Inuyasha: Fun to Watch

Inuyasha is the kind of show that many fans love to hate. Some of Inuyasha’s most regularly ridiculed elements include its obscenely long duration, its propensity to re-use animation during action sequences, as well as the fact that Kagome never wears anything but her school uniform while battling demons. Hell, some people simply despise it because of the insane level of popularity it is amassing. Despite its failings, however, Inuyasha is a show that more than compensates for its weaknesses by virtue of its strengths. For starters, the plot, though not particularly deep, is rich and satisfying. Much of the story’s movement is very methodical, weaving itself smoothly through various situations that are intended primarily to deepen our appreciation of Inuyasha, Kagome, and their companions. Moreover, despite the tremendous length of the show, there are plot-twists aplenty that keep the narrative fresh and engaging well after we understand its precise eventuality. However, as the series wears on, filler episodes become more common and dampen some of the viewing pleasure. The filler episodes generally occupy one of three niches: monster-of-the-week episodes, comedy and/or romance episodes, or some combination thereof. The monster-of-week episodes are by far the most annoying and are easily the most fit for cattle fodder. However, the filler with a romantic/comedic slant are, in my humble view, among the most memorable filler in all of anime. They do a tremendous job of further fleshing out the stellar characters (more on them in a moment) and their various relationships while still being laugh out loud funny. I am still rolling from the antics of episode 68, titled “Shippou’s Battle Royale”, in which we become reacquainted with the Thunder Beast Clan by way of its last surviving member. I won’t spoil the fun here, but suffice it to say that if you don’t find said episode very funny (for me it was nearly hysterical), I reserve the right to inform your psychiatrist of your impending bout with depression. Deeply tied with the story of Inuyasha are its superior characters. Like most of Takahashi’s work, Inuyasha has a penchant for emphatic characterization. Indeed, much of the plot here is dedicated exclusively to endearing us to the cast and deepening our concern for them on an almost personal level. When I watch this show, I feel pain when Kagome’s heart aches over Inuyasha’s affection for Kikyo and joy when both her and Inuyasha move closer to one another. Moreover, I feel strongly for each and every one of the other main characters. One of the best and most intriguing individuals though, is Inuyasha’s older brother Sesshoumaru, a full-blooded dog-demon that initially has a tremendous disdain for not only his half-demon brother but also for all of humanity. His growth during the series is slow but deeply interesting as his dark, brooding persona becomes gradually lighter, making it difficult to call him good or evil in any conventional sense. The aspect of Inuyasha most deserving of contempt is the animation. That isn’t to say that it is bad in any sense. In fact, it is quite good. However, the immense difficulties that exist in animating such a long action show are formidable for even the heartiest of budgets. As such, when an action scene can be reused, it probably will be. For example, many of Inuyasha’s special attacks, such as the “Soul Scattering Iron Claw” or the “Wind Scar”, have used the same animation from the very beginning of the show. Another thing done to presumably save money during action sequences is to create the illusion of action by freezing and then panning an image while adding sound effects. It is a weak substitute for action but if it saves us from simply having to deal with horrible moving art, I am all in favor of it. This effect is much less prevalent the further one progresses in the series, likely a consequence of the switch from conventional animation to CG-assisted animation that occurs somewhere in the middle of the series. Despite my criticism, the art is mostly lovely and evocative in terms of both the characters and settings. Along with the mostly ambient background music, the attractive artwork goes a long way in helping further establish some good atmosphere. So what do I have to say to all those that despise Inuyasha out there? Well, you are of course free to your opinion, but my impression is that sour frame-rates, some rehashed animation, and a long run on television do little to ruin a title that has a worthy storyline and so strong a cast of characters. Granted, the show has problems that are significant enough to tarnish its luster slightly, but in the end, Inuyasha still shines nearly as brightly as an untainted Shikon Jewel. Recommended Audience: There's no full frontal nudity, although Kagome tends to go skinny-dipping in rivers on rare occasions. In any case, I'd be more worried about the violence. While it is greatly downplayed from the manga -- and the manga was nasty at times -- there are still a lot of deaths during the series, mainly demons but also the occasional human. Though it's by no means excessive. Also, if you're offended by the fact that a demon can be considered good -- and I'm not talking solely about Inuyasha -- you might want to avoid as well. The deaths are plenty, some of them -- albeit mainly demons -- are somewhat graphic, though there are more black/blue/green goop than blood in it. Basically, if you are allowed to see Lord of the Rings, this anime shouldn't pose any problems at all.

I'll admit I went a little overboard on my original review of Inuyasha. I am, after all, a big fan of Takahashi's work, which includes Ranma ½, Mermaid Forest and, yes, Inuyasha. I've also looked by Urusei Yatsura with some interest, but haven't gotten to the part of looking any more into that for now.) So those of you who don't share my love for Ms. Takahashi might want to take what I have to say with a pinch of salt.

That being said, I'm very pleased with the way Inuyasha has turned out. Unlike Ranma ½, this series follows the manga almost to the letter, with only some minor changes so as better to suit an animated medium. And good animation at that.

Inuyasha is colorful, has nice character design, and taken into account that it is a TV series, the animation is more than adequate. Perhaps not quite up to the level of Fruits Basket or Happy Lesson, but it works and works well too.

I am, however, less pleased with the music. The in-series music is okay. Mostly ambient, and mostly very good. The opening and ending themes are starting to grate on me, however, even though they tend to change over a period of twenty to thirty episodes. They are more fitting a pure action show and while Inuyasha does have its fair share of action scenes, the series does run a little deeper than that.

The Japanese VAs deserve nothing but praise. They do their roles and they do them well. The English ones are more of a mixed bag, with Sesshoumaru's and Sango's voices being excellent but Kagome's and Kaede's being not quite as good. Kagome starts out being voiced rather badly, but improves a lot as the series progresses and Kaede is suffering from bad and unfitting accent syndrome. I have no idea why they have her talking like ye olde pirate, but they did. (Hell, even Kikyo doesn't talk like that, and she was Kaede's big sister.)

Anyway, that leaves only the story.

Before we start with that, let me just get this straight; Inuyasha is mainly rather lighthearted stuff, but the Takahashi magic does show its presence rather heavily here -- after all, it's her stories that are being animated -- and she does have a knack for writing intricate person to person interaction scenes, not to mention the way she puts these characters up against each other. And while some characters might share similar appearance traits -- like Kagome and Kikyo, but for rather obvious reasons -- their personalities is a far cry from being copies of each other. And as the series progresses, more and more stuff about each characters past is discovered, and how they crossed -- well, mainly Inuyasha's and Kikyo's pasts in that. And while it was, like I said, mainly lighthearted stuff, it does get rather serious and dark-ish at times. I'll tell you this, though; not everything is as it first seems.

Now, with well past a hundred episodes made, it's blindingly obvious that there will be filler material that I don't know for sure whether they are from the manga as it hasn't been released in English this far yet. This being said, the series does descend into the "villain of the week" syndrome from time to time, but the way a lot of these are handled saves it from becoming tedious. Let me just say this, though; not all of them are defeated in fights, but leaves the story with some parting thoughts for you to ponder. Not incredibly deep Zen stuff, but certainly not something to be dismissed as unworthy or simple-minded either.

So what we have is a rather good popular TV show built on what makes Takahashi Rumiko's stories and characterizations work, and work well at that. I personally recommend this series for your collection and, given Viz's slow release pacing, it shouldn't ruin your budget much either. And if you do possess some semblance of patience, I'm sure Viz will release season packages of Inu Yasha like they have with Ranma ½, which might be much better value for your money.