Orthros no Inu – Orthros Dog – Finale and Series Thoughts

When you feel like a monster, the only way to end the nightmare is to end it yourself.

Wow. Orthros no Inu just ended. I totally did not expect that at all; I was under the impression that there was to be ten episodes in this drama but I guess the big wigs over at TBS decided to cut it an episode short and wrap it all up.

Well, we open up with Ryuzaki finally confronting his father on his deathbed. While Sawamura watches in awe and amusement in the background, Ryuzaki and his father have a deep discussion about the curse that has landed their family in the situation they’re now in today. As Ryosuke lies asleep next to them, Ryuzaki holds back the will to ignore his father’s wish of not healing him and allowing him to die as he listens to his father basically lay out his soul on to the table.

He didn’t want to kill them. He wanted to protect them.

Now, if you ask me: Telling your wife to drown your youngest son in the river and trying to blow up your oldest son on two separate occasions doesn’t really speak much in using the “ I didn’t want to kill you “ defense. But, moving on, as Tatsumi (their father) goes into cardiac arrest, Ryuzaki watches in sadness in anger outside of the operation room while Ryosuke becomes conscious and speaks to him.

Dying before telling the truth of his relation to Ryuzaki and himself, Tatsumi leaves Ryosuke with a hint about their abilities. Angry that he had died and Ryuzaki “ not saving “ him, he argues with Ryuzaki (again) for only carelessly using his abilities for his benefit and Ryuzaki takes the heat without defending himself and walks off. Sawamura, like the strange creep he is, approaches Ryosuke and lets him know that Tatsumi is his father and Ryuzaki intentionally let him died.

How many times has Ryo tried to kill this dude?

Ryosuke now wants to kill Ryuzki. Ryosuke transforms into Sousuke. Bum bum bummmmm.

Anyway, a whole bunch of other crap happens in between then and the final confrontation between the two brothers. The Prime Minister Candidate, Yoko Sakaki, realizes how much of a bitch she was for eight episodes and turns a leaf and works against Sawamura with Hasebe.  Ryosuke comes to terms with his parents and learns the truth about how he was adopted into their family. Kumakiri, the annoying kid that shanks people and throws bitches off of steps, apologized to Shirakawa for trying to kill her throughout the series and turns a new leaf.

Hasebe’s daughter finally gets healed, and Sawamura magically gets his hands on some sick ass tactical rifle with a scope.

Lolwat.

So, Ryosuke is totally hellbent on killing Ryuzaki. He wants to kill him for killing his father and also tries to kill Sawamura for trying to use him as a tool before Hasebe’s comes in to put a halt to everything by putting Sawamura under arrest for the bombings in the hospital incident. With Ryuzaki announcing that he’s willing to heal whomever he can at Rukoku Dam, Ryosuke rushes over to Rukoku Dam and confronts Ryuzaki.

“ This is where it began and this is where it ends. We are one. “

WHERE DID HE LEGALLY GET THAT SHIT?

Hasebe gets there in time to stop Ryosuke, about to tell him that Ryuzaki is his older brother but Ryuzaki stops her. Ryosuke then says that he already knew that Ryuzaki was his older brother and that he is killing him because that is what Ryuzaki wanted. Eventually, crazy ol’ Sawamura who isn’t pleased with the fact Ryosuke backed out takes his big ass tactical rifle and tries to finish the job himself.

How he shot this without experiencing recoil is BEYOND me.

Anyway, he gets Ryosuke in the shoulder when he jumps out to protect his brother and Hasebe shoots Sawamura in the leg. Ryosuke is bleeding, wanting to die and not letting Ryuzaki heal him. Hasebe corners Sawamura but he manages to shoot Ryuzaki right in the chest declaring that he is going to kill the Orthros Dog, like in the Greek legend.

So Ryosuke and Ryuzaki are bleeding to death, Ryuzaki demands that Ryosuke kill him like he had wanted but Ryosuke refuses. Eventually Ryosuke concedes to Ryuzaki’s wish, but is unable to because his arm is injured. Ryuzaki heals him, Ryosuke goes to kill him, but Ryuzaki falls off the dam’s edge intent on killing himself knowing Ryosuke is going to back out.

Ryosuke catches him, reminds him that he should live, and the moment Ryuzaki finally has that will they both fall into the river. Ryuzaki grabs Ryosuke’s hand in the water; they look at each other, and then release their power on one another.

In the end, everyone returns to their normal lives… Each realizing how much greed has driven them to madness and have became better persons. Then, in the end, we find out that Ryosuke and Ryuzaki have lived, the two of them living as powerless, normal, human beings rather than the monsters they were born as.

Tell me, Ryosuke! Why didn’t anyone watch our drama?!

I really have nothing to say about this ending. It was good, better than I had expected from the cesspool of crap and inconsistency the drama had ended up becoming.

The drama, for a moment, had you expecting a Maou ending, which would have been okay as well, but ended up pulling a twist and leaving us with a happier ending in which our two protagonist end up living like normal human beings rather than continuing on as the monsters with the powers of a god.  I had thought that the “ canceling out “ was an interesting way to go. It didn’t become so predictable as the show had constantly been episode to episode to episode.

Orthros no Inu ended poorly, with an average rating of 8.3%, so that probably was the reason why Orthros only received 9 episodes rather than the forecasted 10. It barely hung in there, never once breaking into the double digits after the first episode. But I primarily blame that on the show’s writers who failed to write a captivating story with flat characters and a confusing storyline that had you question what was going on, “ Is Ryuzaki really the bad guy here or is he the hero? “

Because it sucked, Onii-chan. It sucked.

It also did not help the fact that Ryosuke was a dumb character from the beginning to the end, only redeeming himself in the last twenty minutes of the series. There were really no instances given to cheer him on other than facepalming again at his naivety of the situation at hand. Is he really going to get the hint or is he going to continue to sucker himself into the sweet lies of those around him?

Orthros no Inu had so much potential to be something but it fell short, significantly so that it’s lowest rated episode was a 6.7%, and for a prime time Friday night drama lead by Japan’s popular Johnnys, it’s a big slap in the face to the station, the production team, Johnny & Associates, and the actors themselves.

But who is there to blame for this failure? The writers? The actors? The production staff? Or was it a collaborative effort that just compounded on top of itself leading to the ultimate failure of this drama? There are so many speculations and no right answer. It’s a disappointment that something that could have been good ended up becoming complete crap at the end, failing to live up to its predecessor, Maou.

Orthros no Inu was broken toy in a pretty package. It had the money, the actors, the effects, the sets, the on location shoots, and the Warner Brother’s Japan Writer Team. Yet, failed in providing the “ speedy mystery “ that it promised its viewers. While Maou had picked itself up by episode 4 and never stopped being a crazy rollercoaster, Orthros no Inu continued staying in one mode and never shifted – Its twists and turns coming 8 episodes too late to recover itself from the grave it had dug itself back in episode 1.

I will never recommend this drama to anyone, unless I hate that person. I don’t think its worth the time for someone to watch unless they really have nothing else to watch and are willing to waste a day sleeping behind their TV.

Here’s to the (short lived) return of Takizawa Hideaki’s acting career. Now, please, can you return back to the stage and leave the TV alone?

Well, I have to admit, this was a pretty scene.