Inuyashiki

TL;DR with a brief, spoiler free comment on the ending: the initial premise is very solid and gripping, the art is alright, the characters are unappealing except for one, the pacing is somewhat grueling at times and the ending genuinely made me feel like this whole affair was a waste of my time. Read this series only if you deeply enjoyed Gantz for whatever reason, or if you're curious to find out why I hated the ending as much as I did.

As for the review itself:
I initially decided to pick up this series upon seeing some out of context panels floating around on the Internet. The art style looked vaguely similar to one of my not-so-favorite manga, Gantz. And as it turned out, they were indeed made by the same author, Hiroya Oku. I was willing to overlook his past transgressions and give him another chance with this story. It started out quite good, with an original premise that I hadn't really seen before, some decent art (compared to the early days of Gantz, at least) and one very unconventional protagonist, both visually and in the context of other manga that I have read.

Story: 8
The plot has a great hook, that of a gentle but dying old man and a psychotic teenager being accidentally killed by aliens, only to be recreated by the aliens as super powerful machines with godlike powers. A showdown between these two characters will obviously happen at some point since their ideals are completely opposite from one another, and it really shows as almost every chapter focuses on fleshing out these two characters as they continue living their day-to-day lives and attempt to cope with the changes made to their bodies in their own ways, using their new powers for both good and evil things in accordance to their own respective morality. It's a very dualistic set-up, kinda like Jonathan and Dio from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Speaking of which, there's some slight body-horror in this work, like a character opening up their body like you would do with a computer case only to reveal the complex machinery that's inside it, with nothing human or even organic remaining. The idea of what makes someone ''human'' came up in my mind a lot as I read this manga. Overall, pretty interesting concept that I've no problem with at all.

Art: 6
I'm not a very huge fan of Hiroya Oku, truth be told. Without getting into too much detail, I find his style of drawing to be very bland and inorganic, since he relies a lot on his assistants creating 3D models for him to trace over with a pen in order to create a scene. Characters often looked very rigid and samey-looking in Gantz because of this. And I was happy, for a while, when I realized his art had improved since Gantz. Characters have way more variety in their facial expressions, there's a lot more motion going on a lot of times and it generally looks pretty appealing, with a nice coat of realism in a lot of places. I'm giving the art a 6 because some panels look very similar to others for no reason, and could be positioned more appropriately to create a better flow and a less repetitive reading experience. Some assets aren't ''drawn over'' either, being left as their original 3D models, like airplanes and certain objects in the environment, for instance. Things like these looked particularly ugly and jarring since they obviously aren't 2D objects like the rest of the things on the page. I've seen this sort of ''2D mixed with 3D'' technique applied before, especially in Asano Inio's works like Oyasumi Punpun, and seeing it being done so poorly here only makes Oku seem more like an unskilled artist to me.

Characters: 5
The plot had me deeply invested in the titular character, Inuyashiki. I couldn't recall reading any other manga that featured such a relatable character, that of an old family-man who has one foot in the grave and whose family isn't very fond of him because of his frail nature. He had me interested in the plot until some cracks started showing in the character department; some characters behaving in rather jarring ways that felt unnatural, which broke my immersion at times. That's one of my main issues with this manga, the characters suck, safe for Inu. There's barely any progression going on for them.

One very early example of this that I can think of are the aliens that accidentally kill Inuyashiki and a nearby youth called Shishigami in the beginning of the story by crash landing on Earth with their spaceship. Immediately upon realizing they killed two earthlings, they begin to swear and curse each other out like teenagers in a VERY uncharacteristic manner (maybe a creepier portrayal would've been more effective) and proceed to revive the two men using alien technology, turning them into two incredibly powerful machines with godlike powers. It just so happens that Inuyashiki is a very kind person who intends to use his new powers to help humanity, while the young Shishigami happens to be the edgiest, most brutal psychopath on the planet.

Although Inuyashi felt relatable and grounded, like someone that could really exist, Shishigami just doesn't. He's a cold-blooded, cruel monster who kills other people for pleasure with his powers and uses those he doesn't kill for his own personal gain. But at the same time he's also a loving son who cares deeply about his mother and would do anything for her happiness... These two contradicting elements just don't add up, but I'll admit they probably could've worked if Shishigami had been written better as a character, like Guts from Berserk, who can simultaneously be portrayed as a murderous demon and a caring, protective person on the inside, with both traits pertaining perfectly to his character. The rest of the cast is quite forgettable. Overall, Inu is the only one worth paying any attention to.

Enjoyment: 5
Started off strong. Weakened in the middle part. Turned into complete disgust by the time the final chapters rolled out. Never seen a story go south this quickly in terms of enjoyment. It had some pretty whacky moments of intense escalation that raised my eyebrows, but it's all ruined by how the story ultimately ends.

