Inu Yasha!!~!

[Anime Jedi]

Thought this might be relavent. I was reading the newspaper today (Toronto Star) and found an article titled "Forever Young". It's about all those people who are always trying to stay young, or not acting their age. There was a little quiz evaluating how much of a true teen you were. Out of 6 simple questions, this was one of them:

2. Inu-Yasha is:
a) the new president of Honda Motors Corp.
b) Thursday's special at Sushi At Bloor
c) a series of comic books about a 15-year old girl's quest to save feudal Japan
d) an exercise considered by many to be the anti-yoga


In my opinion, even for non-anime fan, it's a pretty simple question. Just think, this is a quiz about teens, so which one do you figure a teenager would know? lol

[Arigatomina]

I still think Inuyasha is hottest

And after the credits play, the loop begins again.

The joys of Inuyasha.

[Arigatomina]

Just think, this is a quiz about teens, so which one do you figure a teenager would know? lol

Heh, but it's funny they mention the books rather than the anime. I didn't realize the manga was so popular in the US. ^_^;

[Youkai_Lady]

I would love to read the manga because the anime is starting to piss me off it's dragging on and on........ By the way does anyone know when the third Inuyasha movie will be released in America

[madbunny]

Inuyasha has some fun stuff in it. My wife loves it to death, but after having seen something like 130 eps of it even she is saying things like... "what more characters? Shouldn't somebody die here?"

After initially watching it with her, I started to fall asleep within minutes of it coming on. Normally I'm not narcoleptic or anything so this is probably a sign. Not that the series sucks raw eggs, since I still like it in small doses (like the movie Through the looking glass, which I noticed Arigatomyna used for a video a short while ago, so she can't be hating it all that much). I think it's time for some Inu characters to fall to their heroic death, or to kill naraku or something. It's like one of those sitcoms on tv that is super popular, so it'll never end until one of the actors/actresses gets famous and wants to make movies, but all the logical plot lines have been played out. Remember that high school thing (beverly something or other where the students were in school forever?)

It's like those damm wheel of time books. Started out ok... got interesting and just.... never.... ends...
So I'm with Arigatomyna on this one, mostly.

Sango still has the hotness going for her. I've always wondered how she changes out of that kimono into the skintights for the battles so fast.... wait.. that sounds pervy, never mind.

[Arigatomina]

...(like the movie Through the looking glass, which I noticed Arigatomyna used for a video a short while ago, so she can't be hating it all that much).

Ah, but I didn't wach that movie. My friend India brought it over and I ripped the vobs - but refused to watch it. ^_^; I didn't want to watch it. I just needed the footage for vids. See, that amv is AU - it doesn't follow the IY timeline, all it does is feature the characters in a plot of my own making. I can't handle watching more than a few episodes (namely early episodes) of the anime, so that vid was made pretty much blind to the 'story' behind the actual scenes. ^.~

Maybe that explains how and why I have the only yaoi Inuyasha vid - Alternate Universe.
>.> <.> <.<
Rabid I/K Fangirls Beware.

[Youkai_Lady]

I happen to like the movies I think they are good. Better than the anime itself

[Kearly]

That refreshing girl turned into an emotional wreck, the epitome of the teenage girl who goes from being normal to instantly in love and tortured by his inconsideration towards her. Those formerly funny 'sit' scenes turned into a cliche for the anime, used any time she was upset as if that were the only reasonable conclusion to an argument. Why bother talking about it or behaving maturely when the character is the epitome of the immature teenage anime girl? No need for anything that might garner respect as a female character, just throw a tantrum and make the audience laugh. After all, no one cares about the person on the receiving end of the abuse.

Hmm. The first thing I would like to say about this is that Kagome's reaction is actually quite typical for a person in her situation (the exception being the "domestic abuse" as one might call it). Love certainly does weird things to people. Every year, hundreds of people are murdered because of soured love, and thousands of people kill themselves because of love issues (don't even get me started on Domestic abuse and Divorce). Love is not a fairy tale, it is not perfect. There are problems that need to be worked out and even problems that will never work out. To quote American Pie 3 of all things, "its called Love Making because you have to make love work!" Kagome's frustration and occasional missteps are really a reflection upon Inu Yasha himself and his silly, thoughtless behavior towards her. I don't see her as a weak "damsel in distress" either. Once she learns to use the Sacred arrow she is arguably the most dangerous character in the anime. Normally when I see female characters become that dominant, I begin to think "yeah right." Because her strength comes over time and after growing as a person, I can say that I respect Kagome not only as a person, but for her "strength" as well.

I agree with you that Kagome is stubborn at times and doesn't give Inu Yasha the chances he deserves, but for a 15 year old girl I find her incredibly mature. She is surrounded by characters with serious issues and is consistently the character who comforts others. In the dub she says a lot of dumb, obvious things, but she is not stupid entirely, she is often the first person to understand the situation and issues of the people around her (comforting Sango, Understanding Kikyo (the only character who does), and showing some patience with Inu Yasha.)

