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InuYasha (犬夜叉, InuYasha?), also romanized as Inuyasha, full title InuYasha, A Feudal Fairy Tale (戦国お伽草子–犬夜叉, Sengoku Otogi Zōshi InuYasha?), is a popular manga series written by Rumiko Takahashi. The story centers around a time traveling middle school student and her friends (a half-demon, a lecherous monk, a young fox demon, a demon slayer, and her nekomata companion) in the Sengoku Period who seek to restore the Shikon no Tama and keep it out of the hands of the evil Naraku.
The series is named after one of the main characters, InuYasha. The name "InuYasha" means "dog spirit". Inu (犬) is a Japanese word meaning "dog". Yasha (夜叉) is a Buddhism-related word meaning "spirit". Otherwise his name would be "Inuyokai". "Yokai" means demon.[1] The manga was adapted into a 167 episode anime series directed by Masashi Ikeda (eps 1 to 44) and Yasunao Aoki (44 onwards) and produced by Sunrise which first aired on Yomiuri TV in Japan from 16 October 2000 to 13 September 2004. The television run of the anime ceased without a conclusion to the story. The manga is still being released in Japan as of today. Contents [hide] 1 Plot overview 2 Characters 3 Manga 4 Anime 4.1 DVD releases 5 Movies 6 Games 6.1 Console video games 6.1.1 Video games released in Japanese and English 6.1.2 Video games released only in English 6.1.3 Video Games only released in Japanese 6.2 Mobile phone game 6.3 Trading card game 7 Growth and popularity 8 Glossary 9 Trivia 10 References 11 External links [edit] Plot overview Main article: Plot of InuYasha The Jewel of Four Souls.The story begins in feudal Japan with InuYasha, a hanyō stealing the Jewel of Four Souls (四魂の玉 Shikon no Tama), a jewel that can increase anyone's powers enormously, from a village. He doesn't get far before Kikyo, the young miko of the village shoots InuYasha with a sacred arrow, sealing him forever to the Sacred Tree (Goshinboku). Mortally wounded, Kikyo tells her younger sister, Kaede, to burn the jewel with her remains to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. In modern Tokyo, a junior high-school girl named Kagome Higurashi is on her way to school. She stops in the well house of her family Shinto shrine to retrieve her cat, Buyo, and a centipede demon bursts forth and pulls her into the well. Kagome miraculously fends off the demon and emerges from the well in the Sengoku period of Japan. Not knowing where she is, Kagome wanders around a forest near the well. She spots the Sacred Tree off in the distance and proceeds to towards it. When she reaches it she finds InuYasha, who is still sealed with an arrow to the tree, asleep. Villagers seize her and take her to the old miko, Kaede. Recognizing that Kagome is the re-incarnation of her sister Kikyo, Kaede tells the story of Kikyo and InuYasha. The centipede attacks again, and Kagome is forced to release InuYasha to kill it. After defeating the centipede, in order to prevent InuYasha from taking the Jewel of Four Souls, Kaede casts magical prayer beads around InuYasha's neck so Kagome can subdue him. Then the jewel attracts more demons. And in a battle against a carrion-crow the jewel is shattered into numerous shards. Kagome and InuYasha set out to collect the shards and restore the Jewel of Four Souls. Along the way they befriend Shippo, a fox demon, Miroku, a monk, and Sango, a demon-slayer. The group often encounters InuYasha's brother Sesshomaru, Naraku who tricked Kikyo and InuYasha into turning against each other, and Koga, a wolf demon in love with Kagome and who hates InuYasha and Naraku. [edit] Characters Main articles: List of InuYasha characters, InuYasha yōkai list, and List of minor InuYasha characters Kagome Higurashi (日暮 かごめ, Higurashi Kagome?) Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino (Japanese), Moneca Stori (English) Kagome is a 15 year-old 9th grade student. She is the reincarnation of Kikyo, a priestess (miko) who died 50 years before the time Kagome first emerges from the Bone Eater's Well in the Feudal era. Because of this Kagome has powerful spiritual powers (miko powers) herself and can even sense jewel shards. Kagome can be extremely sweet, but can also become very dangerous when provoked. InuYasha wears a special bead necklace (known as the Beads of Subjugation) which only responds to Kagome's command: when she yells "Sit!" ("Osuwari!") (Often "Sit, boy!" in the dub). At this, InuYasha is thrown to the ground. The necklace was placed upon him by Kaede due to his dangerous attitude when he was unsealed. Currently Kagome does not know what to do with the romantic feelings she has developed for Inuyasha. InuYasha (犬夜叉, InuYasha?) Voiced by: Kappei Yamaguchi (Japanese), Richard Ian Cox (English) InuYasha is a half-demon ("hanyō" in Japanese), the product of an inu-yōkai (dog demon) and a human. He wields the Tessaiga (pronounced "Tetsaiga" and spelled "Tetsusaiga" in the English dub), a supernatural sword made from one of his deceased father's fangs. This sword, when properly wielded, can destroy one hundred demons with a single swing. InuYasha can quickly recover from injuries which would be fatal for any average human, because of his demon heritage. On the night of the new moon each month, InuYasha will change into a normal human with negru hair, brown eyes, and loses his yokai power during this time. InuYasha was bound to Goshinboku by Kikyo's arrow for fifty years until Kagome freed him. Currently he struggles with his old feelings for Kikyo and his new feelings for Kagome. Miroku (弥勒, Miroku?) Voiced by: Kōji Tsujitani (Japanese), Kirby Morrow (English) A Buddhist "houshi," or low-ranking, itinerant monk, Miroku traveled the countryside performing services such as exorcisms and yōkai exterminations to earn his living. He suffers from a hereditary curse originally inflicted upon his grandfather Miyatsu (also a Buddhist monk) by Naraku. The curse created a hole in his hand that became a kazaana (air void or "wind tunnel") which sucks in anything not nailed down, regardless of mass. However, absorbing poisons harms him, a fact Naraku takes advantage of by creating highly poisonous insects whose presence prevents Miroku from using his kazāna on Naraku or his allies. Miroku uses the kazāna as a powerful weapon against yōkai, but if the curse is not broken (by defeating Naraku), it will grow too large to control and consume Miroku himself. Miroku is a talented con artist who does not hesitate to invent fictitious supernatural menaces which he can then offer to combat in return for food and shelter, and he has a distinct weakness for pretty single women. He makes a point of asking every attractive woman he meets if she will bear his child, and he habitually strokes the buttocks of attractive women. He also eventually proposes to Sango, though this does little to curb his flirtations with other women. Sango (珊瑚, Sango?) Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima (Japanese), Kelly Sheridan (English) A yōkai slayer ("yōkai taijiya") who hails from a village of professional yōkai slayers. The only member of InuYasha's group to have no supernatural powers, Sango instead wields the Hiraikotsu, a massive boomerang made of yōkai bones, in addition to a broad repertoire of tools and tricks for battling yōkai. Sango seeks revenge against Naraku for the death of her family and her entire village. In addition, Sango seeks to rescue her brother Kohaku from Naraku's influence and somehow save his life, even though Kohaku's life is tied to the jewel shard embedded in his back. She also eventually falls for Miroku. Although everyone but InuYasha noticed, she never wanted to admit it. Her interest was manifested by hitting Miroku when he flirted with other single women. Shippo (七宝, Shippō?) Voiced by: Kumiko Watanabe (Japanese), Jillian Michaels (actress) (English) A young orphan kitsune (fox yōkai) whose father was killed by the Thunder Brothers, Hiten and Manten, and the first character in the story to join InuYasha and Kagome in their travels as a group. Shippo can shapeshift, but his forms are temporary, often incomplete and ineffective, and he is usually given away by his telltale tail. His other noteworthy abilities illusionary tricks with toys like his giant spinning top attack, using his race's notable fox fire magic, and making things like leaves or himself multiply. He tends to be naively observant and often makes pointed and cheeky comments directed towards InuYasha, earning him a retaliatory bonk on the head for his unsolicited "advice". Kirara (雲母, Kirara?) Voiced by: Tarako Isono Sango's faithful nekomata; light-tan colored fur, with black stripes on each of her bushy tails (she has two) near the tip, and black-tipped paws. Also called Kilala (pronounced "Kee-Lah-Lah") in the English dub, but spelled Kirara, because the Japanese language treats "r" and "l" as one phoneme. Kirara can change between two forms, a ferocious yōkai the size of a lion with the ability to fly, and a cute little kitten. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo often use Kirara's flying ability as transportation in order to keep up with InuYasha. [edit] Manga Main article: List of InuYasha chapters The manga was serialized in Japan in the weekly publication Shonen Sunday by Shogakukan, with the first installment issued on November 13, 1996. Chapter 485 was published December 5, 2006 with the series still ongoing.[2] Every 180 pages, usually ten chapters, the issues are collected in bound tankōbon. Volume 45, collecting chapters 439 through 448, was published in May 2006.[3]Volume 49 was recently published. The chapters for volume 50 are ready but are yet to be published. Inuyasha recently surpassed 500 chapters, and still shows no sign of stopping. Chapters 499 onwards will comprise of Volume 51. The latest chapter, chapter 505, released on May 16. Chapter 506 is expected the coming week. In the United States the English version is published by Viz Media. The artwork is flipped to conform to the American standard of reading left to right. Volume 1 was published in March 1998, with either two or three new volumes following each year. At present, the series has stepped up to a quarterly release basis. Volume 28 was published in January 2007, while Volume 29 was published on April 10, 2007, signifying that although Viz is still several years away from catching up to the number of volumes in Japan, they will start to catch up soon with the release of volume 30. It should be noted that the manga will pick up where the anime ends with Volume 36. [edit] Anime Main articles: List of InuYasha episodes and List of songs from InuYasha The InuYasha anime series spanned 167 episodes, and was broadcast across Japan by the anime satellite television network, Animax, who have also aired the series across its English-language network in South Asia (being the first network to fully broadcast the series in the English language) and also across its networks in East Asia, Yomiuri TV and Nippon Television. The series ended on September 13, 2004. The anime is licensed in North America by Viz and ShoPro Entertainment, and the actual dubbing is done by the The Ocean Group. InuYasha was first broadcast in the United States on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on August 31, 2002. The series later premiered on Canadian television screens on YTV on September 5, 2003. InuYasha is now also shown on Cartoon Network's Latin American incarnation, Cartoon Network LA. In Latin America, it is shown dubbed in Spanish and in Portuguese (Brazil or with SAP in other countries). Cartoon Network LA can be seen in many countries south of the United States, as well as some cruise ships in the Caribbean. It is unknown if the last 7 episodes will air dubbed in the region. At one point in Latin America, new episodes of InuYasha were airing twice a day, 5 times a week, and reruns were being aired Saturday night - 5 episodes in two hours. This is why the series concluded much faster than in the United States. As of December 2006, InuYasha is in rotation on the network. In the United States, the final episode of InuYasha aired on October 27, 2006. The series started its second run on January 1, 2007 (The second run meaning Adult Swim has begun from episode 1 again, showing 8 episodes a week, twice a day from Monday to Thursday). This second run, however, despite skipping over episodes 73-80 for reasons that have not yet been made clear, ended on May 18, 2007 and a third run has started in the same fashion. In Canada, YTV's Bionix programming block aired the final episode on December 1, 2006. On December 8, 2006, YTV's Bionix began airing reruns of InuYasha, starting with episode 105 "The Ghastly Steel Machine" and the consecutive episodes after it, instead of beginning from the first episode. InuYasha was dubbed in Mandarin Chinese and hosted on Xing Kong, a Taiwanese TV Channel. As of December 2006, InuYasha is aired in Singapore on Arts Central with viewers being able to select between Chinese or Japanese dialogue, three times a week from Wednesdays to Fridays at 11 p.m. (Singapore time). InuYasha also was dubbed in Bahasa Melayu for ntv7. The show is aired every Friday at 7:30 p.m. On April 16, 2007, the first 12 InuYasha episodes were released on DVD in the UK. [edit] DVD releases Season Episodes Discs Features DVD release date Region 1 Region 2/4 1 1 - 27 5 Japanese and English audio options English subtitles US/CAN: September 7, 2004 AUS: May 12, 2006 1 1 - 12 3 Japanese and English audio options English subtitles ---- UK: April 16, 2007 2 28 - 54 5 Japanese and English audio options English subtitles US/CAN: November 8, 2005 AUS: November 8, 2006 3 55 - 81 5 Japanese and English audio options English subtitles US/CAN: September 12, 2006 ---- [edit] Movies Four movies, which continued the anime plot, have been released. The first movie, InuYasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time was released on December 16, 2001 in Japan with InuYasha the Movie: Fire on the Mystic Island being the last movie to be released; on December 23, 2004 in Japan. The fourth movie was released three months after the series finale of InuYasha in Japan. As of 2007, there are no plans for a fifth movie. Four theatrical releases of the series have appeared so far: Cover English Title Japanese Title Premiere date Kanji Romaji InuYasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time 映画犬夜叉 時代を越える想い Eiga Inuyasha: Toki o Koeru Omoi JPN: December 16, 2001 US: September 7, 2004 After mastering the ultimate attack of the Tessaiga, InuYasha continues his quest for the Shikon Jewel shards with Kagome, Shippo, Sango, and Miroku. This time, all of them will have to face Menomaru, a demonic enemy brought to life by a jewel shard. InuYasha the Movie: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass 映画犬夜叉 鏡の中の夢幻城 Eiga Inuyasha: Kagami no Naka no Mugenjō JPN: December 21, 2002 US: December 28, 2004 After defeating Naraku, InuYasha and his friends each return to their lives. However, their short period of peace is interrupted when a new enemy emerges - Kaguya, the ruler of the eternal night. Locked inside a mirror, Kaguya is prevented from bringing eternal darkness into the world. Also in the movie, Inuyasha and Kagome share their true feelings for each other. InuYasha the Movie: Swords of an Honorable Ruler 映画犬夜叉 天下覇道の剣 Eiga Inuyasha: Tenka Hadō no Ken JPN: December 20, 2003 US: September 6, 2005 At the time of InuYasha's birth, InuYasha's father fought with a human named Setsuna no Takemaru, who loved InuYasha's mother, Izayoi. Soon after, So'unga, the legendary sword which belonged to InuYasha's father, was sealed away. Centuries later, So'unga is once again unleashed. However, the sword seeks to destroy the Earth and all life on it. Inuyasha must join forces with his brother, Sesshomaru, and destroy this sword before it destroys the world. InuYasha the Movie: Fire on the Mystic Island 映画犬夜叉 紅蓮の蓬莱島 Eiga Inuyasha: Guren no Hōraijima JPN: December 23, 2004 US: August 1, 2006 The reappearance of the mysterious island of Houraijima after 50 years brought the attack of the four gods, the Shitoushin. With their eyes set on the powers that protect and sustain the island, the Shitoushin must be defeated as Inuyasha and his friends seek to help the children that are trapped on that island escape. [edit] Games [edit] Console video games [edit] Video games released in Japanese and English Title Console Release date Notes InuYasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale PlayStation April 9, 2003 Japanese title: Inuyasha: Sengoku Otogi Kassen (戦国お伽草子–犬夜叉) InuYasha: The Secret of the Cursed Mask PlayStation 2 November 1, 2004 Japanese title: Inuyasha: Juso no Kamen (犬夜叉 呪詛の仮面) InuYasha: Feudal Combat PlayStation 2 August 23, 2005 Japanese title: Inuyasha: Ōgi-Ranbu (犬夜叉 奥義乱舞) [edit] Video games released only in English Title Console Release date Notes InuYasha: Secret of the Divine Jewel Nintendo DS January 23, 2007 [1] [edit] Video Games only released in Japanese Romaji (Kanji English Translation) Release date Console Inuyasha: Kagome no Sengoku Nikki (犬夜叉 ～かごめの戦国日記, InuYasha: Kagome's Warring States Diary?) November 2, 2001 WonderSwan Inuyasha: Fūun Emaki (犬夜叉 風雲絵巻, Inuyasha: Fūun Emaki?) July 27, 2002 WonderSwan Inuyasha: Kagome no Yume Nikki (犬夜叉 かごめの夢日記, InuYasha: Kagome's Dream Diary?) November 16, 2002 WonderSwan Inuyasha: Naraku no Wana! Mayoi no Mori no Shōtaijō (犬夜叉～奈落の罠！迷いの森の招待状, InuYasha: Naraku's Trap! Invitation to the Forest of Illusion?) January 23, 2003 Game Boy Advance [edit] Mobile phone game InuYasha: The Mobile Game was released for Java and Brew handsets on June 21, 2005 (Inuyasha mobile phone game). [edit] Trading card game InuYasha: Trading Card Game is an English-language autentic Trading card game first released on October 20, 2004 created by Score Entertainment. [edit] Growth and popularity InuYasha is fairly popular in the Canadian internet community. According to Google, InuYasha was the most searched for term on their search engine in Canada, in 2004. InuYasha was also the third most popular searched for term in Canada in all of 2003.[4][5] Leaping onto American TVs on August 31, 2002, InuYasha made its debut in Cartoon Network's Saturday Adult Swim Block. American fans loved it and the show's rapid rise in popularity quickly pushed it to air four nights a week. According to Viz, the release of the feature film, InuYasha: Affections Touching Across Time on DVD has sold over 30,000 units to-date and has occupied the number two spot on Nielsen Videoscan’s Anime Rankings for three consecutive weeks. As a series overall, more than 800,000 DVDs of the InuYasha series have been sold since March 2003. On the literary side, InuYasha graphic novels also continue to show strong sales numbers. Volume 19 of the InuYasha manga series has been ranked Number 3 on Nielsen Bookscan’s Graphic Novel Top 50 List for the week ending October 3, 2004, and Volume 1 is at Number 18 in its 77th straight week on top, confirming a growing interest among new fans. [2] [edit] Glossary For a complete list of terms related to InuYasha, please see the List of InuYasha terms. [edit] Trivia Despite having established the importance of Lunar phase as early as the first season, most episodes errantly show a full Moon in nighttime scenes regardless of the passage of time. In one extreme instance, Episode 4 ("Yura of the Demon-hair"), shows a crescent Moon isolated between two full Moon nights. Many if not all of the major characters bear a resemblance to a character from one of Takahashi's earlier mangas, most often Ranma 1/2. For fans of Rumiko Takahashi's earlier works it is easy to see that InuYasha has its roots in a short story from the 1980s that Takahashi wrote entitled Fire Tripper. The story deals with a high school girl named Suzuko, traveling back in time to the Sengoku Era where she encounters Shukumaru brash young warrior who takes a romantic liking to her. While Fire Tripper deals mostly with the story device of time travel, it does share many things in common with InuYasha. InuYasha and Shukumaru both have similar personalities, fighting first and asking questions later, while the schoolgirl outfits of both Suzuko and Kagome are hard to miss. [edit] References ^ *Infoseek Japanese dictionary entry for 夜叉/Yasha -- "an Indian term which was imported with Buddhism through China into Japan.(Sanskrit, Yaksa)) of Indian origins, a demon which harms people. In Buddhism it is a type of ancient Indian demon that have converted to Buddhism and serve as protectors of Bishamonten, one of the Shitennō." ^ Inuyasha - Sengoku o-Togi Zoushi - English translations of the manga ^ Inuyasha volume 45 (Japanese) ^ "Google Press Center: Zeitgeist", Google. Retrieved on 2006-12-24. ^ "Google Press Center: 2003 Year-End Zeitgeist", Google. Retrieved on 2006-12-24. |
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