Manga Review: Inuyasha

Title: Inuyasha
Author: Rumiko Takahashi
Release: Weekly
Status: Finished
Genre: Shonen, Romance, Supernatural
Art: A
Originality: A
Story: B
Characters: A
Humor: B
Action: A

Impression (Manga):
I’ve been trying to avoid reviewing the most popular and long running works since a lot of people already know how good they are but I decided to give Inuyasha a review since the second season is about to premiere. It’s the story of a young girl named Kagome would finds herself back in the warring era of Japan after being taken through the well in her family’s shrine and releases a half demon by the name of Inuyasha from a seal that one of her previous reincarnations placed on him. This being a manga that lasted more than a decade, a LOT of things happen and a LOT of characters are introduced. The story is actually good but it went on for way too long since the antagonist always kept finding new ways to save his skin for every one of the power-ups that Inuyasha gets, especially in the last quarter of the story even though loose ends were being tied up. In any case, Inuyasha is a story that appeals to both guys and girls that I really do recommend checking out despite the length.

Impression (Anime):
I watched the entirety of the first season of the anime and all four movies which by the way were actually pretty good shonen anime movies unlike the Naruto and Bleach ones. I mean, the studio was even willing to change small parts of the story just so that movies were worth watching. The third one was my favorite out of all four they made. The production quality of the anime was pretty good with the direction and the music and with fewer episode for the second season I can only imagine just how much better it’ll be. I have high expectations for it and can’t wait to see it in wide screen. Still, the last 21 volumes of a 12 year old shonen manga in a 26 episode season really seems like way too little screen time. I’d say 39 episodes might be just about enough and 52 will give them enough time to focus on individual scenes for everything. Hopefully the director knows what he’s in for and that he’ll do Kagura’s death scene justice since that was my favorite scene.