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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Buy | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:4673#1552] | |
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Inu-Ou has quite a bit it dabbles into regarding creative freedom within feudal Japan in its focus on a blind biwa player named Tomona and a disfigured social outcast named Inu-Ou, the son within a family of Noh dancers, who form their own dance troupe to portray their own version of stories related to the Heike clan. However, their fame and unconventional storytelling clashes with the traditions enforced by the Japanese shogunate, leading their paths to inevitably entwine. Before I get too deep into my thoughts on this film, some quick historical details on what Inu-Ou is portraying. During Japan’s feudal era, creative freedom with outlets like musical and theatrical performances were strictly regulated by the shogunate to suit the tastes of whomever was in power and craft a desired unified image of particular creative direction taken in these outlets. Those that expressed stories and unconventional creative directions going against the shogunate’s desired tastes and traditional direction were severely punished with death. This element in the film adds quite a bit of dimension to the backstories of Inu-Ou and Tomona, who both find themselves victims and becoming societal outcasts due to the rigid conformity and influence of the shogunate. Despite their crippling conditions, both don’t let these get to them as they retain their joy for life and combine their talents with biwa playing and Noh dancing in the formation of their troupe. While faithful in depicting the feudal era in regards to exploring the strict conformity with creative outlets, Inu-Ou does take some creative liberties with elements of the storytelling that don’t completely ground it in terms of realism and historical accuracy. Tomona’s musical performances with his troupe play out more like a hair metal music act popularized in 1980s America. Plus the theatrical performances from Inu-Ou implement staging techniques that wouldn’t have been possible to utilize within 14th century Japan. While this angle to the performances may not be everyone’s cup of tea if looking for historical accuracy, it’s a creative decision that works with the intended theme of the film with the troupe’s performances being unconventional for their era. The film also implements supernatural lore to explore the motivations behind Tomona and Inu-Ou’s performances. Both are able to able to see the spirits of the fallen members of the Heike clan and fallen family members, that serve as the source of their stories with their performances. This supernatural angle also comes into play with the exploration of Inu-Ou’s backstory as a subtle detail with his performances is that his bodily deformities gradually go away as he continues his immersion with his performances. Another highlight to the film comes in the form of its animation. Animated sequences depicting Tomona and Inu-Ou’s performances get fairly elaborate and are quite fluid with their movements from Tomona’s hair metal inspired performances to the unique movements of Inu-Ou coming from the extended length of his deformed arms. In addition, this animation gets effectively utilized in the title’s supernatural scenes with the stories told by Inu-Ou’s troupe and their encounters with the spirits. All told, quite a bit was packed into the ninety-plus minute run of Inu-Ou with its themes, story, and creative direction. Despite this, the film does a great job offering a tight story, dabbling into its main theme of defying conformity with creativity in feudal Japan, and not being afraid to create liberties with elements to the film’s historical era to fit into the theme in question. These liberties and focus on the historical era may not be for everyone. But for anyone interested in exploring this element to Japan’s feudal era and not averse to the creative liberties taken with it, I’d strongly recommend giving Inu-Ou a watch. Last updated Sunday, June 18 2023. Created Sunday, June 18 2023. | ||||||||
