Inuyashiki (Inuyashiki: Last Hero)

Ichirou Inuyashiki is a 58-year-old family man who is going through a difficult time in his life. Though his frequent back problems are painful, nothing hurts quite as much as the indifference and distaste that his wife and children have for him. Despite this, Ichirou still manages to find solace in Hanako, an abandoned Shiba Inu that he adopts into his home. However, his life takes a turn for the worse when a follow-up physical examination reveals that Ichirou has stomach cancer and only three months to live; though he tries to be strong, his family's disinterest causes an emotional breakdown. Running off into a nearby field, Ichirou embraces his dog and weeps—until he notices a strange figure standing before him.

Suddenly, a bright light appears and Ichirou is enveloped by smoke and dust. When he comes to, he discovers something is amiss—he has been reborn as a mechanized weapon wearing the skin of his former self. Though initially shocked, the compassionate Ichirou immediately uses his newfound powers to save a life, an act of kindness that fills him with happiness and newfound hope.

However, the origins of these strange powers remain unclear. Who was the mysterious figure at the site of the explosion, and are they as kind as Ichirou when it comes to using this dangerous gift?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Inuyashiki

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Characters & Voice Actors

Inuyashiki, Ichirou

Main

Kohinata, Fumiyo
Japanese

Shishigami, Hiro

Main

Murakami, Nijirou
Japanese

Trump, Donald

Supporting

Fleming, Bill
Japanese

Watanabe, Shion

Supporting

Morohoshi, Sumire
Japanese

Inuyashiki, Mari

Supporting

Uesaka, Sumire
Japanese

Andou, Naoyuki

Supporting

Hongo, Kanata
Japanese

Inoue, Fumino

Supporting

Kanemoto, Hisako
Japanese

Samejima

Supporting

Kuroda, Takaya
Japanese

Shishigami, Yuuko

Supporting

Katou, Yuuko
Japanese

Kawai

Supporting

Reimi
Japanese

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Staff

Ootsuka, Manabu

Producer

Matsumoto, Miho

Producer

Yabuta, Shuuhei

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Satou, Keiichi

Director

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Opening Theme

"My Hero" by MAN WITH A MISSION

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Ending Theme

"Ai wo Oshiete Kureta Kimi e (愛を教えてくれた君へ)" by Qaijff (クアイフ)

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Dec 21, 2017

Stark700

Recommended

July, 2000. A man named Hiroya Oku revealed to the world with his skills through his infamous sci-fi, horror Gantz. The manga ran over 300 chapters and ended in 2013. It was a time when the man really made a name of himself in the manga community. An anime adaptation aired between April and November 2004. That was over a decade ago. Now, the man has made this new work called Inuyashiki, a title that honestly piqued my interest more than I had expected. However, did it really live up to the hype?

To be clear, Inuyashiki has nothing to do with Gantz or in fact ... any way similar. However, it’s clear from day one that the author wanted the viewers to experience something memorable. Through his craft, it is accomplished with our two main guys – titular character Ichiro Inuyashiki and the sociopath Hiro Shishigami. I don’t want to jump the gun here but these two characters are on complete antithesis of each other; like two sides of a coin, ying and yang.

After a certain mysterious incident from the first episode, we find out that Ichiro and Hiro develops mysterious powers that could change mankind forever. This show establishes the two characters from the first two episodes through their actions and personality. Ichiro is portrayed as a timid old man who has a hard time making friends. However, it’s shown that he has a heart of gold and works to help others. He puts others besides himself and often takes high risks with calculated chance. On the other hand, there’s Hiro. To put it simply, this guy is a sociopath that walks as a demon in human form. He appears to be kind and respectful but his true personality is much more complex as viewers soon discover. Throughout the show, it’s easy to see that he has a God-like complex of himself. He uses his powers to kill others simply for the thrill and because he can. It’s not entirely known how he developed his personality but a look at his storytelling in relation to his family and school life may have attributed to this. However, Hiro is not entirely devoid of humanity. It’s shown that he deeply cares about his mother and also had a friend named Andou that he occasionally defends from bullies. Later on in the series, Hiro also meets a girl who harbors feelings for him that he grew to accept. That being said, I think Hiro represents the worst of humanity. Through his killings, Hiro confesses that he “never felt so alive” while he does so. In other words, Hiro kills with little reason besides to feel.