New characters were introduced to go with this new level of immaturity and slapstick humor. A cute little fox kit with the ability to shape shift and thereby add all sorts of adorable antics to the show. The villain is revealed, with an almost adult explanation for his actions - a major point in favor of the otherwise childish plot devices. And since we have two females and a child, introduce the counter male character - a womanizing monk modeled to add to the humor and serve as a second romance just in case the first one didn't do a good job at hiding the fact that the plot is as thin as a spider web stretching over a three mile river.

I agree on Shippo. In the sub he seems semi-tolerable, but in the Dub it becomes apparent quickly that his only purpose is to look cute and lick lollipops (where he gets them we'll never know ). I also agree on Naraku, the plot definitely steps up between episodes 14 and 25, thanks largely to him (and Kikyo). Miroku doesn't really add a lot to the show in the Sub, but in the dub his charm comes off very strong and he provides about half the laughs of the entire show. I understand your dissaproval of him and his womanizing, but I like him quite a bit. As a guy, I see the real side of men, not what they show off to girls. I room up with a womanizer, and I have known quite a few (which I regret). I have never met a womanizer in my life who I respected, or whom I felt was not an idiot, or whom I thought was even a good person. Miroku kind of represents a pervert more than a womanizer (hense the touching, lack of actual sex, and respect for women as people). He has an obsession with women, but he doesn't brag about his conquests. He takes women seriously and respects them, but he just can't help himself sometimes. Sex is a weakness in nearly all men, for him its just an exaggerated weakness. Miroku's puts up a playboy facade, but easily visible beneath it is a wise and intelligent person, who perhaps only seeks revenge because his life depends on it.

Enter the seemingly betrayed female character to counter the immature one - but make sure she's completely unreasonable so the viewers don't like her. After all, the viewers are supposed to only like the immature girl who no feminist would respect in a million years. No point giving the strong female character any redeeming qualities.

A lot of people don't like Kikyo's character, and I thinks its because they misunderstand her. She is often called "unreasonable." Before her death her role was to protect the Jewel from Demons, yet she fell in love with a demon and completely rearranged her life for him (which would likely have repercussions among her fellow humans). An unreasonable person would not be willing to make such sacrifices. There is no evidence at all that during her life she was an unreasonable person.

As an undead being, she cannot remain among the living. Not only must she consume souls to prolong her stay in this realm, but she requires a strong conviction; a reason to stay, or something left undone.

Imagine you were killed by the one you loved, only to come back and find out that he is still alive and innocent of the act. You still love him, but you can't be with him. Its even more cruel than before. Since coming back to life for real is impossible, there is only one hope for her, she must kill Inu Yasha and live with him in the next life. Selfish, to be sure, and perhaps even unreasonable, but love is an unreasonable emotion. She holds on to this conviction of killing Inu Yasha (out of love, not hate), and it is this conviction which gives her the strength to stay, albeit for a limited time, in the world of the living. Of course, being forced to live a miserable undead existance combined with having to kill someone she loves completely, would tend to grate on some people, and she shows signs of insanity from time to time. She heals the dying and cares for children, but she harbors a strange dark side as well (somehow she is convinced Inu Yasha wants her dead, likely a side effect of love jealousy due to Kagome).

After watching the first 2 seasons of Inu Yasha for the 6th time, I realized that her helping Naraku was not an act of insanity, because Naraku had the same goal: killing Inuyasha. I find it interesting how over time she actually comes to enjoy aspects of her damned existense, for example the tremendous freedom it grants her. We are not truly free until we have lost everything, and Kikyo has certainly hit rock bottom. You are right about her being a strong female character, she is handling her situation with a lot more strength than I believe I would.

But here the anime does another positive bit, by introducing this new female as a real character with a past, substantial motivation for her actions, and a mature depiction.

I really liked Sango's character. Her story really focuses on the love that siblings share. It probably my favorite side story in any anime. I also respect her as a strong female character. I also love the fact that she is voiced in the dub by Kelly Sherridan, the same voice actress who did the whiney, selfish, and weak Hitomi in Escaflowne. It not only brings familiarity to her role but somehow reminds me that she COULD be a whiner, but chooses to be strong instead.

And since there might, just might be viewers out there who want something to happen every thirty episodes, why not have the villian create some henchment to keep things rolling. No point having any drect confrontations that last more than two minutes, just give a mess of pointless minor villains the way any drawn out anime would. It worked for Sailormoon, after all. And while the plot pretends to be moving with the villains attacking and a shard per episode guarantee, add in something for the softies.

