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Major irritants about "Inuyasha."


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Shenl742



Joined: 11 Feb 2010
Posts: 1524
PostPosted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:52 pm Reply with quote
mai yukino wrote:
Besides the whole Naraku thing, a couple of things I found irritating about the series is Inuyasha's group taking Kagome's side when Kikyo comes around and Inuyasha shares a moment with her and Kagome gets upset. Kagome claims she understands Inuyasha's feelings about Kikyo, but she contradicts herself when she shouts out endless "Sit!" commands and uses Inuyasha as her personal punching bag. Something about Kagome's character gave me the impression that she showed more negative personality traits than positive.


See, I think the exact opposite. If you ask me, Kagome actually consistantly tries to be friendly with Inuyasha and to make the best of their situation, but most of the time it's Inuyasha who's the surly one who doesn't want to play nice. Hell, halfway through the manga Kagome outright stops doing the whole "sit" thing

It's true that at first, Kagome's temper seems to explode whenever Kikyou is brought up, but this definatley changes from jeolousy to outright depression as she starts to feel conflicted about Kikyou herself, this comes to a head later on in the series (during the Princess Abi arc I believe?) where Kagome actually saves Kikyou's life, and things between the two just get more complicated from there on.

Damn, now I want to go read the whole thing again...
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ShinobiX



Joined: 03 Jun 2005
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 2:22 am Reply with quote
hmm I think this is strange. I know for a fact that despite its faults, back in the day Inuyasha was all the rage. Now, the new generation hates it lol.

Well I though it was good. Especially for its time. Story plot never really cared for. Romance in this show too unrealistic. Action I did like since even to this day, Inuyasha is still unique. Now that is either sad or praiseworthy. One character I could do without? Definitely Kikyo. I mean yeah she's needed in the story, but sometimes I felt that the show should've been renamed Kikyo's Anatomy (No I don't watch the show). A good portion of the anime, minus the fillers, revolves only around her. I'm just saying, if your title is Inuyasha, then Inuyasha should be the focus. Not Kikyo, Kagome, or that other dude with the invisible shields.

Anyhow, to all the haters, I think you should watch Inuyasha again and then watch the numerous crap that comes out today/ what most anime is. Compare that crap to Inuyasha and I think you'll appreciate Inyuyasha more. Same with Naruto, Bleach, One Piece...mainstream stuff. Those types of animes are popular for a reason. Should appreciate them. Anime would be worse with out them.
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SecretAgent94



Joined: 27 Nov 2010
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 8:57 pm Reply with quote
I think it's in need of the "Kai" treatment.
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DragonFire212



Joined: 29 Nov 2010
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 8:27 pm Reply with quote
Wow - this is the first anime I ever saw. At the time I enjoyed it because I wanted to know how the plot would be resolved, and felt the characters were interesting. But that never really happened. Afterwards, I can't say I really loved it, but it got me interested in anime enough to watch other things.

I liked the drawing style enough to keep watching it, but really felt like the series was going nowhere (either because Takahashi / the studio wanted more episodes or she couldn't make up her mind). Either way it got old. The love triangle situation / anything to do with Kikyo just felt terribly contrived after a while. There's a spoof out there, "Inuyasha: Episode Infinity" that I think is pretty hilarious and sums these points up well.

I haven't seen (much) Naruto or One Piece, but the comparison to Bleach (which is almost 300 episodes) is interesting. While Bleach might not be as well written, every enemy didn't feel exactly the same. I can sit down and watch 10 or 20 episodes of Bleach over a weekend and feel the plot progressing - even if slowly. Can't say that's always the case with Inuyasha. I didn't mind the fact Inuyasha had romance parts, but as someone else said it was pretty unrealistic. Bleach doesn't really have anything like this.

As for the length / speed:

first 36 volumes = first 167 episodes
last 21 volumes = last 26 episodes (Kanketsuhen / "the final act").

