You
can accuse ghoul of many things, but not cannibalism—because they eat people,
not other ghouls. Yet, what about a half-ghoul, half-human, like Ken Kaneki? The
notorious ghoul known as “The Gourmet” is convinced Kaneki is not just edible—he
will be absolutely delicious. The man-eating ghouls of Sui Ishida’s manga are
hungrier than ever in Takuya Kawasaki & Kazuhiko Hiramaki’s live-action
sequel, Tokyo Ghoul S, which screens nationwide this Monday, Wednesday,
and Friday, courtesy of Funimation.
Thanks
to an involuntary organ donation from his late ghoul friend, Kaneki became a
human-ghoul hybrid in the first Tokyo Ghoul. He has yet to fully embrace
his ghoulishness, especially the eating human flesh part, but he has found
belonging in the Anteiki coffee shop that caters to ghouls (coffee being the
only human food they can stomach, because it is rich and delicious).
Shu
Tsukiyama is exactly the kind of ghoul they prefer not to serve. Viewers first
meet him in the bloody prologue. Kaneki’s co-worker Toka Kirishima, a petulant
high school student and lethal projectile-wielding ghoul, boots him out on his
ear, but not before he gets a whiff of Kaneki. Convinced the human-hybrid will
be a rare delicacy, Tsukiyama lays plans to ensnare and feast on him, starting
with a charm offensive.
The
first live-action Tokyo Ghoul was a lot like the X-Men, but with ghouls
not-so secretly living among humans in place of mutants. However, “S” more
fully lives up to the horror implications of ghouls eating people. Tsukiyama is
a classic horror movie villain, played with scenery-chewing relish by Shota
Matsuda. In contrast, one of Kaneki main adversaries from the first film
returns in a sickly and more empathetic state this time around.
Masataka
Kubota still plays Kaneki like a wide-eyed and largely freaked-out sad sack,
but he laos nicely conveys signs the character is starting to mature and grow
into his new life. Maika Yamamoto shows off all kinds of action chops as the
hard-charging Kirishima. However, it is Shunya Shiraishi and Mai Kiryu who
really give the film heart in their poignant scenes as the formerly sinister
ghoul Nishiki Nishio and his human lover, Kimi Nishino. As a bonus for Japanese
pop-culture junkies, Canadian-Japanese model Maggie appears in the prologue as
the bi-racial model, “Margaret.”
The
special effects, gory make-up, and whirling-and-swirling action direction are
all first-rate. The main characters are wearing well too, which is fortunate,
since the mid-credits stinger clearly implies there is more to come. S also
draws delves more deeply iinto the particularities of its ghoul world. That
should help differentiate it from other manga-to-film franchises, like Ajin: Demi-Human, which largely paralleled the first Toyko Ghoul throughout
its opening installment. Recommended for fans of the manga series and dark
fantastical action in general, Tokyo Ghoul S screens tomorrow (9/16),
Wednesday (9/18), and Friday (9/20), in theaters across the country, including
the Village East in New York (where it will actually screen 9/16, 9/18, and 9/19).