The creator of the series obviously tries to get viewers to feel something and to be honest, it works. From the first few episodes, it’s intriguing to see the storytelling from both sides. While both Hiro and Ichiro uses violence, they use it for completely different reasons. While Hiro feels alive through killing, Ichiro feels alive through saving others. It’s actually quite relatable too to our today’s society. There are these type of people living in our world. Psychopaths exists and so do heroes. You probably hear about them on the news every day. However, Hiro makes the news for the wrong reasons and it becomes clear that he wants to experiment with his powers and show off his God complex. While this all seems like nonsensational drama, it does actually does work as the show is able to use its violence to full effect. From police massacre to destruction of aircrafts, it gives his insight on what Hiro is truly capable of and how far he goes to prove his point. Additionally, this show also adds a bit of dark humor through the usage of 2chan and other social media drama. My experience from this show made me realize that Hiro and Ichiro really shows what humans are capable of when they are given powers beyond the natural law of order. Ichiro proves that he can use powers to great responsibility to save others and it can be inspiring.

Character relationships throughout the show can be taken in several ways. Hiro’s relationships can elicit various emotions such as with his mother, Andou, and Shion. They are people he actually cares about although as the story progresses, circumstances begins to change. For Ichiro, I honestly feel sorry for him. The closest friend he has is his dog. He has an ill relationship with his family and even his daughter doesn’t seem to respect him. However, I will say that Ichiro is a man of integrity. Even at age 58, he hopes to make a difference in his world after developing his powers. He accepts them like a God’s blessing rather than using it as a weapon. Unfortunately, I can’t say other character relationships in this show is well developed. I can’t really find Shion or Andou memorable at all throughout the series and they hardly influence my enjoyment. On the other hand, the manga itself is well adapted with even references alluding to other manga such as One Piece. I can safely say that the overall tone of the psychology remains impactful. While the show can come off as edgy at times through its violence, it really knows how to use them.

Adapted by studio MAPPA, Inuyashiki’s quality is about as good as it can get. The first few episodes showed that it has the capability of handling CGI. Character designs are also really interesting to take note that shows the frail innocence of Ichiro and deceptive handsomeness of Hiro. The overall setting of Tokyo remains consistent with our modern time. However, what’s really to take notice is the action and violence. To be clear, the violence is over the top especially in later episodes. There’s massive amounts of blood, body parts being blown off, and gunfights. There’s little censorship so expect it to be thrown right to your face. On the other hand, it’s unfortunate to say but I think MAPPA overestimated itself this year. In later episodes, some of the quality suffers such as the flight scenes and pure action movements.

Visually aesthetic and extravagant in style, Inuyashiki’s OP song “My Hero” by MAN WITH A MISSION is among one of the most memorable of the year. The overall tone and just the imagery itself is filled with creativity and hard to duplicate. However, the voice mannerism of the characters can be a mixed bag. It took me some time to accept Hiro’s voice as his personality became easier to understand. Ichiro’s voice is that of an old man and even harder to accept. The OST is moody although can be emotional at the appropriate times or eerie when impactful events happen.

Inuyashiki turned out to be quite an experience to be honest. From the very first episodes, I was hooked by what it had to offer and the characters were well worth investing into. It didn’t feel like a “good vs evil” generic story as we explore the depths of human psychology. While I can’t say this anime is recommendable to anyone, it will be one to remember for years to come. A show like Inuyashiki proves that psychological sci-fi fillers are still a draw in the anime world.

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Dec 21, 2017

LIQfilms

Not Recommended

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s a flying Grandpa!

Perhaps it’s rather counter-intuitive to even mention this, considering how much we actively consume as fans of this medium, but anime is… strange. It’s a medium in which vigorously seems to try and go against societal norms; a medium not afraid to cover taboo or heavy topics such as incest or depression, and covers such a myriad of different ideas and themes that if someone were looking for something incredibly specific from a piece of media, they’d probably find their incredibly niche want within anime. This is the main reason why I choose ...

