InuYasha

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Every so often a manga series comes along that the average reader will find daunting for one reason or another. It may be that the scope of the story is too great, or the number of chapters may be too large, or the drawing style may not be to taste, or some other reason entirely. Whatever the case may be, there are many out there who will be put off reading a manga for one reason or another.

That said, there is sometimes justification for not even starting a manga, especially as there are those that really can't cut the mustard.

And then there's the ones ... like InuYasha.

Created by the reknowned Takahashi Rumiko in 1996, InuYasha remains her longest work to date. At an astounding 558 chapters, it is also one of the longest manga in existence, so it's more than a little odd that, while many people are happy to read long running shounen manga like Bleach, One Piece, Naruto, HSD Kenichi, etc, when faced with something like InuYasha, the majority of people tend to ignore it without even giving it a chance. Granted the manga is a lengthy read, but it's also an extremely rewarding one too.

The story begins with a half dog demon, half human (known as a hanyou), called InuYasha, who has attacked a village to claim the Shikon no Tama, a mystical jewel that can increase a demon's power which he plans to use to become a fully fledged youkai. Before he can escape though, a badly wounded miko called Kikyou pins him to a tree with a holy arrow, supposedly sealing him for all eternity. Shortly afterwards, Kikyou passes away, and as per her instructions, her body is burned together with the Shikon no Tama.

500 years later, a young girl called Kagome celebrates her 15th birthday, little knowing that her fate is tied to that of InuYasha and the Shikon no Tama.

It's fair to say that InuYasha is a shounen manga par excellence. The plot, which is not only well developed, but also has many twists, turns, loops and double crosses, also features some innovative approaches to the standard quest format. Granted there are occasions when the plot gets a little placid, however in terms of the story these are actually used to give the characters a break from all the stress and combat.

While there are those who don't like fillers, when reading this manga it should be remembered that the breaks in the story actually form an integral part of the whole, and aren't simply deviations due to a lack of creativity.

There are some minor issues with the plot as a whole though. There's a degree of repetition inherent in this type of story, with one of the major ones being the type of power that is gained by Tetsusaiga, the sword made from the fang of InuYasha's father. In addition to this, there's also a certain "bad guy of the week" feel to some sections of the manga, however these are often linked to Tetsusaiga in some way as well.

That said, the manga is particularly noteworthy for it's ability to keep the reader interested. There is a lot of action in the story, and a number of events that are surprising and intruiging. The plot follows a fairly convoluted path from beginning to end, and while some may consider this a bad thing, it works very well here as it allows for some unusually complex character development.

As far looks go, the characters are pure Takahashi Rumiko. Anyone who's familiar with her work will immediately see her trademark faces are prevalent in this manga, and although there are those who don't like her style of character design, fans of her work won't be disappointed. There are, however, certain aspects of the artwork that are a little different from her other works though. The backgrounds, for example, are far more clean and detailed than in most of her other works, and the actions sequences are more dynamically designed than what one may expect. There's also more usage of "effects" backgrounds in InuYasha, most of which are used to highlight the more supernatural aspects of the story.

The main thing that separates InuYasha from most of Takahashi Rumiko's other works is the depth and complexity of it's characters. Given that there are a number of characters who have an effect on the story it would be fair, initially, to think that the characters will be similar to those found in Urusei Yatsura or Ranma, however this is not the case. Each individual in the story has their own ideals and goals, and each is developed in some truly surprising ways. Kagome, for example, struggles with her fate and her feelings for InuYasha, while he is torn between his desire to become a true youkai, his conflicting feelings for Kagome and Kikyou, and his hatred of the main bad guy.

Sango, Miroku, even Sesshomaru and Kikyou herself, all have inner conflicts that have an impact on the plot, and it's the resolution, one way or another, of these trials that, come the end of the series, allow the reader a sense of catharsis. The most intruiging development though, occurs on the part of the main bad guy - Naraku, and by allowing the reader to see how his mind works, what his desires and wants are, Takahashi Rumiko has created one of the greatest adversaries in manga to date.

