Inuyashiki

 Inuyashiki (いぬやしき) is a seinen science fiction manga created by Oku Hiroya.  The manga was published between 2014 and 2017 in Evening.  The story was also adapted into a 11 episode anime that was broadcast in the Fall of 2017 as well as a live action movie.

    Inuyashiki Ichiro is a middle aged salary-man who looks much older than he really is.  Due to his appearance and passive nature, his family and everyone else walks all over him.  When he learns that he has terminal cancer he takes a stroll through a local park to clear his mind.  For better or worse, the stroll leads to him being caught in an accident caused by a passing extra terrestrial vehicle.  The inhabitants of the vehicle, not wanting to disturb the balance of the planet, resurrect Inuyashiki with cyborg technology.  Unfortunately, the body they inserted his consciousness into was a military unit, capable of massive destruction.  Inuyashiki does not realize that he is no longer human until the next day when an attempt to quench his thirst leads to his body opening up to vent steam.  No longer constrained by the limits of his dying flesh and blood body, Inuyashiki sees an opportunity to make his mark on the world, as someone who works as a hero for those in need.

    While Inuyashiki assumes the role of geriatric Batman another person suffered the same fate as him that night in the park, a high school student named Shishigami Hiro.  While Inuyashiki assumes the roll of protector, Shishigami lets his nihilistic adolescent mindset direct him to a path of murder.  As Inuyashiki works to save people around him, Shishigami becomes a plague that randomly murders families in quiet neighborhoods.  Inevitably the two will have to confront each other, Inuyashiki as the only other force on Earth that can withstand Shishigami and what his loss of humanity propels him to do.

    As with Oku's well known series, Gantz, the artwork of Inuyashiki is impeccable.  Sadly that is the only thing really going for it.  The story is a banal good vs evil redemption tale that is only made interesting by the nature of its protagonist as a downtrodden middle aged man.  Beyond that there is not much new to add to this story archetype.  While the read and watch are enjoyable, in the end the story is rather boring with the most interesting aspect only referenced in the very beginning, the aliens who imbued the dead characters with new unstoppable cyborg bodies.  Shishigami is an incredibly boring and predictable persona, pushing teenage nihilism to a frequently visited extremity.  His motivations are vague, the dynamic he shares with the characters he does not kill are also equally rote.  Even Inuyashiki's role is that of the paint by numbers unsuspecting hero figure.  Learning his powers as new ways to achieve his self affirming role at savior over the course of the story, awaiting the impending final confrontation.

    While reading the manga as it came out I enjoyed the story, but when I went through it again in one large chunk with the anime adaptation it became apparent how shallow and boring the story actually was.  As with Gantz the anime has a hard time matching the details from the manga, which is Oku's strongest ability.  Gantz however had an interesting mystery plot where Inuyashiki sets up how the entire story will go almost from the beginning.  The anime is a well done and faithful retelling of the story however.  But after everything, Inuyashiki is rather forgettable and not worth the effort.

 

    The manga was available on Crunchyroll as it was being released but has since been removed.  The tankoubon are available in English by Kodansha.  The anime is currently not available on disc in North America.