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Dec 21, 2017

Zaber_san

Recommended

[Spoiler Warning]

Introduction:
Inuyashiki..... It is the name of the anime I am going to have a review on. Coincidentally, the word "Inuyashiki" comes from the main character's full name. The anime Inuyashiki revolves around two men. One is an old man while the other is a young, teen-age high-schooler. You know on most anime the grown-up is always the antagonist of the series and the young ones are the protagonist, gaining character development every episode. Here, the old one is the protagonist and the young is the antagonist on most audiences. I said "most" there. Why? The story offers us what are the circumstances of the ... aged and the youth. The aged worry about family and health while the other worry about his colleagues. Throughout 11 episodes we have seen the huge differences between the two. Base on the author of Gantz, Inuyashiki is an anime with the dark element shadowing its story. Does being a total human are the only ones have the right to help someone? Is having a human brain and a heart.. really consider someone being human?
Does being different to everyone really makes u different? Those are the common questions I've come across while watching.

Story:
The story of Inuyashiki focuses on the two main characters of the series. I, indeed, to be honest, have a hard time understanding both of them especially the antagonist Shishigami Hiro. With both of them having different ideals crashing like two planets together, it's really hard to get in favor to one of them. The story of Ichirou Inuyashiki is however, simple. He got cancer in an old age. His children doesn't care to him that much anymore unlike when they were kids. And his body is getting weak due to his illness, thus, limiting his work. Then there's Shishigami Hiro. There is no clear explaination on the background of Shishigami Hiro since when he appeared, he immediately showed his powers and how he used it (Like that part when he manipulate the cars to make traffic accident), though one thing is clear to this character. He only have his mother on his side without the father being completely supporting them. I said "completely" because yes the father supports them with money, but moral/emotional things? No. This left Hiro with only his mother on his side, devoting to protect her. Also the event (episode 2) of introduction of his friend Ando Naoyuki gave us a clue what's Hiro's personality. Due to his friend's absence because of bullies, Hiro did something. That "something" is unpredictable since we are like introduced to it on the spot of the episode where Hiro appeared very first.
This gave me a conclusion that throughout the story, there will be killings because of Hiro. Killings to protect while Ichirou Inuyashiki is going to stop him on some point in time. Each episode highlights what they are doing while the other is doing something also. This type of segment is a good highlight to the show since the two of them are the main focus of the audience. First 4 episodes (except episode 2) highlighted Ichirou Inuyashiki's perserverance and will to save people even against gangs. Though most of the episodes, reports have sited the "miracle healer" which was Inuyashiki himself. Episodes 5 - 11 (9,10,11 for Inuyashiki) gave us Hiro's triggered response. Triggered as in an incident gave way to his mass killings thus, awakening Inuyashiki also to stop him. The final episode (the ending) is quite a good closure to the story as Hiro did something remarkable for the fate of the entire human race (as well as Ichirou Inuyashiki.) and with the ending song on sync with the final moment, you can sense how emotional it was. The story is quite simple and understandable in a viewer's eyes. This what make Inuyashiki a great anime to watch this Fall 2017 season.

Characters:
I've already explained that much to understand about the main characters of the story in the "story" part. Thus, I will make a short reflection about the other characters. The supporting characters of the story is a strong element here, which gives way to a simple but good story on my perspective. Supporting characters on Hiro's side gave way to an accepting reason or light to Hiro to kill. While the supporting characters on Ichirou Inuyashiki side gives him an influence to save people.

Art:
I am not really a fan of CG but Inuyashiki done it perfectly for me. It is indeed watchable and damn the metal parts of the body is quite detailed (as well as the asteroid in the final part) and I like it.

Sound:
The songs of the anime gave us a clue of how the starting of an episode and a bit of emotional craze of it. The opening by Man With a Mission is very powerful, along with its visuals, giving us a good headstart on every episode.
The ending is quite sad or emotional on my perspective as we saw characters not on their full form but in white lights. I dont know the meaning of this (or its just a part of the plan) but at least I can give it a thought that
the ending shows us the value of each characters to other characters (my own opinion only).

Enjoyment and Overall thoughts:
It's really obvious that if you go through my review is that I enjoyed this anime in a great way. With its story along with characters on sync, its safe to say that this anime is worth to watch. Overall, I recommend you to watch it. An anime about two characters having different ideals crashing to each other. Then at the end, it all comes down to the human emotion.

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Poll: Inuyashiki Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Oct 26, 2017	210 replies	by loggieh4 »» May 20, 3:46 AM
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