I also agree that Inu Yasha has pacing and content problems, particularly after season 2, after the anime catches up with the Manga. If it were up to me I would have stopped the show after season two, waited a year, then run another season, repeat and rinse, so as to stay on pace with the Manga and not get ahead. Because doing this is very difficult and costs a lot of money, animes don't do this. If anything they might end the show without a real conclusion (because the Manga isn't concluded yet), then run a brief OVA series afterward to help cover the real ending. I suspect this is what will happen with Inu Yasha.

The sub villians in Inu Yasha number too many and can even grow tiresome, but at least the show sheds its "villian of the week" theme after the first half of the first season (with an occasional exception). Also, the "jewel shard of the week" theme largely dies after the first half of the first season. By the early 2nd Season, about 80% of the shards have been found (or at least the jewel is 80% complete). I really disliked Inu Yasha during the first 13 episodes because it focused on a pokemon-like plot: "gotta catch 'em all!" If Inu Yasha was like this very often, I would not like the show. It would in fact be on my sh*t list of animes.

After all, the main girl is supposed to be useless, being a girl and all, it just makes sense that the sword meant to protect her would be necessary for the guy not to go nuts. So give him the sword, and then mention, by the way, that if he loses it, he'll go nuts and kill everyone. How's that for a plot device?.

How is Kagome useless? She has formidable priestess powers, being from modern times she has important historical and healing knowledge, and she serves to help other characters out emotionally and cheer up the group. I think you're right, a lot of anime does make women look useless (Japan is very male dominated of course), just not here. For the record, The Tetsaiga was made to protect humans in general, not just Kagome, and since Inu Yasha is half human himself, he actually uses it more often to protect his own a-s-s! I agree, The "berserk Inu Yasha" plot device IS one hell of a plot device, but it didn't bother me at all since it was well explained and added an interesting side to Inu Yasha's normally shallow character (Takahashi has made it a habit of fleshing out supporting characters more than her main ones). If anything it doesn't advance the idea that Kagome is weak and needs to be protected, it advances the idea the Inu Yasha himself is weak and vulnerable to evil.

Excellent. So now we have a guy who's best weapon makes him completely dependent and therefore useless without it. And since that adds guilt to his role, thereby pushing him into the girl's arms, the minor male character has done his job.

Guilt? More like shame perhaps? How does his personal weakness drive him back to Kagome? I don't remember that. Actually as I remember they had their biggest fight ever after that.

And now that we've made that minor male character soft by giving him a kid to care about, the viewers want more of him. So why not take more time out from the already slow plot to give him some encounters with the villain's henchmen that add nothing to the storyline, but give the perfect excuse for him having screentime. After all, the viewers want to see him, it doesn't matter if it adds nothing except eye candy.

Sessomaru is a relevant character to the anime and time spent showing his experiences is not wasted time, at least not any more so than seeing Miroku, Sango, or Kikyo. He's simply a side character with his own story and battles, just like the others do. There are pointless redundant battles in this anime; and I think you are letting them off easy by calling them eye candy, but they do not belong solely to Sessomaru. They are sprinkled throughout this anime as a result of having caught up with the manga and needing to fill air time (unfortunately). A battle with a villian does have some merit; it establishes or develops a relationship between those characters. For example, Kagura and Sessomaru could be potential allies, but after they battle each other, we understand that this possibility is now likely ruled out.

That's half what the anime is about, eyecandy and weak characters in romantic settings as they pretend to move toward an ultimate goal of defeating the main villain.

Its not quite as bad as you make it sound, but you are still right.

And so long as we have the shards taken back ever so often, we don't have to worry about the anime ending. A shard per episode, minus a handful every few episodes and we can go on our happy little anime for as long as we want. Just keep up the slapstick humor, immature and unfounded romantic drama, and eyecandy for the masses and they'll probably never notice.

The shard-per-episode statement is an exaggeration, as I pointed out earlier. I agree with you 100% that this anime's watered down appeal to the masses approach damages the show irrepairably.

I like Inuyasha at first, and I still like some of the characters, some of the time. Each one had something good going for him or her, and the idea of the anime was a good solid one.

I actually hated this show at first (first 13 episodes). Unlike a lot of people, I don't quit on animes, even ones I don't like. I became emotionally affected by this anime starting with episode 14 (Kikyo comes back) and my emotional attachment to the characters and the story heightened with nearly every episode until perhaps episode 30. The show started to wander before pulling me back in at around episode 50. At around episode 24, I was actually pondering if this was the best anime I had ever seen. Now that the show has fallen back to Earth, I still enjoy it, and I like it a lot simply because of the potential and the greatness it could have achieved had it been made for older audiences and in a more succinct format.

But somewhere along the way it turned into something as repetitive as Sailormoon on a bad day - only instead of having a new half-naked villainess per episode, we have the same five or six people showing up again and again and again for a few hundred episodes so we can keep showing the cute/sappy/funny/angsty/romantic stuff indefinitly.

