Plot of InuYasha
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InuYasha is a shōnen action adventure romantic comedy, with elements from the horror genre. A seemingly ordinary Japanese school girl acquires the ability to travel through time to the feudal era; gains control of a powerful demon; and with his help defeats the worst horrors in Japanese mythology.
The story begins in Tokyo, Japan with a junior high-school girl named Kagome Higurashi. On her way to school, she heads to the covered well on the family property (which is a Shinto shrine). She does this to retrieve her cat from the well, since her brother was afraid to go inside. When she approaches the well a centipede demon bursts from the well and grabs her. The demon claims that Kagome possesses the Jewel of the Four Souls (四魂の玉 Shikon no Tama) and attempts to seize it.
When the demon is driven off, a very confused Kagome emerges in the Sengoku period of Japan. Kagome wanders into a nearby village and meets an elderly miko (Shinto shrine maiden) by the name of Kaede. Kaede recognizes that Kagome is almost a mirror likeness for Kikyo (Kikyou), her own elder sister (and powerful shrine maiden) who died and had her body burned with the Jewel of the Four Souls, taking it with her into the afterlife.
Kaede relates the story of how, 50 years earlier, a han'yō named InuYasha had tried to steal the Jewel from Kikyo, mortally wounding her in the process, but Kikyo had managed to strike him with a magical arrow, sealing him into an enchanted sleep and thus retrieving the Jewel before she finally died.
It is revealed that Kagome is the reincarnation of Kikyo, and that she possesses the Jewel of the Four Souls, embedded within her body. When the centipede demon rips it from her and swallows it, granting the demon a great boost in power, Kagome is forced to release InuYasha from his prison on the time-tree Goshinboku so he can defeat it.
Soon after they recover the Jewel, it is lost again, and Kagome accidentally shatters it into pieces with an arrow as she tries to recover it. The pieces scatter far and wide, and the story tells of Kagome and InuYasha's adventures as they search for the shards of the Jewel, as well as their growing romantic relationship.
Kagome and InuYasha's relationship becomes complicated very quickly with the rebirth of Kikyo, the miko who first sealed InuYasha to the tree, and who was also his first love. Brought back to life by the witch Urasue, Kikyo is reborn using half of Kagome's soul, but is not completely human—rather, she is a 'clay doll' who must absorb recently deceased souls to remain alive. The inability of InuYasha to choose which woman he loves more leads to many romantic entanglements, and forms the very powerful love triangle that is one of the hallmarks of the series, and many of Takahashi's other work: Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, and Urusei Yatsura, to name a few.
As their adventure continues, various other characters join in their search for the Shikon Jewel. They first encounter Shippo a small fox demon whose father was killed by the Thunder Brothers Manten and Hiten. InuYasha defeats the brothers, and Shippo joins the group.
They then run across the lecherous con artist Miroku, a traveling monk (or houshi) who is venturing in search of a demon who placed a bizarre curse on his family. The demon, Naraku, is a very powerful half-yokai who, 50 years earlier, tore a hole in the hand of Miroku's grandfather, creating the kazaana, or wind-tunnel. The wind-tunnel functions like a black hole, and is passed down through the male generations of Miroku's family.
To stop the wind-tunnel from killing him (as it did his father and grandfather) Miroku must find Naraku and destroy him. He joins up with InuYasha and Kagome, who soon realize that Naraku is the demon responsible for the fight InuYasha and Kikyo had 50 years earlier, which led to InuYasha's being imprisoned and Kikyo's death. Determined to seek revenge, InuYasha makes the pursuit of Naraku his ultimate goal—one which coincides for the search for the Jewel, as Naraku is after it as well.
Their early pursuit of Naraku lands them face to face with Sango, a yokai tajiya or demon exterminator of the Exterminator village. Sango's family and village were slaughtered by Naraku, who used her younger brother, Kohaku as a pawn. The Tajiya village was attacked because of its proximity to the cave of Midoriko, the miko from whose soul the Shikon no Tama was first created.
