I’m going to preface this review by saying horror is not my thing. If given a choice, horror is probably the last genre I’d watch. But while doom-scrolling for JDramas, Gannibal kept popping up, so I gave it a shot. This folk-horror fever dream from Japan, set in a disturbingly scenic village, is what happens when people don’t mind their own business. Lol. Nooo... a hero cop with a past goes all lone ranger, “I want to stay cuz it’s better for my family here, so don’t F with me!” Over two increasingly intense seasons, Gannibal goes from erie to utterly unhinged and I’m all for it!!!

The writing is a slow burn that turns into a psychological bonfire. You follow Officer Daigo Agawa, played with searing conviction by Yuya Yagira, as he peels back the layers of a village that might be hiding a snack-happy secret. It’s not just the hint of cannibalism by the Goto family, I mean it’s basically an open secret by S1E1, but the writing does a great job making me guess the reason WHY they eat humans. The tangled history, the back-and-forth timelines in S2, and the suffocating small-town dynamics make this story so addictive. Every reveal had me screaming at the TV, “Dude, just pick up your family and leave, man… it’s not worth it!” Stop saying it’s for your family, you ass,  it’s obviously because you want to solve the case for yourself!

The acting still haunts me. Daigo is raw, unglamorous, and human in a way most horror leads never get to be. Keisuke Goto is terrifying and enigmatic, you never quite know how much he knows or how far he’ll go for his bloodline or immediate family. The rest of the Goto family and villagers were disturbingly convincing too. I didn’t pity them. I didn’t care for their life struggles. But dayum they were aggravating! Like, do small-town folk actually think they’re above the law? The constant bullying of law enforcement was a wild (and lowkey satisfying) reversal of reality.

I’ve seen creepy villages before, but Gannibal leans hard into its cultural specificity, especially the hierarchy of the main vs. branch families and the cult-like deep-rooted secrecy of a community living in its own bubble. Sometimes I genuinely wondered if they knew the rest of the world existed. They seemed stuck in the 1800s. There’s this constant “I shouldn’t be watching this at night” energy, mixed with a sick curiosity that had me glued to the screen like a horror-thirsty raccoon.

I squirmed. I gagged. I questioned my dinner choices the next day. But I kept watching. The visuals are often lush and deceptively calm, until they’re not. And when the horror hits, it slaps.

This isn’t your average jump-scare fest. Gannibal builds up and keeps me guessing: WHY ARE THEY LIKE THIS? How are they still like this in this day and age? Are there villages around the world with dark secrets like this???????? And now it lives rent-free in my head. It’s a story about how rot can wear a human face, and how sometimes, the scariest monsters are your neighbors. Having lived in rural Japan for two years, I’m so glad I watched this years after moving away. Because if I’d seen it back then, I might’ve thought twice about moving to rural parts of Japan. I’m definitely staying in my lane now and not asking questions about anyone’s “family business” ever again.