What in the hell took me so long to speak about this one? It's been a long time since I mentioned any of Rumiko Takahashi's works, after reviewing both Ranma 1/2 (Review #58) and Those Obnoxious Aliens/Urusei Yatsura (Review #115). InuYasha is one of Takahashi's later works, which lasted a little over a decade.
The story takes place in two eras, but the series mainly has its plot set in one. Kagome Higurashi is a middle schooler who resides in the hereditary Shinto shrine of the family. One day, she is pulled into the Bone Eater's Well by a centipede demon and ends up in Feudal Japan, more specifically their Sengoku period. Fifty years prior to this, a dog demon was sealed by the priestess Kikyo, his body pinned to a try and weakened by her sacred arrow. In present day, call it irony or fate, but Kagome, who is Kikyo's incarnation, would be the one to remove this seal, in a desperation move to save herself from the centipede demon, who targets her for the Shikon no Tama, a powerful jewel that was embodied in her. Making short work of the demon, he would have had the jewel as well... had it not been shattered into various pieces, the shards scattering throughout the ends of the continent. With this, the unlikely alliance of Kagome and InuYasha is formed, their task: to get the shards of the Sacred Jewel. But it won't be a simple task, as others also have their sights on them, and one shard can amplify a demon's power greatly. That said, they have to make sure neither one of them dies in the process... lest they kill each first.
As opposed to a comical angle (though it has it's moments), the story takes a more darker route, much like with her other work Mermaid Saga. It still retains the romance aspect from the majority of her works. In total, it bears 193 episodes. Majority of this belonged to the original TV anime, while the latter 26 was made as InuYasha: The Final Act. In addition, there were also four movies as well as a few video games derived from this, which was made from a 56 volume manga series. In the US, both TV anime and the 4 movies were licensed and distributed under Viz Media, who also did such for the manga. In fact, namely all her manga works saw English distribution under Viz, while the same could be said for the licensing for most of the anime made from them, the exceptions being Urusei Yatsura, Rin-ne, and Rumic Theatre. The TV anime was made in the Sunrise studio. The first TV anime aired on both Adult Swim (a late night Cartoon Network block), and Animax Asia. Also licensed here, The Final Act was televised only on Animax Asia, unlike the former. Richard Ian Cox voiced InuYasha for the entirety of the dub, who I earlier mentioned also took up the voice of Ranma Saotome (male) in Ranma 1/2. A little side note, but some of the voices heard from that anime you'll be hearing again in this one. Some people tend to make comparisons as to who in this anime resembles what from the other anime. Getting back on topic, Kagome was voiced by Moneca Stori (who did other voices like Ranma 1/2's Princess Ori, Gundam Wing's Sally Po, and Hamtaro's Laura Haruna.) In The Final Act, she is voiced by Kira Tozer.
InuYahsa has received its love and its share of hate. I still favor Ranma 1/2 over this, but I didn't mind the darker Mermaid Saga, and this one is also okay in my book, so InuYasha gets an 7 of 10 in general. At some point, I might do a 4-in-1 movie review of this title, so be on the look out for that.
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