I won't make any bones about it - I love this series. It has everything that one could want in a story, action, love, folklore, friendship, betrayal, loss, desire, unimaginable evil, plot twists galore, and more besides. At this point in time it would be fair to call the series Takahashi Rumiko's masterpiece, especially as it's much, much better than Urusei Yatsura, Ranma, and even Maison Ikkoku. The manga is more akin to her Mermaid saga in terms of it's content, however even that pales in comparison.

Fans of Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, and other long running shounen series should really check this out, as they may find themselves surprised at how much more "sanitised" recent shounen tales are in comparison to InuYasha. The fact that the tagline for the series names it as "A Feudal Fairytale" is actually very appropriate, especially if one is familiar with older folklore, myth and legend (you know, the ones with all the blood). InuYasha has far more "bite" to it than most modern manga because of the focus on making it more like older fairytales, something which gives the whole story a dimension which is sadly lacking nowadays.

Granted there are some areas where the story could have progressed better, and there is an element of repetition at times, but these are things that can be forgiven due the sheer depth of the plot and characters. The character design is also something that should be taken with pinch of salt as, if this is your reason for not reading this, then you're seriously missing out.

One final point that should be made is that the manga is different from the anime adaptation in many respects, not the least of which is that the story continues past the end of the anime. The characters in the manga have far more depth than the anime version, and the complexity of the plot is far more tangible. Fan's of the anime should definitely read this manga, and although the number of chapters may at first seem daunting, the reward is worth the effort (not only that, you'll probably forget all about chapters and such once the story really gets going).

As shounen series go, this is head and shoulders above many modern outings. The complex plot, the deep and conflicted characters, the scope and scale of the setting, all serve to make InuYasha a manga that is truly excellent.

This really is a feudal fairytale, in the truest sense of the word.

Inuyasha is a beautifully plotted storyline, and the characters are truly outstanding pieces of work. While reading, you are led bit by bit to an exciting ending, and it is very difficult to put it down!

I enjoyed Inuyasha because of the characters, particularly Kagura. It also has a lot of action, suitable for the easily bored. The romantic element is tragic, sweet, and comic at the same time. I consider Inuyasha to be the very best manga I have ever read.

Made by the famous Rumiko Takahashi, the length draws out over 558 chapters, and this length both causes some of it's greatest and worst moments. For instance the romance of the story (or more specifically the love triangle) reaches it's climax as we draw towards the end with a bittersweet, but none the less great conclusion to it. However we go on to, in my opinion, another disappointing ending from Takahashi. I haven't read all of Ranma 1/2, but I hear that the ending was not the best, and InuYasha certainly felt rushed at the end. That is always a bad thing, but it's quite ... annoying when the ending feels rushed, and it's even worse when the story had ran for 558 chapters and still feels rushed. God forbid another couple of chapters to tie thing up, but instead (trying to be spoiler free) the "romance" at the end during a reunion feels like "oh hey, how you doing? It's been a while" thing between two old friends. That and the idea of side character's getting more of an "ending" than the main ones, can be rather annoying. Basically, InuYasha is certainly not a Manga you would pick up if you don't have patience. At times it runs into a repetitive schemes like "villain attacks and villain leaves" or "upgrade weapon, get stronger, upgrade weapon, get stronger" type of thing. If you're going to read InuYasha, you're going to get crap, feel unsatisfied at times, but you will also at times witness a great plot, and good, though eventually disappointing romance. Well onto other points.