Yeah, that was dissapointing. I don't think Inu Yasha was initially intended to be formulaic, but the creators were forced to be so after they caught up with the manga. They should have taken a break or stopped altogether after the 2nd season, and maybe Rumiko Takahashi herself should have known when to sum things up. Ranma 1/2 and Maison Ikkoku (wonderful animes) also ran on too long.

It's what I think of as an anime with a lot of potential, and driven right into the ground by ignoring that potential and giving in to as wide a variety of fanservice as possible in one show.

Close. Fanservice didn't "ruin" Inu Yasha, it was the mass appeal and watering down. I love the show for its characters and story (when we get story), and I actually dislike the action, because it takes away time from character development and story. Unfortunately, a lot of Inu Yasha's fans love the show for its action, so the show ended up emphasizing action after season 2. The original plot is very dark, original, and captivating, but they had to water it down for younger audiences to get higher ratings. Shippo and the Tanuki (raccoon dog) character were only in the story for small children more or less. An otherwise serious and creative love triangle between a man and two incarnations of the same woman could have been even better, but they decided to mix in some tried and true formulaic romance devices, which made the romance aspect of Inu Yasha (especially with Kagome) feel like an afterthought.

Inu Yasha is not perfect. If it had lived up to its mighty potential it would have been easily the best anime ever (just my opinion). Even without reaching that height, Inu Yasha remained an anime that was at times compelling and at other times tiresome, but overall an anime that I am enjoying very much. My final verdict on this anime, whether it is simply good or one of the greats, has to do with the content and execution of this animes ending, an ending I am hoping will do the Manga justice.

[Arigatomina]

Hmm. The first thing I would like to say about this is that Kagome's reaction is actually quite typical for a person in her situation (the exception being the "domestic abuse" as one might call it). Love certainly does weird things to people.

But that's the main problem - when did she supposedly fall in love? One minute they're barely friends and the next she is crying because he was unfaithful. There was nothing between that episode and the ones before it to show that she had a claim on him or that he was supposed to have romantic feelings for her (just that she looked like Kikyo, had Kikyo's smell, and Kikyo's soul, and was Kikyo reincarnated). That doesn't make her Kikyo. But the moment she sees the two of them together she reacts like a girl who's boyfriend just cheated on her. And there was nothing up to that point to show that she was even thinking about him that way, let alone that she had a reason to think he might see her that way.

From that point on (the episode where she cries to her mother) almost the entire anime is focused on this romance. Yet that romance came from nowhere, there was no explanation for it, no build up for it, and no justification for her reaction. People say the romance in Escaflowne comes out of nowhere and is unfounded - the romance in Inuyasha comes from one episode and moves from there, before that episode - it didn't exist. At best they were becoming friends who cared about each other's well-being. The romantic aspect was made in that one episode from scratch. And that is what make her character from then on out seem immature and weak to me - they stopped trying to be real or mature about her and made her flippant and moody. If she could fall in love in one episode (from barely being friends to crying about him cheating on her when there was nothing to cheat in the first place) then she has no real character to speak of - nothing steadfast. At best, her character only begins to regain it's strength when they build on that unfounded romance and make her dedicated to him once he starts to return her feelings.

Physical strength wasn't really what I meant when I said useless, I meant useful in furthering the plot. I agree that Kagome has plenty of physical strength. She's the Hitomi of the anime - the female from another world who is absolutely necessary for a love interest and is therefore given other skills that make her indispensable. Only instead of it being the ability to predict the future, she can see the shards and has a supernatural arrow which is somehow supposed to be more powerful than anything else in the anime - from the very first time she used it! She broke the stone into little shards with her first time touching a bow and arrow. Maybe it took her a long time to get that sort of strength again, but it wasn't that she didn't have it, just that they didn't let her use it until it would work for the romance (saving Inuyasha).

From that one episode, everything about Kagome's character is shaped and molded to further the fanservice, anything else is unimportant. We want drama, have her yell instead of explaining, have her storm off and punish a half-demon for not understanding how a 20th century human teenager thinks. Yeah, really mature. And I don't believe she was that immature to begin with - she had plenty of strength up until the relationship suddenly shifted to instant love. And that's the crux of my problem - not that she wasn't a good character, but that they stopped looking at those and instead emphasized her weaknesses - a kid. If it's natural for her to be immature and inconsiderate, then it would have been natural for her mother to tell her you don't fall in love in one day with someone you never thought of as more than a 'friend.' But she didn't. Why? Because we want Kagome to be a typical immature and inconsiderate girl to further the comedy and drama.

