It took a couple days more than I expected since I was busy and distracted by Chen Gong memes , but I finally finished Ishida’s review which is essentially him rambling about his favourite parts about the Tokyo Ghoul S movie lol.

The other thing of note is that we finally know the kanji for Sui? 帥 which means ‘commander’, but who knows if it was like that originally or if Ishida added it after the fact.

The original can be read here. If you find any mistakes please let me know!

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“Have you seen Matsuda Shouta’s portrayal of Tsukiyama Shuu?”

The other day I was finally able to go see the movie “Tokyo Ghoul S”.



Since posts on Twitter have to be 140 characters or less, I’ve been struggling to cut down the number of characters each time and fit together the necessary information like a puzzle, but to put it bluntly it’s a pain in the ass.

So this time, I’d like to share my written thoughts…or should I say endorsement of the movie via this new web service.

I apologize for making you read my poor writing.

Oh, just as a precaution, I’ll be touching a bit on the contents of the movie, so if you want to avoid spoilers, I’d advise you not to read any further.

Also, although there were lots of little details that I liked, I’d like to focus on Tsukiyama Shuu played by Matsuda Shouta.

(Please don’t get me wrong, all the other cast members were amazing. It’s just what I want to talk about in particular…)

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Matsuda Shouta’s portrayal of Tsukiyama was the best

① His waking up scene was the best

It took place early in the movie, but it’s the scene where Tsukiyama is selecting his outfit for the day. I loved that scene.

It’s when the recently awakened Tsukiyama heads for his bureau, calmly yet seriously deliberating over what he should wear for the day.

Going like, “(What about this colour…no, this won’t do. How about this fabric? Good, now then a handkerchief to match…)”

The audience may think, “Whatever, it doesn’t matter…!”, but this is something extremely important to Tsukiyama.

His passion of aesthetics came across perfectly in this scene.

At this point in the movie, I was already moved by how Matsuda-san was playing the role of Tsukiyama.

② Tsukiyama whenever he was with Kaneki was the best

He was hilarious (delightful) from their first encounter.

The scenes of when they first come in contact, when Tsukiyama visits Kaneki’s university and invites Kaneki to the cafe, and the scene at the cafe itself were very interesting.

Particularly when Tsukiyama was waiting at the cafe with his handkerchief.

And what he did with the handkerchief afterwards. I was having a blast the entire time.

(When Tsukiyama said, “I’m going to wash my handkerchief,” and headed for the bathroom, warning his reflection in the mirror to be flat*)

[T/N: Assuming ‘flat’ means some form of ‘calmato’.]

③ Tsukiyama was strong

It’s a given that he’d be strong. He didn’t take any damage at all.

The battle scene during the climax was beyond amazing.

In the scene where Tsukiyama was single-handedly tormenting the two people, and even after he released his kagune he was suuper strong.

(Ah, Tsukiyama was so cool…)

Is what crossed my mind.

The fight itself was interesting, but his actions outside of it were also fully enthralling.

(I really liked when he “set the table”…)

④ Conclusion

Tsukiyama fans should absolutely go see the movie.

That’s what I want to share.

Live action adaptations of manga are prone to character exaggeration and will occasionally remind you that it’s fiction, but Matsuda Shouta was able to reconstruct Tsukiyama’s rich character with a dose of reality, which makes me think he truly is a rare breed of actor.

I thought that this Tsukiyama can be enjoyed as a character in his own right, even to those who have yet to read the original work.

I was so moved by this character, that if I had the chance to speak to someone who’s being made to read the manga, I’d want to ask, “Have you seen Matsuda Shouta’s portrayal of Tsukiyama Shuu?”

He went beyond my expectations.

Starting from the bottom left going clockwise:

Bottom left:

Tokyo Ghoul S Movie Personal Highlights by Ishida Sui

Top left:

Shuu-sama choosing his outfit for the day

Looking serious

Top right:

Mask of the moon’s surface. If you look closely you can see it’s transparent. Good since it’s kinky.

Every gesture of his has class to it. His hand attached here looks very elegant.

Bottom right:

So strong!

Holding his handkerchief

Tsukiyama: Don’t worry about it…

(Kaneki): I’m sorry.

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Other things I liked

① Kaneki’s reactions

Kubota-kun as Kaneki was amazing as always.

About Kaneki’s development in the movie, there were many instances where he was still quite passive, but every little detail in his reactions I saw was amazing.

