INUYASHIKI BY HIROYA OKU

Fifty-eight-year-old Ichiro Inuyashiki is down on his luck and still struggling to find a place in the world after living for so long. He’s constantly ignored, disrespected and put down by his dissatisfied family and judgmental peers regardless of how much effort he puts into trying to give them everything he can to make them happy. He’s too depressed and afraid to stand up for himself and he struggles to find a reason to keep living such an unfulfilling life. Things seem to brighten up for him after he adopts a cute and affectionate dog he names Hanako, but his happiness is instantly robbed from him when he learns from his doctor that he’s been diagnosed with cancer and has less than three months left to live.

Ready to run away from all of his responsibilities and burdens, Ichiro takes a long walk away from home with Hanako and stops to take a rest under the night sky in an empty park to gather his thoughts. Just when things seem like they’ve reached their lowest point, a UFO of all things comes crashing down to earth and lands right on top of the frail old man and a nearby bystander. It seems to be an unfortunate end for Ichiro, until he wakes up completely unscathed and feeling healthier than ever. Hanako is still by his side when he awakes, and both of them know that something isn’t quite right. It seems that the aliens driving the UFO took pity on the poor old man and performed an emergency operation to bring him back from the dead, upgrading his body with their superior technology and leaving him with a few new tricks up his sleeve to keep him safe from harm, such as enhanced vision, hearing, strength, durability and the ability to fly.

With his new and improved hearing capabilities, Ichiro overhears a group of young thugs ganging up on homeless people and beating them to death with baseball bats in the distance. He instinctively rushes to the aid of their next victim and gives the kids the scare of their life after awakening his new superhuman abilities. The homeless man is saved and the kids are brought to justice. For the first time in his life, Ichiro feels like his existence actually means something.

After saving the homeless man, Ichiro takes control of his life with his newfound abilities by using them to save thousands of innocent people from death and violence. After living through one tragedy after another, Ichiro finally finds his purpose, becoming a hero of the people and earning the love and respect he’s desperately wanted since he was a young boy.

Unknown to Ichiro however, the boy that happened to be at the park on the night of the incident went through a similar procedure. The antagonist is a sociopathic teenage boy named Hiro Shishigami, who was blessed with the same godlike powers as Ichiro after having his body reconstructed by the aliens. Unlike the kind old man however, Hiro has no intentions of using his powers for good. And so begins an unlikely battle between a heroic, lovable grandpa and a young genocidal maniac.

Inuyashiki explores what happens when people suddenly gain the power of gods. Some people use it to turn their lives around, other people use it to take revenge on the world. Power doesn’t always corrupt a person, there are a few genuinely good souls out there that put their power and influence to good use. Ichiro is a humble man that only feels alive when he saves other people from death and despair, he uses his power out of love for humanity and only wishes to be loved in return. He’s fragile and reliant on others, but he’s selfless and heroic all the same.

Hiro only feels alive when he sees other lives come to an end. He hates the world and he feels nothing towards others, with the exception of his mother, a single friend from school and a girl he develops surprisingly warm feelings for. This is where his sociopathic tendencies begin to get more complex, because he genuinely seems capable of having strong feelings toward a select group of people. He also cries for fictional characters when reading his favorite books and he even breaks down in tears when bad things happen to the few people he cares about. His unpredictable nature makes him a terrifying and fascinating individual, breaking the definition of a pure sociopath or psychopath.

That being said, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more interesting hero/villain dynamic than that of a sweet old grandpa and a demented teenager. One thing I absolutely loved about the dark subject matter of the story is that the extreme violence and psychological horror elements throughout the series were taken very seriously. It’s never done just for shock value or being over the top, even though there are quite a few incredibly disturbing moments. Every single time someone dies or a cruel act is performed, the characters always take the time to reflect on the aftermath of the consequences of what happened and gives you enough time to soak in the pain.

Ichiro values human life, and even sheds tears when he has no choice but to use violence against irredeemable criminals that refuse to surrender to justice. Even Hiro begins to reflect on his life choices and abuse of his superhuman powers after the consequences of his actions catch up to him and transform his unstoppable rampage into an ocean of guilt, regret and self-loathing. Not a single act goes unpunished in this series, and the way these actions linger in the characters' minds and forces them to take a second look at themselves is masterfully done.

It’s a very original take and criticism on the superhero genre. Heroes and villains are criticized in equal measure. You can rarely do something good without having a few negative consequences that go along with it, and the opposite can also be true. It portrays society in a nihilistic, yet very believable way by cleverly integrating parodies of twitter drama and forum-based chat sites such as 4chan, where everyone is desensitized to kindness and cruelty and get off on dehumanizing each other from behind the safety of a computer monitor. If a superhero or a supervillain were to appear in this day and age, many people would probably shrug off their actions because they’ve been so desensitized by internet culture and ultra-violent media. People can hear about school shootings and terrorist attacks that killed thousands of innocent people on the news everyday and not bat an eye because they’ve heard the same old story so many times before. As sad as it may sound, sometimes people just come to expect the absolute worst from the world and they grow numb to the shocking events that transpire every moment. The satirical yet harsh social commentary benefits the adult superhero narrative to great effect.

Inuyashiki isn’t all doom and gloom, however. It’s actually a very heartwarming tale about being able to overcome your status as an outcast, accepting your role in the world and coming to terms with your past in order to change your life around for the greater good. I think the ending really hits home with these themes and messages, and it sure as hell sent me through an emotional roller coaster.

If there’s one thing to take away from this series, it’s that everyone has a hero inside of them waiting for their chance to shine. No matter how feeble, meaningless or cruel your past actions may have been, there’s always a new opportunity waiting just around the corner if you ever decide to make a change for the better and bring something good into the world. These acts of kindness might not make up for the things you’ve done in the past, but there’s no denying that they have the potential to make the future a brighter place for someone else. No matter how insignificant they may seem, every little action, choice and sacrifice you make has the power to change the future. It’s never too late to start doing the right thing.