Inuyashiki Volume 1

“The years between 50 and 70 are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down.” – T. S. Eliot 

The front cover of this manga already indicates that it is different from many others available in English, in that the title character is a man in late-middle age.

Ichiro Inuyashiki is a 58-year-old who has a lot of problems. His wife and children have no respect for the guy. He works hard, he tries to love his family, but they show nothing in return. The only living thing that shows him any affection is his recently adopted dog Hanako. Plus he has a lot of health problems, from a sore throat to a bad back, but after one trip to see his doctor he gets the worst news imaginable: he is diagnosed with stomach cancer, and given only three months to live. 

Walking in a park with Hanako one night, Ichiro and a young man nearby are blasted by a strange alien life-form. The aliens are not seen, but are heard to say that while their bodies cannot be brought back to normal, their outward appearances can be made to look normal. The problem is that the aliens only have weapons-grade stock.

Ichiro then wakes up, with Hanako next to him, looking perfectly normal. But his arm suddenly starts to give off steam and he discovers that all of his aches and pains have gone. He goes to the doctor and finds his stomach cancer has vanished. Nurses try to carry out tests, but every time they take a syringe to his arm the needle breaks. In Ichiro’s bedroom, Hanako licks his master’s hand, but as the dog does so, it hits something, causing his arm to suddenly open and take the form of a cannon which ejects the contents of Ichiro’s stomach. Ichiro finds another button in his nostril that allows him to open up his head to reveal a strange mechanical orb for a brain, and thus discovers he is now no longer human. 

Ichiro learns that his new improved body has other powers, such as improved hearing, a rear-view camera that literally gives him eyes in the back of his head, face-recognition abilities, lasers that fire out of his back, and the ability to send information over vast networks including social media and television. He uses these abilities to stop a gang of youths attacking a homeless man. Ichiro therefore decides to use his powers to save as many lives as he can, in order to prove his humanity. The only problem is that he does not know what happened to the other person on the hill, student Shishigami Hiro. It seems that Hiro is more malevolent in his desires.

For me the main appeal of this manga is the lead character. While most manga available in English feature a hero who is usually a young man, to have a central character who is a 58-year-old, and one with these strange superpowers is very appealing. You feel for Ichiro because of how awful his life is, how no-one at home cares for him, his poor health, and now things are slowly changing. Of course, in the second volume we will witness more of Hiro to counterpoint Ichiro. 

The appearance of Hiro does lead to one of the more fun moments in the manga which sees him visiting a fellow student in his bedroom. It turns out that this student is a big fan of the manga Gantz, which is created by Hiroya Oku, the creator of Inuyashiki as well. The scene sees Hiro talking about how people hate Gantz and attack it online in a rather amusing self-referential way. There are a fair few surprising cultural references in this manga, explained the translation notes, ranging from songs, films, and a British magazine, because in the storyline about the gang of thugs attacking the homeless there is a reference to The Big Issue.

Inuyashiki has been good so far, and it looks like it will be worth continuing with.