Inuyashiki

I was surprised by this movie. It was a great action movie, with a sci fi basis. The best part of it was the creation of the evil character. We could see the premisses of his evilness, but the events that followed sealed the deal. The good guy was a surprise as well. He was an unexpected hero as he had a difficult life as well, but he choose the other path. Other than that, the performances were really good and the CGI were decent enough. So, 8 out of 10.

After watching the trailer, reading the sypnosis and checking out the poster, I didn't expect much, but boy, was I surprised by how good and gripping it was. Despite a few far-fetched concepts, which you shouldn't think too much about, I was blown away by the story, the twists and especially how it was told. I especially liked how some of the most tense moments were some of the smaller ones, such as whether the "bad" guy would "shoot" or not, or how far he would go. Despite some great grandiose music at time, the director often knew when to cut off music to improve such moments.

The storytelling was no doubt helped by tremendous acting performances from the leads, the older man (Inuyashiki Ichiro) and the young man (Shishigami Hiro) who develop powers. I was made to feel sympathy for the kind but disrespected Inuyashiki even though he sometimes emoted too much in action scenes. I felt the menace from the usually stoic young man who sometimes showed glimpses of genuine emotion. Even felt sympathy for him sometimes. Those characters had depth, had a progression and were played so well. Even the secondary characters, such as the young man's best friend and the older man's daughter, were played believably and well. I'm often taken out of Japanese films by "exagerated" acting but such was not the case here.

As I was watching, I was struck that perhaps this wasn't a very expensive film after all, not because it looked cheap, but because there was a certain reserve used as for when and how to show special effects (witness the shooting, the analysis power and the use of screens). It probably worked in its favour as it showed story and directing ingenuity. The special effects were otherwise excellent, especially the creepy transformations and the spectacular final showdown worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. I've seen a ton of "superhero" movies, and I'm not even sure Inuyashiki would qualify as one, but the American ones could certainly learn something from it in terms of characters, suspense, sincerity and storytelling. For me, this film was refreshing, heartfelt and exhilirating despite a few silly elements. Bravo!

If this is Japan's bid for the superhero genre, I think we have something to look forward to. As an anime adaptation, it remains a bit cartoon-esque. But the characters have a depth which Marvel can only dream of and the story actually hangs together (oh yes, and when someone gets shot, they bleed).

As an absolute, I would probably give this movie a 7, but to encourage any makers to continue on the path Inuyashiki has taken, I've bumped it up to an 8.

I really enjoyed the Inuyashiki anime for it interesting spin on the old superhero tropes with a darker tone and a unique main character but in the end it just another anime that many people will forget as soon as a new hit come out and the problem here is because how faithful it is to the manga it based on. To be a faithful adaptation to the source material is usually a good thing and need to be celebrate but with Inuyashiki the thing that hold back the anime to become a classic is how everything that helps the plot and characters to progress makes absolute no sense and far too convenient also happened exactly like in the manga which piss me off so much. The live action directed by Shinsuke Sato in the other hand do not follow the manga and anime like a robot when the writer and the director actually care about the quality of the overall movie in stead of how the fans feel and deliver a fantastic retelling story of the good vs the evil with a more grounded and realistic story and to my surprise it works. An important character that badly undeveloped in the source material got more screen time to shine and although it not like something I have never seen before I'm just glad that they put in this time. The ending leaves an open for a sequel that I don't know how it gonna played out but that the beauty of doing your own thing so let's keep our fingers crossed everyone

This is way better than some other else Japan comic based movie like full metal alchemist. The story behind shishikami is really far better than expected, sometime you even forget that there is another protagonist, who is also good by the way but less impressive than shishikami. However, this movie lacked some music when building the character depth making some part not persuasive enough. Anyway, this movie has good protagonist and side characters, and really good plot which makes everything make sense but was even not in the comic. Still worth watching.