The story of InuYasha starts off with Kagome, a normal fifteen year old high school student, who lives in an ancient shrine, filled with old artifacts. One day she is suddenly taken by force into the Boneeater's Well by a monster, and finds a demon sealed to a tree. Upon being taken to a village, she discovers he is an evil demon called InuYasha, who was sealed by a Miko named Kikyou fifty years ago at the cost of her life. However when she gets close to him while running away from the monster, he awakens, mistaking her for Kikyou as they look a like. She is attacked and ends up having the ancient powerful object in her body called the Shikon no Tama (Jewel of Four Souls), an object than can make demons stronger, the same one InuYasha was after, but Kikyou sealed him and took it with her to the afterlife. To save her own life, she frees InuYasha to kill the demon, but InuYasha immediately goes after the Shikon no Tama. Kaede, Kikyou's younger sister from the village, seals a necklace object onto InuYasha which gives Kagome the ability to command him, causing him to be unable to steal the Jewel. However when another Demon tries to steal it, it is easily stolen, and they have to work together to get it back. It ends up getting broken and scattering to little pieces around the world, and now InuYasha and Kagome have to work together to find it.

That's just the start of a plot, that soon winds itself into a much greater plot of why Kikyou killed InuYasha, and as such we get greater villains, a wider cast, and greater ambitions on the part's of the characters, that still tie into everything of the beginning perfectly. As I said before, the length both helps and ruins the plot, as at times Takahashi pulls of great twists to the story, and introduces even more characters, and pulls of many great scenes throught the story. However at times you can also get 50 chapters where the same thing seems to happen over and over. It would help if it was interesting the first time, but painfully it wasn't, and the plot can jump from great, to boring. I'll give it an eight because it provides some interesting scenes, especially in Romance, but at times it's just completely mediocre.

From the few Mangas I've read (just started reading them), the art in InuYasha is fairly average. Compared to the other Manga I'm currently reading ("20th Century Boy"), it even can get rather ugly at times, but at times it can look fairly good. Nothing much to say here, the art in InuYasha is just average artwork and never really goes far beyond being average. That said it certainly isn't bad, it's rather good, just nothing special. You'll probably never take a moment just to look at how good it looks or anything like that.

The characters in InuYasha is the best part of the story, as we get all types of characters. Well the "good guys" are fairly typical people, angry lead fighter, sexual harassing guy on the side, innocent girl, etc. the "bad guys" have variety ranging from "bad ass" fighter to homosexual. I'm not sure on whether that is widely considered a good thing or bad thing, but it can be rather entertaining at times, and my favorite parts of the story come from the interaction between the characters. Once again mainly the love triangle which presents one of the best I've seen yet. The women you fell in love with first, who showed you a different style of life, and followed you in death or the women who came after and helped to change your life. If you had to choice, which one would it be? Certainly the best concept presented I've read (well, yet) presented in love triangles, and really can make you question which choice would be better. I haven't even come up with an answer to that myself.

I'm sure mostly everyone who's decently involved in the world of Anime and Manga have heard of InuYasha and Rumiko Takahashi, and I've read as much love as I have read as hate. Well most the hate I've read is for the Anime and how it falls into being repetitive, but remember that even though it fells into that, it also comes out of that (only to fall back in), but it certainly has some great moments, and the best is in the later half of the story (the conclusion of the love triangle). If you are looking for a Manga with a merge of great characters and a greatly established Fantasy world, than InuYasha is certainly a great book to pick up, as long as you have patience. There are times I was in love with it and started the next chapter right away, and there were times when I forced myself to read through it, always trying to look at the brightside of what's ahead. InuYasha may have it's disappointments, which I've certainly voiced in this review, but it also has it's great moments to, and is a great read. End of the first review, please put whether it was helpful or unhelpful.

the only 2 reasons i wanted to read this manga were:
1. i like rumiko takahashi.
2. inuyasha has dog ears.
since i loved ranma and i've laughed a lot in this manga, so why not try this too?

the story starts nice- a girl falls into a well and finds a boy with doggy ears and because of an accident she has to team up with him and they fall in love.
the story is fine and it has 56 volumes, so what is it filled with?
the basics of every single story is: kagome is in danger, inuyasha saves her at the last minute. again- kagome is in ... danger, inuyasha saves at the last minute, and so on for 56 volumes.
i have 32 volumes of it at home and i feel so stupid for buying it and just hated every volume of it from volume 9+.

the art is bad. not even a bit nice. just really bad. it's not detailed at all and the only difference between characters is the hair. i hate the faces because they are triangles.

the characters are normal- a pretty and nice girl and a handsome full-of-himself boy.
not special. the other characters are fine too.

enjoyment- loved it from the start and was excited to buy it but slowly began to force myself reading through it.

overall- do yourself a favor, and don't waste time on this manga. it's not that original and is way too long and boring. if you like shoujo- definitely don't read it.
i still don't see why people rate it a 9 and 10.

InuYasha is the longest manga I've read as of posting this review. Originally, I thought I wouldn't be able to finish this, simply because it was around 20x longer than the first manga I read. Well, past me, you'd be surprised.

Story

While reading it, I made predictions, which as I read, seemed as if my predictions would be correct, but said predictions would later prove to be incorrect. These predictions would be one of the reasons I kept reading; the other reason being the story, which was pretty simple to understand.

Art

Rumiko Takahashi's art style has always been unique, and it's no different for Inuyasha. Throughout the ... manga, I didn't notice a drop in quality in terms of artwork; around 2004, the art quality began to increase noticeably.

Character

This is another driving point behind why I liked InuYasha. There were sections throughout the manga where weaker characters would get the spotlight and a time to shine in battle; while there were a few of these, it showed Takahashi didn't just care for the stronger characters.

The characters themselves, were not poorly written. The characters went through what I'd say is some great character development, growing both in terms of power and mentally. The perverted characters had their scenes here and there, but it wasn't a lot to the point of being annoying.


Enjoyment

I enjoyed InuYasha quite a bit. Had it not been for the well-written characters and unique art style, I likely wouldn't have finished it, and this review wouldn't be here today.

I recommend this to those who like the isekai genre (technically an isekai) and those who are looking for a manga to start with. While it is a long manga like I've stated multiple times, the characters, art style, and plot will keep you reading.

Well, actually I finished this before I began reading Pretear, and also saw the anime way way before, probably around high school (2001?).

Inuyasha is a story about Kagome Higurashi a seemingly normal junior high school girl and a inu(dog) hanyou (half demon) named Inuyasha and their quest to retrieve shards of a jewel called the Shikon no Tama (Jewel of the Four Souls), which then turns into an adventure that includes a youkai kitsune (demon fox) child named Shippou, a monk with a cursed hand (can be taken to mean at least two things here :P), named Miroku, and a taijiya (demon slayer) girl named ... Sango. The quest for the shikon shards turns into a quest to defeat an evil being called Naraku, and the story begins expanding from there.

Well, as usual some events and characters differ between the anime and the manga, and the manga continues further on than the anime itself.

One thing that's been on my mind though is why there are such a lot of Kikyo haters out there. Well, yeah she was a real pest for the Inu-Kag shippers, but if you look at it from a non-biased (neutral, non-shipping) POV, she was more of the tragic character than an adversary (although admittedly a love rival for Kagome). Had circumstances been different, it may well have been an Inu-Kikyo pairing.

Well I am not a shipper of any sort, although I do occassionally read fics from this series, but still, though Kikyo started out as a betrayed, and therefore vengeful resurrected spirit doll of clay and souls, she still loved Inuyasha (although how she shows it IS kind of...twisted, but let's face it, she's dead, so of course she'd think of taking her love with her to the afterlife/hell where she "initially" probably ended up in).

Kagome does come off as a martyr for love, holding in her feelings of jealousy (although at times rather poorly, since she does take it out on Inuyasha).

These arguments I've presented are actually why I liked this manga, the "love-triangle" between two women, one dead and one from the future vying for the affection of a young inu-hanyou :P What's more fantastic than that?

Seriously though, I like the many character interactions and I see why a myriad of "non-canon" pairings are quite imaginable. There's also elements of "nakama" working together to achieve a certain goal, and then there is also a look at sibling relationships: like in Inuyasha's and Fluffy (Sesshomaru)'s case, Sango and Kohaku, Kagome and Souta...plus parent and child relationships or lack of (there are so many examples of this). Plus I like the "alternate world" feel which I sort of associate to Fushigi Yuugi as well.

InuYasha is a amazing and very well made manga. Its a classic. I find it to be very enjoyable to read,with lovable characters,great story line,and amazing art.(well,its not the best art,but its still likable in my opinion). The manga is a page turner. Its very easy to get hooked onto it.

Storyline10/10-MO SPOILERS. InuYasha is about a girl named Kagome who travels through a well who meets a dog demon named InuYasha. She travels with him to find jewel shard pieces after it breaks. They must find the shards before Narku, a evil demon tries to get his hands on it. The story is VERY ... enjoyable. It gets much better as it goes on,bringing very good characters. It has plenty of action,drama,romance,comedy,magic,and adventure. This is the best storyline ever in mange besides Naruto. Wonderful story line.

Characters10/10-InuYasha has amazing and enjoyable characters. They are all great. InuYasha has a large amount of characters and they all mature. The character development is the best. the characters get better and better. The love between Kagome and InuYasha is so funny. Sesshomaru is a amazing character who I find to be the best character. They are all fun and wonderful.

Art10/10-InuYasha is said to have terrible art. I disagree. The art is really good in my opinion. The love the character design of InuYasha and Kagome. Its just enjoyable to look at. I really enjoy the art overall,because of the classic shouen look.

Enjoyment10/10-InuYasha is a wonderful,classic,manga. The enjoyment is very high. Everything is great. No manga is greater when it comes to enjoyment.(well,maybe Naruto). But overall,this manga has VERY enjoyable art,characters,and story line.

Overall10/10-InuYasha is the best manga out there I have read. Its so great. I love this manga. A true classic.

This series is absolutely the longest series I’ve ever read so far, with a total of 56 volumes containing 559 chapters. Yeah right? I grew up watching anime and when I stumbled to this one, I instantly got hook. I’m so in love with this anime that I have the complete anime series in my possession. And it’s just now that I finally had the courage to read its manga. I started reading this last December but had a 1 week off because of the Holiday until finally I finished it!

This story is about this modern Japanese girl, Kagome, that was pulled from her own ... time and went to feudal Japan. It is where she met the half yokai (supernatural monster in Japanese folklore) or also called Hanyou, Inuyasha. Two opposite personalities that were forced to travel together because of the Shikon Jewel or the Jewel of Four Souls.

Kagome (female lead) is so much fun and a wonderful heroine. If she’s a real person, she could be my hero. And Inuyasha on the other hand is such an awesome badass that thinking about him hurts. And as a couple, they sure are mind blowing. After writing this review, I’ll definitely re-watch the anime hehe.

Speaking of which, Inuyasha is a bad boy. But he’s the awesome kind of bad boy with humor and with a touch of dumbness at the same time. When he first met Kagome, I swear he could really be a great pain in the ass and is a straight-up a-hole. And as the story progresses, he became this kind of awesome person without losing his bad boy image ofcourse. And when it comes to Kagome, he sure is kind of protective and I love their usual bantering. It could get annoying sometimes but mostly entertaining lol, especially when Kagome really gets angry at him.

His character is so realistic too. Behind the bad boy image is the guy who lost his first love and when she returned, he’s torn between her and Kagome. Which to be honest, made me kind of mad at him. Well, I’m 100% with Kagome and I totally hate Kikyou. But after reading the manga, I still don’t like her, but she is kind of likeable now especially when she saved Kohaku. And also Inuyasha’s inner battle with his demon blood and his human heart, and you know what’s awesome about it? It’s because it’s only Kagome who can make him back to his senses, isn’t that just sweet?

