One of the latest international series airing on Hulu is Gannibal, a Japanese television series that is an adaptation of the completed 13 volume manga series of the same name. For anyone that’s a fan of international cinema, the lead actor will be an immediate draw. He is Yuya Yagira, the youngest winner of the Best Actor award in the history of the Cannes Film Festival for his starring role in 2004’s Nobody Knows when he was only 12-years-old. In this series, he plays Daigo Agawa, the new policeman in a rural village whose traditions and practices seem foreign to the officer and his wife and daughter as they move from the city.
From the very beginning, the series does not shy away its core conflict – a policeman’s accusation that the most powerful family in the village practices cannibalism. By the time the audience meets the Agawa family less than five minutes into the first episode, the audience already knows more than the new police officer, especially when it comes to the fact that this seemingly peaceful small village harbors dark secrets. And this unique setup somehow really allows the series to place viewers right there in officer Daigo’s position as he follows his gut and seeks to find these hidden truths, even as he faces danger and conflict along the way.
The twists and turns of Gannibal make this cannibal plotline all the more memorable as just as when you think you know who you can trust and who you can’t, the new developments force you to reconsider what you know and what you understand.
Yuya Yagira excels in his role of Daigo Agawa, balancing both the hotheaded police officer with an appetite for violence and the caring family man who came to the countryside for his daughter’s sake. Shô Kasamatsu plays the new head of the Goto family, Keisuke, who takes over shortly after Daigo’s arrival as his grandmother, the former head, is found killed by a wild bear.
The cinematography and overall visual identity of the series captures the peaceful and serene atmosphere of this village, which adds to the shocking contrast of the story’s more unsettling factors. The series doesn’t dive straight into gore and guts in a horror film manner, but finds ways to naturally incorporate scenes with shock value that add to a scene’s intensity, especially in feeling the emotions of the characters on screen.All seven episodes of Gannibal are out now on Hulu. Stay tuned for more updates, hopefully related to additional episodes for the series.
