I don’t think there’s much point in dithering any longer – I’m in with Inuyashiki for the duration.  It’s a NoitaminA series and thus almost half-over, and whatever happens now I’m so invested in the plot that there doesn’t seem much chance I’ll give up before the end.  It’s pulpy, it’s exploitative, it’s provocative – but in narrative terms it’s being all those things for the sake of good, not evil.  Inuyashiki is a well-crafted and genuinely interesting story whether it unsettles me to admit it or not.

Maybe it’s best I think of this series as a sort of poor man’s Kiseijuu, because it’s certainly both treading some of the same intellectual ground and using some of the same narrative devices.  And to its credit, it doesn’t seem to be taking the path of least resistance in making the story as black-and-white as possible – as I suspected, Inuyashiki-san and Hiro-kun and creeping just a bit closer to each other.  Inuyashiki is an old man (not as old as he looks, of course) and Hiro basically still a child – and to an extent, I think the way they’ve reacted to what’s happened to them is a reflection of their individual circumstances.

Andou-kun is the third point on this dramatic triangle, and for the first time the other two corners connect through him.  To his credit, Andou isn’t content to sit idly by and fret about what his friend has done – he realizes he has a moral responsibility to try and stop him.  And once (after a couple of false starts) he realizes there’s probably another person with Hiro’s powers out there behaving differently, Andou resolves to try and recruit him to the cause.  His method of making contact is a clever one – he calls for help, reasoning that whoever the “angel” who’s been saving and curing people is, he probably has the same ability to hear a cry in the night as Hiro does.  The real question for me is Andou’s mother – what kind of woman would let a shirtless old man walk into her apartment and into her teenaged son’s bedroom and not bat an eye?

Every scene here between Inuyashiki and Andou is pretty great, starting with their initial conversation.  For all his self-effacement, Inuyashiki is truly a hero in Andou’s eyes – someone who thinks of others before he thinks of himself.  The two of them go off for a hilarious nighttime training session at a junkyard as Naoyuki tries to help the old man get in touch with his inner superhero.  They also visit a hospital where Inuyashiki-san saves another dying child, further cementing his God-like status to the boy.

For all that, though, it’s with Hiro that events take their most fascinating turn.  There are lots of rumors about him, but he seems not too worried about those.  We see him visiting his father with his second wife and what I assume are Hiro’s steps-siblings, see him dream of becoming human again.  A girl confesses to him, and he smiles and thanks her (before walking away).  But things come to a head when his mother announced matter-of-factly that she has pancreatic cancer and only a month to live.  We know what’s going to happen here, of course, but Hiro’s reaction is so fascinating – given the utterly venal acts we’ve seen him commit already.

It could be argued to be a cheap trick, making Hiro sympathetic after showing us what he’s capable of.  But the truth is, this is complicated.  There can be no forgiving the crimes Hiro has committed, no matter his age and bizarre circumstances.  But the fact remains that he is still a child, and once who’s capable of loving those close to him and even of resolving to stop his acts of violence for their sake.  Now that the web has closed around him (thanks to Andou, presumably) and forced him to confront the idea of his mother losing him as a protector – and her inevitable horror at finding out what he’s done – what will Hiro do?  Will he allow himself to be arrested, or will he resort to his powers to free himself?  And just as interestingly, what will Inuyashiki-san do as he learns more about what’s happened?  Those are certainly fascinating questions to end on.