Japanese Reviews Reviews

Film Review: Tokyo Ghoul (2017) by Kentaro Hagiwara

As is the tendency in Japanese cinema, particularly during the last decade, another very popular manga/anime is adapted into a live-action movie, in a trend that has produced both great films (20th Century Boys, Helter Skelter, Rurouni Kenshin) and huge blunders (Attack on Titan). Let us see what category does “” falls under.

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The story takes place in a world infested by Ghouls, vampire-like creatures that look like humans but are actually monsters, that feed solely on human flesh. The problems instigated by them are so significant that the police has introduced a special branch that deals exclusively with them, with Kureo Mado and his assistant, Kotaro Amon being the enforcers. This world suddenly collapses upon Ken Kaneki, a university student who finally manages to get a date with Rize Kamishiro, only to find that she is a ghoul. In the extreme series of events that follow, Ken transforms into a hybrid of human and ghoul, with the test on his humanity becoming harder and harder as he is introduced to a secret society of ghouls, headed by Kuzen and including Toka Kirishima, who are nothing like he imagined. As he becomes friends with some of them, the enforcers actually emerge as the true monsters, and Ken is forced to choose sides.

stayed quite close to the first volumes of the manga, apart from the finale that is. In that fashion, the combination of university students and monsters works quite well, in a symbolism that revolves around the search of identity of contemporary youths and the concept of immigrants and their adapting in their new environment, although both are presented in rather extreme fashion, through a combination of gore and action.

The non-action part seems to work quite well, in a trait not so often witnessed in these adaptations, which benefits the most from the acting in the film. has both the performance and the physique to portray a timid young man who transforms into a creature that craves for human flesh but is not willing to act on it. as Toka functions well as the determined enforcer that tries to appear strong and insensitive, despite the fact that she is quite caring. as Kuzen gives a dignified performance that serves the role of the mentor to the fullest, while as Kureo Mado is quite good as the archetype of the chaotic good/evil character, playing his role with an excessiveness fitting the manga aesthetics perfectly.

Regarding the fights, I found the SFX quite convincing, with a very fitting hyperbole, particularly in the flesh-appendages that function as the weapons of the ghouls. The blood looks impressive although the gore is somewhat toned down. The fights seem to have some faults regarding the motion of the characters, and could benefit from a larger budget, but function relatively well in the general setting, with the ones with the police-duo standing out. Satoru Karasawa’s cinematography is quite good, particularly in the dark interiors, as is the case with the set design. Masanori Morikawa’s costumes stay close to the originals, while Yasuyuki Ozeki and Akira Takeda’s editing moves in a fast, Hollywood-like pace with Don Davis’s music heightening this sense even more. This last aspect becomes quite apparent in the training sequence. Overall, the general visual aesthetics implement a style that resembles much the one from “Parasyte”, which I consider a trait.

“Tokyo Ghoul” is a competent adaptation that benefits much from the original material and its acting, and I would love to see how a bigger budget would be implemented in the action scenes of the (bound to come) sequels.

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

Panagiotis (Panos) Kotzathanasis is a film critic and reviewer, specialized in Asian Cinema. He is the owner and administrator of Asian Movie Pulse, one of the biggest portals dealing with Asian cinema. He is a frequent writer in Hancinema, Taste of Cinema, and his texts can be found in a number of other publications including SIRP in Estonia, Film.sk in Slovakia, Asian Dialogue in the UK, Cinefil in Japan and Filmbuff in India.

Since 2019, he cooperates with Thessaloniki Cinematheque in Greece, curating various tributes to Asian cinema. He has participated, with video recordings and text, on a number of Asian movie releases, for Spectrum, Dekanalog and Error 4444. He has taken part as an expert on the Erasmus+ program, “Asian Cinema Education”, on the Asian Cinema Education International Journalism and Film Criticism Course.

Apart from a member of FIPRESCI and the Greek Cinema Critics Association, he is also a member of NETPAC, the Hellenic Film Academy and the Online Film Critics Association.

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