# Inuyashiki (いぬやしき)
**Inuyashiki** (いぬやしき) is a Japanese science fiction manga written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku (奥浩哉), serialized in Kodansha's seinen (manga marketed to adult men) magazine *Evening* from 2014 to 2017 and collected in ten volumes.[1](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/products/0000039180) • [2](https://natalie.mu/comic/news/242154) It follows Ichiro Inuyashiki, a 58-year-old salaryman who is destroyed by a mysterious flying object and rebuilt as a machine, and contrasts his choice to save lives with a teenager who received the same transformation and uses his powers to kill.[3](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/en/award/single/inuyashiki-2/) • [4](https://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/inuyashiki/index.html) The series was adapted into a television anime by MAPPA in 2017 and a live-action film in 2018.[5](https://www.manga-news.com/index.php/actus/2018/01/02/Chronique-Animation-Inuyashiki) • [6](https://news.kodansha.co.jp/comics/20170906_c01)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author | Hiroya Oku, previously the creator of *Gantz*[3](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/en/award/single/inuyashiki-2/) |
| Serialization | *Evening* (Kodansha), 2014 to the July 25, 2017 issue (no. 16)[2](https://natalie.mu/comic/news/242154) |
| Volumes | 10; volume 1 released May 23, 2014, volume 10 on September 22, 2017 (186 pages, ISBN 9784063546880)[7](https://inu-yashiki.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Volumes) • [1](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/products/0000039180) |
| Premise | A 58-year-old salaryman is destroyed by a UFO and rebuilt as a machine, then sets out to save people in search of the meaning of life[3](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/en/award/single/inuyashiki-2/) |
| Anime | 11 episodes by studio MAPPA, aired October to December 2017 on Fuji TV's noitamina block[5](https://www.manga-news.com/index.php/actus/2018/01/02/Chronique-Animation-Inuyashiki) • [4](https://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/inuyashiki/index.html) |
| Live-action film | Released 2018, directed by Shinsuke Sato, starring Noritake Kinashi (木梨憲武)[6](https://news.kodansha.co.jp/comics/20170906_c01) • [8](https://www.leedsfilm.com/cms_files/MediaGalerij/Other/otherfiles0667_00.pdf) |
| Circulation | 3.1 million copies sold, per Fuji Media HD's film lineup document[9](https://www.fujimediahd.co.jp/en/pdf/qO4HpJlcqOjnGxnQ.pdf) |
| English edition | Kodansha Comics; volume 1 released August 25, 2015[7](https://inu-yashiki.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Volumes) |
## Story and characters
Ichiro Inuyashiki (犬屋敷壱郎) is a cheerless, unremarkable office worker nearing retirement, alienated at his company and ignored by his family, who learns from his doctor that he has terminal cancer.[3](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/en/award/single/inuyashiki-2/) • [4](https://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/inuyashiki/index.html) That night he is caught in the crash of a sudden flying object and wakes up unscathed, but his body has been replaced by a mechanical one with power far beyond a human's.[3](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/en/award/single/inuyashiki-2/) • [4](https://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/inuyashiki/index.html) A high school student, Hiro Shishigami (獅子神皓), was caught in the same event and received the same kind of body; he begins using his abilities at will, wounding and killing people who cross him.[4](https://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/inuyashiki/index.html)
The two transformed men move in opposite directions: Shishigami hurts people indiscriminately, while Inuyashiki keeps saving those Shishigami has harmed, and the series frames the question of whether human nature is fundamentally good or evil through their opposition.[4](https://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/inuyashiki/index.html) The story builds to a direct confrontation between the two, and in the final volume a giant meteor is two days from striking Earth; with the world unable to alter its orbit, Inuyashiki makes the decision to fly into space and stop the impact himself.[1](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/products/0000039180) Kodansha's blurb for volume 10 calls the work an "unprecedented old-man hero story" brought to a complete conclusion.[1](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/products/0000039180)
## Creation and publication
Oku began the series after finishing *Gantz* in *Weekly Young Jump*; his editor offered him a free hand in *Evening*, and he decided to break the rule that a manga protagonist must be good-looking to sell.[10](https://kodansha.us/2017/11/27/creator-spotlight-interview-with-inuyashikis-hiroya-oku/) He first considered an unattractive virgin boy as the hero, but the idea did not feel right, and drawing an old man became the origin of the series.[10](https://kodansha.us/2017/11/27/creator-spotlight-interview-with-inuyashikis-hiroya-oku/)
