Inu x Boku SS

Inu × Boku SS (妖狐×僕SS, Inu Boku Shīkuretto Sābisu, lit. The Dog and Me Secret Service), also known as Youko × Boku, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Cocoa Fujiwara. An anime adaptation by David Production aired in Japan between January and March 2012. The anime has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks for streaming, and home video release in North America.

§Plot

The Maison de Ayakashi (メゾン・ド・章樫, Mezon do Ayakashi), better known as the Ayakashikan (妖館), is a high security apartment building where humans with demon ancestors, or yōukai, reside, each guarded by their own Secret Service bodyguard. A yōkai girl named Ririchiyo Shirakiin moves into the Ayakashikan hoping for some peace and quiet. Instead, she finds herself with the service of the Secret Service agent, Sōshi Miketsukami.

The first four volumes of the manga are a prologue. At the end of volume four, a foe possesses Karuta, leaving her in a coma for several months, and uses other yōukai to attack the other residents of Maison de Ayakashi. Due to this, nearly every member of the main cast is killed except Renshō, who is currently 41 years old. Part 2 takes place 23 years later, when those killed are reincarnated. The yōkai boy, Mikoto, is still alive as the friend of Watanuki who is now a middle schooler.

A time capsule is sent to the past, and now, in the third arc, we jump back to the past which now being their current life, and see how the future unfolds from there! This is back to the time when they are about to make a time capsule for their future selves.

§Characters

Ririchiyo Shirakiin (白鬼院 凜々蝶, Shirakiin Ririchiyo)

Voiced by: Rina Hidaka (Japanese), Hilary Haag (English)

A half-human, half-oni high school girl who transferred to Room 4 of the Maison de Ayakashi in order to live alone. She yearns to be independent and constantly worries about not being able to communicate with other people properly, as due to the fact that she was bullied when she was young and developed a habit of rudely slighting people whenever they try to interact with her. Her SS agent and servant is Sōshi, who has the blood of a fox-spirit. While at first she is exasperated by Sōshi's extreme willingness to serve her, she eventually realizes she has fallen in love with him, something that is only compounded when she later finds out that it was Sōshi who wrote the letters that were supposed to be from her fiance to her. Eventually, Ririchiyo confesses her love to Sōshi, and they begin a relationship with each other.

Ririchiyo was killed at the age of 16 after trying to stop the enemy yōkai raid after they killed Sōshi. In Part 2, she is reincarnated, but has amnesia from the trauma of losing Sōshi after he protected her. Once she does remember, she gains a resolution to protect everyone so that history doesn't repeat itself, since Soshi was cursed to die the same way each time he was reborn. So, Ririchiyo makes him a cup of coffee as promised in the previous life and ends the contract with him, to protect him.

Ririchiyo got hurt and particularly almost died when she protected Sōshi. Ririchiyo was saved just in time and said to the current Sōshi, that she loves the previous him but he is also a very special person to her and she is glad that he was born in this world because he was a relfect from the previous him and that she can't fulfill the promise she made with the previous Sōshi that he wants a child. She then wrote a letter with Sōshi's help in writing it, to send it to the past for preventing the dead of the Maison de Ayakashi's member.

Sōshi Miketsukami (御狐神 双熾, Miketsukami Sōshi)

Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura (Japanese), Chris Patton (English)

The assigned SS Agent to Ririchiyo and, in his own words, her servant and "Dog". Sōshi is descended from the evil nine-tailed fox who was Sōshi's past life. Ririchiyo helped him when she was little, although she's initially unaware of it. Later on in the series, it's revealed that his family had kept him under house arrest because they feared the powers of the kitsune, and in order to obtain freedom he learned to manipulate and appeal to others through obeying their whims. However, because of this, he was unable to form his own personality. It wasn't until he started corresponding with Ririchiyo through letters, under the guise of her fiance Kagerō, that he realized that he was in fact, capable of having emotion, and he began growing into his own person. He's very calm, polite, and gentle to everyone he interacts with, but he bears particularly strong devotion to his Ririchiyo, blindly obeying her and protecting her with his life if the situation calls for it. He enters a relationship with her after she confesses her love for him, which was prompted by him reading a letter that detailed her feelings for him that she meant to put into a time capsule, but instead sent to him by mistake. What he wishes for is a family, which he never had. A notable feature is his heterochromia, in which his right eye is blue, while the other is a dark gold.

He was killed in action at the end of Part 1 at age 23, protecting Ririchiyo from a band of evil yōkai. He is reincarnated but does not remember his previous life. After learning from Kagerō's mother how important Ririchiyo was for the previous Sōshi, he researches about her and becomes Ririchiyo's SS agent. After Ririchiyo regains her memories, she breaks her contract with him, in an attempt to protect him and also because she realizes he is not the same Sōshi she fell in love with.

Depressed because of how Ririchiyo break the contract with him, Sōshi is sulking in his room and still in contact with other SS agents such as Zange Natsume for a photo of Ririchiyo and other things. Because of his hatred, envy and jealousy towards his previous self because Ririchiyo loved and loves the previous him, Sōshi even tried to search for the time capsule his previous self left and destroyed it. Not having any memories from his previous life, he said and planned to destroy the thing the previous Sōshi left, which is a memory card. The memory card revealed to be full of Ririchiyo's photos and letter from his childhood.

Sōshi, even though after cutting off his ties with Ririchiyo as her SS Agent, come to Ririchiyo's rescue from the manipulated servant that is being controled by the leader of the previous war. Before getting killed, Ririchiyo stepped in front of him and protected him, he remains besides Ririchiyo after being saved from dying. Because Ririchiyo said that even though she loves the previous him, he is also a very special person to her and that she is glad that he was born in this world. Sōshi said those words alone is enough and in return he'll help her write a letter for the time capsule which they will send to the past for preventing their death.

Renshō Sorinozuka (反ノ塚 連勝, Sorinozuka Renshō)

Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (Japanese), David Wald (English)

An Ittan-momen half-demon with several tattoos on his tanned skin, he is the tenant of Room 3. He has known Ririchiyo since they were children and earns Sōshi's trust because of it. His SS Agent is Nobara, who he, despite the fact they bicker quite a bit, has a close relationship with. He has a very lazy personality. He has had many girls confess their love for him, but he always rejects them, because he feels he will have to separate from them anyway, because while he can reincarnate into basically the exact same person again, humans will not. He and Ririchiyo considers him as Ririchiyo's brother because of how they were close to each other.

He was the only one of the Maison de Ayakashi members who did not die due to the enemy yōkai raid. As such, he has aged normally, and is now 41 years old. He was waiting for the others to reincarnate for these past 23 years. He's become quite jaded as a result of living on while the others had to be reborn again. He is currently living with Nobara, and laments over what she has become: A middle school student. He now has a goatee.

He still cares for Ririchiyo for these past year, and supporting Ririchiyo after she losed her memories. When Ririchiyo is stuck in her recovery of getting her memories back, he is the one who triggers Ririchiyo's memories to return.

He apparently had a lover, whom he left, due to the loneliness from the others' death.

Nobara Yukinokōji (雪小路 野ばら, Yukinokōji Nobara)

Voiced by: Yōko Hikasa (Japanese), Shelley Calene-Black (English)

The SS Agent assigned to Renshō. She is descended from a Yuki-onna and wears glasses in her human form. She is very interested in fashion and cute girls, often sexually fantasizing over them. She shouts the catchphrase "MANIAC!" whenever she sees something she finds to be arousing. (In Japanese, "maniac マニアック" is used as an adjective to mean "being enthusiastic (esp. about obscure things)" or in this context, something closer to the English "kinky" or "freaky.") She often acts like a big sister to both Karuta and Ririchiyo. Although she states she has no interest in men, and often treats her protectorate Renshō poorly, she is and can be surprisingly caring for him, and once even hugs him from behind.

She was killed at the age of 22 by an enemy band of yōkai. She was reincarnated, and is currently a middle school student living with Renshō. When Sōshi no longer have any ties with Ririchiyo as SS Agent, she offered herself to be the replcament of Sōshi as SS Agent for Ririchiyo. She intended to go back to the past but stopped by Renshō. She recalls memories of her past life and have the same personality.

Kagerō Shōkiin (é'鬼院 蜻蛉, Shōkiin Kagerō)

Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese), David Matranga (English)

Tenant of Room 2, and a half-oni like Ririchiyo. He's Sōshi's former master, Banri and Natsume's childhood friend, and Ririchiyo's fiancée. Kagerō is eccentric, straightforward, and a narcissist, often calling the other tenants "pigs" or "animals". His SS agent is Karuta, who is made to wear a maid outfit and a chain around her neck when he is around. He compulsively classes people in two different categories - "Sadist" or "Masochist". Ririchiyo used to write him letters when she was young, however, the letters' responses were in fact written by Sōshi. Despite his outrageous, egotistical personality, he has shown the ability to be surprisingly perceptive, and at times even sensitive, towards others.

He died and reincarnated along with the others. Now, he is 20 years old and currently living in Maison de Ayakashi in Room 3. When trying to stop the current Sōshi, Kagerō's mask got cracked. His face that he hid, is proven to be handsome and charming. Despite how he act, Kagerō cared for Ririchiyo even now. He is the one who makes Ririchiyo accept Sōshi's death. In the last chapter, he intended to be the one who go back to the past and even saying his farewells, but stopped by Karuta who said that she doesn't want him to become a lonely person. He becomes gentler than before, and even said that had he realizes what's important to him maybe things will go differently between Ririchiyo and him.

Karuta Roromiya (髏々宮 カルタ, Roromiya Karuta)

Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese), Monica Rial (English)

The assigned SS Agent to Kagerō, a Gashadokuro (large skeleton made from the bones of people who died from starvation) whose human form depicts her as a light brown haired (reddish pink in the anime) teenage girl. Though she appears to be "zoned out" most of the time, she's actually very clever, observant, and likes eating. Karuta shows special feelings for Watanuki, who is her childhood friend.

