Before we begin the review, I would like to express a heartfelt thanks to my parents, my sister, all the people who supported me through these tough times, my laptop screen for enduring it with me, and the animation studio for making the episodes just twelve minutes long. Second, I would like to convey earnest apologies to my parents, my sister, my Internet Service Provider, God, and all the people in my life who had hopes for me.
Our protagonist wakes up to the rain falling in his face, and a high-school girl, Inukai-san, telling him, the dog, that he's her pet now. Already, the anime distinguishes itself from the rest by putting the viewer into a first-person POV, which is used masterfully to illustrate how the perspective of a canine is worlds apart from a human's as the POV pans upwards from her feet, thighs, stomach and chest, to finally come to rest on her face. At this point, everyone except the protagonist is aware of the fact that he is a dog in the literal sense, showcasing the depth of the author's genius when it comes to characterization: Inukai-san is talking on the phone about bringing a dog home. Our dear main character does not realize she's referring to him, demonstrating to the viewer that his intelligence has also reached the levels of a dog's.
Next, we see the author, Gosei Furukawa, further flaunt his skill at character development and theme-setting when the protagonist notices how the rain is soaking through Inukai-san's school uniform, to expose her undergarments. This reveals her maturity and love for the protagonist as she lets herself get wet
She'll later name him Pochita. Chainsaw Man viewers must be rejoicing that such a great and lovable character shares the name of their beloved anime's main character. Inukai-san then takes Pochita the dog with her into her shower, and then later, her bath. At this point, the viewing experience had become incredibly difficult (for no particular reason), so I had to speed the anime up to 2x speed. This forced me to focus all my efforts on reading the subtitles so that I would not have to look at the visuals. This, however, backfired because now, against my will, the complete power of my vigorous imagination was compensating for all the artwork I was not witnessing, putting all efforts of the animators to shame with vivid mental imagery. Shortly after, I developed a well-known defense mechanism, common among viewers of "My Life as Inukai-san's Dog," called "dissociation," which allowed me to absorb the contents of this wonderful story without impacting my emotional and spiritual chakras.
Watching this anime was a journey of the mind and the soul. I discovered the five stages of grief, as theorized by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, from denial, anger, bargaining, depression, to, finally, acceptance. I even had the time of my life laughing at the various psychologically taxing, and frankly, humorless, scenarios presented by the anime. If someone had peeked into my room at 3 A.M. that night, they would have found me scrolling through Reddit, looking at raccoon and opossum GIFs to bring my soul respite. I would also discover, around the same time that night, that looking at dog GIFs, in particular, had become painful for some reason.
I believe I have come through this incident a stronger and more capable human being, ready to face the world once more because surely it can only go upward from here; unless they decide to make a second season.
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