Naraku
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| Naraku 奈落 |
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| Alternate Name(s) | Onigumo, Kagewaki Hitomi |
| Age | 50 years old (23 in appearance & mindset) |
| Race | hanyō or yōkai (see below) |
| Weapons | various (see below) |
| First Appearance (Anime) | The Mystical Hand Of The Amorous Monk Miroku |
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Naraku (奈落, な らく, "underworld") is the major villain in the manga and anime series InuYasha, although not always a major focus in every episode. Extremely effective, he has had a long staying power through the course of the series, which has occasionally drawn criticism from fans.
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[edit] History
[edit] Onigumo
Naraku is a hanyō ("half-demon" — yō is derived from yōkai, which means "demon"), although he differs from most hanyō.
There was a man named Onigumo (鬼蜘蛛, おに ぐ も, "demon-spider"), who was full of deceit and hatred for others. He tricked his bandit leader, Rasetsu (the elderly man later on in both manga and anime who gives Kikyo his top knot to be sent to Mount Hakurei in order to purify his soul) into approaching Kikyo and attempt to obtain the Shikon no Tama, or Jewel of Four Souls; however, Onigumo did not warn him that with Kikyo, there was a hanyō named InuYasha. Rasetsu survived the encounter with InuYasha, lost an eye, and returns to camp annoyed to find that Onigumo has made off with his troops. Rasetsu finds Onigumo and his troops at an inn down the road celebrating their change in leadership. Rasetsu blows up the inn, but the charred body of Onigumo somehow manages to survive the blast. Rasetsu throws the barely-living Onigumo off a cliff. (This, however, does not explain the spider scar, as Onigumo had the scar before he met Rasetsu).
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By either chance or fate, Onigumo barely survived and was found by Kikyo who slowly nursed him back to the point of being able to speak. Onigumo developed feelings for Kikyo, but knowing that he could not move for the rest of his life, he summoned countless male yōkai using his corrupted soul. He then had them devour his body in exchange for giving him a new body with which he could claim Kikyo and the Jewel of Four Souls. Thus the countless yōkai were bound together in a form with Onigumo serving as a connector. (In an anime special, it is implied that a spider-yōkai, which looked like a small replica of Naraku's spider form in the second movie, was the de facto leader of these yōkai.) This resulted in the part-human, part-yōkai Naraku.
[edit] Evolution of Naraku
In the meantime, he did not forget about his ultimate goal of obtaining the corrupted Shikon no Tama. He disguised himself as both InuYasha and Kikyo and tricked them into hating each other, as he describes that "the Shikon Jewel is the most beautiful when it's tainted by the hatred Kikyo and InuYasha have toward each other".
He mortally wounded Kikyo while disguised as InuYasha, took the Shikon no Tama and returned it to the village, then disguised himself as Kikyo and attacked InuYasha. InuYasha, sensing something was wrong, instinctively went back to the village to retrieve the Jewel. However, disguised as Kikyo, Naraku told the villagers that InuYasha would come for the Shikon no Tama at any cost, thereby forcing InuYasha to use force to obtain the Jewel. As he was getting away with the Jewel, Kikyo, with her remaining strength, sealed InuYasha to the Tree of Ages. Naraku, who desired both the Jewel of Four Souls and Kikyo thought that she would use the Jewel to heal herself but instead she requested Kaede to cremate the Jewel along with her dying body, so that it would be taken to the afterlife with her.
Onigumo's soul, within Naraku, objected to Kikyo's death. At this time, Naraku took action to prevent Onigumo from consciously influencing the hanyō's actions. Onigumo perceived this process as imprisonment in a deep dark place where he proceeded to sleep.
For fifty years after Kikyo's death, Naraku secretly plotted and waited for the Shikon Jewel to appear again. After the appearance of Kagome as the present-day reincarnation of Kikyo and InuYasha's awakening, he moved forward with his plan of gathering the shattered shards of the Jewel. Knowing his weakness as a hanyō, he relied mostly on evil tricks and traps while gathering information on his potential enemies that would stand before his insidious plot.
Being a hanyō like InuYasha, Naraku also sometimes experiences a period of weakness. During those times, he loses all his yōkai powers and reverts to his human "form". While in this form, he is composed of his head attached to countless random yōkai parts. Naraku has the freedom of choosing this time, unlike InuYasha, and since he is made up of thousands of yōkai, each time he "experiments" and "reconstructs" his body, he gets rid of weak and useless parts while keeping the vital ones to get stronger. It is possible that during each of these periods he expelled more and more of his humanity. This process ultimately led to the creation of his stronger form.