Near the end of Part 1, she was attacked and possessed by enemy yōkai who began to use her for their own purposes. She asked Watanuki to kill her, as she could never return to human form. Watanuki yelled at her and told her that he would still be by her side, no matter if she couldn't return to human form. Although she was so happy to hear those sentiments, she was completely taken over by the enemy and was forced to be killed sometime after the raid.

In Part 2, she has been reincarnated, and is currently 20-years old, the oldest of the reincarnated female main characters. She now has short hair, and her breasts are bigger than in her previous life. She cried for Kagerō and stopped him from going back to the past alone. She cares for Ririchiyo and still wants to be her friend.

Banri Watanuki (渡狸 卍里, Watanuki Banri)

Voiced by: Takuya Eguchi (Japanese), Greg Ayres (English)

Tenant of Room 1, Banri is a mixed blood tanuki demon with an impulsive streak and is very outspoken. Labeling himself a "delinquent", he considers Sōshi as his rival because he once called him cute, causing Banri to resent him. His SS agent is Zange. He has strong feelings for Karuta Roromiya, who was the reason he decided he wanted to become strong. He deeply hates and is afraid of Kagerō because he was bullied by him as kids and the way he treats Karuta.

Near the end of Part 1, he tries to convince a possessed Karuta that he will be by her side, even if she can't turn back into her human form. Although she cries in happiness, she is unable to override the enemy's control, and Karuta as a person is completely erased. He chased after her, but was killed in the battle between the Maison de Ayakashi and the enemy yōkai at age 16. He has been reincarnated in Part 2 as a middle school student, but has no memories of Part 1, much like Ririchiyo and Sōshi. His SS is Karuta in Part 2, and he is now the youngest of all the residents.

Not realising it, Watanuki has become friend with the leader of yokai's raid, Mikoto, the previous group who started the war in Maison de Ayakashi, who killed Ririchiyo and the others 23 years ago. When Mikoto went to the past with the plan of re-doing the raid once again, and when everyone from Maison de Ayakashi are arguing about who should go to the past, he suggests a plan of sending a letter with a time capsule to the past, which arrived safely.

Zange Natsume (夏目 残夏, Natsume Zange)

Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (Japanese), Blake Shepard (English)

The assigned SS agent to Banri, Natsume is a half-human, half-demon wearing a set of black rabbit ears on his head. His ancestor was a Hyakume, or 100 eyes monster, capable of "seeing" the past, future, and various other things. He claims to be able to "see" such things as well because of this heritage. His powers also come in handy when looking for information, although it seems to adversely affect his health. Despite a somewhat frail disposition, he is a very cheerful individual. He is best friends with Kagerō and has known him, as well as Sōshi and Banri, since childhood. He's very fond of Sōshi, and likes to flirt with him and call him "Sou-tan" because of this. Natsume is something of a meddlesome busybody, as he likes to stick his nose into the business of his peers and can come off quite sinister and suspicious at times. That being said, his motives usually have positive goals, such as allowing his friends to realize things about themselves or their relationships. His motto is "everyone should get along."

Natsume died of illness at age 24, two years after Sōshi was killed in the enemy yōkai's raid. He was reincarnated, and is currently 21. After Ririchiyo breaks her contract with Sōshi, Natsume is still in contact with him such as for exchanging photos of Ririchiyo and other information. He once tried to stop Sōshi from searching the time capsule with Kagerō. He suggests that he should be the one who goes back to the past because no matter how many times he is reincarnate, he'll always remember his previous life which makes him almost like an immortal. But that suggestion is no longer significant because the letter which they had send to the past, will prevent their previous death and also the yōkai's raid, which will make their current self disappear.

§Media

§Manga

The manga is titled Youko x Boku SS, and it is serialized in Gangan Joker. Currently, 8 volumes have been published in Japan. At the 2013 Sakura-Con, Yen Press announced that they have licensed this series and will be publishing the first volume in English in October 2013.

§Anime

An anime adaptation by David Production began airing in Japan from January 12, 2012 and is being simulcast on Crunchyroll. An original video animation episode was released with the 7th Blu-ray Disc volume on September 26, 2012. I It covers events from the first three volumes of the manga, with some modifications. The series has been licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks, who released the series on Blu-ray and DVD in April 2013. MVM Films have licensed the series in the United Kingdom.

§Music

Opening Theme

"Nirvana" (ニルヴァーナ, Niruvāna) by Mucc

Ending Themes

1. "Rakuen no Photograph" (楽åœ'のPhotograph) by Yuichi Nakamura

2. "Kimi wa" (君は) by Rina Hidaka

3. "One Way" by Takuya Eguchi and Mamoru Miyano

4. "SM Hantei Forum" (SM判定フォーラム, Esuemu Hantei Fōramu) by Tomokazu Sugita

5. "Sweets Parade" by Kana Hanazawa

6. "Taiyō to Tsuki" (太陽と月) by Yoshimasa Hosoya and Yōko Hikasa

§Episode list

§References

§External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• Inu x Boku SS (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Inu x Boku SS (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia