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Writing a review for Inuyashiki is hard because my feelings for the story have warped so much since the days I first began reading it a few years ago. It starts out so strong and ends up spiraling out of control midway focusing too much on what I essentially consider "despair porn" chapters and moments.

What drew me into this series was the idea of an elderly protagonist. It's rare in manga to see something like this, as many writers tend to gravitate towards highschool students to try and appeal to their target demographic. Instead what we got was a fascinating view of the life of ... a humble, modest man nearing the end of his life, and how he copes with protecting his family and dealing with the idea of having new alien robotic abilities. Through his actions we see him question what it means to be truly human or alive. Coming to the aid of innocent people in order to feel any sense of life and to convince himself that even after the accident, he still has a human conscience.

Another character in Inuyashiki begins to undo the niceties of our protagonist in chapters I previously described as just being despair porn. The story begins to focus less on what it means to be alive and the introspective of personal morality, and more about how many innocent people can we show being brutally murdered to try and nail in the fact this guy is a bad dude. I wont mention the characters name due to spoilers but it's frustrating to see an actually interesting character being overshadowed by another generic highschool student who listened to one too many linkin park albums.

The artist Hiroya Oku has a very distinct and expressive art style to his work. However a lot of his backgrounds tend to look like photographs he just filtered to look drawn. Apparently this is a style unique to him and some are okay with it. I however thought at times it looked very jarring. It also took a lot of the enjoyment out of double panel pages.

Overall I would give this a soft recommendation. If you're like me desperately trying to filter your way through the piles of generic cookie cutter manga then I wont lie and say this is what you've been looking for. But the chapters that revolved around Inuyashiki were always a good read. It's a shame this manga ended on such a dull predictable note, but there's definitely some chapters I'd consider a 9/10 near the start.

Oh wow how does this not have a review yet?

To sum up the plot in simple terms, it’s an original story / prequel following the chosen successor of Hokuto Shinken, Kenshiro. It’s also the last film in the set of the pentalogy which consisted of 3 films and 2 OVA’s. Though they are not tied in any cohesive way and take places in different times and follow different characters.

While non-canon the film fills in some blanks that were left after Kenshiro’s defeat by Shin. As a fan it’s genuinely nice to finally see some character development for Kenshiro who throughout the series seemed adamant ... personality wise. For anyone else considering starting the series this film does enough to make Kenshiro seem like an interesting protagonist. However pacing issues near the beginning do cause for some drawn out scenes and exposition. While these scenes can be tiresome they do serve the film by providing enough information on individual characters. To put it simply the core story is of Kenshiro understanding his true resolve to fight, and the story around him is simply done to reinforce this.

Without going into spoilers it’s a fun ride once Ken regains his full strength. While fight scenes are surprisingly sparse in a Hokuto No Ken film no less, it still manages to show off enough flair to be entertaining. However most of the first hour is spent focusing on critical scenes between characters, flashbacks, exposition or advancing the story. As a fan of Hokuto No Ken I didn’t mind most of these scenes. They’re written well and expand more on the lore. Especially concerning Shin’s roots which is something not heavily discussed in the manga. However I can understand if these can be seen as uninteresting from people not familiar with the series, which is why I suggest newcomers watch this later on.

For the most part the story is compelling, especially with the twist at the end which in hindsight makes perfect sense. But also makes for an incredibly sad and sympathetic ending. Art direction is consistent and polished over the pentalogy, though some small amounts of CGI are noticeable near the end. The soundtrack left something to be desired, yet the use of Hokuto No Ken’s signature song Ai Wo Torimodose is present and worked beautifully when it’s used.

After 2-3 average films in the pentalogy it’s satisfying to finally see a decent Hokuto No Ken film. The bonus scene at the very end is what bumped this to a nine for me as it feels like something of a celebration of the series. For newcomers I suggest staying away from this for the time being so you don’t get the wrong impression. Reading the manga or at the very least watching the old TV series first would make you appreciate this all the more. They even cast the voice actors from the original series into this film as various roles.