[edit] Disposal of his human heart
After InuYasha was able to defeat his barrier with the red Tessaiga, Naraku retreated to a mountain Hakurei-Zan for a long time, resurrecting the Shichinintai in the meantime to keep his enemies busy. To better protect himself from powerful yōkai enemies like InuYasha, Sesshomaru, and Koga, he deceived a living Buddha Hakushin into creating a barrier so holy, that it would purify and cleanse any yōkai that came close to it, depending on the power of yōkai. The closer Naraku's enemies came to the core of the barrier, the stronger it was. This was also the most powerful barrier in the series as its reach extended over the parameter of an entire mountain and much of the land around it. The stronger a yōkai, the deeper into the barrier they could go until they got to a specific sort of critical point where anything with even the slightest bit of yōkai energy would be utterly purified. For any creature with yōkai as its spirit, they would die at this point no matter how powerful. For example, Koga could not even pass the perimeter of the barrier due to the fact that he is a lesser yōkai. Sesshomaru however was able to penetrate the barrier's perimeter and travel deeper into it, albeit weakened, during his battles with Suikotsu and Jakotsu. InuYasha was able to pass this final point, but his yōki was purified so completely that he transformed into his human form while inside the barrier. Naraku himself hides within a cave inside the mountain which is not penetrated by the purifying barrier. Kikyo persuades Hakushin to remove the barrier and ascend to Heaven.
Naraku separates himself from his heart, rendering it in two pieces. The physical heart (心臓, shinzō) he imparts to Akago, rendering Naraku effectively immortal unless Akago is destroyed. The spiritual heart, or soul (心, kokoro), which he inherited from the human Onigumo, is discarded inside Hakurei-Zan. This allows Naraku to become stronger, much like a full yōkai. (Comments later made by Abi-Hime and Tekkei revealed that Naraku was still technically a hanyō.) Furthermore, he now possessed an even stronger barrier, which proved impenetrable to anything except for the Tessaiga's Kongōsōha ("diamond shard blast", "Adamant Barage" in the English dub).
As soon as Kikyo gives the man who created the barrier the ability to find peace, he departs for the afterlife and the barrier dissolves. Naraku then reveals his new, powerful form and strikes down Kikyo. His powers increased dramatically as he challenged Sesshomaru and deliberately let him tear his body apart with a point-blank range yōki blast, however it had no effect and Naraku proclaimed that "I cannot die". In order to find the final Shikon shard located at the border between this world and the afterlife, Naraku made a deal with Abi-Hime, the princess of the bird yōkai. However, Abi-Hime and her mother, Tekkei, never did trust Naraku because he was "merely" a hanyō. Both being full yōkai with utter contempt for hanyō, Abi-Hime and Tekkei plotted against Naraku and later attacked him. Naraku proceeds to behead Tekkei, the river of her blood producing a gateway to the world between this and the next.
Throughout the series Naraku is always constantly absorbing yōkai. Even though he is now completely as powerful as a full yōkai, he is still able to carry on the process of expelling the weak components of his victims and retaining the stronger ones. Thus he is able to constantly increase his strength even after the events of Mt. Hakurei, though it never increases enough to counteract InuYasha's Kongōsōha until he has absorbed Mōryōmaru and a barrier-dissolving Daiyōkai tree.
[edit] Re-absorption of Naraku's heart
Following the death of Kagura in the manga, Naraku becomes largely absent from the series, and the focus shifts to Akago's and Mōryōmaru's quest to absorb yōkai and Shikon shards. Naraku finally reappears, reviving a tree yōkai known as Yōmeiju, a tree which devoured humans and yōkai alike. But this time, as InuYasha and his group watched, Naraku devoured the tree. Shortly thereafter, he and Mōryōmaru squared off for the first time in an open battle. Naraku then reveals that the reason he created Akago as an infant and purposely made him so weak, while providing him with a powerful barrier that he had the power to disable, was because he always knew his heart would turn against him. Taunting Mōryōmaru about his shell, referring to it as a castle and to Akago as a king who has grown fat inside a castle, Naraku at first appeared to be trying to reabsorb him. But this clash ended with a shocking twist: Mōryōmaru absorbed his maker, supposedly defeating him for good. Naraku soon revealed that he was in fact alive, having allowed Mōryōmaru to absorb him in a Trojan Horse-style ploy in order to then devour Mōryōmaru from the inside. He then used the Yōmeiju's barrier-dissolving abilities to reclaim Akago and then fully assimilated Mōryōmaru into his being.
In Chapter 452 of the manga, "Spider Web", Naraku also returned to Hakurei-Zan to reabsorb the heart of Onigumo which he discarded there. Onigumo speaks to him, gloating that Naraku still needs this discarded human heart to avoid being purified by Kikyo, because of Onigumo's intense negative feelings. The human heart says it possesses more intense negative feelings than Naraku's yōkai heart, and these can prevent purification by bringing darkness to the Shikon Jewel. Naraku seems to confirm this analysis. He intends to exploit the emotional connection between the hearts of Onigumo, Kikyo and InuYasha to destroy both Kikyo and InuYasha. The re-absorptions may mean that Naraku has lost the invulnerability he obtained from keeping his heart outside his body. However, the Shikon no Tama also allows yōkai and humans to survive otherwise fatal injuries. But it's quite possible that the diamonds on Naraku's new body, along with his armored shell, may add some extra protection (due to the former being the hardest substance on the planet, and the latter easily able to swat off even the destructive brunt of the Kongōsōha).
[edit] Nearly completed Shikon Jewel
In chapter 463 in battle with InuYasha, Naraku takes Koga's shikon shards because he placed his Jewel shard inside Kikyo. After he placed it in Kikyo, Kagome shot Kikyo with her last sacred arrow to purify her, then Naraku used Koga's shards to corrupt the Jewel as Kikyo plans to purify the Jewel. But Naraku's evil overpowered Kikyo's holy aura and allowed him to reclaim the Jewel, leaving only Kohaku's shard. Once the Jewel is completed, Naraku's power will be augmented nearly to the point of invincibility. However, in chapter 475, Naraku blames Kikyo for a purity inside the shikon no tama. Currently, Naraku is dead-set on decapitating Kohaku in an attempt to get his shard without becoming purified by Kikiyo's presence in the jewel.
[edit] Potential for unlimited growth?
One of Naraku trademarks is that he is constantly absorbing other yōkai into his body and then getting rid of the weak components. Thus his power only keeps on growing. It is assumed then that each time one of Naraku's opponents face him, they are fighting a stronger version of him than the last. However, the stronger he becomes, the harder it is to find powerful yōkai to absorb. Once Naraku got his post-Hakurei body, he didn't absorb any demons until the Youmeiju tree, because he didn't want to dilute his power by absorbing weaker demons. Simply put, he is running out of powerful demons to absorb, forcing him to create one, named Mōryōmaru. After manipulating Akago/Mōryōmaru to betray him and become more powerful, Naraku absorbed him, becoming even more powerful than before.
[edit] Attacks and abilities
Naraku has seemingly countless abilities, many of which may be unknown. Those that he has revealed so far are as follows:
- Super endurance - Naraku has the greatest endurance in the series, able to regenerate from virtually any amount of damage even with his heart still within his body, and virtually invulnerable upon removing it.
- Speed - Naraku in some cases has shown great speed.
- Tentacles-In the anime Naraku attacked Inuyasha and Muso with tentacles that sprout out of his back. They can also launch out miasma
- Saimyōshō — Naraku's minion wasps from hell. They are useful for stopping Miroku's Kazaana ("wind void"; Wind Tunnel in the English dub), for spying on his enemies, and gathering Jewel shards.
- Mimicry — He can shapeshift into any other form he chooses (usually a humanoid). He would have a different voice as well.
- Absorption — Absorbs a fallen foe and adds his powers into his body.
- Yōkai puppets ("demon puppets" in the English dub) — Puppets which resemble him. He controls them from afar and can see through their eyes. They are mostly made of mud and soil, and are able to spring roots in order to attack opponents.
- Yōkai parts — Naraku can bring out pieces of the countless yōkai he has absorbed out to use when he fights an opponent; such as tentacles, webs, and other such things. More recently he acquired the Yōmeiju's tentacles that allows him to penetrate barriers and devour yōkai more easily.
- Disappearing act — Reappears and disappears at will.
- Detachments — Makes incarnations out of his own body to do his dirty work for him. Most have a spider mark on their back which is a result of being born of Naraku when he still was a han'yō with Onigumo inside him. After he purged himself of his human presence in the countless lumps of flesh inside Hakurei-Zan, he and all his future children were free of having that scar on them.
- Illusionary death — An illusory spell cast upon foes which makes their worst fear come to life.
- Telepathy - Naraku can communicate telepathically with any sentient being. He can also erase/manipulate memories, and mentally influence (though not completely mind-control) the minds of humans and weaker yōkai.
- Telekinesis — He has also shown some mild ability to levitate objects such as Sango's Hiraikotsu, fragments of the Shikon no Tama and Kohaku.
- Barrier — A barrier which prevents the foe from finding and / or attacking him. At first his barrier was only useful in hiding his presence. As he persevered in absorbing new, stronger demons into his body and discarding the weaker ones, it became powerful enough to survive the Kaze no Kizu, which is why InuYasha needed to obtain blood from the bat yōkai, Taigokumeru, in order to penetrate. After Naraku became a full yōkai(in a sense) the barrier became so powerful that nothing but the Kongōsōha was able to pierce it.
- Flight — He has the ability to fly with or without his barrier and only seems to do so after achieving his full yōkai form.
- Yōki control — Whenever someone sends an attack of yōki (yōkai energy) into Naraku's barrier he can channel the flow of the attack into his own jaki (yōki aura) and then attack his opponents with it. However, this can only be done with attacks that cannot penetrate his barrier, which means it's useless against InuYasha's Kongōsōha.
- Regeneration — Naraku can heal his own wounds and also put back together severed pieces of his body. He can control 100% of his body all the time (even when severed). It comes in handy when he is trying to absorb someone. However there is a limit to how much he can regenerate. The more damage he takes the more time he will need later on to regenerate. Too much damage can kill him which is why in the beginning of the series he had to flee from his enemies. Usually he will absorb yōkai to speed up his regeneration process. However, after he removes his heart, which comes out as Akago, he was able to regenerate no matter how much damage his body took since his life force or his heart wasn't in his body.
- Beam attack — Naraku sends out one or more of the horns on his elbows in a zigzag beam attack or extends his fingers into tentacles with a glowing attack at the tip of fingers to attack his foe(s). In the manga this attack was of a silverfish color and in the anime it is of a purple color. Furthermore, even though this attack is a yōki attack, because Naraku is using his body parts infused with shōki to attack his opponents, InuYasha cannot use his Bakuryūha (Backlash Wave) against it since it counts as a physical attack.
- Shōki — This is Naraku's trademark, poison which kills anything that touches it (miasma in the anime). It is what makes his poisonous gas. Naraku uses it to cover his entrances and exits, and can surround himself with the gas while flying. He created a "false Shikon shard" for Kōga with this substance. It was able to power Kōga in the manga and anime for a while until it backfired, poisoning him, and ultimately leading him to remove it with the help of Kagome. Naraku's body is filled with it, which is why when a foe bites him or even touches him he/she gets poisoned. Later on, as his power grew upon his transition to full yōkai, his shōki is able to take on a liquid form and acts like a river of acid. His shōki is so strong that it allows him to break away pieces of the nearly completed Shikon no Tama to use in his schemes. In the current manga, he can melt entire mountains. Over time his shōki has become so dangerous that after he infects Kikyō with it, neither Kagome nor Kikyo's holy powers seem to be able to purify it. Kikyo absorbs Midoriko's soul in order to protect herself but she comments that she doesn't know how long Midoriko's power can last against Naraku's venom, in the regard that she and Midoriko remain at the same strength while Naraku continues to increase in power. Eventually, even the influence of Midoriko is nullified with Naraku's absorption of the tree and Mōryōmaru.
- Psionic spider web — This ability is gained from the reabsorption of Naraku's Human Heart. Naraku extends the threads of this illusionary web from the sky and then to its victims. The threads of the web cannot be purified for it feeds upon the dark desires of the victims, namely Kikyo, InuYasha and Kagome. The effects of web causes the victims to relive their unhappy past events, widens shōki wounds and mainly to corrupt their hearts.
- Kongōsōha ("diamond shard blast") — After reabsorbing his heart and absorbing Mōryōmaru, Naraku learned the Kongōsōha technique. He can also control other yōkai by shoving a diamond shard into their bodies; an example are the porcupine yōkai from Chapters 449–451.
- Weapon creation — This ability is seen in the anime where Naraku gives Abi-Hime a trident. It is made of his own bones. The other weapons made of this is Kan'na's mirror and Kagura's fan.
- Live Body Pieces - After absorbing Akago/Mōryōmaru, Naraku gained the power of merge pieces of his body with other yōkai, thus giving him control over them and increasing their regenerative abilities. He can send pieces of his body abroad to scout for new yōkai, for him to add into his body. It is important to note that these pieces, after becoming separate of Naraku's body, became living beings that can move and fight on their own.
- Change Density of his Body - After absorbing Mōryōmaru, Naraku gained the ability to change density of his body. That means that Naraku's body can become gelatinous, or tough like stone. Because of this, Naraku can make his Diamond Spears become Diamond Tentacles if he want.
- Invisibility - A barrier that turn anyone inside of it, invisible. And is impossible to feel Naraku's presence when he is inside the barrier. In the anime/manga, Naraku used this barrier to hide his castle of his enemies.
- Shikigami - This power is only displayed in the Playstation 2 RPG InuYasha game; InuYasha: Secret of the Cursed Mask. He obtained this power by deceiving Utsugi, a 'hitogata' (clay doll demon) duplicate of the original Utsugi, who was created by the priest Kakuju to ease his/her suffering when his/her real wife/husband died. Utsugi (the hitogata) required the soul of a relative of the real Utsugi, and a large portion of the Shikon Jewel, which Naraku provided, and helped in retrieving shards from Koga to become a true, live human. When Naraku supposedly died (w/ jewel on hand) at the hands of InuYasha & co, the leftover jewel was retrieved by Utsugi behind the scenes. When Utsugi finally retrieved the soul she/he needed (which as it turns out, was Kakuju's) Naraku's voice began echoing from the Sacred Jewel, and Naraku took over Utsugi's body rather than absorbing her/him to acquire her shikigami-channeling powers. He became able to use the destructive power of an unknown variety of shikigami, and would time-to-time spout out a long, well-written, almost noble verse when he attacked during the fight in the game. Because this only happens in a game based on the anime (which wasn't entirely canon from the start) and the events of the game stray away from the actual cliffhanger ending of the anime, this power is un-canon.
- Phantom Castle- Naraku is seen having the ability to create various castles or Phantom Castles or illisional castles, as a temporary headquarters throughout the series.
- Dromancy - Naraku have the ability to hide himself within one of his servants and make it appear as though he has disappeared, or have been killed, rather. A simple task, he gets himself "killed," and within a servant of his choice, he can hide himself inside of their bodies. To reinforce this fact, he even (although temporarily) removes Miroku's Wind Tunnel.
- Black Magic - Naraku knows many different spells and curses, a prime example being the Wind Tunnel curse.
[edit] Appearance
Because of his nature, Naraku's true form is somewhat a mystery. In the past, he was usually seen hidden inside his white baboon pelt, which hides all but his mouth and eyes. He is later seen wearing a dark blue kimono with matching hakama and a purple kataginu that matches the color of his shōki. This may not be Naraku's true form, but rather the form of a human daimyō who Naraku has either killed and replaced or created as a deception, which he uses as his form all the time. In Naraku's "human" form, he has long, dark curly hair, red eyes, (brown or purple / blue-black in the manga) pale yellow skin and almond eyes. Naraku also has a very feminine appearance, wears blue eye shadow and often colors his lips in the manga. Humans familiar with the daimyō could not distinguish between them.
In the second movie, Naraku is briefly seen in the opening credits as a large spider yōkai, which has been called his true form. This could indeed be possible, as his origins as Onigumo (which translates to "demon-spider"), as well as the spider scar on his back, have led many to believe Naraku to be a spider-yōkai / han'yō. This is concurrent with an anime special in which an identical (but smaller) spider-yōkai acted as the leader of the yōkai who consumed Onigumo. The "giant spider" form was likely a temporary form though, or a diversion, as he later regenerates in a form resembling the one he would take in episodes 80–81. During this battle, he creates a form of the top half of his body surrounded in gigantic green tentacles and centipede bodies, along with dozens of smaller gray tentacles and four spiky red claws growing out of his back. Since at this time Naraku had still not perfected his body as it still had components of Onigumo in it, he told Sesshomaru that this was his body in its intermediate stage of reaching its full yōkai transformation.
Following the battles at Hakurei-Zan, Naraku is seen in the same "human form". However, this form was composed only of yōkai as he had disposed of Onigumo from his body and become a full yōkai. This form has an armor of blades rising over the shoulders, and also features blades along the chest and wrists, with horns on the top of his back. He also wears the same dark blue kimono, now with a huge light blue jacket with a high collar, and a yellow belt. He now also has a monstrous eye in the center of his chest, two red eyes on each of his hands, and three tails that seem to belong to a dragon. In the manga the tails were purple and around three to four times the size on Naraku, but in the anime they are green and much shorter. In this form he usually extends his fingers and makes them attack as in the form of glowing purple tentacles or extends the bones of his wrist in a zigzag purple beam like motion and infects people with his shōki.
Many fans believe that Naraku's true form is a human form identical to Onigumo or Hitomi Kagewaki (the young daimyō). However, this judgment is not all that helpful in discovering Naraku's true form, as even less is known about Onigumo than Naraku. Onigumo, whenever seen, has his face in shadows or is bandaged around his face. But Onigumo's hair is seen, and Kagewaki's face when Naraku is having periods of weaknesses (like InuYasha's) — which is remarkably similar to his current appearance (described above). Also, in "Spider Web" (manga Chapter 452), when Naraku went back to Hakurei-Zan in order to reabsorb Onigumo's heart, the heart appears at first in the form of a human head, looking indistinguishable from Naraku's face with different colored hair. After Naraku touches it, the heart takes the form of a spider.
Some hold that Naraku has no true form. Since he has shown the ability to change shape for his entire existence as Naraku, the argument goes, and since he distinguishes himself sharply from Onigumo, it seems unclear what the phrase "true form" means in this case. He never had a childhood form. It could be argued that his true form is the plethora of demons who formed his body, as they are debatably his most basic component. He does assume a special shape when he loses his powers, but this composite form presumably changes with time as he absorbs and expels yōkai to strengthen himself. And as a full yōkai, he would no longer need to assume that shape. Before obtaining his full yōkai form, Naraku hated his one known consistent physical trait — the spider-shaped scar that revealed his part-human origin — and worked to remove the human heart associated with it. When Musō left Naraku's body, the scar on Musō's back showed the location of his heart. In one episode of the anime, Naraku cuts the scar from his back with a sword, but it immediately grows back.
After the absorption of Mōryōmaru and Akago, Naraku's appearance changes again. His right arm becomes covered in diamond armor, and the rest of his body sports diamond tentacles similar to Mōryōmaru's. The exoskeleton breastplate is now diamond and the high collar have become diamond, the former losing its spikes. He has no dragon tails in his back, and the armor that was similar to Sesshomaru's is gone. Although, in most recent chapters, it appears that Naraku has re-adopted his form prior to his absorption of Mōryōmaru and the infant as he reappears before Kohaku (likely to claim the final shard) in this form.
It should be noted that when Inuyasha slashed his youketsu, Naraku's bodied erupted into an enormous amount of darkness, and the manga implies that cutting his youketsu is what revealed his true form. Also even when he took on a yokai form post the Hakurei incident, and even when he absorbed Moryomaru, Naraku is occasionally seen as a human wearing the white baboon robe. This seems to be his primal form and all others seem to be created only as a means for battling more effectively.
[edit] Detachments
To get rid of unnecessary parts as well as keeping a better eye on his surrounding situations, Naraku was constantly releasing detachments of himself to carry out his bidding. Only a few of the detachments truly live up to their purposes as most betrayed him or were quickly disposed of by the people going after him:
- Kanna — She is a yōkai of mu, "void". Old word meaning "godless world". Although she appears younger than Kagura, she is in fact Naraku's first detachment, and remains utterly loyal to him while knowing that they are just used as tools in his schemes. In chapter 480, after a failed attempt to destroy Inuyasha's Tessaiga, Naraku orders her to commit suicide by shattering herself -- as a final attempt to destroy Inuyasha's group.
- Kagura — She is a wind sorceress (Japanese: "wind user"; also refers to the sacred dances of miko) and appears first in the manga and anime, though she is his second detachment. She wanted freedom from Naraku's control but is eventually tricked and poisoned to her death.
- Goshinki — The third detachment of Naraku, Goshinki was a large horned ogre with the ability to read minds. He was extremely agile, very powerful, and had teeth so strong they ultimately broke the Tessaiga, which ended up being his own undoing. Once defeated Sesshomaru contracted Kaijinbō to create Tōkijin from the fangs of Goshinki's head once the head was resurrected.
- Juromaru — He was a feral detachment and brother of Kagerōmaru, who lived in his stomach. He and his brother Kagerōmaru, were both killed in battle with InuYasha's group and Koga.
- Kagerōmaru — He was a small, fast and intelligent detachment from Naraku. He lived inside Juromaru. He was not particularly loyal to Naraku. He and his brother Juromaru, were both killed in battle with InuYasha's group and Koga.
- [unnamed 1] — Its only appearance (and death) was in Chapter 174 of the manga, "The Barrier of Earth".It had a serpentine lower body and a (seemingly male) humanoid torso, with white hair, blank eyes, and tendrils surrounding its mouth. It was killed immediately after its emergence by Kikyo.
- Musō — He was born as "the man with no face", a reincarnated Onigumo. He was reabsorbed after a while of independence.
- [unnamed 2] — While in Hakurei-Zan, Naraku discarded his human heart, the heart of Onigumo, in the form of blobs of flesh, as well as expelling his new heart in a new body. When Naraku returned in Chapter 452, the pieces merged into a disembodied head which looked exactly like a white-haired Naraku, and then changed into a spider, which Naraku reabsorbed to gain the "psionic spider web" ability. Interrestingly enough, this incarnation had no qualms about being reabsorbed and in fact seemed quite jubliant about it.
- Akago — He is a child that has the ability to corrupt the hearts of people into doing his bidding. He was cut in half by a priest, which led to the creation of Hakudōshi. He later is placed inside the haku (life force) puppet, Mōryōmaru. In Chapter 446, Mōryōmaru is taken over by Naraku. In Chapter 448, Naraku disappears with Akago, and by his next appearance in Chapter 452, has reabsorbed him. NOTE: The status of Akago as this character's actual name is contested, since akago is standard modern Japanese for baby (whereas all the other characters' names have obscure and / or archaic meanings). In the official English translation, he is called "the infant".
