"Inu-Oh": How Masaaki Yuasa Created an Animated Rock Opera About Musical Performance as Rebellion

"Inu-Oh" (theatrical screening of GKids) represents Masaaki Yuasa's summary statement on animation, music, story and rebellion. It is the culmination of his extremely imaginative and deeply compassionate work to honor marginalized people. He takes everything he explored in "Lu Over the Wall", "Mind Game", "Ride Your Wave" and "The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl", and blasts it into "Inu-Oh".

The film is an animated rock opera set in 14th-century feudal Japan about the friendship between two cursed musicians, who serve as historical versions of modern stars with theatrical fearlessness: the enigmatic Inu-Oh (Avu - chan of fashion punk Queen Bee), a nô dancer who stages the massacre of Heike at sea during the battle of Dan-no-ura, and Tomona (Mirai Moriyama), a blind biwa player who recounts the story in song. But the way Yuasa assails us with dazzling visuals and musical performances, he comes across as the Baz Luhrmann of anime. It's a spooky stream-of-consciousness extravaganza (with substantial historical and supernatural backstory), serving as a bridge between past and present, forcing us to embrace our identities and rediscover our humanity.

There's a lot to unpack from "Inu-Oh," which was adapted from Hideo Furukawa's novel, "The Tale of the Heike: The Inu-Oh Chapters." “What interested me about the story was, one thing, I had never done a period piece,” Yuasa told IndieWire through a translator. “So I thought it would be an interesting challenge. And the fact that this story is about an old artist who actually existed. Telling a fictionalized story of what was imagined was also interesting. And the Biwa priests and the stories they told about dead soldiers through songs and performances [was another challenge].

"Inu-Oh"

GKids

"But I really think the most important aspect was about a pop star at the time. It was something that I had always thought about, and how in modern times we watch Noh shows or of Kabuki, I wondered what it was like for the people of the Muromachi period [1336 to 1573] and how they felt when they watched these kinds of performances."

Unsurprisingly, it was the close friendship between the co-protagonists that most excited the director. And one of the many reasons he chose the two leads was because they were childhood friends. “So even during the recording sessions, they were giving each other opinions on how to improve their character building,” he said. “Also, both as performers are really true to themselves and really free. They try to take a job that won't change them. And they have to perform, and I think that helped amplify their performance. So when I recorded with them, I tried to make Inu-Oh or Tomona mostly based on them.

Meanwhile, Science Saru's animation team carefully divided up the footage and boldly adopted a range of styles and moods in collaboration with Yuasa (including line art, oil painting, oil, watercolors and psychedelic modes). In fact, the scenes of the co-p...