That is to say, no exaggerated movements or shouts at all, but within his subtle movements and expressions implying the anxiety in his heart or suspicion that doesn’t reveal itself in his face, it made me think that that man is a genius…



(1)

When Tsukiyama went to the university and called out to Kaneki, and Kaneki goes, “…huh?” in confusion.

His confusion was as if a middle-aged man you’ve never met sitting next to you suddenly speaks to you.

(2)

When Kaneki is carrying the injured Nishiki to his room, Kimi appears at the front door.

Kimi embraced Nishiki in his beaten-up state without thinking.

During that time, Kaneki couldn’t let go of his shoulder he lent to Nishiki, and as a result, when the three of them ended up in a scrum-like position, it somehow felt like he was trying to make himself inconspicuous.

…those were some examples of the little details I enjoyed a lot.

② Kaneki was strong

There were enticing parts that looked like they came straight from a kung-fu movie, with confrontations that went, “undergo intensive training → see results of intensive training → fight strong enemy”, and there were also parts where the battles were simple yet interesting.

Whenever I see cool action scenes, I get excited.

I heard from Avu-chan who’d already watched the private showing, that, “He was flying like, fwoosh!”, which made me a bit worried because, “He was flying like, fwoosh…!?”

But (I didn’t go to the private showing, so I didn’t see anything from the movie until after it was completed), although there definitely was a part where he flew like fwoosh, I wasn’t the least bit concerned.

I was surprised it was so cool.

③ Yamamoto Maika’s portrayal of Touka

In the previous movie, how should I word it, Sen-chan* portrayed manga Touka perfectly.

It felt as if I dived straight into the manga and was looking right at Touka herself.

Her acting was divine, and I liked it a lot.

[T/N: Touka’s first actress, Shimizu Fumika, who changed her name to Sengen Yoshiko under Happy Science.]

For the recent movie, I went to go see it nervously wondering how Yamamoto Maika’s version of Touka would feel like.

Yamamoto-san’s Touka was powerful. I mean that in a good way.

First of all, how high she can raise her body trained through karate.

Her blows and strikes fit well in the action scenes, and they were physically strong.

She had an impressive battling style in both the “intensive training” scene and the “vs. Tsukiyama” scene, and if I were to pick a fight with her, I can easily imagine that it’d be one-sided and I’d get utterly thrashed.

And more than anything, the power of her presence.

I think it’d be quite hard to stand out between Kubota-kun’s Kaneki and Matsuda-san’s Tsukiyama.

However, she became a character that stood out in her own right even standing with them, and character-wise I felt her assert her dominance.

This is just how I personally felt, but to me it seemed as if Yamamoto Maika was angry against the world.

That aura fit Touka well, and it looked great.

As an aside, when I saw an interview with Yamamoto Maika the other day, she said, “I haven’t read the original work because I don’t know how to read manga,” and I was very impressed by that.

④ I like the music

Rather than the grand majestic melody like last time, this time it was a tad mellow, yet distorted melody interwoven into the taste.

That was my favourite feel in the entire movie.

The scene at the beginning especially caught my eye.

I was drawn into the movie’s world by experiencing the gorgeous Tokyo and the sense of loneliness you feel there.

It fitted well with the atmosphere of both the movie and the manga.

⑤ The Helter Skelter duo was alluring

Uta was played by Bandou Minosuke, and Itori by Jiyoung.

It was fun seeing the charm and allure of those 2 people who make up Helter Skelter.

Jiyoung-san, who made her entrance in this new movie, was a stunning visual who was originally a member of KARA. It might be because she’s from Korea, but although she looks close to Japanese, there’s a subtle air around her that suggests that she isn’t.

She was gorgeous in a sultry beauty kind of way.

Things I was concerned about

It’s inevitable as an adaptation, but I felt like there were a couple scenes that were a bit difficult to understand if you hadn’t read the manga.

Certain words or characters, for example.

However, I think it was addressed during the script-writing stage so that they’d be explained throughout the movie (thank you Mikasano Chuuji*…)

[T/N: Also the scriptwriter for the anime.]

Additionally, Kaneki, Touka and Tsukiyama were very compelling characters, so I thought it’d be a fun movie to enjoy.

My reactions ended up being late, but I’d be happy if more people go to watch it starting from even now.

Thank you to the directors Kawasaki Takuya and Hiramaki Kazuhiko, the producer Nagae-kun, and everyone who was involved in the making of this movie.

I don’t often go see the same movie in theatres, but I’m thinking of going to see it again.