I remember trying to watch Gannibal when it first came out in 2022, and not being able to finish it because I was so scared! I would look out the window and “see” “the man” staring at me with his empty eyes and crooked teeth inside his wide mouth! Yup. I have a pretty wild imagination. I ended up only finishing until the third episode.
Things have a way of coming back to you, years later, I was offered to watch the first four episodes of the second season of Gannibal, and I said ‘yes’ even though I’m a big scaredy cat. Yes, I can be a masochist at times.
So I caught up with the first season, I continued watching after episode three and well, I was hooked and jumping into the second season was something I eagerly went in head first. I was completely hooked, despite being extremely troubled and traumatized by a number of scenes in the series. It is after all a folk horror series and the Japanese are known to bring next level horror and Gannibal has that-and more!
Gannibal is based on the horror manga of the same name which was written and illustrated by Masaaki Ninomiya. The series stars Yuya Yagira, Riho Yoshioka and Show Kasamatsu and follows police officer Daigo Agawa (Yuya Yagira) who is assigned to the remote village Kuge, he moves in with his family, wife Yuki (Yoshioka Riko) and daughter Mashiro (Shimizu Kokonoe).
The police officer assigned to the village before Agawa mysteriously disappeared. As Agawa starts to investigate, he slowly unravels the strange customs and practices in the Kuge village, and right smack in the middle of it all-the mysterious Goto family.
Keisuke Goto (Kasamatsu Sho, my husband Paul pointed out that he also plays Sato in ‘Tokyo Vice’) is the upcoming head of the Goto family, after the violent death of its’ matriarch Gin Goto (Baisho Mitsuko). With the many mysterious happenings in the village, can Daisuke trust Keisuke? And with Daigo’s own dark past lingering behind him, is he capable of taking on the unspeakable evil lurking in the village?
There are many rumors about the Goto family, but the one that keeps coming up is that they are cannibals and could they have something to do with the curious amount of “still births” happening?
The opening sequence of the second season made me think that it was a big budget action movie. Yes, aside from the eerie, and nightmarish images, Gannibal also has a lot of impressive action sequences. And the second season being the last (the story really just ends here, it’s not the type of series for the plot to be dragged, and that’s something that I appreciate) they went all out and really delivered an action packed, and really violent second season.
There are two things about the series that have scarred me. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just leave it at that, once you’re updated with the series, send me a message so we can talk about it.
The series is definitely not for the squirmish, the weak of heart and the folks with sensitive stomachs. I am a big coward myself and spent weeks deeply disturbed about the series but it is a good story, told well, probably too well, and yes, despite the trauma I’m hooked and can’t wait to see how it all unfolds in the end!