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Desperate Times

Until now, Inuyashiki and Shishigami have walked separate paths with their superhuman abilities. But unhinged, isolated, and seemingly with nothing more to lose, Shishigami has turned his deadly powers on the entirety of Japan. As more and more innocent lives are threatened, Inuyashiki realizes that he may have to take a larger role as the hero people are calling for. The moment has finally come for him to confront Shishigami, but how will this spotlight change the delicate balance of his own family—and can Shishigami’s terrifying spree even be stopped?

199 pages, Paperback

First published August 23, 2016

41 people are currently reading
143 people want to read

About the author

Hiroya Oku

293 books337 followers
Hiroya Oku (奥浩哉 Oku Hiroya, born September 16, 1967 in Fukuoka, Fukuoka) is a mangaka who is the creator of Gantz, Zero-One and HEN, all of which have been serialized in Young Jump. He has finished working on his most renowned manga, Gantz, which began in July 2000. His manga often contain explicit violence and gore, as well as sexual situations.

He won the second prize of the Youth Manga Awards in 1988, under the penname Yahiro Kuon.

He designed a character for Namco Bandai's Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 fighting game, Soulcalibur IV named Shura.

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5 stars
183 (26%)
4 stars
303 (44%)
3 stars
161 (23%)
2 stars
33 (4%)
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3 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
Profile Image for Baba.
4,084 reviews1,541 followers
January 6, 2025
Teenager with new super powers going off-key, Shishigami has the entire Japanese state in fear of him! And even more deadly they have realised that he has a potent and lethal weapon in being able to weaponize their own mobile phones as killing machines! Will middle-aged married father, also with new super powers, Inuyashiki, have to step up? Maybe when he sees his own daughter in peril!! A fascinating concept, but too much focussed on the violence of Shishigami, than on the real impact of his actions on the populace. A 7 out of 12, Three Star read, that was close to Four Stars too be honest with the great art and overall concepts.

2024 read
Profile Image for Urbon Adamsson.
1,992 reviews102 followers
June 30, 2024
We are approaching the conclusion of this series, with only three volumes left.

In their attempt to apprehend the antagonist, Japanese authorities inadvertently endangered the lives of those he holds dear. This has driven him to unleash a relentless and seemingly unstoppable killing spree.

Now, the protagonist steps into the fray, and the long-awaited, inevitable clash between them is finally at hand.
Profile Image for Rod Brown.
7,405 reviews284 followers
May 5, 2018
Our hero, Inuyashiki, has spent the past couple volumes on the sidelines as Shishigami has walked his path to declaring a death sentence on the entire population of Japan. With a supervillain terrorizing Tokyo with hundreds of deaths each day, can Inuyashiki finally bring his level of competence closer in line with his good intentions? This volume invokes the first Superman movie as Inuyashiki finally sets out to become a superhero.
Profile Image for James DeSantis.
Author 17 books1,203 followers
July 9, 2020
The start of this volume has Hiro just murdering a bunch of people again. So I was worried it would be just more torture porn for mass slaughtering but finally our actual hero, Inuyashiki, makes his stand.

This volume picks up significantly in the tension as Hiro controls a bunch of planes to crash around Tokyo. Talk about mass slaughter. But Inuyashiki decides he's had enough and begins to rescue them. This finally brings the murderer and the savior to face off against each other. In a brutal fight one will come out on top but with the cliffhanger ending, and how brutal this series has been, I don't know if it'll be a happy ending. While not quite a 4, it's for sure a 3.5. So I'll bump it to a 4 on here.
7,034 reviews83 followers
May 25, 2020
Toujours super divertissant. Léger en terme de profondeur certes, mais la confrontation bien/mal, bien que déjà vue, est bien menée et j'ai énormément de plaisir à lire cette série!
Profile Image for Judita Eicher-Lorka.
108 reviews14 followers
March 25, 2023
3.5
So Hiro realizes that he's the villain of the story and cries. That was strong.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Alo ★.
193 reviews13 followers
April 29, 2024
meh el villano no entiende q es el villano y mucho menos acepta q un viejo sea el héroe cienfwkx
Profile Image for Jesus Flores.
2,583 reviews70 followers
June 21, 2023
Muestra el aftermath del primer dia de muertos del Shishigami.
a esperar al próximo volumen
Profile Image for Juan.
523 reviews4 followers
July 28, 2021
Comienza a entrar en materia la pelea entre los principales. Lástima que se ve que es una serie que va a durar por mucho mucho tiempo. Tocará esperar para el final.
Profile Image for Michael Sorbello.
Author 1 book316 followers
October 20, 2020
This is a review of the entire series.

Fifty-eight-year-old Ichiro Inuyashiki is down on his luck and still struggling to find a place in the world after living for so long. He’s constantly ignored, disrespected and put down by his dissatisfied family and judgmental peers regardless of how much effort he puts into trying to give them everything he can to make them happy. He’s too depressed and afraid to stand up for himself and he struggles to find a reason to keep living such an unfulfilling life. Things seem to brighten up for him after he adopts a cute and affectionate dog he names Hanako, but his happiness is instantly robbed from him when he learns from his doctor that he’s been diagnosed with cancer and has less than three months left to live.

Ready to run away from all of his responsibilities and burdens, Ichiro takes a long walk away from home with Hanako and stops to take a rest under the night sky in an empty park to gather his thoughts. Just when things seem like they’ve reached their lowest point, a UFO of all things comes crashing down to earth and lands right on top of the frail old man and a nearby bystander. It seems to be an unfortunate end for Ichiro, until he wakes up completely unscathed and feeling healthier than ever. Hanako is still by his side when he awakes, and both of them know that something isn’t quite right. It seems that the aliens driving the UFO took pity on the poor old man and performed an emergency operation to bring him back from the dead, upgrading his body with their superior technology and leaving him with a few new tricks up his sleeve to keep him safe from harm, such as enhanced vision, hearing, strength, durability and the ability to fly.

With his new and improved hearing capabilities, Ichiro overhears a group of young thugs ganging up on homeless people and beating them to death with baseball bats in the distance. He instinctively rushes to the aid of their next victim and gives the kids the scare of their life after awakening his new superhuman abilities. The homeless man is saved and the kids are brought to justice. For the first time in his life, Ichiro feels like his existence actually means something.

After saving the homeless man, Ichiro takes control of his life with his newfound abilities by using them to save thousands of innocent people from death and violence. After living through one tragedy after another, Ichiro finally finds his purpose, becoming a hero of the people and earning the love and respect he’s desperately wanted since he was a young boy.

Unknown to Ichiro however, the boy that happened to be at the park on the night of the incident went through a similar procedure. The antagonist is a sociopathic teenage boy named Hiro Shishigami, who was blessed with the same godlike powers as Ichiro after having his body reconstructed by the aliens. Unlike the kind old man however, Hiro has no intentions of using his powers for good. And so begins an unlikely battle between a heroic, lovable grandpa and a young genocidal maniac.

Inuyashiki explores what happens when people suddenly gain the power of gods. Some people use it to turn their lives around, other people use it to take revenge on the world. Power doesn’t always corrupt a person, there are a few genuinely good souls out there that put their power and influence to good use. Ichiro is a humble man that only feels alive when he saves other people from death and despair, he uses his power out of love for humanity and only wishes to be loved in return. He’s fragile and reliant on others, but he’s selfless and heroic all the same.

Hiro only feels alive when he sees other lives come to an end. He hates the world and he feels nothing towards others, with the exception of his mother, a single friend from school and a girl he develops surprisingly warm feelings for. This is where his sociopathic tendencies begin to get more complex, because he genuinely seems capable of having strong feelings toward a select group of people. He also cries for fictional characters when reading his favorite books and he even breaks down in tears when bad things happen to the few people he cares about. His unpredictable nature makes him a terrifying and fascinating individual, breaking the definition of a pure sociopath or psychopath.

That being said, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more interesting hero/villain dynamic than that of a sweet old grandpa and a demented teenager. One thing I absolutely loved about the dark subject matter of the story is that the extreme violence and psychological horror elements throughout the series were taken very seriously. It’s never done just for shock value or being over the top, even though there are quite a few incredibly disturbing moments. Every single time someone dies or a cruel act is performed, the characters always take the time to reflect on the aftermath of the consequences of what happened and gives you enough time to soak in the pain.

Ichiro values human life, and even sheds tears when he has no choice but to use violence against irredeemable criminals that refuse to surrender to justice. Even Hiro begins to reflect on his life choices and abuse of his superhuman powers after the consequences of his actions catch up to him and transform his unstoppable rampage into an ocean of guilt, regret and self-loathing. Not a single act goes unpunished in this series, and the way these actions linger in the characters' minds and forces them to take a second look at themselves is masterfully done.