(I was a bit teary-eyed when the Spider youkai were after them and he got bitten while he’s in his human form. And speaking of human form, he sure still rock it even with black hair minus the cute doggy ears. Then he lay on Kagome’s lap and told her that he love her scent even if he told her otherwise before. They’re in the middle of a dangerous situation but because of that, it became kind of romantic and unforgettable scene for me.)

Kagome on the other hand is a typical female lead. She started as a helpless girl until they found out about her being the reincarnation of Kikyou which was Inuyasha’s first love and the strongest Miko in the feudal Japan. I love how she became badass as the story progresses. Kikyou may be the first woman Inuyasha loved, but it is Kagome who really changed Inuyasha as a person. Plus, did I tell you how many times she saved Kikyou? Also, even how many times she got hurt because she’s Inuyasha’s first love, her heart remains pure.

I have to be honest, there’s some point in this series that totally got my nerve and made me flipped. That’s mostly about Inuyasha being torn between Kikyou and Kagome and how many times he chose Kikyou over Kagome. I mean, that’ quite of cruel really. But even that’s the case, I learn to outgrow it simply because he still travels with her, plus, once in a while they have their own moments. And speaking of moment, I need to step ahead and point out the lack of kissing scenes between them. In anime there’s quite a lot, but in manga, almost none. Yeah right?

As they travel, their group of two grows into a group of 6 where they met the kitsune Shippou, the monk Miroku, cool Sango and her cute Kirara.

Shippou is a cute Kitsune (fox) yokai that specializes in making pranks which he mostly use to Inuyasha lol. At first, they both hate each other and argues which is kind of funny lol. But as they both travel together, their relationship improved. He is really adorable and so attached to Kagome.

Miroku – A playboy and pervert who loves caressing women’s butt. But his proposal to Sango was pretty sweet.

Sango – a really tough cookie. I love her character and the fact that she can man handle guys. And her relationship with Miroku was so kawaii.

(Quite cliche eh? Inuyasha and Kagome fell in love with each other and Miroku, Sango with each other too. Well, IDC haha. I just love their group.)

Kirara – is a cute yokai that transforms into a ferocious beast during battles. Plus, he flies!

With a very long series, a long list of character isn’t a surprise at all. But what’s really hard with manga or anime is to get familiarize with the character’s names. But as for my favorites or the ones that totally got my attention here’s my list. (I’m being mean today, so I’m not going to add Kikyou in my list, blee)

1. Number one in my list is Sesshoumaru. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m one of those really annoying fangirls who love him. Deym! When I first saw him in the anime, I’ve got to say that there’s something dangerous about him. Inuyasha has this bad boy image, but Sesshoumaru is on the highest level. I really hate him at first. Unlike Inuyasha, he really is living the bad boy life. He’s rude, full of pride and all things bad. I specifically hated how he keeps on stealing their Father’s memento, Tessaiga, that is originally given to Inuyasha. But everything changed when he met Rin, and then we got to find out about Tenseiga and everything about it. Then, it just happens, I love Sesshoumaru. And then I came to the part about Meidou Zangetsuha, I feel so sorry for him. Huhu, and then after that my admiration for him intensified. He made me feel so many emotions, I almost cried because of him. It will take too much writing if I’ll enumerate the things that made me love Sesshoumaru so just search for him in google, ok? hehe

2. Well, obviously, it’s Rin. I love her character simply because she’s the reason why Sesshoumaru became compassionate, which is also the reason how he was now able to use his healing sword Tenseiga. And I also love her teasing with Jaken. I love how the boring team of two grows and became lively because of her.Honestly, at first, I’m one of those fans that ships Rin to Sesshoumaru. But after I read the manga, I realized how absurd that is. I don’t know, but I think Jaken is right. Sesshoumaru is like a father to Rin in a strange way, and he sure is a great one.

3. Kagome’s family, her mother, younger brother Shouta, grandpa including their cat Buyo. I thought it’s going to be a big shocker when they met Inuyasha, but end up petting him like a pet dog lol. They’re all touching Inuyasha’s ears haha. Well, that couldn’t be help lol especially if he has that adorable doggy ears.

