Tokyo Ghoul S (2019)
Director: Takuya Kawasaki
Starring: Masataka Kubota, Maika Yamamoto, Nobuyuki Suzuki, Shota Matsuda, Kai Ogasawara, Shunya Shiraishi, Mai Kiryu
Following the events of Tokyo Ghoul, Kaneki (Kubota) and Touka (newcomer Yamamoto) continue to train and prepare for the inevitable counterattack from government anti-Ghoul agencies. As Kaneki tries to reconcile his human friendship with Hide (Ogasawara) against the recommendation of Touka, he comes face-to-face with infamous Ghoul Tsukiyama (Matsuda), also known as The Gourmet, who violently kills humans to satisfy his desire for high class human cuisine. With Kaneki, a unique human/Ghoul hybrid, the pair finds themselves directly in the sights of the abnormally obsessed and powerful Gourmet.
After the fairly disappointing and unenergetic first film, I went into this higher budget and slightly recast sequel with some trepidation. Thankfully, this new film improves on almost every shortcoming of the first picture. New director Takuya Kawasaki, infuses energy, visual panache, and some decent action choreography into a series that has me excited for the potential of the franchise. The most noticeable change is the addition of Maika Yamamoto to the role of Touka, replacing Fumika Shimizu from the first film amidst her controversial “temporary retirement” from the entertainment industry.
This is an absolutely welcome change, as the young Yamamoto has much more screen presence and physical ability, and is showcased to good effect in the film; demonstrating solid physicality, like in her turn as the kung fu adept daughter in the Yoshimoto horror comedy Deadman Inferno as well as a track and field star in After the Rain. Yamamoto continues to impress me. Her acting is solid, with a small thread continued from the last film finally finding fruition in this entry.
Kubota, likewise amps up his physical presence with a much stronger and more raw take on Kaneki; his confidence as an actor certainly has increased as Kaneki himself becomes more confident as a Ghoul. A highlight of the last film, Suzuki, actually has less to do this turn, but it is understandable considering the story being told, which brings me to the new addition Matsuda as the gleefully bizarre and fanatical Tsukiyama, a truly animated and demented villain. In this role, Matsuda brings a darkly comic and very entertaining dimension to a typically serious endeavor.
While the film continues the last picture’s flow into action territory, at least here it embraces it and delivers much more hand to hand, physical stunt work, and competently composed CG. With action scenes that are actually well composed and delivered with heft, I was quite happy by this almost complete turnaround in quality from the first picture. A much stronger picture with more world building and better action, Tokyo Ghoul S is everything the first picture should have been.