Every year, hundreds of people are murdered because of soured love, and thousands of people kill themselves because of love issues (don't even get me started on Domestic abuse and Divorce). Love is not a fairy tale, it is not perfect. There are problems that need to be worked out and even problems that will never work out. To quote American Pie 3 of all things, "its called Love Making because you have to make love work!"

No argument here. If they'd built up to the love and then introduced problems (not suddenly lowering her intelligence and maturity level, but giving her instances of weakness when she's stressed instead - like real people have) then I'd say it's one of the few realistic romance anime. Instead, they pulled the Fushigi Yuugi 'instant unfounded love' that rules the anime and makes the female dumb. Then again, some would argue that that's also realistic. I've certainly seen plenty of women who get stupid when they think they're in love. But they usually don't fall in love in one day, and they're usually having sex with the guy, so there are complications to go with the emotion (dependency on the father of a child, abuse on the part of the husband that the stupid woman accepts because she 'loves' him so much, abuse to the children that teh stupid woman accepts because she 'loves' him so much) - there are very few cases of a love-turned-ignorant woman abusing her love interest so those watching will laugh. And these days there are few cases of women enforcing their control over their love interests via a dog collar. Let's not forget that this is anime and half the point of making Kagome immature is for the humor - the other half is for the drama and 'romance.'

Kagome's frustration and occasional missteps are really a reflection upon Inu Yasha himself and his silly, thoughtless behavior towards her.

Thoughtless as in uneducated. He isn't a properly trained dog, even if she does try to teach him obediance via 'sit' commands. He has no way of reading her mind or knowing how to court a human female from her background - especially when he doesn't even realize she has it in her head that she has a claim over him. It isn't for about 20 episodes after that 'sudden love' episode that he starts to love her back. If the creators were capable of having him develope true feelings over time, they could have done that with her. But they didn't. They made her the loving one, yet also made her the one who expects instant understanding from someone who by his very nature won't be able to understand. And they did it on purpose so they could have the drama and humor of the punishment (dog training, think obedience school and you'll catch the importance of the dog collar). After Kagome sees Inuyasha get kissed by Kikyo, what does she do when he's staring at her confused and hurt because she expects him to read her mind and know why she's upset? She punishes him for not being a mindreader, or for not being a well-trained 20th century boy who would automatically know she must have seen him and must be upset becuase she thinks she has a right to faithfulness from him because since she's decided she loves him, he must automatically return that feeling without developing it first. No. If Kagome is supposed to think he's a mindreader who is hurting her feelings on purpose (which would make her punshiment justified and understandable), then she wouldn't stay around him. Unless she was a masochist who likes being hurt on purpose. Which she isn't - if anything, she's an easy going fun-loving person who likes comforts. She might punish him out of frustration the first time - but as smart as she was in the first few episodes, she'd realize she was wrong. The fact that she keeps right on doing it over and over proves that they didn't just make her immature and frustrated, they made her inconsiderate and dumb. In other words - they made her into the stereotypical female for whom love equates to ignorance. And that is turning a formerly strong female character into a weak one.

I don't see her as a weak "damsel in distress" either. Once she learns to use the Sacred arrow she is arguably the most dangerous character in the anime. Normally when I see female characters become that dominant, I begin to think "yeah right." Because her strength comes over time and after growing as a person, I can say that I respect Kagome not only as a person, but for her "strength" as well.

I saw that in the first few episodes, as she went from being naturally terrifed by demons to having enough self confidence to not scream when she sees them. That was good. And I agree - her confidence in using her arrow grows over time. But her physical power using that arrow is the same throughout - just strong enough to save Inuyasha when he's done saving her. And that is played out again and again - only her arrow can do the trick, and it always does. That isn't getting physcally stronger, that's being set by the creators as a plot device. She gets more confidence and becomes 'emotionally' stronger - believing in herself more, but not physically. She never does anything that would require more power than what it took to shatter the stone in the very beginning.

She is surrounded by characters with serious issues and is consistently the character who comforts others. In the dub she says a lot of dumb, obvious things, but she is not stupid entirely, she is often the first person to understand the situation and issues of the people around her (comforting Sango, Understanding Kikyo (the only character who does), and showing some patience with Inu Yasha.)

