the fourth disc. Here in Region 4 Madman has spread these same extras across the 3 discs. The Region 2 Japanese release is a 3 disc set which does not seem to have any extra features that are not on the Region 4; for example, there is no audio commentary.

     I did not notice any compression issues in the Region 4 disc, but clearly having the extras on one disc would free up space. That and the booklet would give the Region 2 UK individual version of the trilogy the win.

     20th Century Boys is an epic trilogy based on the hugely popular manga by writer Naoki Urasawa. The third film, 20th Century Boys: The Last Chapter – Our Flag, certainly tries to tie up all the loose ends and the plot strands, and it almost drowns under the weight of all the exposition. To its credit, at it’s core the 20th Century Boys trilogy, and especially this last chapter, is about more than action; it is also a reflection on friendship, alienation and isolation, and what it means to be a man of the 20th century. The video and audio are good, the extras minimal except for the alternative ending.

     In Region 4 Madman have released the three 20th Century Boys films as one box set containing all the extras on the three discs, unlike the Region 2 UK release that has the extras on a 4th disc.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall