Inukami the Movie
Omigod, Omigod, Omigod!!! I was searching for data on Inukami at AnimeNfo when I stumbled across a mention of this 2007 movie! And I thought it was time to endure the withdrawal caused by this great series coming to an end. Given how risque the TV series could be, I couldn't wait to see what the movie would be like. If I interpreted the numbers on the Japanese website correctly, it looks like the film premiered April 21. It's not often that news of an upcoming feature instilled such excitement and impatience within me--just goes to show how much fun the original series was. The Gods be praised!
...and, after a six month's delay, it is here! I was surprised how quickly it downloaded; actually, a more appropriate title would be "Inukami The-Slightly-Longer-Than-Average-Extra-Episode", because a length of 26 minutes hardly qualifies as a "movie", IMHO. That was disappointing, and so was the fact that initially, it didn't seem all that much better than the average episode (except for the shamelessly excessive fanservice, which was one point in the show's favor). Also, a favorite character got killed early on--sort of. The animation style was subtly, yet noticeably different; no big deal. The brutality directed against perverts seemed distasteful and disturbing. At this point I was fairly disappointed in this production which I'd waited so long for. And then it got good: I think it was the playing of "Karina-san's Official Theme" which cracked me up for the first time. The wild fight scene with it's outlandish animation was hilarious. Suffice to say that at the end I had laughed enough to have tears in my eyes, which doesn't happen anywhere near often enough. I've never seen so many elephants in an anime before. All-in-all, not everything I had hoped for, but lots of fun nevertheless.
I think my expectations had become unrealistically inflated by the long wait, and the second time around I noticed all sorts of good jokes which I hadn't given credit the first time. The fact that I rewatched this show after a mere three days or so is indicative of how good it is--if you're one of those kind of people. This is a show which makes you gasp and wonder "who the hell would make a movie like this?", with all sorts of perverts and "Elephant King Keita" boldly waving his elephant around. Many anime comedies hint at perversion, this show takes it and runs with it. Even the second time it brought a small tear to my eye.
P.S: See episode 1 for a bit of trivia relative to the movie poster.
Last updated Thursday, October 18 2007.
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