Common Name: Inuyashiki
Alternative Names: Inuyashiki: Last Hero
Score: 9/10, 4/5
Length: 11 Episodes
Genre: Action, Drama, Sci-fi, Psychological
Summary: Inuyashiki Ichirou, is a man life has dealt a rough hand. He works a dead end, office job that doesn't pay very well. He's lost the love of his family because of his meek personality and a genetic disorder that has caused him to look like an old man, even though he's only 58. When the final nail in the coffin is thrown at him, diagnosed with stomach cancer, he resigns himself to death. Yet it is at that moment that everything changes. During a walk through the park, both he and a young boy are killed in an extra-dimensional hit-and-run but are reborn as humanoid weapons platforms. Now Inuyashiki Ichirou is not only cured of his cancer but he now possesses the power to save those around him. While he is inclined to protect humanity through numerous miracles, though, there are rumors of a serial killer loose in the city. With the police unable to catch or kill this menace, it seems like humanity's only hope lies in the hands of its greatest hero, Inuyashiki.
Review: Oooooh, where do I even begin with this show. Despite being held hostage by Amazon's Anime Strike paywall, Inuyashiki is a show that has already gotten a lot of attention in the community, and for good reason. Written by the same mangaka (manga author) who created Gantz, Oku Hiroya, Inuyashiki exists as a kind of spiritual sequel, response, and outright better to anything and everything that had to do with Gantz. In some cases, the author goes out of his way bash on both his previous work and people who tore it apart over the course of the show. So, in a kind of twisted way, this show is every bit a story that has so much to say that it'd be criminal to ignore as it is Oku Hiroya's own Divine Comedy. Yet it never really falls into the territory of coming across as petty. It's not so much as an anger-induced rant as it is a solid criticism of himself, humanity, and the state of our society. It finds a way to strike a very real and personal balance between optimism and nihilism that everyone has to deal with out in the real world. Particularly in this moment in history though, Inuyashiki's story of hope and despair is one that needs to be told--not as a criticism but as a very personal reminder that there is still some good in humanity--no matter how bad things get.
Believe it or not, at the end of the day, this action-packed social critique
(a weird combination, I know) this show is ultimately a love story.
Before that fact can be wholly realized, though, we have to get through some really dark and deep stuff--a truth that is made pretty clear in the first few minutes of the show. As we are introduced to the "hero" of the show, Inuyashiki-san, we a solid impression of how cruel and unfeeling the world can be. In spite of all this suffering and efforts to please his family, Inuyashiki-san's life is functionally loveless. So much so that he is basically a stranger in his own home; he is a phantom that everyone else just lives around. Of course, his situation isn't helped any by his nature as a kind and generous soul and a pacifist who would rather live with his suffering than inflict it on those around him. Before the show really kicks off, the only time we see Inuyashiki-san act in his own self-interest is immediately after he receives the diagnosis that he has stomach cancer and only a few months left. Acting both within his ken and acting without any consideration for those around him, Inuyashiki-san finds an abandoned shiba inu, takes it home, and names her Hanako. While this act of desperation is entirely selfish, since he's functionally burdening his family with a dog they never asked for and will likely care for when he eventually passes away, Hanako openly offers him something he hasn't had for a very long time, unconditional love.
Thankfully, this isn't actually the end for Inuyashiki-san.
After all, we're only halfway through the first episode.
In one of the strangest developments I've seen in a show yet, and one that never really gets addressed afterward, Inuyashiki-san's life simultaneously ends and is saved. Fleeing some coming calamity, the lives of Inuyashiki-san and a young man, who we will talk more of later, are taken but reborn again at the hands of some kind of extra-dimensional beings. Lacking the tools to properly restore them though, these beings make the rash decision to restore the two using their weapons platforms. From this simple, irresponsible means of making amends, Inuyashiki-san is reborn, yet he is still not entirely himself. While he is free of the curses of aging and any bodily woes, he has been transformed into a machine that might only look like him and share his memories. Unable to eat like a normal person, sturdy as a tank, and armed to the teeth with weaponry he doesn't know how to use or control, it goes without saying all of this is a bit of a shock to the old man. When he finds himself thrust into a position where no one other than him can save the life of another person, he realizes that this transformation might actually be a blessing in disguise. While he might be a living weapon, that doesn't mean he needs to kill. A gun is just as capable of deterring a threat as it is at being a threat. Given enough power, an electric shock can either electrocute someone or it can be used as a defibrillator (though I would advise against that in most cases). The only real difference between a laser that kills and one that assists in therapy is the wavelength, focus, and power used. Discovering these kinds of "good" uses for his new-found powers, Inuyashiki is transformed once more. Rather than being an old man without a place in the world or any understanding why he's still alive, he grows into something of a messianic figure who finds a purpose in his ability to save those who were previously lost to the world. At least with this purpose, he has a reason to go on in spite of the ever-present dread that he might not actually be Inuyashiki Ichirou anymore.