Overall: 5
Only read if you've enjoyed Gantz, any of Oku's other works, or if all the negative things I said in this review don't sound all that bad to you. Just remember to enjoy yourself. Cuz by the time I finished this, I wasn't enjoying myself anymore.

this could be considered as the most hilarious/unique manga of all time.
imagine with me.........when you become an adult, your life is boring, your family doesn't like you, your wife is ugly....and to top it of you still have only 3 months to life because of a stomach cancer....but one day you wake up and you find out that you became a machine ( jetpack - invincible - your life is not in danger anymore....)...yeah i don't know what you would do in a case like this, but this manga manages to answer this stupid fantasy question:
Inu Yashiki is an 50 years old but looks like an old geezer, he already have backache, he have a wife, too kids,and passing with the same situation i mentioned before. of course he is the MC for this story. after realizing that he's life is at the border in the same night he is already killed in a crash landing of aliens (you probably didn't expect that). next moring, he wakes up not realising he's already dead, but soon after the accident he discovers that he was rebuilded by those aliens and now he became a machine.
here is a little idea about how strong he got.....you can say he is far more stronger than the terminator ^^.
so how will his life change now that he is a machine?
ok then, the arts here are the kind of realistic and suited for everyone arts. the characters are not that beautiful.. actually they get really ugly sometimes, so it's clear that the manga here tries to approach he's drawing to reality. i personally like this kind of style since it does a great job at emulating human facial.
charcters:
this is where the manga really shines, while the drawing try to approach the reality from one side, the characters do the same from another side. you got your main protagonist geezer who is very emotional hate violence and does his best to erase it.
the normal reaction.....or should i say, the real reaction of his kids to their old father, it almost brings me to tears in the 2 first chapters.....wait right now you're thinking about whether there is an antagonist with the same power or not...well yes there is one. Hiroshi Shishigami is high schooler with the same superpower became a serial killer rather than been a hero like our MC.
this is not a comedy manga but still there are some scenes that don't give you a choice other than laughing so hard especially those double pages scenes where an old men is beating up a other people, a gang , or even yakuza!

overall i enjoyed reading Inu Yashiki, it was a quick read since there's only 29 chapter and still on going but hey you don't see a manag with an old man beating up people with a super machine fist right ?
story: 8
art: 9
characters: 9
enjoyment: 9
aaaand an overall of 9/10 year! definitely recommended to everyone for a change of pace :)

Explaining the appeal of Inuyashiki, taken from my instagram:

Inuyashiki is a manga from the mangaka behind Gantz and is important as it shows that Oku (the mangaka) has the capability to create not one, but two fantastic works of fiction. He took some of the best and often underused elements from Gantz and put a lot more focus on them. This gives Inuyashiki its own identity despite coming after the massive success that was Gantz.

Unlike Gantz, Inuyashiki is a story that focuses more or less exclusively on the two main characters and those who they interact with. There are still the occasional side stories that Oku has grown so accustomed to implementing into his core narrative, but for the most part Inuyashiki feels more personal. Perhaps the best thing about Inuyashiki is the two main characters, more specifically their extremely contrasting personalities. On one hand, there is a caring old man who desperately wants to be be loved by his family who have grown cold towards him. And on the other hand is a student who, despite being popular at school, cares for no one but his childhood friend and would do anything to protect him. Upon receiving power, both of these characters have polar opposite reactions. The old man uses his for good, attempting to help anyone in need, whereas the student uses his to murder entire families in their homes. These two characters are the personifications of good and evil. It is this character dynamic that drives the plot forwards and keeps you engaged. The two very different ideologies that these characters posses lead to some great conflict.
As for the art, as you may have expected from Oku, it is absolutely brilliant. The art in Inuyashiki is even able to surpass Gantz in some aspects, this is mainly due to the more advanced technology that Oku now has at his disposal. Similarly to Gantz, the art is very realistic and helps to ground the story in reality.

Inuyashiki was clearly made to be more of a character study, which I think worked well, considering Oku seems to have already exhausted every possible idea when it comes to a large scale narrative in Gantz. There is a decent anime adaptation of Inuyashiki but I would still suggest you read the manga over watching the anime
Score: 9/10

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

The thing about this manga is that it started out pretty interesting.

We have Inuyashiki, a man who hasn't aged as well as you'd hoped. Burdened by the responsibility of being the main breadwinner of the family, a wife who is no longer affectionate with him, a daughter who introduces him as her ''grandpa'' because she's ashamed of how he looks and a son who harbors resentment towards his father because he's being bullied at school (i.e. bullies take his lunch money and pick on him because he doesn’t have enough of it. Though his father is unaware of what his son is dealing with), has left this family man an awkward, shivering and borderline anxious mess. But despite how unfavorable his family treats him, he still loves them very much.

One day, Inuyashiki is diagnosed with stomach cancer and whatever light he still had in his life, quickly went out once he realized he wouldn't be able to be there for his family anymore. Naturally, he had to tell his family about his dire situation, but their continued blatant disregard kept Inuyashiki from sharing the news; too afraid to have confirmed that they wouldn't care whether he lived or died. In tears, Inuyashiki ran away from home and that's where our story picks up pace.

Caught in an explosion from an alien invasion together with the charming young high schooler, Shishigama, Inuyashiki's and Shishigama's human bodies are destroyed. The aliens, realizing that they had just killed two people and might have a war on their hands if anyone found out, tried to fix their mistakes by putting them back together. But without any human flesh left, they were forced to transform them into machines.

Inuyashiki decides to use his new found abilities for the greater good. Shishigama decides to use his powers for evil. You might think this would end up in an interesting clash between a unconventional old superhero and a charming young villain, while Inuyashiki attempts to also retain his humanity and live up to be the husband and father his family might love. And perhaps we might also get to learn about these suspicious aliens that suddenly showed up on earth.

But you're only half right. That's what the story was going for. Most of the story is dedicated to showing us the good things Inuyashiki has done and the bad things Shishigama has done. And don't get me wrong, that was pretty interesting to read about. We get to see how saving people gives meaning to Inuyashiki’s life, and with the old guy being treated pretty unfairly at home, you can’t help but feel for him and smile when you see how fulfilling his life has become. On the other hand, you get to see Shishigama’s warped and downright psychopathic tendencies; killing for the heck of it, and yet he still loves his mother and later on a high school girl. But what had seemed like a solid story line, quickly changed course. We were almost supposed to feel sorry for Shishigama because everyone found out that he had gone on a crazy killing spree, simply because his mother ended up taking her own life after she found out that her son was a mass murderer. He became an outcast and wandered around, running from the police and not doing anything worth mentioning. When he fell in love with the high school girl, I was left to wonder what Shishigama’s deal was. Why did he like killing people, but was he able to fall in love so quickly at the same time? What drove him exactly, what was the reasoning behind his actions? Sometimes you’d see him cry in grief over losing his mother, be a good and kind friend to one of his closest friends and treat the girl he likes with love—and all of that was genuine. And yet, he could also indiscriminately murder hundreds of people—and for what? I didn’t understand the balance. I could never grasp how both of those opposing feelings could live side by side inside of him without any reasoning. What exactly drove Shishigama? We never find out.

The clash between Inuyashiki and Shishigama was anti-climactic too. It was wrapped up quickly and Shishigama was once more left to wander the world, and finally decided to save the planet alongside Inuyashiki, because the girl he loved and his good friend were still there.

Which brings me to another point. The way this story ended.

Donald Trump—yes, you read that right, Donald motherfucking Trump—shows up nearing the end of the story, calling Shishigama the greatest terrorist ever. And the next time Trump shows up, he’s talking about how a meteorite is about to fall on the earth and wipe out the entire civilization so now everyone is free to rape, steal and kill whoever they want (don’t get me wrong, Trump is crazy as hell and I don't like him, but was that really necessary to put inside this story?).

And yes, you read that right. Donald Trump called for the purge.

I’m confused as well.

So I thought, hey, maybe that part was put in there to show us how quickly people change when all rules are stripped from them? Will this turn into a philosophical question? With the veil of standards and morals stripped away, are people actually that warped inside? Leaving you to wonder whether Shishigama was really that crazy compared to the rest of the human population.

But none of that was ever explained. Again. Seriously. Inuyashiki and Shishigama end up saving the day in the way every tragic hero does (and apparently in Shishigama’s case, unexplained evil guy who does something good for once?) and the story ends. Everyone just goes back to their daily lives in the span of about 5 chapters nearing the end. We don’t get to find out anything about the aliens, we don’t get to understand Shishigama, we don’t get to see Trump ranting about Shishigama on his twitter, but hey, at least Inuyashiki’s family ended up giving him the love and respect he had always deserved... except for the rest of humanity. From being known as a godlike superhero with videos of him healing people everywhere, people sure forgot about Inuyashiki quickly.

I have to give props to the art, though. It was very detailed. Very beautifully done. Though it seems opinions vary on this matter. I personally enjoyed how realistic it looked and the details that had been put in the background scenes. Well, to each their own, I suppose. But all in all, what started off interesting and had a good plot line, wasn’t executed very well and ended as though the author had ran out of ideas.

I love this and totally recommend it. I heard about the anime coming soon and the story interested me so much, i read it. The story, the character, everything is so unique from the usual. I mean the MC is an old man. That's pretty unusual. The first few pages were boring cuz it was about a sweety old man and his family who doesn't seem to like him. Btw this is the first manga i completed. I've watched over 300 anime, but this my first manga and i love it. Got me totally hocked. Give it an 8. I was mostly satisfied with the ending.

SUMMARY: The story is about Inuyashiki,an old man in his 50 who was living pretty normally. He works as a salary man and tried his best to provide for his family. One day, depressed, he sleep in the park and wakes up as something not human. An alien ship crashed on earth and kills him. They then reconstruct him as a machine. What will Inuyahiki do? Will this change his life?

SPOILERS: I wish if they gave us more info about the aliens. I wanna read the daughter's manga. it seems so interesting. if anyone knows such a manga tell me about it. Why did inuyahiki have to die? After all the good he's done. It's quite sad. :(

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.

