The finale of Inuyashiki will doubtless leave most viewers with mixed feelings, and I'd be curious to hear the directors, adaptive writer, or original manga author comment on whether or not this effect was intentional. My suspicion is that it wasn't intended to be as unsettling as it may come across, since for all the emotional richness that the series has delivered, it's never been that thematically complex either.
The biggest point of contention will no doubt be the actions of Hiro, though I didn't find his portrayal in this episode to be problematic myself. While he unquestionably became a monster, he was never portrayed as being truly emotionless or uncaring; he was just very limited in who he cared about. I don't believe that the story was trying to redeem him through his act of self-sacrifice in trying to divert the asteroid, nor did I see Hiro as seeking any kind of redemption. His efforts to save everyone were just a side effect of his desire to save Ando and Shion – the two surviving people he did care about – rather than any substantive change of heart. His inability to single-handedly divert the asteroid could be seen as an indication that not even that could make up for all the people that he slaughtered in cold blood, but I'm not convinced that the series was trying to be that thoughtful. It seemed much more like a ploy to require that Ichiro follow Hiro's efforts with a more genuine heroic sacrifice, now that he knew how to self-destruct as well.
But was that ending avoidable? Probably not. After all, the asteroid had been at least vaguely hinted at throughout the series, and even though Ichiro used his abilities to save people, he didn't fit in that world anymore, especially without a foil like Hiro to combat, and he wouldn't be able to remain anonymous forever. Besides, this was more than some vaguely-defined sacrifice for him. Though he loved his family and fully intended to return to them if he could, he also understood that this was something he had to do to safeguard their future. For a man who had always felt small, this was the ultimate expression of both the heroic role that he had chosen for himself and the life that he had lived so far. Still, it would have been nice to see him survive.
What sells the impact of this sacrifice most is the emotions tied to it. The episode opens with Ichiro finally revealing the truth to his whole family, and both his wife and Mari won't hear his concerns that he isn't the Ichiro that they knew. His son, who's never been given much attention, was more thrown by the revelation, which was why I appreciated that the series took at least some time to round things out between him and Hiro. The scene at the end implying that his son might have finally been inspired to fight back against the bullies by his father was a simple but great inclusion, as was Ando's anguish when he immediately realized what Ichiro had done or Shion's reaction to her presumption about Hiro's demise. Moreover, Mari's discovery at the end that she had won the manga contest strikes a final note of validation for the role Ichiro played in encouraging her efforts.
That emotional honesty and impact more than makes up for the episode's most significant flaw: rushed pacing. Even though the asteroid has been foreshadowed, the scenario feels like it is plays out too quickly. The portrayal of the American president, clearly intended to be Donald Trump, was also uncharacteristically cheesy, though it still fits with the sharply opinionated social commentary tone of the series. Besides, it's practically tradition for anime to poke fun at American presidents.
Overall, the final episode delivers strongly enough for me to rank this series among the season's best. In the ways that matter, it doesn't falter in playing its strengths through to the end.
Rating: A-
Inuyashiki Last Hero is currently streaming on Amazon's Anime Strike.
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