Inuyasha was one of the earlier anime that we had watched and is one of the few anime that are over 100 episodes that anime fans have stuck with. However, this is also one of the series that many people are seriously conflicted with.
The story of Inuyasha is one that can feel drags on for a bit too long. It starts with the simple story of Kagome who is transported to another world and accidentally breaks apart a crystal called the Shikon no Tama that she has to put back together. Along the way she meets people who become her friends and enemies. However, Inuyasha is one series the story that goes on for longer than necessary. The main enemy nearly always makes clean escapes and comes back stronger.
The heroes then receive an upgrade to fight the new empowered villain and this goes on for a while. While this is typical of a lot of anime, the pacing is what ultimately hurts it. The earlier episodes have great pacing, but towards the middle and later episodes, it feels like it was beginning to drag out to the point where it became a formula. The earlier parts of the series even had more interesting Youkais that existed in Kagome’s world as well. The one episode that keeps coming back to my mind is the one where one of the main characters is walking through a sacred mountain and has to avoid thinking perverted thoughts and staring at the butt of a female character.
The art style of this series are loved by many people for some reasons. The effects used for special abilities felt like they were something that did not belong and ultimately, it was a good thing because it emphasized how Miroku’s Kazaana could be supernatural and otherworldly in nature. The thing that we dislike is the fact that a lot of character faces look too similar to one another. I did not notice it at first, but it became problematic in the latter part of the series as they introduced more characters. However, it seemed like they gave up entirely with generic villagers and sometimes felt like they were just running into the same few people who always got into trouble.
The sounds of the series definitely contributed to the feel of the series. One thing made very well is that they were very consistent with the usage of their music, such as that one song they play whenever a fight is coming up. The opening songs were kind of strange to me for some reason and felt awkward and out of place. Then again, we can actually do remember the first one very well so maybe it did its job after all.
The characters that most people liked in this series were the ones that received only some character development, such as Sango. She had a strong reason for fighting and the way she was introduced set her up as a tragic heroine. This was done well, but there are other times when characters like Inuyasha spend too much time thinking about which girl he feels closer to when one is an undead clone that will fade away and Kagome trying to figure out whether she loves a minor character boy from her own time or Inuyasha.
Overall, the series was mediocre at best. It has a strong beginning, a very weak middle, but improves again towards the end. It gets much better with the sequel series that is also the conclusion. However, this one felt disappointing as it went on.