That's what I liked about her from the beginning, no arguments here. But think about it - being a considerate (except to her love interest when getting riled will add humor to the anime) is one of the usual characteristics of the main female. If she weren't then viewers wouldn't like her. That's one of her aspects that doesn't change throughout the anime. Because that aspect doesn't make her strong - it makes her compassionate and sweet. Sweet girls are caring characters. Even I like her for that - and I'm a cynic. Of course they kept her sweet - it keeps her in the stereotype and helps mask her less redeeming qualities. And the fact that she even sympathizes with Kikyo (taking her jealousy out on Inuyasha instead of the woman who wants to kill him out of love/hate) makes her even more caring - to everyone except the person she loves. She's only caring to Inuyasha when he's weak, either feeling guilty or doubting himself or both. If he's healthy, confident, happy, or angry, she only has patience for him if he's keeping that good spirit from rubbing her the wrong way. I don't like that. Kaoru (RK) has the sweetness and the tendency to abuse her love interest, but she doesn't do it every other minute. I think you can have a sweet female who isn't considerate of everyone *but* the person she's supposed to love. And really, Kenshin is more mature than Inuyasha (if you measure maturity as being aware of how a person behaves with the girl - in which case Inuyasha is immature just because he doesn't know 20th century protocall). But despite that maturity, Kenshin still manages to be clueless when it comes to Kaoru's love-induced expectations (just like Inuyasha). And yet you don't see the same sort of abuse that results from Kagome over that misunderstanding (and since Kaoru and Kenshin are the same race, living in the same century Kaoru has more right to be annoyed than Kagome does).

And I make that comparison because Kaoru - for all her maturity, is 16 (according to dwchang - the resident RK expert on the org). Kagome is 15 and lives in modern society. She should be smarter with her education. She should know more about abusive relationships with her having talk shows available on television to watch. She should know more about associating with people from different cultural backgrounds with her century taking place long after Japan's being opened to tourists. She should know more on all accounts. True, she would still be less mature than someone like Kaoru (times were different, and Kaoru was alone - Kagome is still sheltered and treated like a child). But being a teenager is no excuse for being stupid. And I don't think she's stupid. I think she's inconsiderate - not that she doesn't have the intelligence to know better, just that she doesn't think past herself. And that's something the creators changed about her after that 'love episode'. Before then she was frustrated, but at least she was trying to understand Inuyasha and accept the cuture difference making them think differently.

I agree on Shippo. In the sub he seems semi-tolerable, but in the Dub it becomes apparent quickly that his only purpose is to look cute and lick lollipops (where he gets them we'll never know ).

Don't get me wrong, I like Shippo. ^_^; He is exactly what he is from the moment they bring him in - fluff, but sweet funny fluff. I don't think he changed one bit in the episodes I watched.

Miroku doesn't really add a lot to the show in the Sub, but in the dub his charm comes off very strong and he provides about half the laughs of the entire show. I understand your dissaproval of him and his womanizing, but I like him quite a bit.

Oh! Bit misunderstanding! I like Miroku. He's probably one of my favorite characters. I just don't like how he's used. What I mean is, they give him depth as the anime goes along and it becomes evident that he's a lot more than a womanizing monk. But that's almost hidden by his behavior (which is mostly used as a distraction/humor). I don't like that they added a potentially good character but tried their best to ruin him with stereotypes. I like him when he's being serious and thoughtful - showing his good attributes, but I dislike that he so rarely shows them. I don't like the way they have to make every character stereotypical and hide their strengths.

Sex is a weakness in nearly all men, for him its just an exaggerated weakness. Miroku's puts up a playboy facade, but easily visible beneath it is a wise and intelligent person, who perhaps only seeks revenge because his life depends on it.

That's exactly it - the 'exagerated weakness.' They took it to the extreme to the point where half the Inuyasha fans I hear from can't see anything *but* that weak character trait. Hide the strength, and emphasize the weakness that fits so nicely in with the stereotype.

A lot of people don't like Kikyo's character, and I thinks its because they misunderstand her. She is often called "unreasonable." Before her death her role was to protect the Jewel from Demons, yet she fell in love with a demon and completely rearranged her life for him (which would likely have repercussions among her fellow humans). An unreasonable person would not be willing to make such sacrifices. There is no evidence at all that during her life she was an unreasonable person.

I still like Kikyo. ^.~

I know they made her unreasonable on purpose, but she still shows her strengths enough so that they are definitely there. It's like Miroku - they took it to the extreme. But I still like her as much as I like Kagome when she's comforting Inuyasha instead of yelling at him.

You are right about her being a strong female character, she is handling her situation with a lot more strength than I believe I would.

She's almost too strong - the unreasonableness probably helps keep her from being completely unrealistic as far as being strong goes. But I think she was always mature (from the flashbacks) what with the times she lived in and her responsibilities. I think she as strong from the start and continues to show that strenght throughout the anime - even with her selfishness. What I dislike about her character the most is that she's modeled to be disliked - I think they made her so the viewers would like her just enough to see why Inuyasha would care about her, but not enough so they would prefer her over Kagome. And since she's dead I don't think they needed to go that far. Anyone who liked Inuyasha would prefer him to be alive - meaning Kagome instead of Kikyo. There was no reason to make her the 'love to hate' character in the anime.

I really liked Sango's character. Her story really focuses on the love that siblings share. It probably my favorite side story in any anime. I also respect her as a strong female character.

I like her throughout the anime, and I think she matches nicely with Miroku's intelligent mature side. Beneath the fanservice added to their relationship because of his 'womanizing weakness' they really match well.

I really disliked Inu Yasha during the first 13 episodes because it focused on a pokemon-like plot: "gotta catch 'em all!" If Inu Yasha was like this very often, I would not like the show. It would in fact be on my sh*t list of animes.

Heh, that's a great comparison. ^_^; I don't know how many episodes I watched. It was about a year ago and they were fansubs and bootlegs borrowed from a friend in college. I don't even know what episode number I stopped on, let alone what season it was in. I just know by the time I gave up (she had more episodes that I refused to watch), I was fast-forwarding through things just looking for any scenes that caught my eye. I didn't have the patience to watch it anymore.

How is Kagome useless? She has formidable priestess powers, being from modern times she has important historical and healing knowledge, and she serves to help other characters out emotionally and cheer up the group.

Yes, she has all the potential to be a very useful character. But when does that come out? When Inuyasha fails and her help is necessary to avoid death - when they have to pull out a trump card. Until then, she's held in reserve. The anime almost never shows her as a fighting character until they absolutely have to shed the damsel disguise and let her strengths come out. It reminds me of Usagi in Sailormoon - the strongest one with the finishing move - but she doesn't use it until everyone else has had their go and they have to pull out the trump card. To me, that would be like having Inuyasha sit back and act like he is weak up until everyone else fails and then have him use his demon strength. But since he's the male, they don't do that. They do it to the girl - useful only at the end. And her education (intelligence) only comes out when it's something non-romantic, so it won't go against the typical female stereotype.

The "berserk Inu Yasha" plot device IS one hell of a plot device, but it didn't bother me at all since it was well explained and added an interesting side to Inu Yasha's normally shallow character (Takahashi has made it a habit of fleshing out supporting characters more than her main ones).

Well explained? It may have been the poor subtitles in the version I saw, but they never explained why Inuyasha only went berserk *after* he had the sword that keeps him from going berserk. Why? Was he never in a life or death situation where his demon instinct could come to life in a survival first rage? We know he was in at least one situation where that sort of survival instinct should have kicked in - the flashbacks of his childhood - hanyou too weak to defend himself. Why didn't that instinct kick in when he needed it to protect himself? Why only when it would put his friends in danger? Guilt, and so he could be dependent on the sword. It's a plot device all right, one that doesn't fit in with the anime up until that point. If that side of him was supposed to come out any time he was in danger of dying it would have come out sooner. If it was only supposed to come out once he loses touch with the sword, it should have come out before he *found* the sword (since he wasn't in contact with it when he didn't know it existed). It didn't though. It only comes out after he has the sword, which to me doesn't make sense unless that is a weakness to counteract the strength the sword gives him. For every strenth to a character, they counter with a new weakness. He has a great powerful sword - so make him dependent on it.

If anything it doesn't advance the idea that Kagome is weak and needs to be protected, it advances the idea the Inu Yasha himself is weak and vulnerable to evil.

Yep, but only after he starts using the sword meant to protect humans (and since all but one of his friends are humans, he uses it to protect them as well as himself). And since they're the main couple, he uses it to protect Kagome more than anyone. And in using that sword to protect her, he gets weakened by the sword to the point of dependency. You're right that it doesn't really make Kagome more weak. At best, having the sword (and even that great demon power when he loses th sword) makes him better able to protect her - meaning less cause for her to do anything. Not her fault, just naturally delegating the weaker female to the sideline until the sword turns into its own weakness and she's needed again.

Guilt? More like shame perhaps? How does his personal weakness drive him back to Kagome? I don't remember that. Actually as I remember they had their biggest fight ever after that.

I remember it after the episode with the silk cocoon. He was at the water thinking how he could have hurt her or one of his other friends and she comes to comfort him. Only he's too disgusted and yes - shamed by his actions to let her comfort him. It still makes them closer since we get that tender scene. And if you haven't seen the movie where Kagome snaps him out of his 'demon' state with a romantic gesture, then I'll say no more about how this plot device furthers the romance. ^_^;;;

A battle with a villian does have some merit; it establishes or develops a relationship between those characters. For example, Kagura and Sessomaru could be potential allies, but after they battle each other, we understand that this possibility is now likely ruled out.

That's probably it. I didn't see a potential alliance until they had them battle - and by that time it was ruled out so I didn't see a point in the battle at all (not having seen the potential, I didn't see the encounter as a way to explain that the potential didn't exist). That would be me missing the point. >.> My bad.

Its not quite as bad as you make it sound, but you are still right.

I exaggerate a lot. There are some very nice episodes and scenes mixed in even the last episodes I watched. But the romance was overwhelming at some points, the comedy so obviously filler (though I found the episode with Shippo and that little girl demon to be adorable), and the plot devices so blatant at times that it was hard to stomach. I wanted surprises, a drive, and I was sorely disappointed.