4. Kouga – The moment he was introduced in this series, I can’t stop laughing. He’s the third party between Inuyasha and Kagome and I can’t really stop laughing whenever I remember the scene where he boldly said that he loves Kagome and he’s determine to make her his woman. Well, after what Kagome went through because of Kikyou, I can’t help but send Inuyasha a dirty sign. Blee!

5. Miyouga – The coward flea. He’s some sort of the guy who knows it all, well, not totally all but mostly about Inuyasha and his father. I wish this series was able to show something about the past especially about Inuyasha’s father and mother. Well, it did actually in the anime.

6. Totosai – The swordsmith who forged Tessaiga and Tenseiga due to Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru’s father’s request. I would have love it more if they included a back story of him too.

7. Kaede – Kikyou’s younger sister. A strong lady who would probably live another 50 years the way she’s going.

8. Kohaku – The younger brother of Sango. For a young age, he’s been through a lot. But I’m happy how he was able to regain or fight for his humanity after what Naraku did to him.

9. Jaken – Originally, I didn’t have the intention of adding him in this list but looking back, I have to say that he made my whole reading experience so enjoyable too. He’s Sesshoumaru’s companion. He’s arrogant and even pitiful sometimes especially when he receives death glare or punches from Sesshoumaru when he’s pissed but he is mostly funny especially when Rin joined the group.

10. Naraku – For the ultimate cunning supervilain, I guess he quite deserve to be in this list lol. He’s a hanyou like Inuyasha. He’s the reason why Kikyou died 50 years ago and is the reason why Kikyou and Inuyasha had a rough past.

When I think about it, this is obviously a typical adventure anime/manga. For an adventure stories, the idea of different set of individuals forming a group while traveling is quite cliche too, let alone falling in love with each other! But what sets this story different from others is on the adventures each characters went through. When I thought it’s the end and the ideas are already sucked out dry from the author, we then introduced to a new unexpected scene. I’ve been watching anime and they all gave me the same reaction. And what is that? It’s astonishment. We might already encountered the story’s plot before, but the twists and turns, the scenes, the lines are so unique. I can’t count how many times I said out loud “I didn’t expected that!” while reading this series.

All we’re covered too. I love that each characters has their own background covered, so we all got the chance to really know more about them and where they come from. I love that each characters have the chance to stand out and we’ve got to see how they matured with each chapters. As the title goes, without watching the anime, I really thought this series would only revolves around Inuyasha, well, it kind of does since each characters have a connection with Inuyasha. But what I like to say is that the author didn’t made a selfish decision to just make Inuyasha the hero all the time. We’ve got the chance to see the weaker side of him, the annoying one, the part where others from the group became the hero and saved him, and ofcourse the funny and dense Inuyasha which is my favorite.

As I said, this series has a total of 559 chapters so it will absolutely take us a lot of time if I talk about the adventures the group encountered one by one. So to make it short, I’ll just “kind of share” my favorite chapters from this series. Before I decided to read this manga, I have a lot of favorite scenes from the anime, mostly? Well, all of them we’re from Kagome and Inuyasha. But after reading the manga, I have to say that my favorite scenes were from Sesshoumaru (Inuyasha’s youkai brother). The first one was when he met Rin (human girl) and resurrected her. I really love how little by little he changed from this full mean badboy image to a compassionate one. He’s still a badboy but when he’s with Rin, dayum, I just can’t help but squeal in delight. And another favorite scene was when he went inside the meidou (a place where the living are not suppose to go) to save Rin. It’s also the most touching scene ever because of how he discarded his sword tenseiga (his father’s memento) because it can’t save Rin. Like dang!

