Inuyasha

Plot

In modern-day Tokyo, Kagome Higurashi lives on the grounds of her family's Shinto shrine with her mother, grandfather and little brother. On her fifteenth birthday, when she goes to retrieve her cat, a centipede demon bursts out of the enshrined Bone Eater's Well (骨喰いの井戸, Honekui no Ido) and drags Kagome into it.

But instead of hitting the bottom of the well, Kagome time travels to the past during Japan's Sengoku period. The centipede demon seeks the Shikon Jewel (四魂の玉, Shikon no Tama, lit. "The Jewel of Four Souls"), an artifact that would grant any wish the bearer desires; it had previously been defeated by a warrior priestess named Kikyo, and Kagome looks just like her. In fact, Kagome is a reincarnation of Kikyo and houses the Shikon Jewel in her own body. Kagome finds a young man pinned by a sacred arrow on a tree and, in a moment of desperation, frees him to defeat the centipede demon. The man is Inuyasha, a half-dog demon (yōkai) who was pinned by Kikyo for trying to steal the jewel. However, the Shikon Jewel is extracted from Kagome's body, and in the ensuing fight with another crow demon, the jewel is shattered into numerous shards that disperse across ancient Japan, falling into the hands of those who then gain the individual shards' power.

After Inuyasha gains his father's sword Tessaiga and is subdued by a magical necklace to keep him in line, he aids Kagome in collecting the shards and dealing with the threats they cause. The two are joined in their quest by the young fox demon Shippo while dealing with third parties groups like Inuyasha's older brother Sesshomaru and the partially revived Kikyo, whose own version of what happened years ago brings the events into question. When joined by Miroku, a perverted monk whose bloodline is cursed, Inuyasha and Kagome learn the truth: that the initial conflict between Inuyasha and Kikyo, revealed to originally be lovers, was caused by a devious half-demon named Naraku. The evolving Naraku is revealed to have been born from the soul of an evil man named Onigumo inhabiting a body created by countless demons as part of a pact and who also placed the curse on Miroku's family. Naraku is after the Shikon Jewel shards for his own ends. Inuyasha's group is soon joined after by Sango, a demon slayer whose clan was killed when her younger brother Kohaku fell under Naraku's control. Over time, Inuyasha enhances Tessaiga powers as he contends with Naraku's minion incarnations like Kagura and the reanimated Band of Seven. Inuyasha's team is loosely allied by Sesshomaru, Kikyo, and a wolf demon named Koga, who wants to avenge his comrades while flirting with Kagome.

While Naraku momentarily removes his heart in the form of the Infant, who later attempts to overthrow Naraku through his vessel Moryomaru, Kohaku regains his freewill and memories, as he attempts to help out of guilt for indirectly killing his father. During that time, Sesshomaru settles things with Inuyasha to enable his brother to perfect Tessaiga to its optimal abilities. Eventually, Koga is forced to stand on the sidelines, Kikyo posthumously uses the last of her power to give Kohaku a second chance at life, and Naraku finally reassembles the Shikon Jewel. Although Inuyasha and his allies defeat him, realizing his true desire is for Kikyo's love despite his hatred towards her and that it can never be granted, Naraku uses his wish to trap himself and Kagome in the Shikon Jewel. The jewel intends to have Kagome make a selfish wish so she and Naraku will be trapped in conflict for eternity. But with Inuyasha by her side, Kagome wishes for the Shikon Jewel to disappear. The action, though, causes Kagome to return to her time with the Well sealed, and she and Inuyasha lose contact for three years.

In that time, the Sengoku period changes drastically: Sango and Miroku have three children together; Kohaku resumes his journey to become a strong demon slayer with Kirara as his companion; and Shippo attains the seventh rank as a fox demon. Back in the present, Kagome graduates from high school before finally managing to get the Bone Eater's Well in her backyard to work again. Kagome returns to the Sengoku period, where she stays with Inuyasha and becomes his wife.

Development

Rumiko Takahashi wrote Inuyasha after finishing Ranma ½. In contrast to her previous works, Takahashi wanted to do a darker storyline distant from her comedy series. In order to portray violent themes softly, the story was set in the Sengoku Era, when wars were common. For the designs of samurai or castles, no notable research was made by the author who considered such topics common knowledge. By June 2001, a clear ending to the series was not established as Takahashi still was not sure about how to end the relationship between Inuyasha and Kagome. Furthermore, Takahashi stated that she did not have an ending to previous manga she wrote during the beginning, having figured them out as their serialization progressed.