Sango joins the party with the intent of taking revenge on Naraku. She is joined by her demon cat, Kirara. As the episodes progress, Sango and Miroku develop an attraction for one another that leads to Miroku proposing to Sango, and she accepts.
The rest of the episodes detail the adventures of InuYasha and his gang as they continue to pursue Naraku and the rest of the Shikon no Tama. Throughout their adventures they meet a wide variety of friends and enemies, including Koga, the wolf-demon, and Sesshomaru, InuYasha's full yokai half-brother.
The storyline of InuYasha covers over 450 chapters in the manga by Rumiko Takahashi, and 167 episodes of the anime created by Sunrise. Though various developments have occurred, very few plotlines have been completely resolved. The anime ended early, without any plot resolution, a decision made by Sunrise when one of the InuYasha producers could no longer work on the anime.
The manga continues towards the grand climax of InuYasha, however, and as of Volume 46, Naraku was just a few shards away from completing the jewel.[1] Miroku is in mortal peril from the poisoning of his body through his wind-tunnel, as was Koga, the wolf-demon, and Sango's little brother, Kohaku. Kagura dies after disobeying Naraku and saving kohaku's life. Kikyo continues to be a defining force for InuYasha, who has sent a broken-hearted Kagome on a search for a way to purify her.
In chapter 464, as the last shard belonging to Kohaku's neck is currently the only remaining factor stopping Naraku from possessing the entire Shikon no Tama, the story takes a sad note as Kikyo is finally defeated, leaving InuYasha saddened as he holds her in his arms as the chapter comes to a dramatic close.
In chapter 468, the story focuses its attention on Sesshomaru. After Kikyo's death, Kahoku joined up with Sesshomaru who is searching for a way to improve a new attack that his sword Tensaiga developed, the Meido Zangetsuha. He meets his mother who agrees to help him. However in the process Rin dies though the plot seems to be headed in a direction in which she will be revived through Sesshomaru dealing with the King of Hell who has captured Rin.
In Chapter 469 Sesshomaru has defeated the King of Hell and has taken back Rin only to learn that she is still dead. Meanwhile Sesshomaru's mother asks Jaken if Rin had been brought back to life before with the Tenseiga. She then explains that once a person is revived by the Tenseiga (or by other means, such as inserting a Shikon Shard in the corpse) they cannot be revived again by the Tenseiga, though she does it for him using her necklace. While this has a direct effect on Rin in the storyline, there are implications for Kohaku as well who is traveling with Sesshomaru.
In more recent chapters, the center of attention has shifted to InuYasha's group, whom are now engaged in battling a near-omnipotent Yokai who uses the sweet fragrance of his petals to draw humans close, and render them into nothing but soil, thus strengthening himself. The youkai preys on emotionally wounded victims making InuYasha a prime target.
After the flower yokai was defeated, Kanna makes a final re-appearance and unleashes a demon from her mirror who absorbs Tessaiga's power. InuYasha battles the demon in his transformed demon state delivering massive damage to it. Although the demon seem unharmed the damage was transferred to Kanna. Eventually Kanna reluctantly commits suicide at Naraku's command. However, in the end she speaks to Kagome telling her that there is a purity in the Shikon Jewel that can kill Naraku.
Another story-arc shows a bone demon trying to steal bones from people to save her father. Eventually Sango gets involved and both the demon and her father desire her Hiraikotsu. Although the battle was victorious the Hiraikotsu was destroyed. So Totosai sends the group to a demon called Yokorodokusen to repair the boomerang. He sent Sango in a vase of sake along with the boomerang. In the vase Sango communicates with the demon made from her Hiraikotsu and her objective was to calm them down to fix her weapon. Meanwhile yokorodokusen gives Miroku an elixir that allows him to feel no pain when using the Wind Tunnel. Sango mangaes to fix her weapon and Miroku has an immunity to pain coming from his wounds, although the poison still spreads.
In recent chapters Sesshomaru battles an old enemy of his father called Shishinki who was the one who first created the Meido Zangetsuha. And it is revealed that Tessaiga stole the attack from him. The battle is yet to be concluded.
[edit] References
- ^ Takahashi, Rumiko. InuYasha Volume 46. ISBN.
