Inuyasha update #4

 Author: Rumiko Takahashi

Series: Volume 11-14

Book description: Kagome is a normal high school student living in her traditional house with her mother, little brother, and mother. One day by accident she falls down a sacred water well and ends up in the Feudal era where demons still roam. She is lost but soon finds herself caught up in a quest. After discovering she is in possession of the Shikon no Tama a powerful jewel that is very sought by demons and evil humans.

We follow a team of unlikely people Sango, Miroku, and Shippo who join forces with Inuyasha and Kagome in their search and fight against Naraku

Thoughts:

The story is given to you in episodic style. Each volume has a few chapters where we see new trouble or situation and it is usually resolved by the end of that episode. In case you do not wish for spoilers I'll give a few points of what you can find in the series in a very generic way before diving into a bit more detailed events in each volume.

General:

-Kagome and Inuyasha continue to have a bit of relationship drama. They do not communicate very well. On the one hand, Kagome is young, naive and she can't put her feelings into words very well. Inuyasha has very limited experience with humans and most of the feelings go over his head.

-It is still a very lovely story. You get to see them dance around and yet you root to see them become a couple but you are not sure it is possible or if it will have any sort of future.

-We still have a few more occasions of family relationship. Inuyasha and his older half brother have a very complicated relationship. We see Sango and her little brother and the way she is trying to save him. To be truthful I had forgotten he was so present in the story.

-The overall plot is a bit repetitive, Naraku is this big evil but he can't defeat Inuyasha and the rest of the group. Why is he really so focused on this group?

-Kikyo is still showing up and her intentions are still very uncertain. She is one of those characters where you do not know if she is good or evil.

The other character who we don't know if it's evil or what their true feelings is Sesshoumaru. He continues to be shown as an enemy to Inuyasha but 

Volume 11

The fight between Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha continues. The seal of the sword is broken and finally, Inuyasha loses his mind and attacks with no restriction. Sesshoumaru does defeat Inuyasha but walks away without killing him. Again the mixed-signal here. Maybe Sesshoumaru does not hate Inuyasha as much as he pretends to. 

Inuyasha finally decides he cannot allow himself to lose control again. But the issue is that after fixing the Sword, Inuyasha has difficulty in using the sword. In an attempt to become strong enough to fight with  Tesaiga Inuyasha embarks on a journey to kill a sealed demon whom his father was not able to kill. The big evil demon is described as undefeatable. But then Inuyasha defeats them pretty fast. That felt rushed and the whole oh he is someone too powerful no one was able to defeat them. He comes in and in the single fight, he finds a miraculous new ability never discovered before and wins. It felt very anti-climatic and that he was "weak" for no reason, he didn't do anything so why is he stronger now?

The next struggle we have was at least a bit more dramatic. Naraku finds a dark Miko and she tries to kill them once more. We have curses, manipulation, and fights among themselves. Kikyo shows up once more and it creates a bit more strain between Kagome and Inuyasha. 

In the next chapter/episode we see Koga show up again. He is also looking for Naraku and the gang meets up with him as he caught Naraku's smell as well. The time of the month is the problem here, the night of the New Moon and well we know what happens that specific night. Many people start to find out about Inuyasha's greatest secret.

Volume 12 

Kagura discovers Inuyasha's secret. The question for most of the book is what will she do with that knowledge? It is feared, of course, she will tell Naraku. If Naraku was to attack them on this particular night then their defeat or at least Inuyasha's demise is sure. 

We continue to see Sesshoumaru in this story. He grew close and protects the human girl Rin. Naraku plans to use it to his advantage. The girl is kidnapped by Kohaku in order to set up a trap for the dog demon. The fight between Naraku and Sesshoumaru is interrupted. But Naraku´s plan for Sesshoumaru fail. 

After obtaining a new ability, the red blade for Tetsaiga, Inuyasha is looking for a way to make his sword stronger. The advice Mioga provides is to kill a demon who is able to make force fields. We see Inuyasha facing off a very interesting enemy and a hanyo girl like himself. 

In the next little episode, we see Musou. A new extension he does not remember Naraku or anything about his life. The one thing he remembers is Kikyo. As soon as he sees Kagome that one thought comes back to him. H is one of the most formidable enemies the group has faced off. He is strong, fight without holding back, and no matter what damage he withstands his regenerative ability shows to be formidable. 

There is a huge discovery about Naraku. He is a half-demon like Inuyasha which means he has the same weakness. Naraku has a night he is weaker. The downside Naraku manages to let in that he has the ability to control when that night happens. In addition, in a weird way he is made up, Naraku is the sum of several demons so he can pick or choose what parts of himself to integrate, modify or discard and he is becoming stronger.

Volume 13

After the fight with Naraku he goes missing. Inuyasha, Koga and whoever else is looking for him lost all track. No more smell or presence. As the group travels Inuyasha, Kagome and the rest come up with several villages and towns with a few issues with demons. Our gang is sidetracked and help them out. 

The most eye-catching thing is the first appearance of the Band of Seven. You can see a few of them on the volume cover. Initially, the group hears rumors about ghosts of a group of mercenaries who came back from the dead. There seem to be rumors of broken tumbs and now people are getting killed. 

Koga is the first one who faces one of them. They are merciless killers and have very peculiar fighting styles and looks. I find it a bit of a downside that a very distinctive characteristic of one of the members of this band is that his romantic interest in Inuyasha. He also seems to have a special hate for women. Not sure if I like that the only LGBT+ mention is for a bad guy. 

The fights here are at least hard for the gang. It does feel like Inuyasha is going to lose. One of the people is a poison, a fake monk, a super-strong monster, and the snake sword fighter. The fights here are good. And we see Sesshoumaru show up once more as he is searching for Naraku to get revenge, but he ends up aiding the gang "by accident".

Volume 14 

Each volume has fewer and fewer details but it's very hard to give a general idea without going into telling the whole thing. Each volume contains a few episodes and if you pay attention to the episode number you think you are way more into the story than I thought. This volume contains episodes 243 to 260.  That makes me think I am getting very close to the end. 

Getting back to the story.

The rest of the Band of seven is introduced. They are dead human beings so they are not as affected by purifying places. It is a very interesting little detail that I wouldn't have thought about. The gang is looking for the Band of seven. They fight for a bit more but nothing is resolved. 

Naraku seems to be hiding close by in the most unlikely place. There is a mount that purifies all evil. That is where Naraku might be hiding. How did he do it? 

This is where the fight picks up. Inuyasha is not able to defeat all of the enemies in a single battle. That in itself is refreshing. So far everything has been too easy. The fight is not resolved. There are still several of the band of seven and Inuyasha must fight them in this place and overcome the influence of the living Buda.

So this is the update of the series so far. I hope to get through the rest soon, and yet at the same time, I don't want to because I am almost at the limit of the books I own. The next thing to do is buy the following volumes. I really want to get through all of them in physical format. I'll try to buy a few more volumes next month. 

Do let me know if you have read this manga or if you remember the anime and what you thought about it.

See you later, stay healthy and stay safe!