It’s a very original take and criticism on the superhero genre. Heroes and villains are criticized in equal measure. You can rarely do something good without having a few negative consequences that go along with it, and the opposite can also be true. It portrays society in a nihilistic, yet very believable way by cleverly integrating parodies of twitter drama and forum-based chat sites such as 4chan, where everyone is desensitized to kindness and cruelty and get off on dehumanizing each other from behind the safety of a computer monitor. If a superhero or a supervillain were to appear in this day and age, many people would probably shrug off their actions because they’ve been so desensitized by internet culture and ultra-violent media. People can hear about school shootings and terrorist attacks that killed thousands of innocent people on the news everyday and not bat an eye because they’ve heard the same old story so many times before. As sad as it may sound, sometimes people just come to expect the absolute worst from the world and they grow numb to the shocking events that transpire every moment. The satirical yet harsh social commentary benefits the adult superhero narrative to great effect.

Inuyashiki isn’t all doom and gloom, however. It’s actually a very heartwarming tale about being able to overcome your status as an outcast, accepting your role in the world and coming to terms with your past in order to change your life around for the greater good. I think the ending really hits home with these themes and messages, and it sure as hell sent me through an emotional roller coaster.

If there’s one thing to take away from this series, it’s that everyone has a hero inside of them waiting for their chance to shine. No matter how feeble, meaningless or cruel your past actions may have been, there’s always a new opportunity waiting just around the corner if you ever decide to make a change for the better and bring something good into the world. These acts of kindness might not make up for the things you’ve done in the past, but there’s no denying that they have the potential to make the future a brighter place for someone else. No matter how insignificant they may seem, every little action, choice and sacrifice you make has the power to change the future. It’s never too late to start doing the right thing.

***

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Profile Image for Lila Cyclist.
856 reviews71 followers
January 11, 2018
Akhirnya perang jugaaaaaakk...

Setelah penyerangan bertubi-tubi yang dilakukan oleh Hiro terhadap masyarakat Jepang, tibalah saatnya Ichirou beraksi!!!!

Jengjengggg....

Sehari sebelumnya, Hiro sudah melakukan konferensi pers sekehendak hatinya dengan menyatakan akan membunuh sebanyak 100 orang setiap hari. Seperti di volume sebelumnya, Hiro bisa dengan gampangnya muncul di hadapan orang-orang yang ia kehendaki dan membunuh mereka. Dan di hari berikutnya, masyarakat Jepang sudah mengantisipasi dengan tidak bepergian kemana-mana, bahkan beberapa sekolah ditutup demi keselamatan. Tapi tidak pada Mari Inuyashiki, putri semata wayang Ichirou. Sebelumnya, diceritakan bahwa sifat Mari ini cukup menyebalkan, bahkan bagi teman-teman sekolahnya. Tapi, adegan flashback menunjukkan kedekatan Mari dan ayahnya ketika ia masih kecil, dan saya sudah menduga, bakal ada kejadian tragis yang bakal menimpa Mari.

Hmmm... Dugaan saya betul dong.,, :D

Serangan Hiro kali ini ditujukan pada penerbangan yang sedang melintas di udara dan menjatuhkannnya di bangunan tinggi. Bisa dibayangkan berapa jiwa akan hilang dalam satu tragedi ini. Satu pesawat cukup? Oh, jelas tidak!!! Hiro kembali menyasarkan tembakannya pada satu pesawat lain yang tengah melintas. Jatuh berkeping-keping?

Ichirou tidak tinggal diam.

Dan mereka berhadapan!!!

Dan yang terpapar dalam manga di volume ini penuh dengan adegan-adegan pertarungan antara dua manusia mesin ini. Saling serang, saling menjatuhkan, saling adu strategi karena mereka sama-sama memiliki kekuatan yang sama.

Sementara Mari tengah sekarat di sebuah bangunan tinggi yang terkena pesawat jatuh....

Saya sudah berusaha mengerem membaca manga ini, agar saya sempat menulis review di setiap volumenya. Tapi susah. Tiap chapter hanya terdiri beberapa halaman, dan satu volume hanya terdiri beberapa chapter, dan kebanyakan halaman isinya bahasa gambar tanpa teks. Hahahaha... Kadang saya kudu membalik balik hp saya mencoba memahami ini gambar mana orangnya ya? wkwkwkwk....

Gambarnya tetap cantik dan seru. Saya bahkan lupa bahwa sebenarnya mereka saling menembak tanpa suara. Saya merasa sudah ada sound effect di kepala saya sendiri. Saya baru sadar setelah mengintip versi anime-nya. Hiro hanya teriak BANG! dan segala kekacauan terjadi.

Ayolah. Tamatkan segera. Biar saya bisa move on ke manga lain yang sudah menunggu :D
Profile Image for Alma Guevara .
373 reviews
August 10, 2021
¿Cómo que Hiro no se ha dado cuenta que es el villano y le molesta que un anciano como Inuyashiki sea el héroe? Realmente no entiendo a Hiro, ahora como asesinar 100 personas al día le parece muy poca cosa, decide matar 1000 y derrumbar aviones, tampoco comprendo de dónde viene esa idea de destruir Japón, aunque es el primer objetivo claro que le he visto, excluyendo la vez que asesinó a las personas que dejaron comentario ofensivos tras la muerte de su mamá.