- Hakudōshi — He is an incarnation from Akago. Taking the form of a young child, he was able to tame the yōba (horse-yōkai) Entei. He continues Akago's quest to get the last Shikon shard. After Naraku is nearly destroyed at the boundary of the afterlife, Hakudōshi is charged with flushing out Kikyo. He eventually is found out as a traitor to Naraku and is sucked in by Miroku's Kazāna.
- Byakuya — Naraku's most recent (and only) surviving incarnation that appeared in Chapter 397. He told the Dokumizuchi,who had eaten Mōryōmaru's flesh, the location of InuYasha. He was created to replace Kagura, serving the purpose of tracking down Mōryōmaru while keeping tabs on the full-extent of InuYasha's Tessaiga. Byakuya uses origami as his primary weapon and seem to be able to create illusions, but not much else is known about him yet.
[edit] Enemies
- InuYasha — Naraku made a scheme to steal both the Shikon no Tama and Kikyo. He wanted her, and wanted InuYasha out of the picture, because Onigumo's heart was still beating within him. Naraku's scheme was not successful, but because of it, InuYasha was sealed by Kikyo's Fūin no Ya (spiritual sealing arrow), and Kikyō died of wounds inflicted by Naraku.
- Kagome — All of her friends have suffered by Naraku's evil plans and he has attempted to kill her because of her interference.
- Miroku — When Miroku's grandfather, a hōshi (Buddhist monk), pursued and fought against Naraku, Naraku cursed him by placing a Kazāna ("wind void") on the hōshi's hand. The Kazāna curse was passed down to Miroku, who watched his father being consumed by it. If Naraku is not defeated, Kazāna will cause Miroku to be sucked in as Miroku's grandfather and father. Being the one who caused the curse, Naraku also has a way to prevent Miroku from using it against him; namely, the Saimyōshō.
- Sango — Her entire family was slain because of Naraku's trap. Naraku then framed InuYasha, but Sango eventually learned who the real culprit was. Her brother, Kohaku, is later resurrected with a shard of the Shikon no Tama, and used as a slave to Naraku.
- Sesshomaru — Detests Naraku for attempting to use him as a pawn to kill InuYasha, and for kidnapping and threatening Rin, the orphan girl under his protection, in order to control him. Kagura's death further sealed his determination to destroy Naraku.
- Kikyo — She is secretly plotting Naraku's downfall, but Naraku seems to be one step ahead of her. Eventually killed at Naraku's hands. However, it is possible she purpossly died in order to kill Naraku later based on her quotes and the confirmation of her soul being inside the shikon no tama. His fight with Kikyo isn't over just yet.
- Koga — His Yōrō-Zoku (wolf-yōkai tribe) was decimated by Naraku's plot via Kagura. Naraku again framed InuYasha, but Koga eventually learned who the real culprit was.
- Kagura — His second detachment who hates living in slavery, but must obey because her heart and therefore her life is in his hand. After she tries many times to help kill him and perhaps gain freedom, Naraku returns her heart, but impales her straight through her chest, poisoning her with shōki and ultimately "relieving" her of her life.
- Kaguya — Naraku fakes his own death in the second movie to lure Kaguya out of hiding, then reappears in an attempt to absorb her and gain her power of eternal youth. She is destroyed by InuYasha and his allies, however, before Naraku can achieve his goal. Much like Abi-Hime, she is disgusted by Naraku's hanyō status. Is sucked into Miroku's kazāna, thereby foiling Naraku's attempt at gaining immortality.
- Michiru Kururugi / Kaname Kururugi — In the video game InuYasha: The Secret of the Cursed Mask is a young male or female sent from modern times to the feudal era. Possessing powerful shikigami, he or she aides InuYasha and friends in defeating Naraku.
- Musō — The heart of Onigumo, sought to be free of the prison of Naraku who wanted to kill his beloved Kikyo, but was later consumed by Naraku, as he was not yet ready to part with him yet.
- Kohaku — eventually regains his memory and begins to think about how to kill Naraku for what he has done.
- Bankotsu — Leader of the Shichinintai, he was going to turn against Naraku sooner or later. InuYasha would have gladly teamed up with Bankotsu in order to defeat Naraku, however, Bankotsu wanted to go it alone once he defeated InuYasha, but he failed and was subsequently killed. Naraku then absorbed his Shikon shards.
- Akago and Hakudōshi — Since Akago is really Naraku's heart, they seek to free themselves from Naraku's control and become independent. Hakudōshi is loyal to Akago and created Mōryōmaru as a body to protect Akago. Hakudōshi is found out and Naraku leaves him behind to be sucked in by Miroku's Kazaana, while Akago is left to live a while longer, only to be absorbed at the hand of Naraku again.
[edit] Voice actors
- Japanese seiyū: Hiroshi Yanaka, then Toshiyuki Morikawa
- English: Paul Dobson
- Spanish: Armando Coria, then Luis Alfonso Padilla
- Portuguese (Brazil): Armando Tirabosque
- German: Dieter Landuris
- Italian: Andrea Ward
- Hungarian: Láng Balázs
- Filipino: Rafael Miranda
- Korean: Hong Shi-ho
Despite the fact that their voice acting styles for Naraku are quite different, Toshiyuki Morikawa and Paul Dobson both tend to voice similar roles: Either sinister masterminds (like Naraku), or "tough guy" villains.
[edit] Music
InuYasha Ongaku Hen
- "Jayō — Naraku" (「邪妖 奈落」 "Malicious — Naraku") — Naraku's principle theme, which uses a harpsichord for the melody, with pipes to create the effect of something mysterious and sinister — much like Naraku himself. It frequently plays when Naraku is plotting something.
InuYasha Ongaku Hen Ni
- "Shōki" (「瘴気」 "Miasma") — Theme for Naraku's shōki / miasma.
- "Naraku no Yabō" (「奈落の野望」 "Naraku's Ambition") — A more fully orchestrated arrangement of Naraku's theme with a pounding intensity. It commonly plays when Naraku is displaying his power.
- "Zō Tō" (「憎闘」 "Hateful Battle") — A fast-paced arrangement of Naraku's theme played during battles.
- "Jigoku Mushi, Saimyōshō" (「地獄虫 最猛勝」 "Hellish Insects, the Saimyōshō") — Theme for Naraku's Saimyōshō.
Eiga InuYasha: Kagami no Naka no Mugenjō Ongaku Hen
- "Dai Kumo ~Naraku~" (「大蜘蛛 ～奈落～」 "Giant Spider ~Naraku~") — An arrangement of Naraku's theme played in the first scene of the movie.
- "Mein Taitoru" (「メインタイトル」 "Main Title") — An arrangement of the opening theme from the InuYasha movies (itself an arrangement of InuYasha's theme) together with Naraku's theme played as they battle during the opening credits.
- "Yūshoku" (「復活」 "Digesting") — An arrangement of Naraku's theme played as he emerges from Kohaku's body in an attempt to absorb Kaguya.
Naraku's Japanese seiyū, Toshiyuki Morikawa, sang vocals for and delivered a monologue and message on Naraku's image song single, InuYasha Character Songs: Rakujitsu. The last track includes bonus messages from Satsuki Yukino (as Kagome Higurashi), Takeshi Kusao (as Bankotsu), and Ai Orikasa (as Jakotsu).
- "Rakujitsu" (「落日」 "Sunset")
- "Rakujitsu (Remix)"
- "Rakujitsu (Original Karaoke)"
- "Monorōgu & Messāju" (「モノローグ&メッセージ」 "Monologue & Message")
- "Ekusutora Messāju" (「エクストラメッセージ」 "Extra Message")
In turn, a bonus message from Naraku was also included in the last tracks of Kagome's and Bankotsu and Jakotsu's singles.
[edit] Trivia
- Naraku seems to be nearly immune to feeling pain, sickness or losing consciousness. However, he has shown signs of feeling slight pain and / or weakness in the anime, only.
- Other than Kagome, Naraku is known for changing his look (mainly clothes) more than anyone else in the series.
- According to the InuYasha manga, Naraku tends to appear less in certain anime episodes than he actually does in the manga. Many of the scenes that he is featured in are shortened or cut out completely.
- According to the Zusetsutaizen Ōgikaiden official character data book, all of Naraku's four souls have a strength of five out of five — exceeding the numbers it lists for all other characters except Kikyō.
- "Naraku" means "hell" or "underworld" in Japanese. Of Sanskrit origin, it could also be a reference to Narakasura, the mythological demon who was slain by Krishna.
- Until manga Chapter 461, Naraku's Shikon no Tama has never been dark in color, even though he is evil. When InuYasha's group thought of Naraku and his Shikon no Tama in earlier chapters / episodes, they almost always imagined it black in color, but when seen in person, it was actually pink or magenta, like the shards of most yōkai.
- Naraku is often mistaken for Kagewaki Hitomi, due to resemblances. This is often seen in chapters 87 and 88.
- Other than Naraku's incarnation, Kagura, he is the only feudal character who has curly / wavy hair.
- Naraku often wears blue lipstick in the manga.
- In the manga, Naraku's eyes are the same color as most human characters' — not red and demonic like in the anime.
Categories: Articles that need to differentiate between fact and fiction | InuYasha characters | Fictional shapeshifters | Fictional characters who can teleport | Fictional spiders | Fictional half-demons | Anime and manga characters who can fly | Fictional fire victims | Fictional magic users | Fictional characters with accelerated healing | Fictional doppelgängers
