Review: Inuyashiki V.05

Title: Inuyashiki
Volume: 5 (of 7+)
Creator: Hiroya Oku
Format: Right-to-Left
Original Publisher: Kodansha
US Publisher: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: 10/18/16
Pages: 192
ISBN: 163236297X
MSRP: $12.99
Genre: Seinen
Rated: OT (Ages 16+)

Description: SINNER TO SAVIOR

Shishigami’s identity as a vicious murderer is known to the nation, prompting him to take refuge. As public outcry calls for him to be brought to justice, a tragic event pushes Shishigami over the edge, and his once violent pastime turns into a mission of revenge. With vengeance on his mind, Shishigami strays further from his humanity into a killing machine, but the affection of a new friend may cause him to have a change of heart.

Contains Chapters 36-44:

• Chapter 36: Shion
• Chapter 37: Lamentation
• Chapter 38: Kill You All
• Chapter 39: Punishment
• Chapter 40: Is 3 Alive?
• Chapter 41: Do I Look Human?
• Chapter 42: Don't Leave Us Behind
• Chapter 43: Spread The Message
• Chapter 44: A Pleasant Day

Review:

Cover: The cover for this volumes features the main protagonist, Inuyashiki, with the display of his back weaponry and jetpack. The background coloring this time used is blue, with the series tile running along the right side of the cover and the volume number on the bottom left corner.

The spine from top to bottom contains the Kodansha Comics company logo, the series title, the volume number, and the mangaka.

The back cover shows us Inuyashiki's opened up weapon arm on the lower right side of the cover. The left side of the cover has the volume summary, along with some reviews by a few reviewers.

As a whole, the cover is nice to look at, although I think they should have featured Shishigami, since Inuyashiki really did not make an appearance at all in this volume. Yeah, I know they seem to have a standard now with odd volume covers being our protagonist while the even volume covers have the antagonist, but over all the cover just doesn't really fit with this volume's content at all. The visuals are still great though!

Artwork: The art style follows the same type as previous volumes, no real changes. I did however notice that certain background scenes suffer with a bit of a grainy real world overlay style, which is ok, but it looks like it is something that could be reused in certain scenarios (maybe some old GantZ backgrounds?). Overall though, it is still a very pleasing manga to read, even on art alone.

Translation: The translation is again very accurate to the original. Character names, places, cultural references, sound effects, and other real world things are left intact.

Extras: All we have is Translation Notes and a color page. Wish this series would have a bit more to work with.

Content (Warning: May Contain Spoilers): If I can sum up this volume in one word, I'd call it AMAZING. We had an entire volume with the story focused entirely on the villain of this series, but as it looks, he might have had a somewhat redemption.

Shishigami literally does a 180! We start out with him moving in with a girl that has a huge crush on him at his local high school. He want's to stay in hiding from the previous volume after he was found out by the government and does not want harm to come to his mother. This doesn't help though as the media has began to move in on his family and stirs up even more trouble, as his mom has gone missing (pretty much dead if I would say) from all of the commotion of the news and reporters. This causes Shishigami to begin to hunt these people down, eliminating them one by one as he tries to somewhat gain a peace of mind.

But this doesn't stop there. There are people on the internet who also begin to send out fake news and rumors to harm Shishigami even more, and he uses his power to literally kill each and every one of them through their social media platforms.

He finally however reveals the nature of himself to the girl he is living with, and although she is completely afraid of him, she still shows how much she cares for him and can't live without him. He then has a change of heart. What he has done has been wrong, so he begins to use his powers the way that Inuyashiki used his, by helping to cure people. All looks once again at peace as Shishigami has taken a new lease on life, but then we have a massive cliffhanger, the feds arrive after finding out his location.

I have to say this volume was gripping from beginning to end. The action was intense, the drama was powerful, and it really brought a lot of character development to the villain who we thought was purely evil. All I can say is what's coming next can become very bad, or it could lead to a new beginning. I'm going with the complete catastrophe scenario, but we shall have to wait and see until V.06 comes out. I HIGHLY Recommend this, go buy it now!

Objectionable Content: 

• Language: Yes
• Violence: Yes
• Nudity: No
• Sexual Situations: No

Score:

Cover: 7/10
Artwork: 7/10
Translation: 10/10
Extras: 1/10
Story: 10/10

Overall Rating: 7/10

Where Purchased: Barnes and Nobles
Original Review Date: 5/16/17