I'm about 1/3 the way through Kanketsuhen, but so far it seems good. The 7 or 8 episodes I've seen so far seem to address a lot of the speed / writing issues of the first series. If anything, it's slightly too fast (hard to believe, right?). I'd suggest giving it a watch, especially if you had issues with the first series.

The explanation of shonen series below is also interesting - I tend to not mind this, as I'm also doing other things when I'm watching, or just trying to relax. If something important is too subtle, I might miss it.

But yeah the points in the OP - pretty spot on.
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nobahn
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 10:43 pm Reply with quote
bravetailor wrote:
I think Bleach is one of the most boring shonen series I've ever seen.
I am curious as to how you feel about the Soul Society Arc. If someone were to ask me about Bleach (not, mind you, that anyone would actually do so), then I would tell them to watch up through the Soul Society Arc and then skip that first filler arc that follows.
DragonFire212 wrote:
But yeah the points in the OP - pretty spot on.
Thank you! Cool
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SamuraiNinjaDragon



Joined: 16 Feb 2015
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PostPosted: Sun May 29, 2016 11:15 am Reply with quote
Sorry for posting in an old thread, I didn't realize this one was so old. Anime smile + sweatdrop

I really liked the original InuYasha anime as it was one of the first uncensored/uncut/unedited anime I saw along with the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime.

Yes, as many of you had already mentioned plus some other things, there are some irritating things about the anime, but I have been trying to ignore them to be honest.

As for the length, why are people STILL complaining about the number of episodes?! 167 episodes of InuYasha is NOTHING compared to almost 800+ episodes of One Piece, 1k episodes of Doraemon, Detective Conan & Sazae-san, etc. Stop complaining and get over it! At least we got The Final Act which finished the anime! It's not like with One Piece which will never end at this rate. At least InuYasha stopped at 167. They could've pulled a One Piece and had 700+ episodes worth of useless crap. At least they knew when to wait till the manga ended before continuing with the anime. I'm just glad InuYasha got a more proper ending with The Final Act.

However, I really loved InuYasha: The Final Act! It was a bit better than the 1st anime, but nothing is better than the manga! (even though I have yet to read the manga....whoops.... ^^;;; )

I wonder if anyone is still a fan of InuYasha even after all these years? Smile

I hope I'm not the only one that's still a fan even after the manga and InuYasha: The FInal Act ended. ^^;
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nobahn
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PostPosted: Sun May 29, 2016 2:07 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Sorry for posting in an old thread, I didn't realize this one was so old.
IIRC, this is a designated thread that doesn't "time out."
Quote:
As for the length, why are people STILL complaining about the number of episodes?! 167 episodes of InuYasha is NOTHING compared to almost 800+ episodes of One Piece, 1k episodes of Doraemon, Detective Conan & Sazae-san, etc. Stop complaining and get over it! At least we got The Final Act which finished the anime! It's not like with One Piece which will never end at this rate. At least InuYasha stopped at 167. They could've pulled a One Piece and had 700+ episodes worth of useless crap. At least they knew when to wait till the manga ended before continuing with the anime. I'm just glad InuYasha got a more proper ending with The Final Act.
You have to remember that this thread was started just about 5½ years ago. The Final Act was still ongoing. Bleach had only recently (IIRC) begun its run on [adult swim]; while Inuyasha had been on [adult swim] reruns since at least 2004 – and probably earlier than that.
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Touma



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PostPosted: Sun May 29, 2016 3:00 pm Reply with quote
nobahn wrote:
IIRC, this is a designated thread that doesn't "time out."

So it is, though I do not know why.
This is definitely not a discussion thread for the series.

