Warning: this review contains spoilers. First impressions: So when getting into this show all I heard was that its about time travel between modern day Japan and Sengoku period Japan half demons pervy monks romantic polygons kittens that turn into a huge monsters getting power ups with tooth swords and a villain that keeps coming back to life and summoning more monsters. Man this show sounds like everything I ever wanted out of shounen. It seems like thisll be the cream of the crop. What could possibly go wrong? Story: 7/10 So our story begins in modern day Japan where our main character Kagome one day falls into her old family well after some sort of crazy monster pulled her into it. After mentally recuperating from what had just happened she then proceeds to climb out of the well. Upon climbing out of the well she finds herself in a forest. After walking around for awhile she finds a mysterious looking man with dog ears pinned to a tree. During her investigation of the area she finds a village and also finds out that shes in Sengoku period Japan. She finds out that the dog eared man is a halfdemon named Inuyasha who long ago came to the village to get the powerful shikon jewel but was stopped by a powerful shrine maiden who turns out to be his exgirlfriend. While getting used to her situation the village comes under attack by a demon who wishes to get the shikon jewel. During the attack Kagome frees Inuyasha out of desperation to battle the demon and in the battle the village nearly gets destroyed and the shikon jewel gets split into multiple fragments that get cast all over Japancause apparently thats what happens when you fire arrows at magic jewels they explode and send their fragments hundreds of miles away. So to make a long story short the both of them decide to start a journey across Japan to find and gather all the pieces before they fall into evil hands. On paper Inuyasha is actually a very good shounen. It has the tone and it has the battles. Like most long running shounen though it drags on for far too long and after a while loses any sense of direction or purpose. It was quite good for the first 3050 episodes there was adventure demons slaying samurai good drama actual stakes and some character development. The problem is that after that point it played out its basic concept and the plot ended up constantly playing out the formula of power up chase the main villain he escapes. Even when it tried to add some flavor with different characters and locations it was still the same shit over and over again. How many times do we need to be reminded of Inuyashas resurrected old girlfriend? How many times do we need to have the main villain send demons after the main cast? There is saying that its the journey that matters not the destination. Fucking hell though in Inuyashas case its the journey that kinda sucks and the destination thats reached after way too long. Heres idea explore why are there no yoki living in modern day Japan or address whats going to happen to the demon characters when their human friends die and they decide to move on. That wouldve been ten times more interesting than what we got. Its time to talk about one of the shows focal points the romance between Inuyasha and Kagome. The foundation for their relationship was built very well which I really liked. I have to ask this question though. Does it really take 190 episodes to drive home the point that these characters are in love with one another? They could have done it in half the time. I also feel that their relationship together was way too pitch perfect for my liking and I felt it was little unnatural Im not sure why though. The last thing I want to address is how insulting the ending is on so many levels. Pretty much what happens is that after everythings been sorted and Kagome and Inuyasha are about to start their life together Kagome in so many words says goodbye to Inuyasha. Inuyasha naturally questions her on why shed do this after confessing to him no less. She then turns around and gives the fact that she wants to finish highschool as her only reason. After this statement she returns back to the modern day Japan to finish high school. One two year time skip later and we see her graduating from highschool and returning back to medieval Japan because now she has her certificate. Why do you need a certificate in medieval Japan youre a women. It feels like some sort of forced feminist message saying hey kids make sure to pursue your career and education before your love life even if it has no purpose to begin with. Characters: 7/10 Kagome our main character is possibly one of the worse female main characters Ive seen in a show to date. Now before you get triggered in the comments section let me explain the reason why. Its not that I dislike her character or what she brings to the series as a whole but what bothers me about her is that she doesnt seem to have much in the way of a personality and as a result she comes off as a bland Mary Sue. Her personality basically comes down the fact that shes the person who wants to help many people as possible. Besides that she seems mostly unfazed about most of the stuff she sees and