Inukami! The Movie: Tokumei Reiteki Sousakan Karina Shirou!

Perverts, giant robots and elephants, oh my!

It can only be Inukami!

Those of you who are familiar with the original series will know that Inukami! never does anything in the normal manner - not even parody. As a fan of the original series I looked forward to the movie and, aside from wishing it was longer (no pun intended), I wasn't disappointed. Inukami! returns with more elephants, mor manservice, more perverts, and more action.

I won't go into the details of the story as this only runs for around 30 minutes, and I don't want to spoil any surprises. Suffice to say that fans of the show ... will find this movie to be a great addition to the joy that is Inukami!, and that running around naked was never more cool or heroic. Whilst the story does have it's problems, it still manages to pack in everything that makes Inukami! "special"

As far as the art and animation go, the movie is on par with the series. The designs, characters, backgrounds, and animation are all very much the same asthey were in the main show. Fans will notice two changes though. The first is the inclusion of CG, especially the 3d elephants, and the second is that there are sometimes two elephants on display, and they're colour coded as well. For those of you who are confused by this statement, watch the movie and you'll understand.

The sound is, again, on par with the main series. Although the movie was released some months after the original show ended, the production quality has been maintained. The actors are just as funny as they were the first time around, the music is just as catchy, and the effects are just as well executed.

The one area where Inukami! excels is in the wealth of characters it has. All the stereotypes are here, and all have that twist that only seems to come with this show. A big plus for the series is the fact that Kawahira Keita is the king (that's right, the king), of ecchi comedy. He isn't a loser, or ugly, or misunderstood. He wears his heart on his sleeve (or he would if he could find some clothes), and is very much a "what you see is what you get" person (quite literally). Where most male leads would balk at hugging another man, Keita is happy to have a naked hug. Where most would try to cover up their voyeurism with excuses, Keita states his intentions with pride. Many folks would consider this to be very juvenile humour, however I find it refreshingly different to have a character who isn't hung up on things past or future, or burdened with various complexes.

In terms of enjoyment, I never stopped laughing from start to finish. I even went back and re-watched the main show afterwards as the movie gave me a hankering for more anime wrongness. The humour is very much in keeping with the series, however the movie tries to push the boundaries oftaste a lot more.

This isn't for everybody sadly. There are some out there who will find the humour childish or offensive. That said, if you're a fan of the original series, or of Gintama, Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu, Seto no Hanayome, or other comedies of that ilk, then Inukami! the movie is one to watch.

Those fateful words "try it, you might like it" were never more true.

This "movie" is really just an extra episode of Inukami that takes place in an unspecified period of the timeline. If this is to be considered just another episode, it would rank up there as one of, if not the best, episode in the series, in the same ballpark as the first 2 episodes. It`s just too bad that the TV series was brought down by its horrendously cheesy story and its religious adherence to harem cliche`s. Thankfully, the movie doesn`t focus much on trying to develop those characters, and opts for one of the more entertaining, but completely overlooked guys, the detective kamiya.

The movie`s ... humor also feels oddly fresh, with a couple of anime reference jokes and the same creatively disturbing sexual humor found in the earlier episodes. It sheds the tired harem jokes where the male lead engages in womanizing before the female lead beats the living daylights out of him.

The TV series` only saving grace was the fact that it had its way of turning melodrama into something rather humorous most of the time. The climax showed no such restraint and went all out with the cheese. If you found that disappointing, this piece of all out humor will be an end note that puts Inukami back in your good graces.

Inukami! The Movie: Tokumei Reiteki Sousakan Karina Shirou! feels more like a regular episode than a standalone movie. With a runtime of around 30 minutes, it maintains the familiar pacing and storytelling style of the series it post-dates. The movie fails to contribute to or expand upon the series' conclusion, rendering it largely inconsequential. Aside from some fanservice, there's little incentive to watch the movie unless you were particularly drawn to the earlier episodes of the series. Inukami! The Movie: Tokumei Reiteki Sousakan Karina Shirou! does not stand on its own, and unless you are a fan of the original series, it's not worth a ... watch.