No question about it, Inuyashiki is a real conundrum.  I find myself quite riveted by what’s happening on-screen, even as I know I’m being manipulated.  “Provocative” is not automatically a pejorative term by any means – some provocative fiction is doing so for a larger purpose, and even when that’s not the case being able to provoke a strong emotional reaction in an audience is a sort of  achievement in its own right. But unless there is something going on beyond that, the experience is ultimately empty and tends to lose its appeal pretty quickly.

I certainly don’t know where we’re headed with Inuyashiki, but it’s one of the most effective series of the season on a visceral level.  Both Inuyashiki and Hiro are interesting on their own, but more so as a unit – simplistic though they may be, they’re the Yin and Yang of this random experiment in human nature.  One could hardly imagine two people reacting in more materially and ethically opposing fashion to having the same extraordinary thing happen to them, but I wonder if they’re each going to end up seeing more of themselves in the other than they expect.

The true depth of each man’s power is being revealed slowly, which leads one to assume neither have fully explored what’s possible.  There’s healing, for example – which Hiro uses on Andou’s paper cut and Inuyashiki uses on a mother cat that’s been struck by a car.  There’s also flying (by means of what looks rather like a built-in jet pack), which Hiro has clearly been practicing – he uses it to escape from Inuyashiki so he can consider just what the older man is – and Inuyashiki just as clearly has not.

The healing is interesting, because both Hiro and Inuyashiki have realized that they would likely be able to turn this ability towards things like cancer and heart disease.  But for Hiro it’s merely an abstract, interesting aside (though one suspects he’d use it unhesitatingly on Andou-kun if he needed to).  For Inuyashiki-san it’s an imperative – so much so that as soon as he heals the cat he immediately goes to the hospital to start finding patients to save.  It’s a noble impulse, but one can see the potential problems inherent in all this without having to squint a bit.

Surely, and soon, word of this is going to get out and things are going to get messy.  Hiro finally convinces Andou to come to school, then promptly breaks the arm of the leader of the bullies who return to torment him.  He then “Bang!”s them from the rooftop after school, leaving four more bodies to attract attention (not to mention the unspecified number at the house he randomly wipes out in retaliation to a barking dog).  Inuyashiki, meanwhile, saves a salaryman who’s unwisely angered a gang of hoodlums at a taxi stop (this is one of the most amusing fight scenes of the year), which he might discreetly get away with.  But saving a family from a burning house (after a disastrous first attempt at flight, which Inuyashiki only achieves by singing the Astro Boy theme and envisioning himself as Atomu)?  Even if he begs the father not to tell the police about him, he’s left a street full of witnesses.

Inuyashiki is a sweet, humble man – and while one could hardly imagine a more selfless use of powers than he’s displayed, even factoring out Hiro I foresee problems for him – his powers and his nature seem poorly aligned.  As for Hiro, he’s a terrifying mystery – a sociopath whose nature is rather complex.  When Andou rejects him, stating that he can’t possibly be friends with someone who kills people or even steals, Hiro’s puzzlement is 100% genuine – he’s mystified as to what Andou is upset about.  But he shows no anger and even admonishes Andou to keep coming to school – by whatever moral compass guides him, Andou remains part of the circle that he cares about.  The most intriguing and terrifying moment of the episode is its very end, where Hiro-kun points his finger at two little boys running down the street – and doesn’t “pull the trigger”.  This is rich with potential meaning.  Hiro could have had a twinge of conscience, but more likely – and ominously – I suspect that means he’s already bored with the kind of carnage he’s been executing.