by: Hanis Sophia
A “ghoul” was originally an Arabic folklore creature who feasted on the flesh of the living or the dead, depending on the storey.If Kentaro Hagiwara's spine-chilling "Tokyo Ghoul" is any indicator, the corpse-munching version grew more popular in the West but not in Japan.
“Tokyo Ghoul,” based on a manga by Sui Ishida, takes place in an alternate modern-day Japan where people cohabit uncomfortably with ghouls that appear and act like their human hosts but only devour human flesh. Ghouls live in the shadows with their own kind, which they recognise by different markings such as tentacle-like organs called kagune that erupt from their backs when they are awakened to eat or fight.
After a terrifying near-death experience, Ken Kaneki (Masataka Kubota), a weak college guy, transforms into a half-ghoul. Ken tries to gain acceptance in the ghoul underworld, which is sceptical of his human side, while keeping his ghoul side concealed from his best friend Hide (Kai Ogasawara).
Meanwhile, he agonises about his dual identities, starting with his insatiable need for flesh.
This may make “Tokyo Ghoul” sound like a rip-off of Takashi Yamazaki's 2014 SF/fantasy two-parter “Parasyte,” which also featured a trapped-between-two-worlds hero, a dystopian Japan, and tentacles.
However, first-time filmmaker Hagiwara avoids the awful excess of the “Parasyte” flicks (especially the melodramatic second part), keeping the action crisp and the suspense strong.
Moreover, “Tokyo Ghoul” accurately follows the contours of the manga's plot while portraying its characters, both ghoul and human, in sympathetic shades of grey. Given the numerous images of ghouls voraciously chewing body parts as their owners scream and writhe, this understanding attitude may appear unusual, but the film portrays the ghouls' food choices as a sad fate rather than twisted fetish.
The unhappy Ken evokes a strange combination of fear and sympathy as he tries and fails to push regular food down his throat: it's as if he's spitting his humanity on the kitchen floor. He's not your typical movie ghoul, and his pain may be difficult to see.
“Tokyo Ghoul” delivers up exciting confrontations between Ken and his fellow ghouls and their human opponents for action lovers with robust constitutions. Toka Kirishima (Fumika Shimizu), a fiery-eyed high school girl who works with Ken at a ghoul café and becomes his kick-ass martial arts coach, is one of the former.
Among the latter are the silver-haired Mado (Yo Oizumi) and the tall Amon (Nobuyuki Suzuki), two anti-ghoul cops. They chase their prey relentlessly, armed with strange weapons. Although the outcomes are seldom in question, I was shocked to find myself rooting for the ghouls rather than humanity's grim-faced defenders.
With its copious use of creepy-looking CG, “Tokyo Ghoul” clearly hopes to entice local audiences away from Hollywood effects extravaganzas, yet its core message is anything but dazzling.
“Beyond a certain frequency, need knows absolutely no limit or control,” William S. Burroughs famously said.‘Wouldn't you?' says someone in desperate need. 'You would,' I'm sure.
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