Name: Inuyashiki: Brutal, Lovely, Grotesque, Alienating. Most of all, fulfilling.
Item: Inuyashiki
Rating: 78
Author: TedMan123

Waifra

Inuyashiki: Brutal, Lovely, Grotesque, Alienating. Most of all, fulfilling. · Waifora

~~~~~~Inuyashiki: An Exploration of the Value of Human Life and Empathy In a Modern World

Hiroya Oku's Inuyashiki is just as equally grotesque as it is human and fulfilling. This balance is used to cover two sides of the spectrum of morality, humanity, and alienation.

The story starts off with Ichiro Inuyashiki. A 58-year old man with a withering appearance from stress, an unseeming man who, if you were to see on the street, would blend into the crowd. This man, who worked hard to provide a house for his ungrateful family, has his life turned around with a sudden diagnosis of stomach cancer. This is where the comparisons between Ikiru, the black and white Japanese movie that this manga takes place from, stop. Ichiro, after being blown off by his family while trying to explain his cancer diagnosis to them, walks into a park as an attempt to relax and calm down, only to be killed by an alien spaceship crash, along with a young man named Hiro Shishigami. As an attempt to resurrect the both of them, the aliens rebuild their bodies with weapon kits. Ichiro's response to becoming this half-robot half-man is to try and save as many people as he can. In contrast, the young man, Hiro Shishigami, uses it to cause trouble and kill. This is what sets the stage for the main conflict of the manga, Ichiro's altruism and Hiro's nihilism.

The thing that I think this series prioritizes and mainly excels in is its exploration of the ideologies of altruism and nihilism with Hiro and Ichiro as vehicles. Ichiro is the representation of deciding to do good inside of a world filled with bad, a thankless job that is fulfilled by the knowledge of knowing what you're doing is good. Hiro, in contrast to Ichiro's altruism, and as a result of his alienation and disconnect from others, takes on a much more nihilistic ideology, not sharing empathy for people he isn't close to, and killing them for fun. Ichiro saves people to feel human, Hiro kills to feel human.

Spoiler, click to view

While, at times, I find Hiro interesting, I do think Ichiro is stronger than him as a character to a pretty significant degree. Hiro's characters feels somewhat unfocused at times, and his lack of a consistent or substantive worldview makes me feel as if what Ichiro is fighting against is evil without motivation, despite the attempt that Hiroya makes to try and justify Hiro doing what he does, or at least him having a reason to. He also carries out one of the most repetitive and poorly paced arcs of the manga, his battle against Japan. It's about ten chapters of people just being killed, and it really disrupts the manga significantly.

Hiroya's art is absolutely beautiful, contrasting drawings with actual physical objects to highlight the uncanniness of the world and using shading to represent corruption or proximity to darkness. The contrast between drawings and real life objects help show while this is a realistic world, something is off. While I'm not the most qualified in relation to speaking on art style and how it affects the tone and narrative of a manga, Hiroya delivers it perfectly.

Spoiler, click to view

The only part of the manga I have somewhat substantial qualms with is when the President of the United States decides to not only announce to the world that it was going to end, but that everything was now legal, and anyone could act on their sick desires. I can suspend my belief, sure, but this story is still set in a realistic setting, aliens aside, and characters should act logically. It seems like such a weird turn of events, and as if it was put in just to draw more weird stuff.

In conclusion, I find Inuyashiki a somewhat overhated, but also flawed experience that has an interesting concept and execution. It's pretty good, and I'd recommend it considering its length.