Never assume that his kindness and desire do good means he's wholly harmless though.
At the end of the day, he is still a dangerous weapon, much like his counterpart.
To state this as bluntly as I can, I highly recommend just watching Inuyashiki before reading any further. There really isn't a good way for me to discuss this further without spoiling most of the big events in the show. It's just a point of fact that most of the drama and points of discussion in this show are hinged entirely on its two main characters. Going into the details of Inuyashiki-san's opposite will basically give everything away since he is functionally the supervillain to the superhero that is Inuyashiki-san. So, again, I recommend just watching it now. Come back when you've experienced the glory that is this show because boy do I have a lot to talk about from this point on.
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OK, but it's your loss. Half of the fun of this show is the impact of it all.
Well then, let's get on with the show!
So, just as some light starts to leak into this show, we are thrust back into the black pitch as we are introduced to the character I've refrained from naming up until this point--Shishigami Hiro--a character whose name is as punny as it is downright terrifying. Where Inuyashiki-san is the veritable messiah of this world, Shishigami is the devil who undermines the old man at every turn--consciously or not. Characterized primarily as a sociopath, it is understood from the very start of his story that Shishigami feels no love, connection, or need to respect his fellow man. No one matters to him except those that he categorizes as a friend or loved one--in other words, people who are willing to care about him beyond simple courtesy. Unfortunately, that categorization extends only toward his family and his best friend, Andou Naoyuki. So, upon receiving his newfound life as a living weapon, he decides to determine what he can really do. Rather than helping others, like Inuyashiki, he turns his weapons into a means to commit murders that can't be linked to him by any reasonable evidence. Like a child, he just does, and wants to do, whatever he can simply because he can. In his mind, the consequences that come afterward are just an attack on him, rather than a response to his wrongdoings, since he doesn't see his action as wrong. He's just having fun at the expense of those who don't mean jack shit to him. Yet it isn't necessarily Shishigami himself or his deplorable actions that make him so terrifying and unsettling. It's the knowledge that we all know someone who is like Shishigami. His selfish and childish actions, made reasonable by his clear detachment from the social world, are just as much part of human nature as the altruism found in Inuyashiki.
He's terrifying specifically because we all know someone who is like him--even if that someone is,
in fact, yourself or at least some darker corner of your mind--that thing Freud called the Id.
Yet, at the same time, it is worth mentioning that Shishigami isn't entirely without empathy or attachment to this world. He may be an irredeemable monster but he does actually care about some people. In these people, he finds both comfort and a purpose because they are willing to listen to him and give him their undivided attention. They are his means of validating the fact that he isn't actually disconnected from this world--they validate the idea that people do care about him. So, like a child who will do anything for their parents' love, he will do anything to reinforce their connection to him. While their wants and needs might not necessarily be his own, he still needs and selfishly acts in their interest so he can gain more of their love and attention. This economic exchange of favors for love and attention then allows him to also function and exist as something resembling a human being.
Whether or not Hiro is actually human or capable of redemption, in spite of his crimes,
is one of the bigger points of discussions with this show.
