Story Treatment - The Way of Boss Inu

 

Central to this story are the crows and ravens who observe everything and believe in the coming of a chosen one. Through the film they argue about which one to pick.

 

After the bombings and the Master’s disappearance, the city was no longer Tokyo.

The old world of markets, temple bells, and cooking fires was gone. The soldiers had taken the men, the men had taken the food, and the bombs had taken the walls.

 

All that remained were the animals — hungry, leaderless, and forced to choose between chaos and cooperation.

 

The streets no longer obeyed human laws; they shifted daily, redrawn by pawprints and blood. Rats ruled the subways, crows the wires, cats the rooftops, and dogs the ruins below.

In this broken world, Quiet Inu and Brother Inu rose as opposing forces: one preaching order, the other dominance. Their choices would determine what kind of city — and what kind of future — the animals would inherit.

 

Tom, a kitten abandoned by his family, wanders into a fractured world where two dog brothers—Quiet Inu and Brother Inu—have taken diverging paths after their human Master, an Ōmoto-kyō practitioner, is arrested. At the same moment, Brother Eoin—the compassionate Franciscan monk and owner of Bran—also mysteriously disappears, leaving Bran, the wise Irish Wolfhound, alone to navigate this chaos.

 

After the Master’s arrest, the Inu brothers each gather their own followers among the city’s strays. Brother Inu, hardened by conflict, became a fearsome figure shrouded in a ragged cape—a faded blanket won from the strongest dog in the pound and worn as a trophy of brutality. He assembles a formidable pack bent on dominance and strength, ruling over scraps and territory with force. 

 

Quiet Inu brings together dogs who yearn for purpose and discipline. With thoughtful leadership, his followers recovered old imperial army uniforms from an abandoned warehouse, donning military jackets and caps as emblems of unity and a new code of conduct. This sense of shared order set Quiet Inu’s pack apart: not just a band of strays, but a community bound by ritual. Quiet Inu, guided by the memories of peace and stillness forges a pack that survives by sharing rather than fighting. Realizing the precarious balance between dogs and cats in the fractured city, Quiet Inu secretly brokers a deal with the Cat Village: in exchange for food 'Tribute', Quiet Inu's pack will respect the temple cats’ boundaries and aid them if threatened. Tom unaware of Quiet Inu's pact the cats tries to defeat him at one point, but Quiet Inu spares him.

 

This uneasy alliance preserves a fragile peace, and Quiet Inu’s diplomacy with the cats stands in stark contrast to Brother Inu’s relentless aggression—setting the stage for future betrayals and unlikely friendships.

 

Bran emerges at critical turning points along the Inu brothers' separate journeys, serving as both witness and guide. Sometimes a voice of conscience, sometimes a quiet mentor, Bran’s presence haunts the divided brothers, reminding them of the lessons of peace and belonging that both Eoin and their former Master embodied.

 

Tom is unable to fit in with street cats who sense something foreign about him, but after discovering a secret cat dojo where the cats are imitating Aikido from a real Aikido practitioner.

 

Tom mistakes Aikido for mere fighting. His clumsy imitations nearly destroy him until two unlikely teachers guide him: Miyako, a disciplined temple cat and Aikido master, and Maru, a street-smart stray. Through their contrasting lessons of restraint and instinct, Tom learns that true strength lies not in winning but in listening and redirection.

 

Amid the chaos, Kappy the Capybara leaps onto the back of a raven and soars over the city, desperately searching for Quiet Inu’s soldiers to remind them of their tribute contract to protect the cats. While Kappy flies through the smoke-filled sky, a sudden fireball erupts behind him, silhouetting his form against the blaze. The spectacle convinces all the watching birds below that Kappy is none other than Yatagarasu incarnate—the legendary crow—and this miraculous vision unexpectedly unites the flocks in peace.

 

At the climax, after being defeated in one-on-one combat by Tom—and unexpectedly spared—Brother Inu feels humiliated. Instead of Quiet Inu who arrives late to the scene unleashing his dog soldiers to overpower the cats, he bows to Tom in a gesture of deep respect, honoring Tom’s courage and mastery.

 

Just as fraternal tensions boil over and Brother Inu is about to lash out at Quiet Inu in a moment of wounded pride, Bran steps between them, both physically and emotionally halting the violence. Bran’s quiet intervention breaks the Inu Brother’s cycle of rivalry, reconnecting the brothers to their lost sense of family. 

 

In the aftermath, Tom and the Cat Village are granted a chance to embrace harmony, the lessons of Aikido rippling out beyond the battlefield, a new dojo is founded where kittens and puppies train together.