goes through which is kinda jarring when you think about the fact that shes in the warring states period one of the most bloody and brutal times in all of Japanese history. This was a time when entire families were wiped out and entire cities would be set on fire and to top it all off youve got demons running around that can level entire armies or towns with minimal effort. Shes basically in a meat grinder and Id think that seeing this would make her act a little cynical or maybe express some level of appreciation for the circumstances of her birth but nope that doesnt happen. Thankfully she does actually develop as her world view gradually changes over the course of the snow when she learns that not everything can be categorized as purely good or evil and that you cant always make the right decision. Aside from that though when shes compared to the other main cast members or even the side characters she just comes off as bland because there isnt much reason for why she the way she is. In contrast to Kagome though we have Inuyasha who Im so thankful hes in this show as he makes the show work for a number of reasons. Hes a hot headed selfish asshole with good reason too and I love him for it. Sadly though because of Kagome he loses his original edge and devolves into a generic shounen protagonist. When it comes to the side characters most of them have decent personalities characterization and decent development some of my favorite examples of which being Sesshomaru Inuyashas halfbrother and Miroku the pervy monk. One of the main reasons I really like Sesshomaru is because Im a big fan of his particular type of character arc which can also be seen with the character of Accelerator from a certain magic index. In fact when I think about it I feel that Sesshomaru was the basic blueprint for accelerator since they have very similar characteristics and both their character arcs revolve around a little girl and the main characters actions. In contrast the reason that I like Miroku is that hes a pervert who tries to tap every piece of ass he sees while robbing people of everything that isnt nailed to the floor. Finally its time for the main villain Naraku. Hes probably both the high and low point of the series. As a main villain hes proactive and has a strong presence but the problem is that he has a weak motivation at best and is for the most part pretty predictable. After a point though it becomes easy to predict what hes gonna do and so he just becomes kinda boring. Art: 7/10 So at the time this came out the animation was most likely pretty good and in fact it still looks decent today although it hasnt aged well. Inuyashas animation gives it a gritty feeling which fits the tone and nature of the warring states period Japan that the series takes place in. The backgrounds look alright but nothing to write home about. As for the fights they look pretty decent but I wish that they didnt end with the ever so popular wind scar as often. The art style has this retro shounen feel to it which I quite dig. Im kinda on the fence about the character designs because on one hand the demons look really cool but on the other the humans look boring and feel more like background characters. Sound: 6/10 I like the first opening song but I couldnt care less about the rest of the opening and ending songs. I think the soundtracks are decent and on point most of the time. There isnt much thats worth me going out of my way to listen to but there are some good tracks that are worth a listen. This isnt surprising as the OST was done by Kaoru Wada whos also done the OST for samurai 7. I feel that both the sub and the dub have their strong points. The dub did a very good job of capturing the personality of Inuyasha and Sesshomaru while Inuyashas sub version sounds like the Japanese voice actor for Goku from dragon ball Z which I find very bothersome to listen to. By the same token though I feel that the sub captured Naraku better than the dub because in the sub he feels more intimidating and scheming which fits his character well. Enjoyment: 6/10 So Im a big fan of demons samurai and anything that involves massive amounts of action so naturally I did enjoy Inuyasha to a point. While I found it to be a very interesting and an overall fun ride wish it was shorter and maybe didnt go in circles. Maybe if it took some more liberties and mixed it up a little I would have found it more enjoyable. Overall: 7/10 Conclusion: I think Inuyasha is a pretty decent shounen and I recommend it to anyone who Iikes demons time travel Sengoku period Japan and the like. All things considered though there are shounen that have done similar things to this show except better. Yu yu hakusho did the whole demon and spirit world thing better and had morality ambiguity as a bonus. Fullmetal alchemist or One piece have also done the whole adventure thing better. For everything this series is good at there is another series thats better at it. I guess if youre new to anime then Inuyasha is a good shounen to start with but if youre into more mature series or want more depth then its best to go somewhere else. Special credit to my unpaid and slightly pissed editor Lonecrit.