What? That's just my review for this manga lmao, it starts out with a good premise, but after a few more chapters you just want it to calm down and slow the pace down. Like dude, they introduce new characters and the author obviously wants you to care about them but the pace is too f**cken fast for anyone to give a flying sh*t, and the part that had me intrigue the most was about the aliens and how they crashed down to Earth and killed our two main protagonists and made them into basically weapons.... well guess what, the only time you'll ever hear about them is at the end and we still don't know why they did what they did.... The art can be good but it's nothing special, and my enjoyment is an all time meh, the only thing that kept me reading was to see why they became super weapons but like I said above, that never got explained why. Maybe I missed something but it doesn't matter, I don't care too much to ever read this again lol.

In conclusion, you're not going to miss much at all by skipping out on this but at the same time you might get one of the best reads in your life time but I 99.9% doubt that, so maybe at the end of day you'll get the same type of boring enjoyment I got out of this manga.

~Shaney

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.

Inuyashiki is a Sci-Fi seinen manga by Oku Hiroya published in Evening magazine.
The manga tells a story of Ichirou Inuyashiki,a 52 years old grandpa who has a hard life - he has a badly paid job, his family ignores him and he's been diagnosed with cancer. One night Inuyashiki is killed in a alien crash and becomes a machine. He realizes he in not human anymore and wants to help other people as much as possible.
This may sound like a bad superhero story but the further you are into it the darker it gets. The art is amazing. The best part about this manga are the characters. They are normal and feel real. Not only the characters but the whole story feels like it could happen in real world.
This is my first "review" and it probably sounds bad, but if you are wondering if you should read this manga, definitely go for it. Overall, i rate it 9/10.

Note: Regardless of the score I give it, I rate this manga somewhere between a 7 and 8.

Many people that are familiar with Hiroya Oku will have come across him through Gantz. With the level of fame that Gantz received and it's fairly long lasting reputation, one can't help but compare his other works to it. The scale of the manga was impressive and, though I know there are many contrasting opinions on the work, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I mention Gantz here, as I feel that Inuyashiki bears many similarities to it.

Short summary of start:

The MC-Inuyashiki Ichirou-is a middle aged man, though, due to an illness, appearances would lead you to think otherwise. He his unhappy with his life, which is uneventful except for the constant arguing of his family. Following discovering he has cancer and only a short time to live, alongside his inability to tell his family who he feels would not care, he goes out alone to a park to sit and cry. While there, a spaceship crashes ontop of himself and one other person, killing them both. The aliens on board, in an attempt to fix their mistake, rebuild the two as machines that simply appear human before leaving again. The two retain their personalities, but are granted abilities as a result of their new bodies. Inuyashiki, who has always felt helpless, decides to use his newfound powers for good, treating the ill and saving lives while the other, a highschool boy, becomes conceited, believing himself above others and, simply because he can, decides to use his abilities to kill others and make himself feel "alive".

Thoughts etc.:

I think the idea behind the story is a very interesting one: what do people do when suddenly granted huge amounts of power.
Our two MCs are polar opposites and therefore destined to clash due to their differing opinions. The first part of the story is very well done, there are some great chapters where we see the two figuring out how to use their powers (both unaware of the others' existence) and how they change as a result of them. The tension is handled very well and when they finally meet there seems like great promise for the story.

It just feels like it accelerates too fast.

One thing I think you can never fault with Oku's work, is the art. The attention to detail is astonishing at times, faces are very expressive, characters are both threatening and sensitive where they need to be and, though the backgrounds can often be obviously photographed to speed up drawing times, it creates a great sense of realism that brings the story new life. The mechanisms of the bodies I think are the most impressive feature of this manga's artwork, the creativity and detail makes each page very interesting to read. The character designs in Inuyashiki are much more realistically drawn than the average manga; this can either work to your taste or not. It's something I've seen criticism over, but personally I think it aids in the storytelling.

There is an odd sense of the ending of this manga being both very good, but somehow rushed at the same time. I think the way it ends itself, was well thought out, though certain details of it seem like bizarre additions. I won't go into too much detail so as to avoid spoilers, but when threatened with a world ending catastrophe, both Inuyashiki and the boy end up using their powers together to help divert it consequently killing both of them. This comes only a few chapters after they had been fighting a battle that threatened the whole of Japan, a battle that obviously displayed the antagonist's lack of concern for the populace. This is what makes it, to me feel both rushed and conclusive. If there had been some event that brought some more middle ground between the two MC's the ending would have flowed more smoothly.

To summarise I do think it is worth a read. There are some definitely great moments that will stick in my memory and I did like it overall. I just feel that it didn't reach its full potential.

I've never written a manga review before, and this one will be brief--I just felt that I had to write SOMETHING after reading the reviews for Inuyashiki on here. At the time of posting this, there are only two other reviews, and they use words like "hilarious" and "heartwarming" to describe this series that is "recommended for everyone". Having read that, I went into this thinking that it was a lighthearted action-comedy. It is definitely none of the above.

Once you get past the exposition and into the midst of the story, this is an extremely dark manga with many parts that the average reader would most likely find very disturbing. That being said, I've enjoyed reading it so far. The story and characters aren't the best you'll find in the manga universe, but overall it is quite good, and makes you want to keep reading. The art is pretty good too; it's a more realistic style which goes well with the overall tone.

To sum up, I'd recommend this manga to people who can enjoy dark, graphic stories. It's a page-turner and is worth reading--the chapters go by pretty quickly, so you can always give it a try and see if you enjoy it or not. Also, it's by the same author as Gantz, so if you're familiar with that, then you have an idea of what to expect.

Old man Japanese Superman.

What stands out instantly, that everyone recognizes from the plot summary, is that the main character is an elderly guy who doesn't have respect from his family, and is dying of cancer. Oh, and he turns into a robot.

Really interesting.
Really Oku.
(coming from the guy who did Gantz).

What really appeals to me about this series is that there are many nods of inspiration from Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru, to the American comics' icon Superman, among many others, that you end up with a piece that can be interpreted in many ways.

I believe the initial concept of the series was taken from Ikiru, and that's the question of how do we look back on our lives and evaluate the good and bad that we've done?

The series is split between the old man, Inuyashiki, and a young man, Shishigami, who are polar opposites of each other but both share the same reason for doing what they do. In some respect, you can interpret this series as a commentary on how vastly different generations are, and when there is generational fighting it doesn't benefit anyone.

You can also look at this series in a way that describes online culture. In part of Shishigami's character arc, he's being hounded by the news, anonymous internet boards, and social media posters saying the nastiest things toward him. Yes, what he did was bad, but there was never a way for him to learn or redeem himself. His generation was bred into a world where morality is black and white. "If you're not with me, you're against me," kind of deal. Whereas Inuyashiki has a hard time understanding social media, electronics, and is even a slow learner when it comes to the capabilities of his own robot body compared to his younger counterpart.

For most of the series, I was content with giving it a 7/10, but then I read the last two volumes and it really all clicked for me and made me far more emotional than I was expecting since the ending is fairly obvious.

The storytelling is just that damn good.

The ending is really satisfying, and instead of leaving a manga-sized hole at the end, I felt fulfilled.

It was a privilege to experience Inuyashiki's life.

What it means to be human is a topic that has been discussed and explored throughout many works of science fiction. I've seen this idea and concept brought up so many times, I've lost count. Inuyashiki brings up this concepts but twists it in a way that I haven't really seen before.

I'll get to that when I can but first, an overview of this manga.

Story: 8
The premise of Inuyashiki isn't too horribly complicated. A man by the name of Inuyashiki is living a very boring, unfulfilling life. His family doesn't care all that much for him, he doesn't do a whole lot throughout the day and is seen as a burden most of the time by the people he loves. One day, he decides to take his dog out to the park. There, he and another young man, Hiro Shishigami, get crushed to death by aliens. The aliens decided to rebuild the two as robots and leave.

From this point, we see how these how these two men handle being robots and how they use their newfound abilities. Inuyashiki decides to become the hero for once and helps out everyone he can. Hiro on the other hand...

Let's just say that he doesn't.

The story of Inuyashiki is about these two men and how their views collide. The story gives a balanced treatment to both Inuyashiki and to Hiro. I'll get into these two in the character section but overall, the story does what it needs to do and is mostly carried by its two main characters.

Art: 6
I find the art of Inuyashiki to be the weakest part of the manga. I know that Oku was going for a realistic art style with Inuyashiki but I just couldn't go with it. A lot of the times, the characters are drawn in a way that makes them look ugly. Again, a more realistic style but it's one that didn't sit well with me. In addition, the backgrounds are a weird mashup of either fully drawn backgrounds, realistic photos or both. There are multiple scenes where there are just real photos plastered onto the background.

The realistic style was one that put me off when I started reading this manga. Other people might praise this for the realism but I didn't like it.

Character: 9
This is where Inuyashiki shines. The two main characters, Inuyashiki and Hiro, are explored in depth throughout. First off, Inuyashiki. Inuyashiki is shown in the beginning as a pathetic person. No one in his family loves him and he's often on his own. He views himself as worthless. He sees that the world is terrible but he's powerless to do anything. However, when he learns of his powers as a robot, that's when he starts to change. As he helps more and more people, he begins to finally have faith in himself and views himself as a force for good. However, throughout the manga, he finds himself questioning his humanity. I'll address this in a bit but before I do so, I want to talk about the other robot in this manga.

Hiro is the opposite of Inuyashiki. Rather than using his powers for the greater good, he decides to use them to perform mindless evil. I don't want to get too into spoilers but what I will say is this: Hiro performs some sickening atrocities throughout the story. He's compared to by characters in the manga as a modern day Hitler, which isn't far off from the truth. However, despite all of my claims that Hiro is made a villain, he isn't completely evil. He still views himself as human and he struggles throughout the story on his value and his humanity, even though he is no longer human. Despite the truly horrible things he does, he still has feelings. There are moments in the story where I really felt sorry for the man. However, actions have consequences and Hiro spends the whole manga trying to prove that they don't.

Throughout the manga, these two characters try to deal with the fact that they are no longer human. Even they look human, and think like humans, and feel like humans, they aren't human. They are robots with incredible abilities. They can fly, they can fire weapons, they can perform miracles or atrocities. They can do all these things but they aren't human. However, both these characters realize by the end that it doesn't matter whether or not they truly are human.

There are two main ideas presented to the reader in this manga. The first being that we define ourselves as humans. Inuyashiki and Hiro learn this by the end, with the help of some side characters. It doesn't matter whether or not you're physically a human being. If you can think, feel and look like a human, then there's nothing else saying you aren't human. The second idea brought to us is that we give meaning to life and the way we do so is with death. Hiro doesn't learn this until the very end. Throughout, he commits these horrible acts and views life and death as meaningless. Without spoiling anything, I'll just say that he learns his mistake at the end.

The main characters are the best thing about this manga. They have hopes and fears, feelings and emotions, and above all else, a desire: to be human. As for the side characters, they're alright. They serve their purpose but really, the meat of the characters fall on these two.

Enjoyment: 10
I read this entire manga in one sitting. I found it incredibly engrossing, as I learned more and more about these characters and how they act with their powers. I smiled when Inuyashiki performed miracles of God, I winced when Hiro mindlessly killed dozens of people. I laughed at the image of an old man standing shirtless in the middle of a field as people looked at him confused. I cried when tragedy hit Hiro where it mattered the most to him. This manga gave me the story of two men doing what they wanted with their powers. One decided to do purely good while the other indulged in evil. It was a treat to see it all play out.

Overall: 9
"I think, therefore I am." This line provides the notion of what it means to be human. I myself can't exactly say what it means to be human because there's a lot of little details that need to be discussed. What I will say, however, is that Inuyashiki brings some idea of what it means to be human right to its reader. For anyone who wants some science fiction and some philosophy sprinkled in, look no further than Inuyashiki. I highly recommend any fan of science fiction to give it a read.

Inuyashiki, the latest action manga from the author of Gantz... which will remind you of Gantz in many ways. (Not kidding, it actually references Gantz in several chapters.)

This relatively short manga—you can finish it in an evening—instantly stands out thanks to its unconventional protagonist, CGI-heavy backgrounds the author is known for, and some thriller/body horror elements that may and probably will disturb the squeamish.

So, is it actually good? I would say yes. It's rather captivating, fast-paced, well-drawn and can be touching at times, so I would give it a soft recommendation. Could it have been great? Yes, definitely—but alas, it wasn't.

See, Hiroya Oku has this weird problem where he can come up with something great... and then seemingly have no clue what to do with it. Because of this, there always comes a point in his stories where they start dragging their legs, so in order to counteract this he rushes the ending in a needlessly convoluted and/or ham-fisted fashion. Gantz was exactly the same in this regard.

First off, the characters. The protagonist is, indeed, reasonably fleshed-out. We get to understand his living situation, his relationship with the family, and his outlook on life and his motivations very early on, so nothing he does afterwards feels very much out-of-character in any way. The supporting cast is very small and doesn't receive the same treatment, but at least they act believable enough for it not to bother me too much. The author does a good job at letting the cast act out their personalities rather than dumping exposition via dialogues and narration. This is certainly a good thing and a mark of experience.

The main problem is with the character development in general, especially the antagonist. Without getting into the spoiler territory too much, let's confirm from the beginning that he isn't entirely unrealistic—I could very well see a situation like his play out in real life and interact with his mental troubles the same way that would've led to similar events as described in the manga. Especially the classic downward spiral cause-and-effect situations that go beyond Dostoyevsky's Sin and Punishment and get closer to, say, Breaking Bad in terms of bad things continually pulling the worse. But while he gets a lot of screen time, we never get to truly understand his personality or motivations. The author decidedly detaches himself from the antagonist, as if afraid to explore him, even though for a good-versus-evil conflict like this having a strongly written antagonist is simply everything.

I cannot stress the importance of a good antagonist enough. If you take any truly great villain from movies, books, manga, etc., they all have one thing in common: we can relate to their philosophical outlook and/or their motivation that put them on the path to destruction. It's only this way that the work can inspire us to think and ask ourselves whether we can avoid being twisted by our aspirations, whether we understand what makes us evil, and whether we can draw the line correctly and retain our humanity when we end up in a desperate situation. The aftertaste of a story, the lingering thoughts that occupy us long after we close the book and help us continually question, rethink, and ultimately flesh-out and improve ourselves as persons is what a great story is truly about.

Instead, the way the story progresses in the middle, we get to see, almost in a slice-of-life fashion, how the good guy does the good things and the bad one does the bad things. Just to drive home the contrast between the two. In fact, the author seems to be obsessed with showing any such contrast to the audience as explicitly as possible to make absolutely sure everyone gets it. I mean, the protagonist's surname translates to something as silly as "dog house", and the antagonist's is "lion god" (and his first name is an homophone of "hero")... This kind of deliberate—if not desperate—attempt of subverting expectations lands dangerously close to self-parody, and it's not really a good thing.

