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InuYasha

InuYasha (犬夜叉?), full title InuYasha, a Feudal Fairy Tale (戦国御伽草子 犬夜叉, Sengoku Otogizōshi InuYasha?, lit. "Warring-States Fairy-Tale Book: InuYasha") (romanized as INUYASHA), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It premiered in Weekly Shōnen Sunday on November 13, 1996 and concluded on June 18, 2008. The series follows a time-traveling high school student, a half-demon, a lecherous monk, a fox demon, a demon slayer, and a nekomata during the Sengoku period as they seek to find all the fragments of the Jewel of Four Souls and to keep them out of the hands of evildoers, especially Naraku.

The manga was adapted into a 167 episode anime series produced by Sunrise. Masashi Ikeda directed the first forty-four episodes, while Yasunao Aoki directed the remainder of the series. InuYasha premiered on Yomiuri TV in Japan on October 16, 2000 and ran until September 13, 2004. The television run of the anime ceased without a conclusion to the story. In 2002, the manga won the Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen title of the year.[1] Inuyasha was ranked twenty by TV Asahi of the 100 best anime series in 2006. (based on an online survey in the country.

Protagonists

thumb|300px|From left to right Kirara, Sango, Shippo, Kagome, Miroku, and InuYasha.

InuYasha

InuYasha (犬夜叉) is the titular character and one of the main protagonists of the series. Born to a dog demon father and human mother, InuYasha is a half-demon who initially wants to use the powers of the Shikon Jewel to become a full demon. After falling in love with Kikyo, the miko who guards the Jewel, he changes his mind and wants to become human so he can live with her, but Naraku manipulates both of them into believing they have been betrayed by one another. Kikyo is fatally wounded, but before she dies, she shoots an arrow through InuYasha to seal him onto a sacred tree.

InuYasha remains in suspended animation for fifty years until Kagome Higurashi, Kikyo's reincarnation, pulls out the arrow and frees him. After the Shikon Jewel shatters, InuYasha and Kagome travel together to retrieve its shards. Initially wary of Kagome's resemblance to Kikyo, InuYasha and her develop a complicated friendship and eventually fall in love. He also forms strong friendships with the other companions they gain. His sword, Tetsusaiga, was made from one of his father's fangs (and later incorporates one of InuYasha's fangs as well); its full power cannot be unleashed except to protect humans, and its sheath has a barrier that protects its bearer from almost any attack. At the end of the series, InuYasha and Kagome are shown together married.

Kagome Higurashi

Kagome Higurashi (日暮 かごめ, Higurashi Kagome) is one of the main protagonists of the series. Born in modern Japan as the spiritual reincarnation of the priestess Kikyo, Kagome has the Shikon Jewel unknowingly hidden inside her body until 1997, when a demon pulls her into the Bone Eater's Well and 500 years back through time. They emerge in the Feudal Era about 50 years after Kikyo's death, where the demon extracts the jewel from Kagome.

Kagome takes over the task of protecting the Shikon Jewel from evil influences, but accidentally shatters it into numerous shards that disperse throughout the country. She shares many traits with Kikyo-- spiritual power, physical appearance, and (according to InuYasha) even scent-- but does not retain Kikyo's memories or personality, and is a very different individual.

Miroku

Miroku (弥勒) is a Buddhist monk who travels the countryside performing services such as exorcisms and demon exterminations, although sometimes he deliberately falsifies these to earn comfortable rewards. Miroku can attack enemies with his holy staff and sutra scrolls, but his greatest weapon, the Wind Tunnel embedded in the palm of his hand, is also a hereditary curse originally inflicted by Naraku upon Miroku's grandfather Miyatsu. The Wind Tunnel sucks in almost anything in its path and is a powerful weapon against demons; however, it grows larger with increasing use, so that Miroku's grandfather and father were eventually consumed by their own Wind Tunnels. Miroku hopes to break the curse by killing Naraku.

Miroku first meets InuYasha by stealing the Shikon Jewel, causing them to fight one another until Kagome leaps between them. After Miroku explains his situation, InuYasha allows him to join their group as a valuable ally. Miroku's lechery is a recurrent habit, usually manifesting as shameless flattery, semi-surreptitious groping, and asking random women to bear him a child; he learned these bad habits from the monk Mushin who raised him, but he also has the more serious motive of wanting an heir to follow him if he dies without defeating Naraku. At the end of the series, Miroku no longer bears the Wind Tunnel, and marries Sango. They have three children: twin girls and a boy.

Sango

Sango (珊瑚) is a demon slayer who hails from a village of professional demon slayers. Naraku wipes out her entire family and village, then causes Sango to blame InuYasha and try to kill him. When the plot fails, Naraku revives Sango's little brother Kohaku, controlling him as a pawn to manipulate Sango's emotions and attack the rest of InuYasha's group. Sango seeks vengeance against Naraku, but her primary goal is to rescue Kohaku from Naraku's influence and save his life.

Of her broad repertoire of tools and tricks for fighting demons, her most powerful weapon is the Hiraikotsu, a massive boomerang made of purified demon bones. She is accompanied by the demon cat Kirara. Sango is often the victim of Miroku's lecherous tendencies and slaps him for it, but she later confesses her love to him and the two get engaged. After they marry, she allows Kirara to join her brother Kohaku and aid him in his demon slaying.

Antagonists

Kikyo

Kikyo (桔梗, Kikyō) is a powerful shrine maiden, or miko, who is given the task of guarding the Shikon Jewel. She falls in love with InuYasha and considers using the jewel to turn him from a half-demon into a full human; this would cause the Shikon jewel to vanish, allowing her to live as an ordinary woman by his side. However, Naraku disguises himself as InuYasha to attack her village, mortally wounding her. With her last strength, Kikyo shoots a charmed arrow into the real InuYasha to seal him to a sacred tree, then orders the Shikon Jewel to be burned with her on her funeral pyre. The jewel disappears and is apparently destroyed, but is reborn 500 years later in the body of Kagome Higurashi, her spiritual reincarnation.

After Kagome travels back through time and reappears fifty years after Kikyo's death, an ogress tries to pull her reincarnated soul into a clay body made with Kikyo's bones and ashes. Kagome appears to suffer no permanent harm, but a small part of her soul detaches and reanimates the new body with Kikyo's memories, personality, and human appearance.

Although Kikyo retains some of her old powers in this form, she remains technically "dead" and must absorb the souls of dead women in order to move. At first, she wants to vengefully drag InuYasha to hell and kill Kagome to recover the rest of her soul. However, Kikyo gradually returns to her former compassionate nature and learns the real circumstances of her death. She protects Kohaku, saving his life, and finally dies in InuYasha's arms after being attacked by Naraku.

Sesshoumaru

Sesshoumaru (殺生丸, Sesshōmaru) is InuYasha's older half-brother. Like their father, he is the Lord of the Western Lands, although Sesshoumaru maintains no permanent home. As a full-blooded Inu-yokai, he is a very powerful demon and nearly unequalled in raw power, but is unable to defeat Naraku in volume twenty-three of the manga. He has no interest in possessing even one shard of the Shikon Jewel to enhance his powers, since he is already supremely confident of his own strength.

He is initially ruthless in dealing with InuYasha, whom he despises as a half-demon who consorts with humans, and attempts to take the sword Tetsusaiga from him. However, Sesshoumaru gradually changes after receiving Tenseiga, another sword made from one of their father's fangs, and using it to revive the human child Rin. His growing compassion prompts the master swordsmith Tōtōsai to reforge Tenseiga, enabling the Meidou Zangetsuha ("dark path of the dawn's moon blast") attack. After Naraku attempts to manipulate him by using Rin as a hostage, Sesshoumaru becomes determined to destroy Naraku.

Throughout the course of the manga series, Sesshoumaru wields a total of 3 swords. The first in his possession being the sword "Tenseiga," inherited from his late father. The Tenseiga was forged from the fangs of Sesshoumaru's father, by the sword smith Totosai. It was forged into a -style sword and initially is very rarely-used throughout the early stages of both the manga and anime. During the late-middle of the manga, after the destruction of the Toukijin, the Tenseiga is featured more prominently as Sesshoumaru's main weapon, after being re-forged by Totosai, to reveal it's true, hidden technique, the Meidou Zangetsuha.

The second and perhaps most widely recognized due to it's main, popular usage in the anime series, is the Toukijin. Sesshoumaru's sword that was forged from the fangs of a demon called "Goshinki," and incarnation of Naraku, who's fangs were responsible for the breaking of the Tetsusaiga. The Toukijin was forged by a swordsmith known as Kaijinbo, a former student of Totosai, who was dismissed by the latter, after creating too many "evil swords."

The Toukijin was forged into a -style sword, a commonly used sword in China, which fits with Sesshoumaru's staple as a "Chinese-reference" characteristics. Fitting into the common Chinese/Japanese rivalry theme, which is used in many various Anime series.

The third and final sword is the Bakusaiga, a sword created from Sesshoumaru's own youki (demon energy) and which emerged from Sesshoumaru's body, held in the hand of Sesshoumaru's newly regrown left arm. (Which had been cut off by InuYasha, originally, in the beginning of the series.) This sword, as stated by Totosai, signified that Sesshoumaru had at last let go of his desire to obtain his fathers sword, the Tetsusaiga, from InuYasha. And in doing so, Sesshoumaru had finally come into his own as a fully-matured Dai-Youkai (Great-Demon) and had surpassed his father in strength and power.

Like the Tenseiga, before it, the Bakusaiga is a Katana-style sword, though unlike the Tenseiga, it was not forged by Totosai, nor were Sesshoumaru's fangs used to create the blade. It was stated that the Bakusaiga had been, "inside of Sesshoumaru, all along," and had been waiting for Sesshoumaru to reach his full maturity as a Dai-Youkai, before it could emerge in its materialized form. This is the sword that Sesshoumaru continues to use throughout the remainder of the series, until Naraku's death and the conclusion of the manga.

Naraku

Naraku (奈落) is the series' primary antagonist. Naraku is responsible for most of the characters' misfortunes, including the death of Kikyo and the sealing of InuYasha to the sacred tree. Naraku was born from Onigumo, an injured human bandit tended by Kikyo; driven by frustrated lust for her, Onigumo made a bargain with multiple demons to give him a new body, but the resulting composite promptly caused Kikyo's death in pursuit of the Shikon Jewel.

Throughout the series, Naraku creates many subordinate beings from his own body to aid his goal of killing his opponents and reuniting the shards of the Shikon Jewel, whose corrupted form he hopes to use to gain ultimate power. Only the more important subordinate beings, or "detachments", are listed below.

Kagura

Kagura (神楽) is a creation of Naraku's, his second "detachment" although she is introduced before her "elder sister" Kanna. A wind sorceress, Kagura uses a fan to enhance her powers; she can create a blade-like tornado or use wind to animate dead bodies. She can also use her feather hair-ornaments as transportation, enlarging them to ride in the wind. Kagura hates Naraku and wishes to be free from him, covertly opposing him to the point of offering aid to both InuYasha and Sesshomaru in hopes that they can kill him.

After Kohaku's memories return, Kagura becomes increasingly protective of the boy: she shares information with him about Naraku's weaknesses; she thwarts her fellow "detachment" Hakudōshi from taking the Shikon shard that keeps Kohaku alive; finally, she openly defies Naraku by helping Kohaku escape. Naraku mockingly returns her heart before fatally wounding her and leaving her to die. While tracking Naraku, Sesshomaru finds her dying; she seems happy to see him, although his sword Tenseiga cannot save her. InuYasha's group also arrives, helplessly watching her body dissolve into the wind. Afterwards, InuYasha asks if she suffered; Sesshomaru replies that she was smiling when she died. In the anime adaptation, Kagura's death is never shown as the series ends before the manga.

Kanna

Kanna (神無) is the first detachment of Naraku. She appears to be a ten-year-old girl with white hair and clothing. As a "concealed incarnation" of Naraku, