InuYasha (犬夜叉, Inu "dog" + Yasha "demons that fly by night" from Sanskrit yaksha), is a manga and anime series by Rumiko Takahashi (creator of Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma 1/2, and others).
There is a long-standing debate about the spelling of 'Inuyasha', the main character's name. Some spell it Inuyasha, some InuYasha, some Inu Yasha, and some Inu-Yasha. All of these spellings will bring you to THIS page. This, while relatively unimportant, is reminiscenet of the spelling of Vietnam (or VietNam; or Viet Nam) on Vietnam War protest signs, and both stand as a testiment of the difficulty of translating non-European languages into the Roman alphabet.
Inuyasha is a shonen (boys' anime/manga) action/adventure romantic comedy, with touches of horror. The story starts with a junior high-school girl named Kagome, who on her way to school heads to the covered well on the family property (which happens to be a Shinto shrine). She was going to retrieve her cat, Buyo, from the area, since her brother was afraid to go inside. When she approached the well a strange woman/centipede demon burst from the well and grabbed her, taking a very confused Kagome back to the Sengoku Jidai (Feudal Era of Japan). The demon claimed that Kagome possessed the Shikon no Tama (Jewel of Four Souls), and an old priestess (Kaede) claimed that Kagome was the spitting image of Kikyo, her elder sister (and powerful priestess) who had died and had her body burned with the Jewel of Four Souls, taking it with her into the afterlife. A half-demon (hanyou) named Inuyasha had tried to steal the Jewel from Kikyo, mortally wounding her in the process, but Kikyo had manage to strike him with a magical arrow, sending him into suspended animation, and thus retrieving the Jewel before she finally died.
It turns out that Kagome is the reincarnation of Kikyo, and that she does possess the Jewel of Four Souls... embedded in her flesh. When the centipede demon rips it from her flesh and swallows it, granting her a great boost in power, Kagome in forced to awaken Inuyahsa so he can defeat her.
Soon after they recover the Shikon, it is lost again, and Kagome shatters it as she tries to recover it. The pieces scatter far and wide, and the series tells of Kagome and Inuyasha's exploits as they search for the shards of the Jewel. As they search, they meet new people who join them on their quest for various personal reasons. Throughout the story Kagome and Inuyasha come closer to having deep feelings for each other, though the romance remains as a side plot for most of the story.
Call modern time 'X', the feudal era 'Y', and 50 years before Y 'Z'. At Z, Kikyo died after sealing Inuyasha to the tree, where he went into suspended animation, and she was cremated with the jewel. At Y, the well (which exists in both ancient and modern times) drops Kagome, the 21st century incarnation of Kikyo, off from the future. Here, everyone has gotten older but otherwise not much has happened. X is the 'modern' end of the well's worm hole through time.
The manga was simultaneously released in Japan and the United States, which is very unusual.
InuYasha was first broadcast in America on Cartoon Network. In Japan, the series is up to episode 118 and still going...
The series has also inspired two movies to date, InuYasha: Love that Transcends Time (時代を越える想い Toki wo Koeru Omoi) and InuYasha: The Dream Castle in the Mirror (鏡の中の夢幻城 Kagami no Naka no Mugenjou). A third movie (japanese title:天下覇道の剣 Tenka Hadou no Ken)
is currently in production.
Overview
Explanation of the time-travel
Release Information
Characters as of point Y on the timeline (see above)
Special Items
Theme Songs
External links
Actors/Actresses
Japanese / English