Thanks to this, the protagonist's personality becomes boring over time, and as a reader I would've lost all investment in him if it wasn't for his interaction with other characters. And for the antagonist, there also comes a point where he noticeably crosses the point of no return, and it seems like there was nothing left to do with him other than keep upping the violence ante. You will surely notice this point as well and upon finishing the manga it won't be hard for you to realize that what comes afterwards is an incredibly convenient way to wrap up the story without it completely losing the grip on the audience. In fact, it's evident that the author has lost its grip on the logic of the characters—both of them—that could lead to the resolution of their ideological conflict without invoking the deus-ex-machina ending.

Perhaps the most saddening thing about this manga is that the author's ideas conflict with their realization. His intention is to let us ponder on the nature of humanity, that is, what makes us human. This intention is sabotaged by the clear-cut and comical contrast between the two character arcs that portray characters who are clearly NOT human enough. In fact, almost the entire supporting cast feels far, far more human than the characters under the looking glass of the author.

What could've been done to avert this? For starters, it would be great if instead of ushering in shock value and violence porn we would've gotten a better picture of the antagonist. Having seen the chain of events that shaped his mental condition would let us peer more closely into his troubles and see if it's something we can relate to, something we have experienced in our lives. It would do well if would could be more closely familiarized with his situation. It would do well if we could see the lead-up to his first kill to see the emotions going through him, see him overcome that barrier of humanity, see if there's anything else left in there and how that little sliver of goodness manifests and transforms over the course of the story. What we're shown is just an afterglow that doesn't tell the story, but rather forces us to fill in the blanks in a way that we find sensible. It's not necessarily a bad thing to leave things untold, but as we've skipped the fundamentals of the character it turns from an intellectual challenge to coping with lazy writing.

Elaborating on the relationship between the antagonist and his friend instead of cutting it so abruptly would also be a good thing. We haven't been given a reason to care enough about their friendship, so the dramatic moment at the end that involves it naturally loses the oomph. This would also give this other character more credence and enrich the story with his own inner conflict: do I help my friend or do I help bringing him down? What IS the right thing? Unfortunately, the character in question decides this very quickly and never really looks back.

It would also do well if the protagonist didn't have such an exemplary Lawful Good* personality. No amount of bad looks and silly names can cover the innate boringness of an impeccable idealist. The only struggle he has to overcome is the feeling of guilt for not saving more people than he has. But he's no Superman, and there isn't nearly enough effort taken to show him questioning himself or feeling the complex and dark emotions over his newfound powers, condition, and motivation like a normal human being would. Instead, as soon as he gets his powers he just goes and does the right thing while still trying to live the life of an invisible member of the modern society—and that's about it. It's only at the very end that we get to have a glimpse at his motivation, but it's treated very matter-of-factly and isn't nearly enough to flesh out his character arc.

To summarize, Inuyashiki is a nice sci-fi action manga for people who enjoy the more violent and realistically drawn sci-fi like Gantz or Ajin, but without having to do the deep thinking—because in that case Inuyashiki will inevitably appear too shallow.


* See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alignment_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)#Lawful_good

Can Hiroya Oku do anything better than "Gantz"?

I have commented in previous posts on social media, but I repeat: I have a routine to know absolutely nothing before reading a title. Synopsis? What's that for? I like to analyze a work without external influences and, from time to time, I rely on notes to see if the time spent was rewarded or not.

With "Inuyashiki" it was no different. In fact, this one, which is part of Hiroya Oku, author of "Gantz", was an even more extreme case: I didn't remember that it was a heavyweight author, because ... I didn't read "Gantz" either (and the anime was shit, so) I only understood what it was because in the series there is a character who is a fan of the work (very cool part, including)! And to conclude, it is still seinen, a demography of which I am not assiduous. He had everything he didn't like, did he? But it turned out to be an amazing read, with social criticism and still working with stereotypes in a very interesting way. And, of course, in this review, I comment on everything!

Now the Synopsis. Ichiro Inuyashiki has a family, a wife and two children, none of whom care about him. When he learns that he only has three months to live, he realizes that the only one who will miss him is his dog. Shortly after this realization, he is killed in a landing of aliens. Then he is rebuilt by them as a machine with a human exterior. How will his life change now that he is not human?

Hiroya Oku's work was released in the Seinen Evening magazine by Kodansha in January 2014. The original series won a live-action film adaptation that will debut in 2018, as well as an anime adaptation by the MAPPA studio scheduled for October (airing by the time of this review). The manga will be finished with 10 volumes.

We are accustomed to a kind of stereotype for heroes and villains; we have a vision that for both there is the involvement of special abilities and powers, and how they are so different from ordinary people. In "Inuyashiki", the author approaches the subject in an interesting and critical way. The introductory chapter serves to situate the type of world in which the protagonist lives, a Japan that is full of violence and that there is no shadow of a possible altruism. The weak are oppressed and the strong dominate. But contrary to what might be assumed, the "villains" of this plot are ordinary people, teenagers or even adults, without any mythical power. And the "hero" of the plot? Well, he's just an old man, who has no one to really call him, who is weak and is in his last days of life.

