“Tokyo Ghoul” Trailer Review

Ken Kaneki was just looking to take a pretty girl on a date; little did he know that it would end in his transformation into a half-ghoul, and his journey through life as undead and bloodthirsty. With the immense success of the manga and anime series, Tokyo Ghoul is now being produced into a feature-length, live-action film to be released this year!

Tokyo Ghoul tells the story of Ken Kaneki, who gets caught up in the world of ghouls after a disaster date with Rize Kamishiro, a ghoul who attempts to kill him after their date only to be killed in a freak accident. A corrupt doctor transplants some of Rize’s organs into Kaneki, causing him to transform into a half-ghoul, resulting in his need to survive by consuming human flesh. Now Kaneki must survive in both the human world and ghoul society, while learning to control his new powers and fighting monsters.

The film is directed by Kentarō Hagiwara and is produced through HYMP Shochiku studio. The cast consists of Masataka Kubota (Fugainai Boku wa Sora o Mita) as Ken Kaneki, Fumika Shimizu (Kamen Rider franchise) as Tōka Kirishima, Nobuyuki Suzuki (High and Low) as Kōtarō Amon, and Yū Aoi (Hana and Alice) as Rize Kamishiro, among many others.

The trailer for the live action film was released earlier this month, and needless to say I was impressed. The trailer was appropriately made in the sense it draws in viewers without spoiling the film, and thus far looks to be a well-made film. The CGI animation of the kagune (the “predatory organ” that ghouls produce from their back to attack prey, which can resemble a wing, tentacles, claw, or tail) was visually stunning and extremely realistic. The actors are all Japanese, as this is a Japanese film production, and they all seem to be good fits for their roles. However, my main concern is if the film maker’s kept close to the manga’s plot or did they make drastic deviations that ruin the film?

The film is set to release in Japan on July 29, so we may have to wait some time before receiving our answer on the quality of the content of this movie. All we can hope is that the trailer sets the bar for the movie to surpass and show us the world of the ghouls through Ken Kaneki’s eyes.