My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog

Becoming Inukai-san’s Dog

My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog (Inu ni Nattara Suki na Hito ni Hirowareta. / 犬になったら好きな人に拾われた。) is an ecchi comedy anime about a guy who was turned into a dog. The episodes are only 12 minutes long, making it a decent candidate for a binge anime.

The main problem withing binging this series, however, is that it’s not good. Even considering the length of the episodes, there’s no way I’d want to sit through 12 of them in a row. But, it’s surprisingly not the premise of the series that makes it bad.

This series is about an unnamed high school boy who awakens to find himself in the body of a dog. He’s then picked up off the street by Karen Inukai, his classmate whom he has a crush on. Pochita, as Inukai names him, then quickly learns that his crush isn’t all that she seems.

You see, Karen appears to be sexually attracted to dogs. Or, at the very least, to Pochita. Now, to me, this seems like a pretty good situation for our protagonist. But, for some reason, he wants his old life and body back.

He somehow thinks he can make Karen fall for him in human form. But, I don’t see why he should even bother. She already likes him in his current form. And he always winds up in ecchi situations with the girl he likes. So what if he’s a dog?

Alright, but I said the premise of the show isn’t the bad part. And, I stand by that. This could have been a funny anime if done right. Unfortunately, it was not. It doesn’t have good animation. It doesn’t have good comedy. And it tries to take the plot too seriously toward the end.

Girls Whose Dog I Would Like to Be

Karen Inukai may be the titular character. But, she’s nowhere near the best character in the series. Her personality revolves entirely around Pochita. She loves Pochita, and she hates everything else. That’s all there is to her.

With that said, I would absolutely be Karen’s dog. Pochita’s living the life with Karen. He gets to bathe with her, sleep with her, and get inside her clothes with her. If you think about it, Karen is the ideal dog owner. She puts Pochita before everyone else — even herself.

Now, the first character who’s better than Karen is Mike Nekotani. Mike is Karen’s only friend. And if you hadn’t noticed, her last name includes the word for cat, “neko” (猫). This is the opposite of Karen’s last name, which includes the word for dog, “inu” (犬).

As someone associated with cats, it’s only natural that Mike is afraid of dogs. Even Pochita, who’s a small corgi, is too scary for Mike. But, let’s assume Mike would want a dog since Pochita does grow on her. If that were the case, I would rather be her dog than Karen’s.

Next, we have Usagi Tsukishiro, Karen’s rival for Pochita’s love. “Usagi” (兎) means rabbit, so the animal naming convention is still at work here. The weird thing about Usagi is that she seems to know Pochita is her senpai in dog form. How she knows this is never explained and Pochita never seems to question it.

The final character is Inari Sakihira. As with the others, Inari’s name references an animal. “Inari” (稲荷) is a word for a fox and it comes from the name of the god of harvests. You’re probably more familiar with “kitsune” (狐) meaning fox. Inari is the villain of the series.

The Mystery Deepens

What do you think is the weirdest thing about My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog? Is it that the series is about a girl who wants to be in a sexual relationship with her corgi? No. It’s the fact that the series attempts to have an actual plot.

In a lot of ways, this anime is very similar to World’s End Harem. That’s also an ecchi series that tries way too hard to have a plot. And, sure, World’s End Harem’s plot isn’t as wild as My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog’s. But, it’s even closer to being a hentai.

I can’t speak on the manga. However, the anime for this series doesn’t feature actual sex acts. Pochita licking girls on various parts of their bodies is as far as it goes. But, in World’s End Harem, it’s all about sex. It’s basically hentai.

Okay, so maybe saying there are no sex acts in My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog is a bit incorrect. There are no sex acts involving more than 1 character. But, as I’m sure you can tell, this is very much an 18+ series that’s meant to be viewed from a certain perspective.

That’s why it’s so strange that the latter half of the series tries to turn it into a mystery series. And the reason I brought up World’s End Harem is that it does the exact same thing. Both anime shift to focus more on the mystery surrounding the protagonist’s position.

In My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog, that means Pochita trying to figure out how he became a dog in the first place. And while we do eventually learn some information regarding this, there’s no conclusion. So, does that mean there’s going to be a second season? I hope so.

Conclusion

Overall, I’d say My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog is a 3/10. That rating might be generous. But, the girls are attractive, so it gets bonus points for that. Also, it’s not the absolute worst. And, a big part of that is probably that the episodes are only 12 minutes long.

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My review of the OVA episodes is available now.