number one the second week. The second film debuted at number one, grossing approximately $6,955,472 US. The third film followed also debuting at number one, and earned approximately $22,893,123 US by its second week. Writing for Empire, Justin Bowyer gave the first film a three out of five rating. He praised the action and faithfulness to the original manga, but stated that those unfamiliar with the source material may find the large cast of characters and complex story confusing. Bowyer also suggested waiting for all three films to be released. A fan of the manga, Jamie S. Rich of DVD Talk felt too much had to be cut to fit three films, with the development of characters suffering as a result. He did comment on how close the actors looked to their comic book counterparts and ultimately recommended the film. In an opposite view, both The Guardians Cath Clarke and Time Out Londons Trevor Johnston gave the first film two out of five stars and cited the faithfulness to the manga as a negative, feeling that some of the material could have been cut. Charles Webb of Twitch Film voiced similar criticism in a review of the second film. However, he praised the character Friend and Etsushi Toyokawa's performance as Occho, as well as the ending that makes the viewer anticipate the final installment in the trilogy. Jamie S. Rich also felt that the second movie "more than fulfills its prime directive of enticing me to stick around" for the final film. On the third film, Burl Burlingame of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin wrote, "The steam seems to have run out of the franchise during this third part, and it's simply an OK capper to the series," but praised the special effects. Variety''s Russell Edwards also cited the special effects in the final installment as the best in the trilogy. References External links Films' official site 4Digital Media's films site 1999 manga 2007 manga Apocalyptic anime and manga Bioterrorism in fiction Coming-of-age anime and manga Eisner Award winners Fiction about cults Films with screenplays by Yasushi Fukuda Live-action films based on manga Manga adapted into films Mystery anime and manga Naoki Urasawa New People films Science fiction anime and manga Seinen manga Shogakukan franchises Shogakukan manga Thriller anime and manga Viz Media manga Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (General) Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga Works by Yasushi