There are going to be reviews out there that compare Inu-Oh to Heike Monogatari, and this is on basis of source material alone. Both are based on the Heike periods of Japan, both have watercolor styling, and both are done by production studio Science SARU. These reviews are wrong. Inu-Oh has more in common with a street-side concert or a friend’s house party gig. It has more in common with a small venue and a loud local band that’s a few notches too loud; It has more in common with the street musician you pass by and almost think about giving a couple bucks. It's a psycho-sexual self-actualization amidst a culturally stagnant society, where putting your axe to the grindstone everyday for a shave you don't like is the only thing you do because you've been told to stay alive your whole life. “Staying alive”, what does that mean? It means to reveling in the endless passion of your feats, honing every ounce of spirit you can feel leaving your body, grabbing them and forcing them back into a purified essence that is true life. Not establishment, but self-actualization. Inu-Oh's rejection of normalcy comes in multiple ways. The rejection of gender, the rejection of stagnation, and the rejection of mundanity all at once. The rejection of a one-size-fits-all cookie cutter marries the acceptance of the ever-changing mold of our being.
No matter how big-armed or demon-faced or otherwise indescribably ugly you are, you must realize you are the only iteration of you that truly exists. Flaunt your big-ass gross-ass nasty-ass arm because people adore that. Is it normal? Far from it, and far be it for you to hide it any longer! What happens when society takes that same arm away from you? You grow it back.
Organized society is old news. As long as we love others and love ourselves, that is true wealth. So says the overwhelming spirit of Inu-Oh. Inu-Oh is a ballad to the soul, a strike to the veins, and a performance of life. Why embrace tradition when you can embrace yourself instead? Everyone wants to be somebody, then embody that somebody. BE grisly, BE disheveled, BE unsightly, but above all, BE unreasonably you. Dare to be darkness in the light.
This is our moment. Let it never be anything else than this. Let it never be the future or the past, let it be now. Inu-Oh laughs in the face of rules, mocking repeats them aloud, chews them up, and spits them out. It's not so much a portrayal of man’s evolution as much as men have always been this. Not just men, but conscious entities, the first of the globe, built with purpose and drive. We are the first creatures we know to completely wallow into ourselves. This world is an endless source of beauty that resounds against every establishment, every rule we’ve ever known, and it's irrevocably tragic how many of us will never realize our full potential. Those are the bounds of society, meant for guidelines but taken as rules, taken as the status quo. You are never taught to be yourself or to try something outside the box, you must discover that all by yourself. That is Inu-Oh. A creature born of something, some demonic force not meant to exist, but that exists anyways, and must cope with its reason for life. For Inu-Oh, it is a life of performance. For you, that may be something different. However, there’s always that looming ceiling above our heads. Conformity may want you to be something else; it may want you to revel in the disgusting, morphing, unsightly parts of yourself and critique them, instead of acknowledging the unique beauty of you, as no one else can be who you are. The combination, the sum of what makes you you is something that will never be replaced to such a specific degree so why care about fitting any mold? Wear makeup. Dance in the street. Scream your heart out.
They will clip your branches, you will bleed, it will hurt to push forward. But keep playing. Playing is the ultimate rebellion. Everything is fiction, so act accordingly. If this film is a closing ceremony for Yuasa, there is not a better note to end on. It is what he's always done - broke the norm, stretched the envelope, rejected tradition. At the same time, while it may be a goodbye to himself, it's a hello to the new in the same breath. It’s a passing of the baton to new talent, to a promise of the future whilst acknowledging the past in a single brush stoke. Art is never over. Inu-Oh portrays the Heike as humanity, and Inu-Oh themself as its vassal, in form of an extravagant creative. Those who embrace themselves embrace the world. Let it never be otherwise. Let us perform our song.
if you only perform it once, let it be yours.
it's not all glory, there has to be pain. there must be. always.
but that's okay.
because you did indeed perform. because you did that yourself.
and because you did it once, you'll do it for eternity.
climb on the back of history and write yourself into it.
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