Another kind-of recent show for this project. I have many more shows planned here; some I’ve watched and covered before, and some I’ll be watching for the first time.
Circumstance brought me to this show…okay, so maybe it was that video from Giggsuk that did it – I’ll just get that out of the way here and now. What I try to do when it comes to watching shows and making opinions of them is not to always be so binary, and sadly that was the vibe I got from watching his video “Anime Has Gone Too Far“. In the video, he talks about how the anime medium reaches out to all sorts of people, but questions whether a show like My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog should be made. I’m bringing him up because I think he neglected to mention that there is a definite market for shows like this. A corner where there are anime fans who really enjoy not just ecchi shows, but shows that give off voyeuristic vibes. I will say though that the title of Gigguk’s video couldn’t be more aptly named; ecchi shows in particular are always trying to push the boundaries of what can make regular TV syndication. What can be shown without blurred fog, soap, or black lines? And so what about zoophilia? I mean it isn’t like it’s a topic that hasn’t really been covered already in the past.
Isekai is a genre that doesn’t seem to want to die, and so plots end up seemingly trying to outdo each other with creating wilder stories. From being transported and trapped into a virtual game world (Sword Art Online), to being killed and reincarnated into a high fantasy world full of magic and mystery (too many shows to count here…). From collapsing under books in a library and teaching the new world how to read and write (Ascendance of a Bookworm), to waking up as a vending machine after being crushed by one themselves (Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon). The plot idea of no longer being a loser in real life and turning into someone people respect in another world is nothing new; it just seems to have gained more traction in anime, manga and light novels as of late.
And so if this loser in real life turns into a dog, what happens then? Do we delve into the struggles of being reborn in another body (like something you’d see in Kafka’s The Metamorphosis)? The psychological damage being a four-legged creature does to someone who may have had a very normal life in the past? No. Instead the show leans toward how much this loser’s new owner fawns over him…a lot.
(This post contains spoilers for My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog.)
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Anime Solstice 