Anime Review: "Inuyashiki (Last Hero)”

Although I haven't blogged about it here yet, I am a huge manga and anime fan. Have been for about four years now. Recently, I came across the series “Inuyashiki (Last Hero)” on Crunchyroll, part of their spotlighted MAPPA Studio collection. I’m halfway through this 11-episode series, which originally aired in 2022. It’s about a middle aged office worker and a disaffected teenage boy who are both resurrected as cyborgs with alien technology after being struck and killed by a runaway UFO. Both the older man and the boy discover they now have amazing powers and abilities but choose to use them for completely different purposes.

The man vows to use his to help his fellow man (and in episode 4 where he takes down a sadistic Yakuza leader and his gang, it’s phenomenal), while the boy amuses himself by using his abilities to kill people brutally and at random. Their paths are sure to collide as the series continues.

This is a bloody, brutal anime, with beautiful artwork reminiscent of GANTZ (so it’s no surprise when one of the secondary characters reveals he’s a fan of the GANTZ manga). There is some dark and very adult content in this, so it’s definitely not for kids, but so far, the story is compelling, tense, and totally binge worthy. Just when I thought I’d seen anything worth watching in Crunchyroll’s backlist, they go and surprise me.