Inuyasha : My Review

My Rating

Kagome Higurashi is a pretty average girl. She’s fifteen years old, goes to school and lives with her family in modern day japan. Her father is gone, but she lives with her mother, grandfather, and little brother Kota. About the only thing unusual about her is that she lives at a shrine that has been in her family for generations. Kagome’s grandfather is always trying to push trinkets and charms. One would expect he is a grifter looking to cash in on the mysticism surrounding the shrine. Rather, he is an old coot that actually belives the swap meed junk he sells is magic. Later on in the story as Kagome starts to miss more and more school Grandpa takes particular delight in making up excuses to tell the school for her absence. “Kagome can’t come to school today because she is suffering from a terrible dibilitating foot fungus.” Some of the things Grandpa tell’s the school would make an ordinary girl never go back. In her daily life Kagome has several schoolmate friends. Her friends are the typical plain jane teenage girl type. There is also a boy from a rich family who likes her, and all her girlfriends try to hook them up.

The story sets in when Kota, Kagome’s younger brother is looking for the family cat. The cat hasn’t come home for some time and kota hears noises coming from the Bone Eaters Well. Too afraid to check the well himself Kota enlists Kagome’s help. While invstigating the well a centepede demon emerges and pulls her in. Struggling for her life in what seems to be a void at the bottom of the well, no longer in the physical world, Kagome summons some unknown spiritual power and fights off the demon. Later Kagome awakens at the bottom of the well. As she climbs out, Kagome discovers that it is no longer modern day japan. Kagome has gone back in time to the fudal era.

As Kagome finds her way in this new era, she finds a small village where Kaede the priestess resides. Kaede recognises Kagome because she looks exactly like Kikyo, Kaede’s older sister who died 50 years ago. As it turns out Kagome is the reincarnation of Kikyo and even has her spiritual powers. Though she has no idea how to use them Kikyo took with her to the netherworld an ancient spiritual stone that holds ultimate power in balance within it. Throughout her life she protected the stone known as the jewel of the four souls. shikon no tama, or the shikon jewel The centepede demon who covets the power of the jewel, and whom Kagome had fought off before returns once again. Unknown to Kagome when she was reborn from Kikyo’s soul, so too was the shikon jewel. Mistress Centepede tears the jewel out of Kagome’s stomach and immediately begins to grow in power.

Inuyasha, for whom the series is named is a half dog demon boy who came after the jewel during the time when kikyo protected it. Unlike most demons who were evil to the core and approached the jewel killing everything in their path, Inuyasha was different. Bieng only a half demon he only wanted the jewel so that he could use its power to become a full demon and be accepted by the demon family he was born into. Kikyo recognised his human side and instead of killing him drove him off each time he approached. Another half demon Naraku, who is altogether more evil than Inuyasha hatched a plot that ultimately resulted in changing the relationship between Kikyo and Inuyasha. At the end Kikyo was mortally wounded and she used the last of her spiritual power to bind Inuyasha to a tree for all eternity.

After Mistress Centepede takes the jewel Kagome impulsively decides to break the spell on inuyasha. She breaks the sacred arrow that binds him to the tree expecting to find an ally who will help her take back the jewel from the cetipede demon. Awakend Inuyasha is more than willing to go after the jewel, but not even remotely interested in helping Kagome. She looks like Kikyo and he wants nothing to do with her. A battle ensues and the centepede demon is defeated. However the jewel is immediately lost to a demon crow who flys away with it.

At this point Inuyasha and Kagome are forced to become allies. Kagome doesn’t have the strength to take back the jewel and Inuyasha doesn’t have the spiritual power to sense it’s location. After visiting with Kaede and realizing just how long he has been asleep Inuyasha is ready to set off with Kagome to search for the jewel. Before they leave, Kaede teaches Kagome a spell that Inuyasha will regret throuought the rest of the series. While it was intended to protect her from Inuyasha, Kagome now has a certain dog on a leash and she delights in disciplining him whenever he does something stupid. which happens quite often…

In their attempts to retrieve the jewel, Kagome accidentally hits the jewel with an arrow embued with her sacred power. The jewel shatters and in a glorious fireworks display bursts into shards that spread all around the region. While each of the jewel shards holds only a portion of the power of the full jewel, the pair takes it upon themselves to take back all of the jewel shards. They continue working together though each wants the jewel for their own purposes.

Believe it or not, all this happens right at the beginning of the show. There’s still over 160 episodes left that deal with Kagome and Inuyasha’s expoloits hunting down the jewel. Along the way they meet up with Many characters. The main ones are shippo, a young boy fox demon who has lost his parents. Sesshomaru, inuyasha’s brother who dispises him. Songo a demon slayer, and my favorite Miroku the letcherous monk. Naraku makes his way into the story as the main enemy all the characters eventually are out to defeat. Kikyo even makes an appearance, back from the dead. There are litteraly hundreds of other characters who surface as either friend or foe. All the while Kagome nanchalantly passes back and forth between modern day and feudal Japan having the time of her life.

Overall this series is one I think everyone should watch. It will appeal to even people who aren’t anime fans. Unforunately I can’t reccomend it as a buy to any but the most avid anime fans. The series is so long that to buy all the dvd’s would set you back a small fortune. It just makes sense for anyone but the most obsessive fan to rent or catch this one on tv. The series is frought with romantic elements, action, and comedy. The comedy and violence sometimes gets to the point of suggestive, but never gets graphic enough that younger audiences shouldn’t watch.