Manga

Written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi, Inuyasha premiered in Japan in the November 13, 1996 issue of Weekly Shōnen Sunday, where it ran until its conclusion in the June 18, 2008 issue. The chapters were collected into 56 tankōbon volumes published by Shogakukan, with the first volume released in May 1997 and the last released in February 2009. In 2013, a special "Epilogue" chapter was published in Weekly Shōnen Sunday as part of the "Heroes Come Back" anthology composed of short stories by manga artists to raise funds for recovery of the areas afflicted by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

Viz Media licensed the series for an English translated release in North America. Initially, Viz released it in monthly American comic book format, each issue containing two or three chapters from the original manga, but eventually abandoned this system in favor of trade paperbacks with the same chapter divisions as the Japanese volumes. Viz released its first trade paperback volume in March 1998. At the time, American manga reprints were normally "flipped" to conform to the American convention of reading books from left to right by mirroring the original artwork; among other effects, this caused right-handed characters to appear left-handed. Viz later stopped flipping its new manga releases, although Inuyasha was already well into printing by the time this change was made with volume 38. As of January 11, 2011, all 56 volumes have been released in North America. From November 2009 to February 2014, Viz reprinted the series in their "VizBig" format, combining three of the original volumes into a single omnibus with slightly larger pages and full-color bonus art that was previously reduced to grayscale, and in the original right to left format. Viz Media also issues a separate series of ani-manga volumes which are derived from full-color screenshots of the anime episodes. These volumes are slightly smaller than the regular manga volumes, are oriented in the Japanese tradition of right to left, feature new covers with higher quality pages, and a higher price point versus the regular volumes. Each ani-manga volume is arranged into chapters that correspond to the anime episodes rather than the manga.

Inuyasha

The first Inuyasha anime adaptation produced by Sunrise premiered in Japan on Animax on October 16, 2000 and ran for 167 episodes till its conclusion on September 13, 2004. It was also broadcast on Yomiuri TV and Nippon Television. In East Asia and South Asia it was aired on Animax's English-language networks. Avex collected the episodes in a total of seven series of DVDs volumes distributed in Japan between May 30, 2001 and July 27, 2005.

The English dub of the anime was licensed to be released in North America by Viz Media. The series was first-ran on Adult Swim (although it had originally been planned for Cartoon Network's Toonami) from August 31, 2002 to October 27, 2006, with reruns from 2006 to 2014. When Toonami became a block on Adult Swim, Inuyasha aired there from November 2012 to March 1, 2014, when the network announced that they had lost the broadcast rights to the series. The series aired in Canada on YTV's Bionix programming block from September 5, 2003 to December 1, 2006. Viz collected the series in a total of 55 DVD volumes, while seven box sets were also released.

Inuyasha: The Final Act

In 2009's 34th issue of Weekly Shōnen Sunday, published July 22, 2009, it was officially announced that a 26-episode anime adaption of volumes 36 to the end of the manga would be made by the first anime's same cast and crew and would air on Japan's YTV. The following week, Viz Media announced it had licensed the new adaptation, titled Inuyasha: The Final Act (犬夜叉 完結編, Inuyasha Kanketsu-hen). The series premiered on October 3, 2009 in Japan with the episodes being simulcast via Hulu and Weekly Shōnen Sunday in the United States. In other parts of Asia the episodes were aired the same week on Animax Asia. The anime completed its run on March 29, 2010. Aniplex collected the series into a total of seven DVDs released between December 23, 2009 and June 23, 2010.

Viz Media released the series in two DVD or Blu-ray sets that include an English dub. The first thirteen episodes comprising set 1 were released on November 20, 2012, and the final thirteen episodes were released on February 12, 2013. The series began broadcasting in the United States and Canada on Viz Media's online network, Neon Alley, on October 2, 2012. On October 24, 2014, it was announced that Adult Swim would air The Final Act on the Toonami block, beginning on November 15, at 2:00 a.m. EST.

Films

The series spawned four animated films which feature original plot, rather than being based specifically on the manga, written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa who wrote the anime episodes. The films have also been released with English subtitles and dubbed audio tracks to Region 1 DVD by Viz Media.

The first film, Inuyasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time, was released in Japan on December 16, 2001. In the film, Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippo, Sango, and Miroku must face Menomaru, a demonic enemy brought to life by a Shikon Shard, as they continue their quest to gather said shards. In the second film, Inuyasha the Movie: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass, released on December 21, 2002, the group defeats Naraku and returns to their normal lives only to have to deal with a new enemy named Kaguya, a character based upon a popular Japanese myth about a princess from the moon. The third film, Inuyasha the Movie: Swords of an Honorable Ruler, was released on December 20, 2003. In it, a third sword of Inuyasha's father called So'unga is unleashed from its centuries-old seal and seeks to destroy the Earth forcing Inuyasha and Sesshomaru to work together to stop it. The fourth and the final film, Inuyasha the Movie: Fire on the Mystic Island, was released on December 23, 2004, and depicts Inuyasha and his friends attempting to rescue children trapped on the mysterious island Houraijima by the wrath of powerful demons known as The Four War Gods.

The four films have earned together over US$20 million in Japanese box offices.

