Inuyasha

With Pokemon, Beyblade and Yu-Gi-Oh gracing the small screen, it has become difficult to take Japanese Anime seriously. Thankfully, Cartoon Network has put a block of Japan's finest in their red-eye time slot, spearheaded by Inuyasha.

The general gist of the plot is Kagome, a modern schoolgirl, winds up in feudal times and must help a half-demon(Inyasha) recover the shards of a jewel of ultimate power.

One might say that Inuyasha combines the best of both Shonen and Shojo stylings. The world of feudal Japan is laced with ghosts, demons and other critters who roar, slash, dash, slice, splat and snarl, and at least one of these beasts duke it out with the title character per episode. On the other hand, there is romance, guilt, past betrayals and secrets to be discovered, not to mention sight gags and running jokes.

The visual quality is a step above pocket monsters and moon princesses as well. The show is thankfully devoid of giant sweat-drops, fountain tears and misplaced mouths.

It takes patience to watch the series, with 100+ episodes and long-running character development, it would take a fortune of DVD purchases or steadfast loyalty to the television at 1:00 am (as of this writing)to get the entire story down.

But even so, I highly recommend this show to anybody yearning for more than just flaming mesomorphs and pocket monsters.

"Inuyasha" is one of the greatest anime that I have ever had the fortune to see. Despite not seeing the very first episodes, reading the manga brought me up to speed since the anime mirrors it very closely. I know there are a few detractors out there, but thankfully they went to the trouble of actually watching it before they started bashing. Hopefully, they'll either warm up to "Inuyasha" or find an anime capable of satisfying their exacting standards.

The characters are what make "Inuyasha" so awesome. Without the characters, the show wouldn't be the success that it is. We start with Kagome Higurashi, a typical Japanese teenage girl --- until she stumbles into an ancient well that transports her back into Japan's Warring States Era. There, she meets a canine-based half-demon named Inuyasha and after shattering the Shikon Jewel, or the Jewel of Four Souls, they have to work together to find the fragments before demons can use those fragments to enhance their own abilities and use them for evil. They largely fail in the whole "stopping demons from using the Shikon Jewel shards" deal, because by the time they find a jewel shard, a demon already has custody of it and is using it for evil. So they have little choice but to fight the aforementioned demon and take the shard from him or her once they achieve victory. The funny thing is that Inuyasha initially hates Kagome, as she is the reincarnation of Kikyo, a priestess he loved (until she pinned him to a tree with a sacred arrow). However, he grows fond of Kagome and obviously comes to love her, but he won't admit it to anyone. Things don't get any easier when a portion of Kagome's soul is stolen and used to animate a facsimile of Kikyo's body made from clay, resulting in a rather disturbing love triangle.

Then there are the supporting characters, which I'll name in order of appearance. There's Shippo, a kitsune (fox spirit/demon) whose father was killed by a duo of demons called the Thunder Brothers. Next, there's Miroku, a monk who's overly fond of women and has a "wind tunnel" in his hand, a void that can consume demons but will eventually consume him. Then there's Sango, a tough-as-nails demon slayer whose family and tribe were slaughtered by Naraku's demons. To add cruel insult to already-grievous injury, Naraku has reanimated Sango's brother's body with a shard of the Shikon Jewel and placed him under his control.

Now I have to explain the villains of "Inuyasha." The two main villains of "Inuyasha" are Sesshomaru and Naraku. Sesshomaru is Inuyasha's half brother and a full demon, as Sesshomaru's mother was a demon woman and Inuyasha's mother was human. Their father gave each brother a sword; Inuyasha received Tetsusaiga, a sword that can slay a hundred demons in one swing, while Sesshomaru received Tenseiga, a sword that can save a hundred lives in one swing. However, it is only in later episodes that Inuyasha learns how to use Tetsusaiga's powers. Sesshomaru hates Tenseiga, as it is a sword of life and thus he cannot kill anyone with it. He especially doesn't want to save human lives, as he has no respect for humanity at all. Ironically, he uses Tenseiga to restore the life of a little girl named Rin when she's killed by wolves. For being a villain, Sesshomaru is very complex; he's not pure evil so much as semi-evil.

