INUYASHIKI LAST HERO

Wow what a series. Last Hero is an excellently produced action packed sci-fi spectacle. Running at just 11 episodes long, it’s short enough to binge watch the whole season (I watched it on Amazon Prime Video) and enjoy it like you would a really good movie. Careful though, this series is most definitely NOT APPROPRIATE FOR KIDS. You want epic aerial battles with cool lasers, you want huge explosions, you want revenge on all internet trolls, you want a crazy anime
President Trump? Then Last Hero will satisfy your urges! Here’s my not too spoilery review:

Inuyashiki is a 58 year old man who for some unexplained reason looks (and feels) way older than he should be. Bullied or ignored by all those around him, his life is very sad and lonely. His own wife and kids don’t even seem to acknowledge his presence. When he visits the doctor, he’s told he has stomach cancer and has only a few months to live. Things are very bleak for the old man and he even contemplates suicide. But things start to turn around when a strange intervention by an alien entity transforms his frail and ageing body into a hyper advanced cyborg killing machine. Except, he’s not the only one to have been affected. Also transformed is a teenage boy, Hiro Shishigami. And thus begins a fascinating and exciting adventure as the two cyborgs go about destroying and healing all those around them respectively. How much has the cyborg transformation robbed them of their humanity? It’s one of the themes explored in the show.

Last Hero is superbly animated. The cityscapes, the characters, the lighting, the colours...everything is absolutely top notch quality production.  It’s so good it’s worth watching twice just to catch all the little details. I haven’t seen the manga version so it would be really interesting to compare the two. I’m a sucker for cool cyber punk robot tech - like the kind depicted in Battle Angel Alita so every time either Inuyashiki or Shishigami opens up their body I’m relishing all the crazy machinery details in the artwork.

From the very opening title sequence I was hooked by the cool Bond-like graphics and the rocking soundtrack. The story is a truly compelling - a classic retelling of good vs evil. In today’s increasingly automated and digital world, this anime explores what happens if, given a choice, a random human is granted God-like powers. Would that person abuse their position or use it for pure and good purposes.

Bang! Villain Shishigami really does shoot with his finger and says 'bang' as he does so.

The story does not hold back at all. Bad guy Shishigami is truly without any heart or soul and kills indiscriminately. You’ll see adults and kids being murdered. It’s very graphic. There is also an episode that I found particularly disturbing. It features a very evil Yakuza boss who drugs girls and rapes them. It’s very dark. I guess the writers wanted to show the contrast of good v evil by depicting these nasty characters compared to how pure and good the main hero is. One episode is dedicated to Shishigami taking his revenge on internet trolls. It’s the funniest episode yet for who wouldn’t want total annihilation on their internet enemies! You'll also enjoy watching Inuyashiki's progression from sad bumbling old man into a warrior hero ready to save the world.

I like the supporting characters. They add backstory and depth to the main characters and are believable for all their flaws, especially Ando. Imagine you just found out your best mate from school was an evil killer but still wants to hang out and talk manga and girls with you. You’d probably be crapping yourself, like Ando does.

I love this show but it left a few unanswered questions in my mind. Who were the aliens that bestowed this power onto the two humans and why did they do it? It seems like this is high level alien-tech and yet they just leave it in the hands of two complete amateurs? Weird.
The police seem clueless. The first time they find out where Shishigami is and blast him with endless rounds of bullets yet he survives and escapes. The second time they find him, they do exactly the same. Did they not learn from their first failed attempt? Where were the army? This is clearly higher grade emergency than a mere local incident.
The cyborgs are supposed to be able to listen in on internet and phone communication yet at no point does Shishigami detect the fact that Ando and Inuyashiki are talking to each other via phone all the time.

The 10 episodes run along perfectly in my opinion. The finale is incredibly powerful - it is both triumphant and also sad. It may even bring a tear to your eye. But if I had one criticism it is that episode 11 just feels a touch too rushed or tacked on. It’s only a minor observation and doesn’t detract too much from the show’s enjoyment factor. As I mentioned above, if you binge watch it (and you’ll definitely want to) it all fits in so neatly that you’ll enjoy it like you do when watching a very awesome sci-fi movie.

8.5 / 10