Back to Nikoran's Profile Nikoran's Profile

Inuyashiki is something that I stumbled upon years ago when looking for a new series to read. I saw the cover art of the first volume and thought "this looks weird, let's give it a shot."

I'm glad I read it. It's a good story about an old man who finally finds purpose, after dying and being reconstructed into an android by mysterious alien lifeforms.

I was very skeptical when the anime was announced. I'm not usually a fan of CG in anime and after the trainwrecks that were the two series of the recent adaption of Berserk, you can probably see why I was unsure about ... this. However, my worries were unwarranted. The CG is only used sparingly for the most part, for scenes when Inuyashiki or Hiro are flying about or engaged in battle. While I think it does degrade slightly as the series goes on, it's not as bad as some other series I've watched.

The story starts off great. An old man gets turned into an android after an accidental death thanks to some joyriding alien lifeforms. It shows him coming to terms with it, discovering what he is capable of and finally embracing it. I really like Inuyashiki as a character because he's an emotional wreck. Simple things like saving someone will cause him to break down into tears of happiness. I'm really not sure why I enjoyed this so much but that's besides the point.

Hiro, on the other hand, is the polar opposite of the main protagonist. Just like Inuyashiki, he is accidentally killed and reconstructed into an android. Whille Inuyashiki is using his powers for good, Hiro uses his for absolute evil. He doesn't go about starting a criminal empire or invade countries, he is essentially Jack the Ripper. In the beginning, he chooses his victims by doing eeny meeny miney mo. The unlucky ones are straight up murdered in the most horrific and psychopathic ways. However, after a point in the story, he is redeemed. I do think this was a bit rushed but looking at the manga author's track record, it was probably best it ended here before it spiraled into incomprehensible garbage.

The story for me started to crumble a bit around 3/4 of the way through. As mentioned before, it felt rushed and ended a bit too soon. Small things were cut from this adaption. Some things that were cut didn't annoy me but other things did slightly. I won't go into spoilers as I don't want to spoil anything for anyone that wants to read reviews first before watching it themselves.

I do believe that some plot points could have been explored more but again, the author probably wanted to end it before he started going batshit crazy.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with this series. Seeing someone basically do what kids do when they pretend to be army men and pretend to have guns murder hundreds of people will always be funny to me.

"It gets better as it goes in" is definitely something someone should go into this when starting for the first time.

The first 12-13 episodes aren't the best, nothing really goes anywhere, I can describe those episodes as maybe more alike Lupin III. So if you don't have a problem with that sort of format, you'll be fine, if not, stick with it, once you get past the roadblock, it makes for some really entertaining watching.

You don't really need to have seen the OVA and movie to really understand what's going on. The show starts at Akko's induction into Luna Nova and takes off from there. ... However, I would recommend checking them out at least, if you can, as they're also some really good watching.

The world, the characters, the whole feel of the show clicked with me instantly. Each characters are varied, the clash between old magic and new modern traditions makes for some interesting scenarios that take place in the show.

All in all, is this worth a watch? Of course. If you enjoyed Trigger's previous works, you'll most likely enjoy this. If you're like me and didn't like Kill La Kill (the only trigger series i'd heard of before starting this), it'll probably take some time before you get into it. I'd recommend the OVA and/or movie so you can get an idea about what the show is about and whether or not it is for you.

Usually when I get paid every month, I'll try and at least buy something different from my usual reads. I've been a slight fan of Astro Boy and the sort of spin-off Pluto series. I looked up some of Osamu Tekzuka's other works and had a look at Ayako. After reading the synopsis, I thought it would be an interesting read seeing how much darker than it seems in comparison with Astro Boy.

The start of this was very promising, you get a good feel for each of the characters, their motivations and all of that. The culmination of the first arc, so to speak, led ... for an interesting read. However, as the manga continues, it sort of begins to lose its momentum in terms of plot and how the characters were used.

The art is what you expect of a Tekzuka work, one of a kind. It still surprisingly holds up to this day and was great to look at.

My gripes are more to do with maybe mid-end of it. Without spoiling anything, the titular Ayako becomes character of circumstance and faces punishment. The timeskips, which were well done, I have to say, show how she has been affected by this. However, it becomes very frustrating when the same thing happens over and over.

The ending is very confusing in terms of how I felt when I finished it. I suppose it's punishment for the characters involved and justice for Ayako but it ends very abruptly with a couple of lines of text that basically say "and Ayako was never heard from again." I suppose it just came down to constraints on the author at the time of creation.

Overall, I wouldn't say i'm disappointed by this by any means. My gripes are more to do with some of the plot and character development. I would recommend this definitely if you're a fan of Tezuka's. The journey is definitely a strange one and some of the stuff will have you cringing at the mere thought of what happens on the way through it.