Sé que un psicópata no necesita el motivo más profundo para asesinar personas al azar, pero Hiro ni siquiera disfruta el hecho de matar, refiriéndome al indicio sobre psicópatas haciéndole por este motivo, solo le hace porque sí y punto. Si bien, le dice a la chica que es necesario destruir Japón porque es el enemigo del estado, y después le pregunta sobre el lugar donde vivirán, a pesar de que ella claramente ya no está muy feliz con que mate personas... sigo sin comprender las acciones de Hiro.
Profile Image for Camilo Guerra.
1,223 reviews20 followers
January 9, 2018
Todo ha sido muy grande, y acá no se detiene, el villano pierde un par de tornillos mas y empieza a hacer caer los aviones sobre Tokyo como si fueran sus marionetas y el anciano,en un acto de pura valentía da todo lo que tiene por salvar a cuantos puede y lo hace, al tiempo que se enfrenta a la locura de su par, enfrentándose en un estilo mecha-superman, que suena impactante, peor la verdad esperaba un poco mas.Al final, todo fue un poco mas humanista pero no mucho.

No es que no me haya gustado, lo que pasa es que Hiroya Oku es GANTZ, y acá el nivel no llega, esta muy abajo y se espera un poco mas asi que en los dos tomos que faltan, espero que me toque un poco mas.
Profile Image for Gustavo.
901 reviews17 followers
April 11, 2019
Siguiendo con el cliché superheroico de Hiroya Oku, Hiro, el malo de la historia empieza a escalar las matanzas cada vez más, lo que causa que Inuyashiki se sienta impotente y decida finalmente hacer algo al respecto. Al fin vemos una especie de desenlace del arco de la hija, y creo que fue un buen recurso, ahora hay una tensión real en el final del tomo, que es muy bienvenida.

Las ilustraciones y las escenas de las matanzas de este tomo son realmente excelentes, Oku y sus asistenates mezclan fotografía con renders 3D y dibujo y el resultado da algo bastante unico del autor y de muy buena calidad.
Profile Image for 47Time.
3,473 reviews95 followers
October 8, 2021
Profile Image for ANTHONY FLORES.
207 reviews3 followers
Read
December 4, 2024
"TODO JAPON ES MI ENEMIGO"

Me parece una frase toda poderosa de un villa a quien un arrebato de locura le quitó todo.

La amiga y la abuela se ven que estan en un lugar seguro pero le están diciendo que deje de matar, que deje de hacer todo lo que hace pero, el trata de poner la situación a su favor diciendo que va a salvar a muchas personas.

Mrk, el potencial que tiene esta historia es impresionante. Me faltan 3 tomos para terminar esta obra.
Profile Image for Javier Muñoz.
849 reviews103 followers
June 9, 2021
Comienza el enfrentamiento entre Inuyashiki y Shisigami, ya tocaba... la odiosa hija de Inuyashiki mientras tanto pasa de las recomendaciones de todo el mundo que indican que igual no es la mejor idea salir de casa cuando hay un psicópata asesino que mata con sólo pensarlo suelto y sorprendentemente se pone en peligro... en fin, la pelea entre los robots está chula
Profile Image for The Book Dragon.
2,523 reviews38 followers
January 25, 2022
Well that's...terrifying. Shishigami declares war on all of Japan and sets in motion a plan to kill every single citizen. At first it's 100, then it amps up to 1000 and gives me horror flashbacks to 2001. And it's all Inuyashiki can do to save even a few.

But that's how Shishigami finally meets Inuyashiki. Oooh, the suspense in this this series is top notch!

This series has 10 volumes.
Profile Image for Adonay.
295 reviews
April 30, 2019
Oku se lee rápido, pero me gusta que sea un tipo que genere buenas imágenes en sus mangas. Sin embargo, es impresionante como la serie se llama Inuyashiki y aún así el autor sabe que el personaje es aburrido y que es más interesante ver que hace Hiro.
200 reviews
October 30, 2021
Muy bueno, más que la acción lo que resalta en este manga es el dilema humano, como la situación puede transformar a dos personas en totales opuestos, el destello de luz de Shishigami da mucho peso a su personaje.
Profile Image for Leia Mist.
175 reviews13 followers
December 31, 2019
Este tomo es el mas perturbador y triste de todos los que he leido, muy impactante pero muy bueno.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews

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