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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Tokyo Ghoul (Blu-ray) (2017)

Tokyo Ghoul (Blu-ray) (2017)

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Released 6-Jun-2018

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Horror Interviews-Cast & Crew-Director, producer and star at Anime Expo 2017 (7:08)
Theatrical Trailer
Trailer-x 6 for other films
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2017
Running Time 121:39 (Case: 120)
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Ads Then Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Kentaro Hagiwara
Studio
Distributor
Shochiku
Madman Entertainment
Starring Masataka Kubota
Fumika Shimizu
Kunio Murai
Hiyori Sakurada
Yo Oizumi
Nobuyuki Suzuki
Yu Aoi
Shuntaro Yanagi
Shoko Aida
Case Standard Blu-ray
RPI ? Music Don Deivisu


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English (Burned In) Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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Plot Synopsis

     Tokyo Ghoul initially appeared in 2011 in a manga written by Sui Ishoda before expanding into additional series’, light novels, anime, which is up to three seasons, a video game and now a live action film.

     Ghouls live among humans and are indistinguishable from humans. They are stronger than humans and each has a distinct “kagune”, a special membrane organ they can produce from their backs and use in combat. Ghouls cannot stomach any kind of human food; instead the only food they can eat is people. Thus they are feared and hated and a special bureau, the CCG (Commission of Counter Ghoul), has been set up to hunt and kill ghouls.

    Ken Kaneki (Masataka Kubota) is a shy, nerdy first year university student who seems to have found a kindred spirit in the attractive and bookish Rize (Yu Aoi). She agrees to a date with Kaneki but walking back in the dark she reveals herself as a ghoul and attacks him. Kaneki is badly injured but survives when Rize is killed in a freak accident. To save Kaneki’s life in hospital some of Rize’s organs are used as transplants. As a result, Kaneki becomes the first part human, part ghoul, which he only realises when he throws up violently after eating normal food.

     Starving, but repulsed with the idea of eating human flesh, Kaneki comes across Touka (Fumika Shimizu), another ghoul, and through her Yoshimura (Kunio Murai) who runs Anteiku, a café that is a safe haven for ghouls, where Kaneki comes into contact with Yomo (Shuntaro Yanagi), young girl Hinami (Hiyori Sakurada) and her mother Ryoko (Shoko Aida) who are hiding in the café after her father was killed by the CCG. Indeed, CCG officers Mado (Yo Oizumi) and Amon (Nobuyuki Suzuki) are closing in on Hinami and her mother; the decision for the ghouls, and especially Kaneki, is whether to fight back against CCG.

     Tokyo Ghoul is an intriguing, morally ambiguous story. The main question is: who are the real monsters in this world? The ghouls are not unthinking, ravenous monsters, but a species that has to eat humans to survive and as Kaneki finds himself caught in that world the story generates a lot of sympathy for characters such as Yoshimura and especially Hinami; indeed the most bloodthirsty and obsessed character in the film is the human Mado, a quite striking creation by Yo Oizumi with his singlemindedness and stock of unkempt white hair. And while the film does include some impressive action sequences, the main focus is on the distress and anguish of Kaneki as he asks the question ‘what am I?” and tries to come to terms with a condition that is not of his doing. Masataka Kubota is excellent, displaying all the confusion, disgust, sadness and resolution of Kaneki’s character arc while the abovementioned Yo Oizumi and Fumika Shimizu, as Touka, the spirited female ghoul originally hostile to Kaneki, and Shun’ya Shiraishi as the “four-eyes” ghoul Nishiki Nishio also make an impact.

     Tokyo Ghoul often has a dark and grungy look, although colours, especially reds, are vibrant. A number of scenes feature diffused, glary lighting from sources beyond the characters which seems a deliberate choice. This is not a big budget Hollywood film; most of the CGI effects, such as the kagumes that are tentacles are acceptable while Ryoko’s “wings” do look spectacular. Less successful are the instances where CGI ghouls are flung around the screen, but mostly the CGI works. The film is also quite violent and gory, justifying its MA rating.

     I have not read the Tokyo Ghoul manga or, indeed, watched the anime so I came to this live action film cold but the environment and the world is introduced succinctly by the film so it was fairly easy to work out what is happening although it does take a bit to sort out some of the subsidiary characters. From reviews I have read it seems that the film is a fairly faithful adaptation of the first three volumes of the manga so that fans of the Tokyo Ghoul world are not displeased with the film.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     Tokyo Ghoul is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     As noted, the film has a dark and grungy look in the dark alleys of Tokyo, while a number of scenes feature glary lighting from sources beyond the characters resulting in a soft texture around the characters and a diffused look. This also affects shadow detail, which can be indistinct although blacks are inky. Colours are generally muted although some, especially the reds of the blood or the red lights of Uta’s mask workshop, are vibrant. Skin tones are fine and brightness and contrast consistent.

     I did not notice any artefacts or marks.

     White English subtitles are burnt in when the Japanese language audio track is selected.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio options are English and Japanese Dolby TrueHD, both 5.1. The audio cannot be changed with the remote while the film plays, you must go to the menu.

     This Blu-ray of Tokyo Ghoul: The Movie is the same as the US version released by Funimation, which also releases the Tokyo Ghoul anime in the US. As the US and Japanese audio has the same specification I listened to the original Japanese track and sampled the English. The English dub for the movie uses the same voice actors as the anime including Austin Tindle, Brina Palencia, Mike McFarland and Kenny Green. I don’t think matches the intensity of the Japanese cast but those who have watched the anime will know what to expect from the English language cast.

     Dialogue is clear enough although in the Japanese track I found that compared to the effects it was recorded at such a low level that I had to turn up the volume to hear it clearly. The English dub does not have the same issue. Effects were frequent in the surrounds and rears during the battles with the swish of tentacles, the crash of bodies and furniture although the most effective sounds were the queasy squelch of blood as the ghouls feed. The subwoofer added depth to the music, impacts and crashes.

     The score is credited to Don Deivisu, a Japanese spelling of the American Don Davis, composer of the score for The Matrix trilogy. The music works well with the visuals.

     There are some minor lip synchronisation issues in the Japanese version. The English dub lip synchronisation is, as might be expected, worse.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Start-up Trailer

     The trailer for Attack on Titan: The Movie Part 1 (1:36) plays on start-up. It cannot be selected from the menu.

Anime Expo 2017: Cast and Crew Discuss Tokyo Ghoul: The Movie (7:08)

     Producer Tomohiro Nagae, director Kentaro Hagiwara and star Masataka Kubota talk (in Japanese, subtitled) about the source comic, their intentions with the film and their philosophy. Minor EPK with lots of film clips.

Original Japanese Trailer (1:02)

Trailers (7:41)

     Trailers for Tokyo Ghoul /A, Black Butler: The Movie, Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins, Rurouni Kenshin Part II: Kyoto Inferno and Rurouni Kenshin Part III: The Legend Ends.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     This Australian release of Tokyo Ghoul: The Movie is the same as the Region A US version including the FBI warning. The Region B UK release does not have the English dub.

Summary

     Tokyo Ghoul seems to be a rare beast; a live action film based on a popular manga and anime series that is accessible to those unfamiliar with the source but one that fans find satisfying. As a newcomer to Tokyo Ghoul I enjoyed it; the film is a mix of interesting themes about humanity, outsiders and belonging with stylist and quite gory action.

     The video and audio are fine. The extras are minor but are the same as are available in the US.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Monday, June 18, 2018
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

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