The shard-per-episode statement is an exaggeration, as I pointed out earlier. I agree with you 100% that this anime's watered down appeal to the masses approach damages the show irrepairably.

Probably. I really don't remember very well, but I think it was the 'shard-endowed' villains being sent by Naraku who were making me think of a 'shard per episode.' He'd send one, they'd defeat it, and then he'd snitch the shards back so nothing was accomplished. But that only happened a few times, so I don't know if they continued that indefinitely - after a while the anime wasn't even about shards so much as the henchmen and different mini-plots involving new characters who showed up and then left with nothing really changing as far as the maing goal of the anime was concerned. But that was about were I stopped watching.

I actually hated this show at first (first 13 episodes). Unlike a lot of people, I don't quit on animes, even ones I don't like. I became emotionally affected by this anime starting with episode 14 (Kikyo comes back) and my emotional attachment to the characters and the story heightened with nearly every episode until perhaps episode 30. The show started to wander before pulling me back in at around episode 50. At around episode 24, I was actually pondering if this was the best anime I had ever seen. Now that the show has fallen back to Earth, I still enjoy it, and I like it a lot simply because of the potential and the greatness it could have achieved had it been made for older audiences and in a more succinct format.

I really wish I could refer to episodes. I know I watched for quite a while, but it may have only been some 50 episodes before my mind started to wonder. And by the time I stopped I had trouble remembering what important thing had happened in the last episode (if anything had). It became a blur. Trying to remember specific parts of the anime now is beyond me. I just remember really really liking it - and moving from that to completely irritated and bored out of my head. And that's never happened to me before, not with an anime I watched more than 40 episodes for. The disappointment makes it to where I won't even watch those episodes I liked and recorded to tape. I don't want to the reminder of all the things I enjoyed about it when I know they weren't enough to keep me watching.

Yeah, that was dissapointing. I don't think Inu Yasha was initially intended to be formulaic, but the creators were forced to be so after they caught up with the manga. They should have taken a break or stopped altogether after the 2nd season, and maybe Rumiko Takahashi herself should have known when to sum things up. Ranma 1/2 and Maison Ikkoku (wonderful animes) also ran on too long.

It happens to the best of anime, from what I've heard. >.< I didn't realize Inuyasha wasn't finished when I started it. I didn't find that out till shortly before I quit watching. The idea that it *stil* isn't done makes my stomach roll over. Killing a good story drives me nuts.

Close. Fanservice didn't "ruin" Inu Yasha, it was the mass appeal and watering down.

What appealed to the masses? Aspects of the anime meant to appeal to the masses. That's my definition of fanservice - plot devices and characterizations meant to appeal to the fans, and taken to extremes to guarantee they appeal even stronger to those fans.

I love the show for its characters and story (when we get story), and I actually dislike the action, because it takes away time from character development and story. Unfortunately, a lot of Inu Yasha's fans love the show for its action, so the show ended up emphasizing action after season 2.

I liked the action at times, but the animation for those scenes - the 'choreography' could have been better. I'm a an action anime fan, so I like to see my favorite characters fighting. But not *too* much - too much action and that's just another fanservice aspect - like dbz - that ends up going to the extreme.

The original plot is very dark, original, and captivating, but they had to water it down for younger audiences to get higher ratings.

When I read the first few books of the manga, that was the impression I got - dark, fantasy, engaging characters - it made me eager to see the anime. But the anime didn't match very much. It was still the characters, but it lost something along the way for me.

An otherwise serious and creative love triangle between a man and two incarnations of the same woman could have been even better, but they decided to mix in some tried and true formulaic romance devices, which made the romance aspect of Inu Yasha (especially with Kagome) feel like an afterthought.

Formulaic is a good word. I think of it as stereotypical, but they both sound similar according to my definitions. The romance *could* have been great, but it didn't ring true to me (on Inuyasha's part it did, later on in the series after he started to return her feelings). Kagome was too predicatable.

Inu Yasha is not perfect. If it had lived up to its mighty potential it would have been easily the best anime ever (just my opinion).

No arguments here. ^_^

Even without reaching that height, Inu Yasha remained an anime that was at times compelling and at other times tiresome, but overall an anime that I am enjoying very much. My final verdict on this anime, whether it is simply good or one of the greats, has to do with the content and execution of this animes ending, an ending I am hoping will do the Manga justice.

I would be willing to watch the ending - and if it were good enough to reflect the long lead up to that ending, I'd probably rewatch the entire series - just because then I would *know* that it's going somewhere that is worth the boring or tedious parts. Right now, I get the feeling it's going to get snuffed in a few episodes rather than having a good climax. I'll wait and see and just hope they at least make the ending a great one.

[Yukina_Raven]

All the text is making my brain hurt...