atomicpoet on Nostr: I finally finished Inuyashiki: Last Hero, and man, I think this is one of the best ...
I finally finished Inuyashiki: Last Hero, and man, I think this is one of the best anime I’ve ever seen.
It took me a long time to finish because it’s so emotionally intense—I just didn’t have the bandwidth to get through it quickly.
This is a superhero anime, but not the typical kind. It’s more of a deconstruction of the superhero mythos. Now, deconstructing superheroes has been done a lot, right? That’s been going on for at least 50 years. But this one is completely different. This isn’t about antiheroes. It’s the opposite of antiheroes. In a way, Inuyashiki: Last Hero feels like the polar opposite of Watchmen.
The story follows an old, meek, and mild man who’s completely overlooked by everyone. When people do notice him, they humiliate him for who he is. He’s a loser with no glamour in his life. He’s 58 years old but looks even older. His family doesn’t respect him, his coworkers don’t respect him—he’s invisible in every way. Then one day, while walking his dog in the park, something happens that completely changes his life and turns him into a superhero.
Sure, we’ve heard that trope before, but what makes Inuyashiki so unique, so compelling, and so intense is the villain. This guy is infuriating. I wanted to throttle him myself, to step into the anime and take him out. You think Lex Luthor or the Joker are villains? No, they’re circus freaks you sometimes root for. This villain? He’s the most infuriating, snot-nosed punk imaginable. He doesn’t give a damn about anything. He kills just to kill. And in this anime, he does exactly that—he walks into random homes and offs people just for fun.
But he’s not just a mustache-twirling caricature. They give him nuance and backstory. In some ways, you feel sorry for him and understand what shaped him into the monster he is. But not enough to excuse him. No way. Screw that guy. Screw everything he stands for. I wanted every ounce of comeuppance headed his way. And this anime takes its sweet time getting there. It forces you to see all the horrible things he does, rubbing salt into the wounds. That’s why I couldn’t binge it—it’s only 11 episodes, but it took me months to finish.
Eventually, though, we get the showdown. The hero and the villain face off, and let me tell you—it’s every bit as therapeutic as you’d imagine. It feels so good when it finally happens. But the anime doesn’t end there. I won’t spoil it, but it delves into themes of heroism, selflessness, and what it means to live for the benefit of society.
This is one of the best anime I’ve ever seen because it’s real and earnest. And here’s the thing about deconstruction: a lot of Western superhero stories deconstruct the hero mythos but stop there. That’s frustrating. If you’re going to deconstruct something, you need to reconstruct it into something meaningful. Otherwise, what’s the point? Why does it all matter?
For decades, we’ve celebrated the antihero, almost mistaking them for the hero. But why? Why are we pretending the good guys are bad and the bad guys are good? Inuyashiki offers a much-needed contrast. It acknowledges the tropes and deconstructs the mythos, but then it goes further. It reconstructs.
And I have to ask: when is culture—beyond just superhero stuff—going to move beyond deconstruction and all this meta commentary? When will we stop pretending we’re too big for the mythos and start building something better? I’m looking for that moment. Inuyashiki: Last Hero gave me hope for it.
It took me a long time to finish because it’s so emotionally intense—I just didn’t have the bandwidth to get through it quickly.
This is a superhero anime, but not the typical kind. It’s more of a deconstruction of the superhero mythos. Now, deconstructing superheroes has been done a lot, right? That’s been going on for at least 50 years. But this one is completely different. This isn’t about antiheroes. It’s the opposite of antiheroes. In a way, Inuyashiki: Last Hero feels like the polar opposite of Watchmen.
The story follows an old, meek, and mild man who’s completely overlooked by everyone. When people do notice him, they humiliate him for who he is. He’s a loser with no glamour in his life. He’s 58 years old but looks even older. His family doesn’t respect him, his coworkers don’t respect him—he’s invisible in every way. Then one day, while walking his dog in the park, something happens that completely changes his life and turns him into a superhero.
Sure, we’ve heard that trope before, but what makes Inuyashiki so unique, so compelling, and so intense is the villain. This guy is infuriating. I wanted to throttle him myself, to step into the anime and take him out. You think Lex Luthor or the Joker are villains? No, they’re circus freaks you sometimes root for. This villain? He’s the most infuriating, snot-nosed punk imaginable. He doesn’t give a damn about anything. He kills just to kill. And in this anime, he does exactly that—he walks into random homes and offs people just for fun.
But he’s not just a mustache-twirling caricature. They give him nuance and backstory. In some ways, you feel sorry for him and understand what shaped him into the monster he is. But not enough to excuse him. No way. Screw that guy. Screw everything he stands for. I wanted every ounce of comeuppance headed his way. And this anime takes its sweet time getting there. It forces you to see all the horrible things he does, rubbing salt into the wounds. That’s why I couldn’t binge it—it’s only 11 episodes, but it took me months to finish.
Eventually, though, we get the showdown. The hero and the villain face off, and let me tell you—it’s every bit as therapeutic as you’d imagine. It feels so good when it finally happens. But the anime doesn’t end there. I won’t spoil it, but it delves into themes of heroism, selflessness, and what it means to live for the benefit of society.
This is one of the best anime I’ve ever seen because it’s real and earnest. And here’s the thing about deconstruction: a lot of Western superhero stories deconstruct the hero mythos but stop there. That’s frustrating. If you’re going to deconstruct something, you need to reconstruct it into something meaningful. Otherwise, what’s the point? Why does it all matter?
For decades, we’ve celebrated the antihero, almost mistaking them for the hero. But why? Why are we pretending the good guys are bad and the bad guys are good? Inuyashiki offers a much-needed contrast. It acknowledges the tropes and deconstructs the mythos, but then it goes further. It reconstructs.
And I have to ask: when is culture—beyond just superhero stuff—going to move beyond deconstruction and all this meta commentary? When will we stop pretending we’re too big for the mythos and start building something better? I’m looking for that moment. Inuyashiki: Last Hero gave me hope for it.