Kinoko Inu

Grief-stricken over the death of his last family member, his dog Hanako, picture book writer Hotaru Yuuyami suffers from writer's block for nearly two months. Despite his childhood friend and editor Tsubaki Uehara's best efforts, nothing seems to alleviate his pain. But all of this changes one day with the sudden apparition of Kinoko Inu, a mysterious mushroom from his garden that turns into a dog-shaped animal. Much to the great dismay of Tsubaki, Hotaru hastily invites the creature into his abode.

Days after Hotaru and Kinoko Inu start living together, the strange mushroom-dog decides to burn the last of Hanako's personal belongings in order to alleviate Hotaru's depression. However, the cohabitation between the overworked writer and his mischievous guest proves more difficult than expected, and Hotaru must let go of his grief if he wants to properly take care of Kinoko Inu.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kinoko Inu Main

Kobayashi, Daiki Japanese

Yuuyami, Hotaru Main

Uemura, Yuuto Japanese

Plum Supporting

Kuno, Misaki Japanese

Amano, Ayumi Supporting

Hatano, Wataru Japanese

Hotaru's Father Supporting

Uehara, Tsubaki Supporting

Senbongi, Sayaka Japanese

Uehara, Anzu Supporting

Hinano Japanese

Yara, Itsuki Supporting

Terashima, Takuma Japanese

Amano, Komako Supporting

Nagase, Anna Japanese

Asano, Kagetoshi Director

Yoshida, Kouhei Sound Director

IBERIs& Theme Song Performance

HY Theme Song Performance

Reviews

Dec 19, 2024

KANLen09

Recommended

Kinokoinu: Mushroom Pup — A dog that can disguise itself as a mushroom? What gives of this shenanigan's premise?

Let me keep this short, plain, and simple: the niche topics have always been the shows that people ventured "less the road travelled," and their predictability from start to finish depends on how you feel about the series as a whole. And this Fall, besides the more palpable and digestible Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru. a.k.a If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student., there is yet another show that flies even lower than the radar, though its seemingly cute nature will turn more people off and not ... appreciate how different it is in the sea of the never-ending wash, rinse, repeat cycle of Isekai and fantasy shows. My friends, that show is this one — mangaka Kimama Aoboshi's lone work of Kinoko Inu: Mushroom Pup (which its 74 chapters in 15 volumes that took 12 years of publication, is quite the long run).

Pretty much like Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru., Kinoko Inu's plot is one and the same of dealing with life's grievances and learning to move on to better things ahead in the same lifeline. And this story involves a human and his beloved dog, once the best adage of "man's best friend" to old age, so much that said human cannot easily forget how much it meant to him. This is the tale of Hotaru Yuyami, living his keep as an author, and how his beloved pet friend of Hanako's natural passing enables one rather supernatural walk in the form of a pink mushroom, being an observer...to the pup that acts on its own accord and gives no second thought to the people around it.

First of all, who comes up with this weird premise, and yet finds a way to make this all work? Not if you get into the mind of its eccentric author, that's what. Kinoko Inu is quite the supernatural anomaly of a pet in a rather slice-of-life, Iyashikei world, being surrounded by regular humans that find it all the more intriguing, from being offered melon breads to takoyaki, and also just being the goofball that it is, the mushroom pup is such an emotional delight of a trip for its owner, who has to slowly acknowledge that with or without Hanako, Hotaru must inevitably move on, emotionally and physically, with his usual unexpressive, depressive mood. Thankfully, he's not alone in this regard alongside his childhood friend-cum-editor of Komako Amano, as well as the eccentric mushroom researcher of Itsuki Yara (who seemingly has a gay reflection on Hotaru), before being joined by the unlikeliest of people with the Ueharas of daughter Anzu and mother Tsubaki (who just so happened to be yet another childhood friend of Hotaru and Amano), with their yet another mushroom pup, this time a purple one they call Plum. Of course, the selling of the premise of how and why Kinoko Inu exists is one of intrigue, being a story as far as time would allow since Hotaru's existence from young and essentially growing up and not heeding any regard to it, until its importance rears its head into this weaving story of life, death, and learning to experience joy unspeakable. All in all, the heartwarming experience sells its soul here so that we feeble humans can soak in the emotional feels; that's all for the right reasons.

Being a C-Station anime, having the studio produce yet another slice-of-life, Iyashikei show, this is right under its wheelhouse, having produced the now bigger-than-life series that is Yuru Camp. And I guess this shouldn't be a surprise when Kinoko Inu is done by most of the in-house staff team coming from the franchise itself: storyboarder Kagetoshi Asano serving his directorial debut, scriptwriter-cum-series composer Jin Tanaka, music composer Akiyuki Tateyama, and many more. It's simple on the eyes with minimalist animation, but overall, it gets the job done.

