First Impressions / Inuyashiki

「宍上裕子」 (Yuko Shishigami)
“Yuko Shishigami”

Well wasn’t this a week for surprises. Inuyashiki has certainly pushed the envelope in terms of its characters, but I was always under the impression Hiro would inevitably drive the conflict. He would find out who Ichiro was, he would take measures against him, and he would ultimately force Ichiro into confronting him, likely by targeting Ichiro’s daughter. Colour me surprised then when the kid tries turning a new leaf, the cops get involved (finally), and Ichiro decides to go after Hiro first. Our sociopath may still technically be driving this story, but in a way I never thought would happen.

Probably the most important focus of this week was obviously on Hiro. I think it’s well documented by now that he is not evil, but his actions this week should prove the point for any remaining doubters. Hiro at his core is still human, he can feel love and happiness, sadness and regret. The problem is Hiro cannot feel these emotions beyond immediate family or friends. He aches at the thought of losing his mother, but throws off a girl’s confession with a gilded thanks and no second thought (not to mention that painful nickname spoken without regret). The kid simply lacks the variety of empathy we take as normal, the capacity to care about people and things not directly associated with our own lives. The spree of murders? An attempt to fill the void born from this lack of empathy. Hiro is not evil, he is defective. What particularly interests me though is the sincerity of Hiro’s revealed compassion. Does he actually care for the well-being of his family, the happiness of his mother, or does he care only for the feelings they induce within him? This is a critical question to answer because it will explain how Hiro acts from here on out. You could imagine genuine care would have him surrender peacefully (so not as to worsen his mother’s shock), while selfishness would probably see him fight back out of survival instinct. I admit I’m heavily expecting the latter next episode (he is the antagonist), but the former is definitely not out of the question.

The other tangent this week of course was Ichiro and his quest to stop Hiro. This I never saw coming, I always believed Ichiro would be forced into confronting Hiro after a major transgression, not actively pursue the kid himself. Probably not too surprising considering Ichiro’s act of justice last week, but still unexpected. Ichiro’s actions, however, continue to refine the foil he sets against Hiro, in a way solidifying him into a more stringent executor of good against Hiro’s permeating complexity. As our villain seeks to end the violence, our unlikely hero grows more rigid with his actions, now outright admitting he may have to kill for the sake of peace. It’s an intriguing dichotomy, made all the more meaty by Ichiro’s remarks about trying to forget his body’s potential by performing acts of good. Both characters know what they are, but one apparently accepts it outright (at least for now) while the other fears for the possibilities. Whether down to the moral nature of both Hiro and Ichiro or not, Inuyashiki is presenting a vividly realistic picture of what indomitable power in the hands of ordinary men can do. Some see it as a tool for personal use, others a means to help the world, but all at some level fear its will. Eventually it will come to define you, whether you want it to or not. What Inuyashiki is asking is when you’ll let it.

Starting next time, however, Inuyashiki looks set to explore the elephant in the room that is the impact of Hiro’s and Ichiro’s actions. Hiro may be the immediate target (likely thanks to Naoyuki), but I imagine Ichiro is not far from being outed as Tokyo’s miracle working angel. Both have attracted a great deal of attention, and the question now is how they will come to handle its piercing glare. Hurry up Thursday, I want to know.

14 Comments

  1. I couldn’t help but shed a tear during the scene with Hiro and his mother. Kid is a bloody murderer…but I still felt for him. I do like the respond of his mother. She would rather die with him and go to hell with him. I don’t know yet if it means that Hiro’s mom wouldn’t abandon/denounce his own mom. Though I think it’s…kind of weird for the mom to say that to her own son when it was just an innocent question xD there’s a part of me that thinks there’s something dark about the mother too.

    tanz
    Reply

  3. I really liked how Hiro’s childhood friend used his noggin and realized
    that there are more than one, and that if there are more than one, then
    maybe, they have similar capabilities. So he cried out for help hoping
    that the super-hearing ability would bring the good guy. The risk (and I
    felt the implied suspense – well done Anime) was that it should have been
    more likely to call Hiro since:

    — Hiro was probably closer, and
    — Hiro would have recognized the voice as his childhood friend and maybe come to investigate.

    The only weirdness / skip was how do you explain to your mom about
    bringing a half-naked older man into your room? I also think it was very
    in-character for Ichiro to try to play dumb when questioned about what
    he is. Eventually, he fessed up.

    Anyway, that aside, this episode shows that Hiro is a more complex
    character than a simple killing machine. I don’t know if he’ll try to fight
    his way out (he could easily fly away, amiright?), but he can’t be killed by
    conventional means, either.

    Surprisingly interesting series…

    mac65
    Reply

    1. The thing is, Hiro isn’t using his super-hearing to listen to cries of help regularly like old man Ichiro, he really doesn’t care about saving anyone so he doesn’t use that power at all, and was never shown actively using it like Ichiro does.

      That’s why Hiro wouldn’t have heard his friend’s cries of help.

      Hunter-Wolf
      Reply

  5. Sure Hiro had some touching moments with his mom but don’t let his happy family time with his dad and step family give any impression that he’s a nice guy at heart or anything.

    It’s likely no coincidence that his non school related murders just happen to be targeting happy families and on a deeper level he really wants to murder his step mom, brother and sister and is taking it out on strangers instead.

    qwert
    Reply

  6. I like how this show is showing some realistic aspect of it like the police finally getting a hold of Hiro. Even though he’s a robot-human and does not require any weapons to kill people, it wouldn’t make sense that the police wouldn’t be able to find him.
    Which makes me think that the police could somewhat find Ichirou..

    This episode had so much events happening just within 25 minutes.. Even Naoyuki was smart enough to get over his fears and come up with meeting Ichirou.. that was pretty cool of him.

    lunascha
    Reply

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