A short entry for a short story. Let’s get to it.
This manga barely made the minimum for my self-imposed length, with seventeen chapters averaging 30-32 pages (510-544 pages total). With two manga preceding it (especially 3D Kanojo) being somewhat lengthy in comparison, I wanted to stick with something a little lighter to ease my brain quicken the pace of the Summer just a tad. As it turns out, this was a decent choice for a short treat. I call it a treat, but it’s more of a cracker. It gets the job done when you’re hungry, but you don’t crave it beforehand. A bland, but satisfying option for when nothing else looks appetizing or you’re short on supplies.
Inugami-san is a pretty dumb story. A girl is the heiress to a powerful family clan who’s great at everything… when suddenly! A boy comes up and is perfect at everything, beating her easily in every contest imaginable. What’s more, her grandfather has decided to grant the family name in his hands, rather than the granddaughter he seems to cherish. What a wacky situation! How will she ever get back her pride and her name when this boy is so powerful in every regard?
The difference between this and the other stories so far is that this story knows it’s dumb, at least with how I interpret it. The boy’s constantly beating her in challenges and convincing her to partake in a number of sexually-enticing situations (nothing so explicit, but intentionally perverse). This takes up a bulk of the manga’s earlier chapters to the point where I almost feared it would only be that. Fortunately, it got a little more interesting upon the arrival of lazily self-important characters who don’t really provide much by the end, other than some cute lines and empty promises. Its tone changes to a more dramatic hue as it continues—almost randomly, as though the author intended the story to go on for longer. Be that as it may, the characters are a little more complex than they’re given credit for in the story, which makes it almost sad that the plot is this stupid.
Art’s also standard in terms of flexibility, but nicest in terms of overall aesthetic. 3D Kanojo too Shoujo, Pupa too (intentionally?) shitty, Inugami-san has the more traditionally new-age look of manga that I’ve become fond of, though this particular mangaka has a nice detail to their characters and designs. Not one person looked all that similar to another, with many characters having distinct enough faces as opposed to hair styles/colors to differentiate them. Even the ecchi scenes were kind of sexy!
It’s pretty straightforward with some strange potential for actual intrigue underneath. It could’ve used more time or a better focus, though I won’t complain much with how it turned out. I enjoyed it decently enough, even if I wouldn’t recommend it to… anyone, really. A decent time-killer. Little more.
Final Score: 5/10
The rating for this title and all others can (eventually) be found on MyAnimeList.
To see the ratings for all entries in this Summer and all others, check out the Summer of Anime Archive!
The Visualist's Veranda 