Big pop-culture franchises generate movie sequels as naturally as chickens lay eggs.
Directed by first-timers Kazuhiko Hiramaki and Takuya Kawasaki, "Tokyo Ghoul 'S'" is a follow-up to "Tokyo Ghoul," a 2017 sci-fi horror film based on Sui Ishida's hit manga about a college boy who becomes, through no fault of his own, part ghoul. That is, he looks and feels human but, to his own immense disgust, craves human flesh.
In "Tokyo Ghoul," the boy, Ken Kaneki (Masataka Kubota), wars with his ghoul side, while associating with 'pure' ghouls that human authorities are hell-bent on exterminating. For all its whizz-bang CG battles, the film had something real to say about not only the shifting boundary between human and nonhuman, but also the power of need. As William S. Burroughs put it, "Beyond a certain frequency need knows absolutely no limit or control. In the words of total need: 'Wouldn't you?' Yes you would." He could have been thinking of poor Kaneki.