Inu-oh is a musical Japanese film that was produced by studio Science Saru and directed by Masaaki Yuasa(The Night Is Long, Walk On Girl, Ride Your Wave). The film received great praise for it's blend of history and modern day rock music.
A blind musician and a dancer with physical defects, plan to become the greatest entertainment in a society that shun them for their differences.
I don't have a ton of thoughts on Inu-oh, to be honest. It's kinda a film that I watched on the fly. The trailer convinced me to stop ignoring this film. So, the dive into the plot was beautifully animated in sequences that happen during the performance scenes. A ton of the musically numbers are just rock and roll music with 14th century traditional Japanese music. J-band Queen Bee's lead singer Ayu Chan, does the singing as well as the lyrics for the film. Their vocals give a punk pop sound to the music, which makes the songs feel even more like current day rock anthems. I'm just not sure if the artsy showcase is what is supposed to distract from the fact that the music starts to sound the same after a couple of songs. Maybe the same song was just being sung over and over again.....? In terms of plot, Inu-oh has a lot of heart in the strange antics of the events that happen. I was interested in the two characters because a good under dog story can never not inspire someone. Not everyone will enjoy some of the weirdness though. Some of it was a little annoying to me as well.
Character designs in Inu-oh are very sketch like. Similar to if you take a character outline that you draw and stick it into a film project without making the finishing touches. These overall looks do give the characters a feudal era look though.
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| Drawings by Tayo Matsumoto |
Inu-oh is an enervative film that will wow some audiences while turning off others. There's qualities there that everyone can appreciate. Even if this isn't my favorite anime feature film.
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