Unlike One Punch-Man (for example; something mainstream in today's standards), who has all a comic content up the bald protagonist who defeats all his enemies with a single punch, in that title sense of humor is something rare. The mood of the manga is tense and in many cases, it becomes annoying, not by visual means, but by the way it approaches the situation. Your hero and his unusual villains serve to shock. Don't expect a happy reading, much of the first volume was either with pity on the protagonist or another similar to it.

Recently I made a kind of "clean" in my collections of manga and I was deciding minutely what would continue and what would drop. Honestly, I had thought of reading "Inuyashiki" to do a review for the site ... until I start reading it.
I understand that the topics covered are different, but here what I am evaluating is the way the authors unroll the plot; this series is more concise while the other types of manga are just average/good, but you would probably need to lean on more chapters to win over the reader. Certainly a great surprise - and I will certainly collect it.

Hiroya Oku's trait is very realistic and detailed. In order to see these characteristics, it is only necessary to observe the protagonist: the author has a whole concern with wrinkles of expression, the design of the whole body, hair, etc. In addition, the details of the "machine character" are incredible, with various props, cannot put defect.

The debut book brought me right away. The introduction is strong, but well done, development is also not to be desired and that finale still arouses curiosity enough to want a continuation. But I must point out one thing: Inuyashiki's theme, focusing on the part involving aliens, is a subject that if not working right can end up being disappointing. I confess that I have high expectations, but it is a theme that from beginning to end needs to be thought, a bad explanation for the paranormal situation would compromise the entire manga, even if it only appeared on the last page of the last chapter; in addition, the author still has to deal with his two protagonists, Ichiro Inuyashiki and Hiro Shishigami - the teenager who also suffered the same "accident" that Ichiro - knowing how to measure the importance of his roles for the plot - something that complicated for a work that will end with ten volumes.

Funny how easy it is for audiences to accept a character with the characteristics of Saitama, but it is difficult to visualize in Ichiro the potential of a hero. It may even be the "fault" of the stories we consume - most of which insist on putting young characters because their target audience is also new, have a question of identification - but there is the view that the elderly are those who should be protected, not those who protect, or worse, those who are pushed aside just because of their age. Hiroya Oku brings a strong social critique here, coming from a country that today has an age structure with a higher percentage for the elderly than for children and pre-adolescents, the same country that in 2013 had a minister who declared that "the elderly should hurry and die".

At first, it may be strange to have a oldish as the main character and of course, it is unusual. But the author creates a favorable scenario for him to be welcomed by those who accompany him; of all the characters that appear, Ichiro appears to be the only one to bother with the injustice around him and what shows to have feelings. The character can be a machine, but it is the most realistic of the plot.

Story: 10 | Art: 9 | Character: 10 | Enjoyment: 9
Score: 9/10

I don't have a personal note for this one because all my main reasons are justified in the context of this review.

Well I certainly didn’t realise we could be getting a elderly protagonist in this manga cause there’s always the protagonist being a high school kid doing mischief in the manga world lol. I was surprised to know that this manga had also a MAPPA anime adaption in 2017, although 11 episodes wouldn’t cut the whole manga tbh. Anyways the story was rather a hit or a miss because a lot of things happened that were pretty underwhelming with its contunious kill fest (. I really liked the art though like it was spot on with each characters facial expressions, it was as if they are real life. It was all just so natural! I do wish though that we could deep dive into Shishigami on exactly what goal he was plotting to kill people in the first place. Although flashback tropes are pretty much annoying but in this manga, it was badly needed to give the reader a proper overview on why Shishigami became “the Light alike baddie” in the first place. I felt the author didn’t really focus on Shishigami too much but only the old man. I mean cmon they are both cyborgs like hello? Lol!

Yeah this manga is good to read atw if you’re bored as f if you don’t know what manga to read next.....

Inuyashiki is the second manga I read from Hiroya Oku and my expectations were... well, not to big. But once I started with it I remembered why I fell in love with Gantz (arguably Oku's best work). It has some of the key elements from Gantz like alien technology, the sensation of agitation while reading, identity crisis, etc., but the story acquires such a distinct concept that escapes the "it's a copy!" argument.

What I appreciate the most is the exploration of power and morals of the main characters once they realize they are machines and have special abilities. And not only that, but how through their relatives they attempt to restore their humanity. In regards to the alien technology, this is the bomb that detonates the story and proceeds to plant the seed for the topic of an individual's morality corrupted by power.

I think that my favorite character from this manga is Shishigami Hiro, his character development is the most interesting from all. The design of the city where the story unfolds is good but not too ground-breaking, its pretty pale. The inhabitants of the cities are your usual dosis of nihilistic people that Oku employed on Gantz, you know, to make it more "realistic".

Good manga and a nice reading experience overall.