For my rating, I’m detracting a half star. It really is painful but I guess I really need to. It’s because even with the 559 chapters, it failed to tell us an introduction of what really is a yokai or hanyou or everything about those so-called monster. I mean, it’s been 50 years after the story resumed but Sesshoumaru look as fabulous as ever and so is Inuyasha. I mean, if Inuyasha and Kagome will live together as man and wife, Kagome will age and Inuyasha would still be looking the same? The slowness of the villains too is quite so-so but I understand that to make this series long. Also, about crossing time through the well, in its first few chapters, we’ve got to find out that it’s the Shikon Jewel that connects the two worlds, but I remembered after Naraku seized all the shards of the Jewel, Kagome was still able to go back to her world. That really is kinda confusing though. And lastly, the epilogue. Dang! Sango and Miroku had their three little angels, how come Inuyasha and Kagome didn’t have atleast 1 son or daughter?! Oh well, I guess you can’t really have all.

You might be wondering which one of the two I love, manga or anime, I have to say that I love both. All the scenes from manga can be seen in anime, but what’s great with anime is that there’s some new scenes added to it. So if you’re planning to read the manga, I would highly recommend watching the anime too.

I would highly recommend this series, if you’re down for a good solid adventure and a kickass heroine with a sexy demon badboy. It’s often hilariously funny and the drawing is so lovely. It’s just simply awesome.

Out of 100 Nobles watching…
77 were impressed!
15 were tired of filler
8 wanted some more depth in characters

On my “Tour de Rumiko Takahashi”, instead of returning to Urusei Yatsura I took a detour and read Inuyasha. Inuyasha was one of the first anime I ever watched catching episodes in elementary school late Friday and Saturday nights with my sisters. It was one of the biggest influences on my tastes, predisposing me to an interest in both traditional and modern Japanese culture, but here we are reading the manga and boy what a monster it was. Representative of Shonen of the time Inuyasha is a whopping 558 ... chapters (559 if we are counting a cute little charity postlude chapter Takahashi wrote years later). Takahashi used the series to create some great grotesque imagery and lovely inky traditional looking artwork throughout the publication.

Honestly, simply because it is complete, I consider Inuyasha worth the read, but it absolutely does not handle its run length well. The series unfortunately falls into some of the worst pitfalls of filler. Filler is baked into conflicts dragging out major plot relevant battles, and middling random filler chapters fighting some demon to save a village usually ties itself in some way back to the main plot resulting in an experience that cannot really be trimmed down with a “read these chapters” list. I will say though that some of the best and most soulful feeling chapters were various filler sections. Takahashi clearly solidified herself as a Shonen author with such a renowned and long running serialization, that said I do not feel she was particularly suited for it. Lots of action felt weightless or hard to track.

The main story points of Inuyasha were engaging when they were relevant. All the main cast had a unique dynamic that was well written if a bit simple. There isn’t much depth to Inuyasha outside of the Kikyou-Kagome love plot. Kagome is supposed to be a pure maiden and I think Takahashi did a good job writing internal dialogue for her that rationalized her being a genuinely good person.

The standout arc and character of the series I thought was Inuyasha’s brother Sesshoumaru. The way Sesshoumaru grew midway through the series and by the end of the story really gave me an insight to many an early 2000’s fangirls hearts. “I cost you your life… and there is nothing…worth exchanging for that!”

Rumiko Takahashi I think writes good “Japanese boomer humor” and can make very strong interpersonal plotlines that are able to capture realistic feelings well. Inuyasha stood out most, not when the main characters were chasing some big powerup to defeat Naraku, but when the story took the time to do a slice-of-life chapter, a joke chapter, or a romance chapter. The ending of the series had a very satisfying final chapter to me and my only regret is that it took so long to get there.

Initially I thought to close the book on Inuyasha and move on to just Yashahime, but writing this review to a Youtube playlist of the anime’s soundtrack is really feeding my childhood nostalgia and bringing me back to sitting on the living room floor vibin’ out. Looking into it the anime is 193 episodes… this Souls-like Okami-Ass soundtrack just might get me to come back some day. Until then, Inuyasha is a lovely adventure that meanders a bit too long, but is worth the read for weirdos who just like 70’s-00’s manga and anime like me.