Character

If you want to read my review of Character, read this post. In キャラクター, Yamashiro Keigo wants to be a horror mangaka. But, he doesn’t have dark imagination. Until, one day, he witnesses a quadruple homicide. The serial killer becomes the protagonist of his stories. Meanwhile, manga-like murders begin to occur in real life.

Yamashiro Keigo (Masaki Suda) is an award-winning manga artist and works as an assistant. He dreams of being serialized. But, he can’t write a good enough horror story. His wife, Natsumi (Mitsuki Takahata), supports him in every way possible.

“You can keep doing this until you’re satisfied.”

Shusuke Seida (Shun Oguri) is a police investigator. He was assigned by the boss to interrogate Keigo, who had just found the four members of the Funakoshi family dead inside their own house.

“Seida has a talent for interrogating people. He’s really good at getting people to let their guard down.”

The best and worst phase of Keigo’s life begins when he lies to the investigators and says he hasn’t seen the serial killer’s face at the crime scene. After that, he decides to create a horror manga where the protagonist has the same face as the murderer he saw. The problem is that now the psychopath is his number one fan.

Character: japanese movie review

With such realistic and terrifying features it stands to reason that the manga would be a hit. Keigo stops being an assistant and fulfills his dream of being a serialized manga artist. He and Natsumi went live in a luxurious apartment and have a very comfortable life.

Keigo depicted the murder he witnessed in the first edition of his manga, called 34. In addition, he incorporated the physical characteristics of the serial killer into the protagonist, Dagger.

“The cold-blooded killer character, Dagger, doesn’t look like me?”

A year later, after some highly successful editions, Seida realized that all the murders written in 34 were being reproduced in real life by the serial killer. He also noted that the psychopath trigger were supposedly happy families of four.

Seida goes to Keigo’s house to show that the stories contained in the manga were being reproduced and people were actually dying. If Keigo knew anything, he needed to help the investigators.

“Isn’t it exactly the same as what you wrote in the manga?”

Keigo was unaware that he and Natsumi, who was now pregnant, were being watched by the serial killer. So he continued lying to investigators.

“I really don’t have anything else to say.”

But after discovering that the murders in the manga were happening in real life, Keigo is faced with a huge moral dilemma. If he worked with the psychopath, the manga would be an endless hit. However, he would have to cover up the crimes of a sadistic killer who destroyed entire families.

Regardless of the decision Keigo made, maybe he didn’t know that people who get lost always have to take a long detour.

Dagger: the serial killer manga

In 34 (Sanjuushi), the protagonist is a detective. He reunites with his former classmates, who work with a criminal historian and psychic.

All three friends are 34 years old, explaining the origin of the manga’s name, and pursue the character called Dagger, a serial killer who targets families of four.

In the world of manga, generally speaking, justice is justice, evil is evil, and in the end, justice always triumphs over evil. This distinction is quite clear. But, in 34, it is a little different from what was idealized. Descriptions of Dagger’s cruelty are quite popular with readers. Thus, evil triumphed over justice.

Character japanese movie: ending explained

I won’t let Character ending explained or a download link here, but I believe that, like me, many of you are intrigued by the theme: psychopaths who become serial killers. No matter how many stories I already know, the patterns are always quite peculiar.

This Japanese film also reminds us that we can never understand other people’s hearts. That’s why society is so scary, with so many bad people living among us unnoticed.

Character trailer

I really feel that you will like this one. So I decided to do this Kyarakuta review. Go ahead, immerse yourself in the story, the environment and the soundtrack.

And come back later to tell me what you think in the comments. This is one of the best Japanese thrillers I’ve ever seen.