But I must admit that I probably have a negative view of this thread because Inuyasha is one of my favorite shows.
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SamuraiNinjaDragon



Joined: 16 Feb 2015
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PostPosted: Sun May 29, 2016 5:20 pm Reply with quote
nobahn wrote:
Quote:
As for the length, why are people STILL complaining about the number of episodes?! 167 episodes of InuYasha is NOTHING compared to almost 800+ episodes of One Piece, 1k episodes of Doraemon, Detective Conan & Sazae-san, etc. Stop complaining and get over it! At least we got The Final Act which finished the anime! It's not like with One Piece which will never end at this rate. At least InuYasha stopped at 167. They could've pulled a One Piece and had 700+ episodes worth of useless crap. At least they knew when to wait till the manga ended before continuing with the anime. I'm just glad InuYasha got a more proper ending with The Final Act.
You have to remember that this thread was started just about 5½ years ago. The Final Act was still ongoing. Bleach had only recently (IIRC) begun its run on [adult swim]; while Inuyasha had been on [adult swim] reruns since at least 2004 – and probably earlier than that.


Yeah, I thought about that when I posted earlier. I would've not said anything but I wanted to rant a little I guess XP


Touma wrote:
nobahn wrote:
IIRC, this is a designated thread that doesn't "time out."

So it is, though I do not know why.
This is definitely not a discussion thread for the series.

But I must admit that I probably have a negative view of this thread because Inuyasha is one of my favorite shows.



I would've posted in an actual discussion thread for InuYasha but I couldn't find one if any, and I didn't want to start a new thread if we already had one.

I do agree with you because InuYasha is also one of my favourite shows as well. Smile
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SamuraiNinjaDragon



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PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 6:51 pm Reply with quote
Hey, guys. I wanted to know what you think about some things that even I was having trouble getting used to in both the anime series and in the manga.

Before I do, here's a mini-rant/question section for everyone:

1st off, why is everyone complaining about the length of the original anime? Why are people STILL complaining about the number of episodes? 167 episodes of InuYasha is NOTHING compared to almost 800+ episodes of One Piece, 1k episodes of Doraemon, Detective Conan & Sazae-san, etc. Stop complaining and get over it! At least we got The Final Act which finished the anime! It's not like with One Piece which will never end at this rate. At least InuYasha stopped at 167. They could've pulled a One Piece and had 700+ episodes worth of useless crap. At least they knew when to wait till the manga ended before continuing with the anime. I'm just glad InuYasha got a more proper ending with The Final Act.

Why does everyone complain about the fillers? I don't know if it's because I haven't read the manga yet, but I never really noticed too many obvious fillers. For the actual filler episodes, many were blended in nicely with the anime to where I didn't even notice if it was filler or not. However, I admit there were many including ones in Kagome's time period where it seemed so filler-ish and unnecessary.

The whole thing with Naraku being near immortal until the very end. Do people realize that if Naraku was killed early on, the manga would've ended before any decent character development or anything being resolved more properly? Same with the anime. I rather have a long running series where everything gets resolved more properly, every character has great character development, and everything comes together really nice in the end instead of a short anime series of 12 episodes where literally everything is rushed way too quickly, nothing gets resolved, and there's little to no character development. (some of this goes back to the number of episodes thing I mentioned earlier)


And now for the actual questions about InuYasha:

Inuyasha is the titular main character, but he's constantly treated as a second character due to both anime series and the manga itself focusing way too much on Kagome for some reason, even to the point where it seemed like the whole franchise was more about her than Inuyasha himself. I know technically they're both the main characters since they were introduced first before many of their other allies, but still, I felt like it should've been more about Inuyasha. Instead, we get not only Kagome a lot, but also we see her time period a lot too which seemed really filler-ish to me to be honest. I wish they focused more on Inuyasha's time period more whenever Kagome leaves for a while.

Kagome is given the opportunity to use a magic word to use on Inuyasha thanks to the sacred jewel bead necklace that Kaede was put on him. That word was Osuwari (in the English dub, she says "sit" or "sit boy"). However, she uses this WAY too much in my opinion. It's to the point it's not even a funny joke, more like an annoying overdone joke. Luckily, they seemed to stop this in The Final Act from what I remember.