With Akiyuki Tateyama's touch on the music, while every show or series that he did was hit-and-miss to some degree, it's the Yuru Camp feels that he brings to the table for Kinoko Inu. And given his work on the Bananya series, the show excels at its use of musical tones to good effect, and it shows. Even both HY's OP and Iberis&'s ED are lively and poppy songs, though I'd say that the OP is much more musically fitting and the better of the two since it's composed specifically for the anime. Still good marks around.

Kinoko Inu: Mushroom Pup is a criminally underrated hidden gem, in every sense of the word. It's just made so for the purpose of differentiating in the sea of never-ending tropes, and it's the perfect match for times like these to experience something out of the usual comfort zone. In contrast to the veteran series that is Natsume Yuujinchou a.k.a Natsume: Book of Friends (that's airing its 7th season), alongside this show, it still remains that SoL/Iyashikei series are just not for everyone, and this is quite the shame for an industry so focused on the predictable nowadays.

At least I can say that I've enjoyed this lil' show that is a blip in the ever-evolving seasonal chart, and it made its mark in an adorable manner.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by KANLen09 (676)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Mar 12, 2025

lucaslinkclick

Recommended

tbh this anime is targeted at a very specific audience. there is no action as its just a relaxing slice-of-life anime. you might enjoy watching this if you like the animes which are considered 'good but boring'.

characters:
the main character was plain, but that isnt a bad thing! the supporting characters were definitely the highlight of the anime. the mc slightly changed personality when with different people, which was interesting to watch.

the mushroom dog-thing:
it was so so so cute! sometimes i was like 'its kind of weird' but idk it just grew on me . now its my favourite character.

this anime is really good and i ... think wrongfully underrated. i agree that the premise is a bit silly. also the show doesn't take itself seriously and i think that's the difference between being cringy and enjoyable.

i would say to try it for a few episodes, it may grow on you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by lucaslinkclick (2)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Dec 28, 2024

PixelB

Not Recommended

Preliminary (3/12 eps)

"A strange mushroom in my garden grew into some weird mushroom dog creature." How long did you think it took the anime to show this to the viewer? Around half an episode. I think that's enough said for how much the show loves dragging its feet for seemingly no reason at all. You might be thinking that there's some context, character building, and so on in those first twelve minutes. You'd be --sort of-- right.

However, I completely just disagree with how characters are being built up. I get it. The main character is grieving over his dead dog that he loved with all his heart. ... You really didn't need to showcase flashbacks of that though. It's already being shown in present day that the main character hurts over it, and then you're just randomly adding flashback sequences to show things that the viewer already inherently understands through the simple story and dialogue that's been shown so far. Again, is this flashback simulator or is there going to be any actual character interaction?

The first few episodes are such nothingburgers. The main character is boring as hell, the mushroom dog can't carry the show entirely, and the paltry side characters are nothing to write home about. I don't really find the healing or slice of life to be particularly well executed, and it just feels like this should have been a show with 4 minute episodes instead of 24.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by PixelB (454)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

amazing anime with adult characters and ship-bait

by lucaslinkclick

23 Entries · 3 Restacks

Ayalalleitinho in a nutshell

by ayalalleite

50 Entries · 2 Restacks

Anime for the male demographic with strong shoujo influences and elements.

by RobertBobert

14 Entries · 13 Restacks

Fall 2024 Simulcast List [Update 10/7]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of television anime acquired for simulcast release during the Fall 2024 season. Anime series licensed for home ...read more

Oct 1, 2024 11:20 AM by Snow | Discuss (10 comments)

Fall 2024 Preview

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of Fall 2024 titles with an accompanying promotional video, commercial, teaser, or trailer. This post will be u...read more

Sep 21, 2024 10:01 AM by Snow | Discuss (12 comments)

	Poll: Kinoko Inu Episode 10 Discussion Serafos - Dec 5, 2024	6 replies	by traed »» Feb 6, 10:54 PM
	Poll: Kinoko Inu Episode 12 Discussion KANLen09 - Dec 19, 2024	16 replies	by ExistentialUFO »» Jan 19, 10:50 PM
	Poll: Kinoko Inu Episode 2 Discussion Serafos - Oct 10, 2024	21 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Dec 26, 2024 8:09 PM
	Poll: Kinoko Inu Episode 1 Discussion KANLen09 - Oct 3, 2024	35 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Dec 26, 2024 3:20 PM
	Poll: Kinoko Inu Episode 11 Discussion Serafos - Dec 12, 2024	4 replies	by FutoiOtaku »» Dec 16, 2024 5:19 PM