This manga...is something else.

I was drawn into it entirely by the cover and the synopsis, but I was expecting something like a slice of life where an old man becomes young again and gets a second chance to achieve a happier life with a family who actually cares for him. Instead, I got something quite unexpected.

You know that concept where a senior protagonist is presented in an environment with a bunch of thuggish, unruly teenagers and the work sort of presents as if modern days is getting more dangerous and reckless? Imagine if a mangaka gets a hold of that idea and you'll get Inuyashiki.

In this manga, our protagonist, Ichirou, gets killed accidentally and rebuilt into a metal body. He looks exactly the same, but is now, well, a robot and has all the perks that comes with that. What would you do in his situation? Because he decided to become the Japanese robocop.

His environment is FULL of unruly and thuggish teenagers who goes around seemingly attacking adult men. Inuyashiki appears just in time to save them and punishes the young evil-doers. However, he has a nemesis with the same capabilities who is committing crime. The nemesis is, of course, a teenager and it is up to our hero to save the good people of Japan from the unruly teenager! Can he do it?

How is the story, though?

It is genuinely appealing. For one, there is a lot of humor, but it is the kind of humor that comes from the sheer absurdity of the situation. You'd see Ichirou taking his shirt off in the park in order to use his jetpacks, punch the lights out of some reckless hoodlums that is twice his size, and use the video recorder in his head to ruin some kids trying to murder a homeless guy.

That doesn't end it either. At times, things that are happening are so bizarre (or perhaps daring is a better word?) that you're left wide-eyed wondering if you're actually seeing this. Here's an example: In a typical battle manga, how would the author pump up a new villain to be someone strong? Something along the lines of have him beat a known powerful character and have other characters talk about how strong he is, right?

Want to know how the author of Inuyashiki, Hiroya Oku, does it? Well, I won't reveal it, but I'll say this: try not to gag.

Moving on, though, another great part of what makes the manga really good is that it's genuinely heart-warming. Ichirou is the kind of 'down-on-his-luck' person you can really get behind to wish him a second chance. The way he bumbles about trying to figure our his new powers and trying to use it to help people simply to feel as if he did something wonderful in his life really makes one smile at times and adds greatly to his 'ordinary person' persona.

Another thing to note is that the art is something to be appreciated. It inclines towards the 'realistic' to begin with, but at times, it will intersect drawn images with real life shots, which lends a strange feeling when reading the manga. I suppose it's to help make the manga even more realistic (and do it inexpensively). Does it work, however? To be honest, it doesn't blend in well as it's always immediately noticeable, but it doesn't become distracting either so it's not necessarily a bad thing.

Overall, though, I rate Inuyashiki as a great read and highly recommend it. I've stumbled onto it by luck and I'm thankful to be able to read it.