Original video animations

A 30-minute original video animation (OVA), Black Tessaiga (黒い鉄砕牙, Kuroi Tessaiga), was presented on July 30, 2008 at an "It's a Rumic World" exhibit at the Matsuya Ginza department store in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district. The episode uses the original voice cast from the anime series. It was released in Japan on October 20, 2010 in both DVD and Blu-ray formats.

Soundtrack CDs

Multiple soundtracks and character songs were released for series by Avex Mode. Three character singles were released August 3, 2005, "Aoki Yasei o Daite" (蒼き野生を抱いて, Embrace the Untamed Wilderness) by Inuyasha featuring Kagome, "Kaze no Naka e" (風のなかへ, Into the Wind) by Miroku featuring Sango and Shippo, and "Gō" (業, Fate) by Sesshomaru featuring Jaken and Rin. The singles charted at number 63, 76, and 79 respectively on the Oricon chart. Three more character songs were released on January 25, 2006, "Rakujitsu" (落日, Setting Sun) by Naraku, "Tatta Hitotsu no Yakusoku" (たったひとつの約束, That's One Promise) by Kagome Higurashi, and "Abarero!!" (暴れろ!!, Go On A Rampage!!) by Bankotsu and Jakotsu. The singles charted at number 130, 131, and 112 respectively on the Oricon chart.

On March 24, 2010, Avex released Inuyasha Best Song History (犬夜叉 ベストソング ヒストリー, Inuyasha Besuto Songu Hisutorī), a best album that contains all the opening and ending theme songs used in the series. The album peaked at number 20 on the Oricon album chart and charted for seven weeks.

Video games

Three video games based on the series were released for the WonderSwan: Inuyasha: Kagome no Sengoku Nikki (犬夜叉 〜かごめの戦国日記, Inuyasha: Kagome's Warring States Diary), Inuyasha: Fūun Emaki (犬夜叉 風雲絵巻) and Inuyasha: Kagome no Yume Nikki (犬夜叉 かごめの夢日記, Inuyasha: Kagome's Dream Diary).

A single title, Inuyasha: Naraku no Wana! Mayoi no Mori no Shōtaijō (犬夜叉〜奈落の罠!迷いの森の招待状, Inuyasha: Naraku's Trap! Invitation to the Forest of Illusion), was released for the Game Boy Advance on January 23, 2003 in Japan.

Inuyasha has been adapted into a mobile game released for Java and Brew handsets on 21 June 2005,

Two titles were released for the PlayStation, an RPG simply titled Inuyasha, and the fighting game Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale, with the latter being also released in North America. For the PlayStation 2 the two released games were the RPG Inuyasha: The Secret of the Cursed Mask and the fighting game Inuyasha: Feudal Combat, that also received an English version. An English only RPG, Inuyasha: Secret of the Divine Jewel, was released for the Nintendo DS on January 23, 2007.

Inuyasha appeared in the crossover video game Sunday vs Magazine: Shūketsu! Chōjō Daikessen as a playable character.

Inuyasha's sword, Tessaiga, has appeared in Monster Hunter, as a craftable weapon using items gained from a special event.

An English-language original collectible card game created by Score Entertainment that was first released on October 20, 2004.

Novel

A light novel, written by Tomoko Komparu and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi, has been published by Shogakukan.

Live-action

A Japanese live-action play was shown in the Akasaka ACT Theater in Tokyo around the time the anime was first in production. The play's script follows the general plot line of the original manga, with a few minor changes to save time.

The Chinese TV series The Holy Pearl is loosely based on Inuyasha. It stars Gillian Chung and Purba Rgyal in lead roles.

Manga

Inuyasha manga has sold more than 45 million copies in Japan alone; individual volumes from Inuyasha have been popular in Japan, taking high places in rankings listing sales. In 2001, the manga won the Shogakukan Manga Award for Best Shōnen title of the year. In North America, the manga volumes have appeared various times in The New York Times and Diamond Comic Distributors top selling lists. Moreover, in 2005 Inuyasha was one of the most researched series according to Lycos.

Anime

The anime of Inuyasha was ranked twenty by TV Asahi of the 100 best anime series in 2006 based on an online survey in Japan. In ICv2's Anime Awards from both 2004 and 2005, the series was the winner in the category of Property of the Year. In the Anime Grand Prix polls by Animage, Inuyasha has appeared various times in the category of Best Anime, taking third place in 2003. In the American Anime Awards from 2007, Inuyasha was a nominee in the categories of Best Cast, Best Anime Feature and Best Long Series, but lost to Fullmetal Alchemist and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, respectively. The English DVDs from the series have sold over one million copies ever since March 2003, with the first film's DVD topping the Nielsen VideoScan anime bestseller list for three weeks. Mania Entertainment also listed the series in an article ranking anime series that required a reboot, criticizing the series' repetitiveness.