It is worth noting, however, that humanity is very capable of doing both great and terrible things for the sake of receiving or maintaining one's love. Even when Hiro finds a reason to stop his senseless killings, due to the rationale of those he "loves," that doesn't mean he's free of his crimes or less inclined to commit more. While he might receive the directive not to kill anymore, that doesn't mean he's been told not to commit a number of other crimes--particularly ones that are more likely to be traced back to him. All he knows is that killing makes the person he cares about unhappy, but what it also does is put a target on his back. Society, as it exists, demands a certain amount of law and order, which means that people like Hiro simply can't be allowed to walk around freely. So upon committing a crime that can be traced back to him, it makes sense that that society would come for him and those he cares about in the interest of protecting society. As I said before, though, these consequences are seen as nothing more than attacks on himself in Shishigami's mind--all that more so when those attacks lead to his loved ones getting harmed. So, what choice is left to this unkillable machine than to start killing again? After all, if he kills the society that would hunt down him and those he loves, there won't be a problem anymore. Yet it is this brand of unapologetic, monstrous logic that eventually leaves Shishigami utterly alone. No reasonable human being capable of the empathy he seeks would be able to tolerate that kind of mass murder. So, just like that, his worst fears are realized; he is entirely cut off from the world and left with nothing but feelings of impotent yearning and betrayal. Care to take a guess what a man like that would do in that situation?
I'll give you a hint: nothing good.
And so we eventually hit the climax where these two titans, the two halves of the coin that is human nature, are left no choice but to clash, regardless of how different or similar they are. What's interesting to consider though is whether or not this eventuality was really ever their choice. While the show infers a lack of agency by claiming that both of our MC's only feel human save or kill people accordingly, I don't think that's entirely accurate. It'd be more accurate to analyze their actions in relation to their own personalities were shaped by the society. Where Inuyashiki-san acts selfish for the benefit of others, it is still born out of the desire to offer him some deep and personal satisfaction. Yet he cannot even imagine gaining something out of harming others because was born to a generation that detested violence, following the events of the World Wars. While he might be just as physically capable of harming another person, his society led him to find personal pleasure in the selfishness of altruism rather than personal gains. On the other hand, it can be noticed that Shishigami's generation is vastly different in that respect. Prone to growing jaded, cynical, and antagonistic without suffering any consequences thanks to the internet, it can be noted throughout the series that the young act entirely in their own interest, regardless of how it might affect those around them.
To be clear though, I'm not saying that everyone in either generation necessarily acts in accordance with that particular mentality. Rather, it's more like both Inuyashiki and Shishigami are merely the exemplars of their generations. Inuyashiki-san is a pacifist to a fault, driven by a need to function in concert with those around him who only feels despair when that connection is lost. Similarly, Hiro is equally defined by how detached he is from his fellow man, a feeling far more prevalent and reasonable than it was in Inuyashiki-san's youth. Yet, since Hiro is already so disconnected, he is left with nothing but a hopeless desperation to fill that gaping hole (that loss of humanity) with anything and everything that might make him happy. This key difference, I think, is functionally what separates these two in spite of their similarities, forcing them to come to blows. Yet it is strange how, when both are forced to face a threat neither of them can handle, they still act the same in spite of their differences. No matter how disconnected or jaded he gets, Hiro still feels the need to protect those he loves even if they cannot love him anymore. And even when all hope is lost, Inuyashiki-san still ends up valuing the lives of others over all else. While these answers might come from different perspectives, different motivations, and different people they all lead to the same conclusion: that there will always be some good in humanity.
Following that thread though, it also solidly affirms the fact that, despite appearances,
our hero and villain alike are still very human.
I suppose I should state for the record, before I close out this review, that Inuyashiki is far from being a perfect show. While I love it to pieces, it is also a deeply flawed narrative full of plot holes and half-baked ideas. To be fair though, that isn't totally this show's fault. That blame lies solely with the fact that the original manga was forced to end early. Because of that decision, we lost a lot of valuable time that could have spent developing Hiro's character a little more as well as moments necessary to explain many of Inuyashiki-san's actions or lack thereof. Most of these issues can be explained away with enough effort and thought but they are still a burden on what is otherwise a fascinating and emotional story. In much the same way, the CG in this show also drags it down at some of the more critical moments, likely due to a lack of time and funds to work with. On average though, this show has a great deal to say and offer its audience and does so in a fairly convincing way. So, in case you're one of those people who read through this in spite of the spoilers, I'd say go watch this show. If you want to watch something similar though, there is always Gantz or, my personal favorite in recent memory Seikaisuru Kado.