Naraku, on the other hand, is undeniably and unforgivably evil. He is the fusion of hundreds of demons and the soul of a human bandit named Onigumo who lusted after Kikyo. He apparently desires the Shikon Jewel, but he may have other reasons beyond the obvious. Naraku's primary skill lies in twisted schemes designed to make Inuyasha and his allies suffer. He started by turning Inuyasha and Kikyo against each other, continued by cursing Miroku's grandfather with the wind tunnel (a curse that would ultimately be passed on to Miroku), and recently orchestrated the slaughter of Sango's tribe. As another person who commented on this anime said, Naraku is the consummate "supervillain."

Besides the obvious action, there are also elements of romance-comedy to be found in "Inuyasha." For example, the Inuyasha/Kagome/Koga triangle. Koga is a wolf demon that falls in love with Kagome and declares her "his woman." Inuyasha gets extremely jealous, especially when Kagome is nice to Koga, and yet he cannot figure out why he's so jealous. Then there's the interaction between Miroku and Sango. Miroku constantly gropes Sango and she constantly slaps him for it, but if you read into their actions, it's fairly obvious that they care deeply for each other. If only Miroku would stop groping her so much . . .

These are the reasons why "Inuyasha" is awesome and if you haven't figured that out by now, then read the manga or rent one of the DVDs. You won't regret it, and if you do, it's your own fault.

This is a rather complex series. It has love, sex, action, horror, drama. It has a good plot and believable characters. The emotions are nicely portrayed, even when it's silly Japanese sex humor. This is one of the rare stories where evil really corrupts and is cunning and elusive rather than just big strong dumb creatures.

Even if it has some characteristics of soap opera, it goes well beyond that, as the animation and the plot go very well together. I am hooked already and I am barely in the middle of the second season. In a week or so I will probably cry in anger for the lack of more episodes, but hey, that's life.

I love Inu Yasha, it has to be one of my favorite animes, it's one of the shows that got me into anime in the first place. And I adore Rumiko Takahashi, heh. But Inu Yasha is an anime with just the right mix in it. Both girls and guys can like it, it isn't leaned towards one gender, it's has just the right mix of action, comedy, and romance. It's just great!

Anyway, here's a summary. A girl named Kagome is pulled down her family's well and she ends up in feudal times Japan in the same location that she lives in modern-day Tokyo, except of course it's feudal times. In feudal times she meets a half dog demon, Inu Yasha. She finds this magic jewel, but ends up shattering it into hundreds of tiny jewel shards. So that's one of the main points of the show, the quest for the sacred jewel shards which are extremely powerful. Some of the other characters include: Miroku, a kind but somewhat perverted young monk(my favorite character, that's why I put him first ^_^); Sango, a butt-kicking girl whose village was destroyed by the evil demon Naraku; Shippou, a cute little fox demon with the ability to shape-shift; Kikyo, a whacked out priestess (seriously, she has major problems) of whom they think Kagome is the reincarnation of; Sesshomaru, Inu Yasha's evil demon brother who happens to be quite good looking; Naraku who is an evil demon person who's out to get the sacred jewel shards; and there are tons of other people too, who either aren't as important, or just show up a few times. Now, if you've never seen this anime (who hasn't seen it?) I suggest that you do.

I would like to see all of those who were complaining about how Inuyasha is a bad show and how no one should see it, create an anime/manga, publish it and see if it becomes popular or not. This show happens to be popular in many countries. You all have your opinions and I respect that, but when it comes to things like this, you shouldn't even be complaining at all because it's not like you're being forced to watch it. If you don't like this show, then move on to the next anime. It's your problem if you can't see why there are fans that actually do like the anime. So sue us if we think it's great. I'm not afraid to admit it. Inuyasha is my all time favorite anime. If you have a problem with that, I don't care. Nothing you can all say or do will change that fact. You all have your favorite shows and I have mine. We're all entitled to our opinion here and I know that. Every anime has different character designs. You can't really expect every anime to have the same character design in all of the episodes. It's bound to change somehow.