**An unusual workflow.** After showing the first chapter's rough sketches, Oku delivered every subsequent chapter as a finished manuscript with no story meetings, name stage, or revision rounds; his editor learned what happened in the story only by reading the completed pages.[10](https://kodansha.us/2017/11/27/creator-spotlight-interview-with-inuyashikis-hiroya-oku/) Oku said he wanted his editor's reaction as a first-time reader, and that he was happy to work completely freely.[10](https://kodansha.us/2017/11/27/creator-spotlight-interview-with-inuyashikis-hiroya-oku/) From the start he planned for the series to end in ten volumes, and it did; he described the ten volumes as "the equivalent of one movie."[10](https://kodansha.us/2017/11/27/creator-spotlight-interview-with-inuyashikis-hiroya-oku/)
**Realistic reference work.** Oku was particular about the flying scenes, chartering a helicopter for aerial reference photos and, when low-altitude shots proved difficult, turning to drones, which were then little known as a filming technique; for a freeway fight between Inuyashiki and Shishigami, the staff chartered a double-decker shuttle bus and shot reference photos from the upper deck.[10](https://kodansha.us/2017/11/27/creator-spotlight-interview-with-inuyashikis-hiroya-oku/) The climactic machine sequence of chapter 1 took him about five days to draw.[10](https://kodansha.us/2017/11/27/creator-spotlight-interview-with-inuyashikis-hiroya-oku/)
**The title.** Oku explained that a surname Nekoyashiki ("cat mansion") exists in Japan but not Inuyashiki ("dog mansion"), so he hoped the manga would be the first result when the word was searched; written in hiragana, the title gives no hint of its content, which he wanted to keep ambiguous after *Gantz*. He also described himself as a huge dog lover.[10](https://kodansha.us/2017/11/27/creator-spotlight-interview-with-inuyashikis-hiroya-oku/) For overseas release the title was rendered *Last Hero Inuyashiki* because the original title alone did not communicate the work abroad.[11](https://news.noitamina.tv/inuyashiki/article/2017/10/11_post_12.html)
## Adaptations
The television anime, titled *Inuyashiki: Last Hero*, was produced by studio MAPPA, the studio behind *[Kids on the Slope](https://www.edgepedia.org/kids-on-the-slope)* and *Yuri!!! on Ice*, and adapted the ten volumes into eleven episodes; it stood out for its heavy use of CGI.[5](https://www.manga-news.com/index.php/actus/2018/01/02/Chronique-Animation-Inuyashiki) It aired on Fuji TV from October to December 2017, with the final episode broadcast on December 21, 2017.[4](https://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/inuyashiki/index.html) Kodansha's editors noted that anime offers arrived earlier in this series than they had for *Gantz*, despite Oku's expectation that a story starring an old man would attract no adaptations.[10](https://kodansha.us/2017/11/27/creator-spotlight-interview-with-inuyashikis-hiroya-oku/)
A live-action film followed in 2018, directed by Shinsuke Sato and starring the comedian Noritake Kinashi as Inuyashiki; the film's producers said the director aimed to bring together all available technology to make a Japanese film that could stand beside Hollywood productions.[6](https://news.kodansha.co.jp/comics/20170906_c01) • [11](https://news.noitamina.tv/inuyashiki/article/2017/10/11_post_12.html) Oku himself requested some changes from the original manga for the film.[11](https://news.noitamina.tv/inuyashiki/article/2017/10/11_post_12.html)
## Reception
The manga was a Jury Selection in the Manga Division of the 18th Japan Media Arts Festival, where the jury wrote that Oku, who had opened new avenues for manga expression in *Gantz*, depicts a whole new world in this work.[3](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/en/award/single/inuyashiki-2/) English-language press notices compared the premise to *Gantz* crossed with *Breaking Bad*, and described an old man transformed into a military-grade super-robot in a story that uses gore in service of its plot.[12](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/IYK/inuyashiki/)
## References
1. [『いぬやしき（１０）』（奥浩哉）, Kodansha](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/products/0000039180)
2. [「いぬやしき」が完結！イブニングに奥浩哉とアニメの籔田修平監督との対談も, Comic Natalie](https://natalie.mu/comic/news/242154)
3. [Inuyashiki, 18th Japan Media Arts Festival, Manga Division Jury Selection](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/en/award/single/inuyashiki-2/)
4. [いぬやしき, Fuji Television](https://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/inuyashiki/index.html)
5. [Chronique Animation - Inuyashiki, Manga news](https://www.manga-news.com/index.php/actus/2018/01/02/Chronique-Animation-Inuyashiki)
6. [「冴えないじじい」がアニメ＆実写映画化！ 超話題作『いぬやしき』完結, Kodansha](https://news.kodansha.co.jp/comics/20170906_c01)
7. [List of Volumes, Inu Yashiki Wiki (Fandom)](https://inu-yashiki.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Volumes)
8. [From the original manga, Leeds Film Festival program](https://www.leedsfilm.com/cms_files/MediaGalerij/Other/otherfiles0667_00.pdf)
9. [FY3/19 Fuji Media HD Monthly Settlement Summary](https://www.fujimediahd.co.jp/en/pdf/qO4HpJlcqOjnGxnQ.pdf)
10. [Creator Spotlight: Interview with Inuyashiki's Hiroya Oku, Kodansha USA](https://kodansha.us/2017/11/27/creator-spotlight-interview-with-inuyashikis-hiroya-oku/)
11. [「いぬやしき」アニメと映画、両作のプロデューサー対談全文, noitamina news](https://news.noitamina.tv/inuyashiki/article/2017/10/11_post_12.html)
12. [Inuyashiki Series, Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/IYK/inuyashiki/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Anime and manga › Manga titles, publishers, and magazines › Seinen and josei manga titles › Action and dark fantasy seinen*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license