Kagome acts like a jealous girlfriend whenever Inuyasha talks to Kikyo about anything to the point she acts mad, spoiled, bratty, and childish and yells osuwari when Inuyasha was just talking to Kikyo, mostly about Naraku related things. To me, this was a bit annoying, and even the other characters acted as if Kagome's paranoia about what Inuyasha who wasn't even her boyfriend yet was doing behind her back. I mean, really? Yeah, I know she's a teenager, but come on! That's so stereotypical! I wish she wasn't like this. :/

Another Kagome complaint. This whole damsel in distress thing. I feel like she was getting in the way sometimes and would make Inuyasha help her when he was already busy with other stuff. Really, Kagome? For one thing, she had other friends so why not ask them? Also, for a while she wouldn't fight by herself. :/

The whole InuKag yelling each other's name thing. Really, Takahashi-sensei? Why did you use this annoying, boring Shounen stereotype where couples yell each other's names a lot? This kind of bothered me a little bit.

Why did it seem like Inuyasha did all the fighting most of the time while the others either fought a little or didn't fight at all? Or when they did fight, he'd have to protect them or cover for them when they got hurt or were in danger? :/

The whole thing with Koga not being in the final battle in both the manga and The Final Act. Really, Takahashi-sensei? If a bunch of weaklings like Kohaku, Ah-Un, Jaken, Rin, Shippo, and Kirara can be in the final battle against Naraku, why not Koga as well? Yeah, sure he probably would be no better than Sango, Miroku, or Kagome, but he would still be able to fight more than the weaklings and still be able to help Inuyasha and Sesshomaru to some extent I'm sure.

Why was Inuyasha not the one to kill Naraku? Why was it Kagome? If Kagome had to be involved, then Inuyasha should've been there with her so they both could've done it. I would've been fine with the tag-team effort there.

And finally, the last complaint. Yes, I realize it's just an anime and just a manga and it's not supposed to be logical or realistic or based on the real world or whatever. I understand that completely. But why did Kagome stay back in time? What would that have done to her future or her time period? Wouldn't it have messed up the whole time period stuff or whatever? I mean, yeah I'm glad Kagome and Inuyasha were reunited, but I dunno. I feel like if Kagome had actually been in the Feudal Era all along, was never a reincarnation of Kikyo but instead someone unrelated to her in any way, and had worn priestess clothes like Kikyo, then we would've gotten a slightly different story that would've only been in the Feudal Era without the whole confusing time period thing. ^^;;;

I was wondering what you thought? Is there anyway to look past all these things? I know many of these were already covered in another topic (or so I think?), but I didn't want this to be a "let's all hate and complain about InuYasha and make it sound like the worst franchise in anime/manga history" thread. I wanted this to be more of a "because of these things that have bothered me and I'm sure others as well, how do I look past all of these things and how do I ignore all of those flaws whenever I watch both anime series or read the manga?" thread.

I hope this all made sense. This was something that has been bothering me for a while and I wanted to know what you guys thought. Oh and sorry for the freaking huge long wall of text. Methinks I type too much. ^^;;;;
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Gatherum



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 10:58 pm Reply with quote

  • The three or four episodes dedicated to Shippo finding love. We really only needed one, if any.
  • Everyone's general need to specify relations ad nauseum. For example, Sango would often refer to "my brother, Kohaku", instead of the simple "my brother" or "Kohaku". This could exclusively be a dub issue, but it's like the scriptwriter(s) thought we'd all forget who Kohaku was and why he was important to Sango after the thirteenth time he'd made an appearance.
  • Koga. Seriously, this [expletive] wolf served absolutely no justifiable purpose through the entire story. Nothing he did amounted to anything worthwhile, even during his introduction, and when we finally reached The Final Act, none of it had any payoff: He literally bows out and leaves it to "the mutt" to deal with. There was nothing redeeming about his character to offset this, either: He essentially served as a cheap excuse for Takahashi to add another Inuyasha/Kagome-involved love triangle on top of the more meaningful and compelling one caused by Kikyo's resurrection. Inuyasha's answer to Ranma 1/2's Ryoga (fudge, their very names are phonetically similar), in other words. Absolutely worthless.
  • Groups of bestial daemons having humanoid representatives. I could deal with this in regards to InuYasha and his family, but honestly, why was Princess Abi the only bird daemon who wasn't a bird? Why was it that Shippo didn't look nearly at all like a fox, but his kin did? Why does Koga and his humanoid crew think that wearing wolf pelts automatically makes you a wolf daemon (in fact, one would think this would be ethically unsound, and not unlike the concept of cannibalism)? Was this some cheap attempt at making these characters more relatable? If so, it failed spectacularly. I had more of an emotional connection to Miyazaki's creatures in Princess Mononoke because they were bestial, to be perfectly frank.
  • Sesshomaru's motivations and development. I really like that he shows absolutely no interest in the Jewel of Four Souls, unlike everyfuckingbody else in the series, but he hardly changes at all throughout the narrative in any noticeably meaningful fashion until The Final Act forces him to do so by virtue of it being the final act. His reasons for hunting Naraku are also the weakest out of the entire rest of the cast--even Koga's, which is quite sad. Jaken states that Sesshomaru intends to found an empire of sorts, but nothing he does in the series seems to work towards this.
  • I really liked the uneasy dynamic between InuYasha and the resurrected Kikyo, and was instantly more attentive to the show when the latter made an appearance. The love triangle that ensues between they and Kagome is one of the few I can name in all of anime with any actual significance, considering the circumstances. As the series progresses, though, it takes a gradually more pronounced turn towards abused-punching-bag territory, with Kagome getting increasingly malicious with her "SIT!" commands. It wouldn't have been so bad if InuYasha was shown to be an actual two-timer (as the rest of the main cast erroneously assume). Alas, by the time we've explored this conflict for the fifth or sixth time (this is Takahashi we're talking about), I went from being pleased with Kikyo's presence to dreading what would inevitably follow. It burns a little more because I generally like Kagome as a character and personality, but couldn't stand her during these segments. I honestly wanted to kick her straight in the tit.
  • Kikyo surviving her fall into Naraku's miasma at the end of the Band of Seven arc. Now, I did like the emotional delivery of her final death, which occurred later. That in mind, I feel like these two concepts should have been combined in some way. Her resurgence during the Tekkei arc was awkward at best, and undermined the emotional impact of the aforementioned "death"-by-miasma. On that note...
  • The Band of Seven arc not being either the final arc, or the penultimate arc. I actually liked the Band of Seven arc, partly because we were finally introduced to some human antagonists who were worth a damn as combatants (and unabashedly evil to boot, despite attempts to make them more sympathetic towards the end of the arc), but mostly because Bankotsu actually pulled off a mean "semi-final boss" vibe, putting up a real fight against InuYasha. When I watched this arc back during the series' Adult Swim run, I honestly felt like the whole thing was working its way to a close. Bankotsu's defeat and Kikyo's apparent death could very well have segued in to the final altercation.


Honestly, InuYasha is a classic series, both on a personal level (my childhood, nya), and in general terms, but now that I've finally watched it in full, I can definitively say that it's a damned mess, and in sore need of a remake by a director who understands the importance of being selective about adapting the source material. Works by Takahashi are great moneymakers, but tend to be drawn out into the ground and repetitive as fudge.

For the record, I do, of course, still like InuYasha--I wouldn't care enough to write all of this if I didn't. It's a great faery tale of the modern era that has just about everything a good fantasy needs. I just don't see myself ever bothering to watch it again.

I am glad, at least, that they had enough respect to throw The Final Act at its die-hard fans for some closure, even if it compounded the rampant pacing issues the series had in spades.
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SamuraiNinjaDragon



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PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 12:19 pm Reply with quote
O_O; Woah! Honestly, I wasn’t expecting a reply from anyone, much less a detailed reply in such a respectful mature manner! Thank you for being so helpful! Very Happy

I agree, only one was needed because that’s really a bit much to have 3 or 4 episodes. I wish they focused on Shippo’s training a little more (and that Takahashi-sensei herself had done so in the manga as well because I didn’t like how Shippo appeared as weak and only as comedy material).

Yeah, that was a bit unnecessary because I think after so many times, we KNOW who Kohaku is and we KNOW that Sango and Kohaku are siblings. Did the English dub writers think we were idiots? Hopefully, this is the only dub that did this.

He was only worthless because Takahashi-sensei for some dumb reason wanted to create a character to add to the love triangle thing which was so dumb. If Koga had been a powerful ally without relying on the Sacred Jewel Shards and was only a rival like Sesshomaru, I think it would’ve been SO much better and if he was an even better fighter and at the same level of Sesshomaru and Inuyasha, that would’ve been awesome. And remember: Shippo, Kirara, Kohaku, Rin, Jaken, and Ah-Un aren’t known for being skilled fighters either so having Koga in the final battle would’ve been no different than having them. At least he would be able to do a little more than them, hopefully as much as Sango and Miroku and even Kagome.

I never really worried over the fact that the demons didn’t look like the animals they claimed to be. And if you remember, Sesshomaru and his parents look humanoid when not transforming into their dog demon forms. The others you mentioned would be no different had they had the ability to transform into their demonic animal forms. That’s all I can really think of for this one.

I think this is the fault of Takahashi. She either forgot or changed her mind when it came to Sesshomaru, and probably didn’t care by the end of it.

As I said in my earlier post, Kagome was a bit annoying at times to me due to her being so uber jealous over Inuyasha talking to Kikyo. Yeah, TALKING. Nothing more. And the main cast didn’t help matters by agreeing with Kagome and siding with her. Thank god this was stopped in The Final Act.

I’m not sure what to say on this one. Kikyo was an ok character, but I feel like once she was resurrected, here came the uber jealous paranoid Kagome yelling sit every time Inuyasha talks to Kikyo.

I think the Band of Seven arc should’ve been the next to final arc (before the arc we’re given in the start of The Final Act) because as you said, these guys had potential of being final villains and Bankotsu had that final villain vibe (along with Mr Troll like Aizen from Bleach Naraku).

Considering how many people hate on the series for being more than 12 – 26 episodes long, I don’t think it would do any good. People these days only want 12 or 26 episodes because anything more than that is “too long”. Ok so InuYasha (1st series) was 167 episodes long. Who cares? Look at One Piece with its nearly 800+ episodes long and counting. Why is no one flipping out over that but they will over InuYasha?

But yes, I agree they finally got The Final Act which gave InuYasha a proper ending in the anime series. Though, I wish they had done a better job. I haven’t read the manga, so I don’t know if the manga was like this like they did in the anime, so I can’t comment on that. I’m just glad that InuYasha finally had a good ending to it.

And your final comment about not wanting to watch it again. It makes me wonder if that’s why I don’t really see InuYasha fans much anymore because no one watches it anymore due to all the things we’ve both said. It might be a classic series, but with everyone treating the whole InuYasha franchise like it’s as bad as franchises like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Attack on Titan, Sword Art Online, Fairy Tail, etc, it makes me wonder if I’m the only one who actually still liked InuYasha to some extent. After everything you and I both said, does that mean I should stop watching InuYasha and not bother with the manga at this point? I mean, I still have Rurouni Kenshin and Fullmetal Alchemsit (both classics in their own right), but I kind of wanted to make my own “big 3” by including InuYasha. There’s not really any other anime/manga franchise that has kept my interest in them going or made me want to keep liking them. I just don’t know anymore. What should I do? Sad :/
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Gatherum



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PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 8:00 pm Reply with quote
SamuraiNinjaDragon wrote:
He was only worthless because Takahashi-sensei for some dumb reason wanted to create a character to add to the love triangle thing which was so dumb. If Koga had been a powerful ally without relying on the Sacred Jewel Shards and was only a rival like Sesshomaru, I think it would’ve been SO much better and if he was an even better fighter and at the same level of Sesshomaru and Inuyasha, that would’ve been awesome. And remember: Shippo, Kirara, Kohaku, Rin, Jaken, and Ah-Un aren’t known for being skilled fighters either so having Koga in the final battle would’ve been no different than having them. At least he would be able to do a little more than them, hopefully as much as Sango and Miroku and even Kagome.


Or, he could have been a side-character confined to the arc in which he is introduced, whether as a supporting (antiheroic) protagonist or antagonist. He could have lived or died at the end--doesn't matter to me. Just take him out of the rest of the series. He's not worth the screen time he got, and frankly, adding him to the final altercation would have pushed it over the business threshold. There were enough subplots that had to be resolved during that point as it was.

SamuraiNinjaDragon wrote:
I never really worried over the fact that the demons didn’t look like the animals they claimed to be. And if you remember, Sesshomaru and his parents look humanoid when not transforming into their dog demon forms. The others you mentioned would be no different had they had the ability to transform into their demonic animal forms. That’s all I can really think of for this one.


It's not the ability to do so that bothers me as much as it is the fact that nearly every species of daemon had someone who did so and remained that way permanently. It felt like an arbitrary and very cheap attempt to ground these creatures enough for human audiences, which, when dealing with anime fans, is unnecessary to begin with.
Shippo, I can kind of forgive because he is a fox. Kitsune are well-known in Japanese folklore as tricksters, so it follows that they would be able to take on human forms. still doesn't explain the appearance of his kin, though. The half-daemons, such as InuYasha and Naraku, can also have a case made for them.

On the other hand, when you think about the bloodline difference between InuYasha and Sesshomaru, things begin to make a lot less sense. Why is it that Sesshomaru, as a full-blooded daemon, looks more human for 99% of the series than InuYasha, a human-daemon hybrid, does? I find it odd that the latter would be more bestial more of the time than the former.

The rest don't have any real reason to take human forms. Princess Abi, the daughter of Tekkei (who is always seen in her bestial form, and might not have any other), never expressed anything to indicate any sentimental or practical link to the form she takes. As a result, she spends all of her time flanked by her bestial kin, looking entirely out-of-place. Same idea with Koga and his subordinates: even during his introduction, wherein he is shown to be as ruthless and amoral as any other daemon, he appears in human form.

It would have been a decent thing to establish early on the general fact that (certain types of) (great) daemons can transform at will. Even with that, though, it would still make more sense if it were also established that they do so if there is something to gain from it. Princess Abi could have spent all of her screen time as a bestial bird daemon and still played the role she played. I really don't get it. For that matter, so could have Koga, the [], and so on.

SamuraiNinjaDragon wrote:
I think this is the fault of Takahashi. She either forgot or changed her mind when it came to Sesshomaru, and probably didn’t care by the end of it.


More like The Final Act was a related, but disparate part of the series' continuity that ended up suffering under the one- or two-cour system you mentioned later. InuYasha proper consists of 167 episodes, yet only adapts the first 36 volumes, whereas The Final Act is a mere 26 episodes adapting the final 20--and if I'm being honest, it doesn't do the best, most organised job of it. You could see the mess of pacing coming well before it even aired, yet still, The Final Act bothered to cover relatively unimportant plotlines, such as Shippo's training. Yes, I know you said you would have wanted to see more of that than his little romance mini-arcs, but when you've so little breathing room, it becomes wiser to just skip over the concept entirely.

Likewise, Sesshomaru's character development was handled the best it could have been handled under those conditions, but the fact remains that his changes come so quickly that it feels off relative to the rest of the series' continuity. This is one of many issues that highlights precisely why the show is in desperate need of a remake, but I'll cover that point in a moment.

SamuraiNinjaDragon wrote:
I’m not sure what to say on this one. Kikyo was an ok character, but I feel like once she was resurrected, here came the uber jealous paranoid Kagome yelling sit every time Inuyasha talks to Kikyo.


That's what I mean: Kikyo herself is a fine character, and adds a worthwhile dynamic to an otherwise straightforward romp about fighting daemons, but the intrigue that surrounds her is eventually eclipsed by Kagome's idiocy. Of course the half-breed cares about her; she was the first human to have treated him as anything but a threat or abomination, not to mention his first love. The lack of empathy on the part of the other characters for his situation is astounding. Kagome gets credit for trying, but deserves all the criticism she gets for failing miserably.

SamuraiNinjaDragon wrote:
I think the Band of Seven arc should’ve been the next to final arc (before the arc we’re given in the start of The Final Act) because as you said, these guys had potential of being final villains and Bankotsu had that final villain vibe (along with Mr Troll like Aizen from Bleach Naraku).


That, and you could have glossed over everything that happened afterwards, The Final Act included, and still had a complete and finished product.

SamuraiNinjaDragon wrote:
Considering how many people hate on the series for being more than 12 – 26 episodes long, I don’t think it would do any good. People these days only want 12 or 26 episodes because anything more than that is “too long”. Ok so InuYasha (1st series) was 167 episodes long. Who cares? Look at One Piece with its nearly 800+ episodes long and counting. Why is no one flipping out over that but they will over InuYasha?


It's not an issue of the viewers not having the patience; it's a matter of budgetting. It's no longer profitable, most of the time, for a series to be that long, unless it's already an established property. One Piece the manga has been in circulation since 1997, and its anime adaptation airing since 1999. It's had plenty of time to establish a rabid, sustainable fanbase. Plus, it's a shonen.

InuYasha is not a shonen, regardless of how many people like to label as such due to its length. However, it's also an established classic. The biggest problem it has is the same problem it shares with all of Takahashi's major works: repetitive plot threads, themes, and gags. There is a pervasive penchant in her works for portraying events which seem intent on moving things forward, only for some copout to occur wherein things go back to being precisely as they were before it all started. Shonen series do this constantly via filler, but in Takahashi's case, almost all of it is canon material. "Filler-canon", even. It's ridiculous.

This is why, were it to be picked up again and remade, it would need to be helmed by someone with a mind for streamlining things, being selective about the source material, cutting out all the unneeded fluff--canon or not--and getting to the damned point. InuYasha doesn't need a combined total of 193 episodes to tell its tale; it needs around 60--80 tops, and that's being generous. Most would probably proclaim that it needs 40 or 50. That's how repetitive it is in its current form.

SamuraiNinjaDragon wrote:
And your final comment about not wanting to watch it again. It makes me wonder if that’s why I don’t really see InuYasha fans much anymore because no one watches it anymore due to all the things we’ve both said. It might be a classic series, but with everyone treating the whole InuYasha franchise like it’s as bad as franchises like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Attack on Titan, Sword Art Online, Fairy Tail, etc, it makes me wonder if I’m the only one who actually still liked InuYasha to some extent. After everything you and I both said, does that mean I should stop watching InuYasha and not bother with the manga at this point? I mean, I still have Rurouni Kenshin and Fullmetal Alchemsit (both classics in their own right), but I kind of wanted to make my own “big 3” by including InuYasha. There’s not really any other anime/manga franchise that has kept my interest in them going or made me want to keep liking them. I just don’t know anymore. What should I do? Sad :/


Do whatever you feel like, man. You like what you like. If you grow out of it, so be it, but don't force it. And don't let anybody else force it.
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SamuraiNinjaDragon



Joined: 16 Feb 2015
Posts: 76
PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 9:13 pm Reply with quote
I guess so.

Yeah, that’s true. I can see what you mean.

Meh, I dunno. If there was a remake, I don’t know how well it would do and since every anime now is only 13 or 26 episodes, I don’t know if it would keep anyone interested in the series long enough, but I could be wrong.

Agreed. Kikyo was fine until she became one of the reasons Kagome became annoying at times.


True, true.

I can see what you mean. And yeah, InuYasha did seem almost like a Shojo anime/manga franchise at times. Almost all the openings and endings of both anime series being female singers didn’t help matters either. And the whole romance thing and Kagome being the co-title character apparently alongside InuYasha as well. I don’t know how much interest there would be, even with what you mentioned, but like I said before, I could be wrong. We will see, I suppose.

Thanks for the advice. Smile
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