Inuyasha Reviewer: Iryl Email: private Website: http://www.hugglebunny.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Anime Episodes: 167 Seasons: Movies: 3 Price: $18-$20 DVD (amazon.com) $74.99 Boxed Season DVDs (amazon.com) $19.99 Movies Rated: PG13 Catagories: Action Romance Comedy Drama Fantasy ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Review Synopsis: Kagome, a Japanese teenager who lives with her mom, brother, and grandpa at an old shrine in Tokyo, falls down a well into the past. The reincarnated form of a beautiful priestess, Kagome returns to a time 50 years after her counterpart had died. In an act to save her own life, she releases a half-demon named Inuyasha from the spell that her priestess counterpart put on him to seal him away. He saves her but, being evil, then attacks her and attempts to steal a powerful jewel that had been reborn in Kagome's body. Through the course of events, the jewel is shattered, Inuyasha has a restraining spell put on him, and the pair must quest outward to find all the pieces of the jewel and purify them, so that no one evil can use the jewel to destroy and pillage. It's true that Inuyasha, the main character, is rough around the edges. He's an anti-hero -- a rough-and-tumble punk dog-boy in the feudal Japanese era with a soft spot for the no-longer-deceased priestess Kikyo and her reincarnated counterpart, Kagome. Other characters include: one powerful and short-tempered dog-boy, one modern Japanese school-girl who can go home to modern Tokyo whenever she wants, one lecherous but level-headed monk, one strong role-model of a female monster-fighter, and one crazy-with-hate already-dead "this ought to be on Jerry Springer" priestess. Age Rating: For younger children, Inuyasha is not reccomended. But perhaps it is for teenagers or young adults who are able to handle occasional cursing (which is known to cover the full range of foul words), and the handling of a female's bottom (while understanding that a slap to the face is exactly what anyone, not just the anime character who gets it, deserves). As long as they know that these things are not to be tried at home or in any sort of society, Inuyasha is a very engaging quest plot. Adult Content: It's wild enough to get its English dubbed version on Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim," but is tamer than America's "adult" cartoon shows. While Inuyasha does involve some serious language problems (cursing), a good deal of bloody and/or bruising violence, and the every-now- and-then groping of females by a lead male character (not Inuyasha), it also manages to maintain much more plot than "adult" cartoons in America do. (For example, it is made by the creator of Ranma 1/2, which is or was very popular.) This means that while Inuyasha may possess more adult- oriented humor (ie, groping), its focus is on the questing plot and not on any sort of raunchiness. For nudity or just down-and-dirty humor, Inuyasha is clean. Bath scenes are non-gratuitous, and the females of the main cast don't take groping lying down (or standing up, for that matter). Magic: Since the time Kagome goes back to is a time of demons and powerful magic, there is a heavy amount of this. The demons, naturally, have their own powers, and the priestesses have holy magic powers to purify and protect -- and, as we'll see with the often-used bow and arrow, to destroy demons. Overall -- What You Really Want to Know: You need to take the PG13 warning seriously. I considered R for language and violence, but if you get the English dub you don't have to worry as much about language. Kids will really like Inuyasha because he's such a punk, but I'm not sure if you want your little boys to run around calling their sisters wenches and trying to slice their Barbies in half with fake swords. I would strongly recommend keeping viewers to teens and up, partially because it can be so intensely violent. In the Japanese, the language can get very strong and you'll want to look out for that, too. Girls will enjoy the romance. Though Kagome and Inuyasha have millions of fights and misunderstandings, they do grow to care for one another. Added to this is the somewhat psychotic love triangle that the resurrected Kikyo provides, since she was Inuyasha's first love, and the testosterone- filled competition between Inuyasha and the wolf-demon Kouga (who is interested in Kagome). At least two of my female friends adored this anime when it came on Cartoon Network, which attests to the fact that it's addictive. If you're buying it for yourself, I would recommend the manga instead of the anime. I haven't read the manga, but there is one good reason for this: In the anime, flashbacks are everywhere. They take up a lot of episode time in a lot of episodes, and if you're watching several episodes at once, as I did, this will become tedious and frustrating. Though anime is usually tamed a bit when translated from the manga, so that the manga can be racier, it won't have constant flashbacks. Manga also is usually more condense, instead of spread-out to fill up time like the anime. I found this to be true with the Sailor Moon manga and anime and don't see why it should be different with Inuyasha. <--- http://hugglebunny.com/animereviews/ --->