Go Nagai never runs out of cool ideas for a story, and this time around he penned a narrative focused on Japanese folklore and mythology, in a similar vein to “Hell Teacher Nube” and “Ghost Sweeper Mikami”. The only big difference is that this story takes the featured apparitions a lot more seriously by exposing historical accounts, as well as tying them closer to aliens and science than to magic.
The main premise is simple enough, at first: An ancient clan of exorcists who descend from aliens hide themselves from society by moonlighting as a generic publishing company, called Heaven Inc., who protect humans from demons and ghosts. Members include: A witch who can fast-forward in time, a powerful exorcist who can change their gender, the mythical En no Ozuno, a Ryo Asuka clone, and last but not least, the cute young girl who can turn invisible, but -as Go Nagai’s law of fanservice dictates-she needs to strip herself naked for her skill to work.
The company tracks down yet another descendant: the archetypical young man who is unaware that he might be the “chosen one”. This is where the story drifts away into something completely different, as it turns out that there is a secret cult that opposes Heaven Inc. and they want the young man to join them. The story loses track from that point on and instead of demons it starts focusing on the conflict between the two groups and trying to foreshadow the new guy’s massive psychic potential. The series was cut short, however, and just when it was starting to get interesting (Nagai ended the manga with a cliffhanger stating he would continue in 2015, but that never came about).
For those who like western comic books, keen readers will observe that this story might be Go Nagai’s attempt to adapt Grant Morrison’s “the Invisibles” to Japanese audiences (Nagai is a huge comic book fan, after all) and Ran, the invisible girl, could be an affectionate nod to Morrison’s epic tripfest.There are many similarities in the plot, the characters and the central concepts for this to be a mere coincidence. It didn’t seem to have connected well with fans, so “Tenkuu no Inu”’s cancellation was probably for the best.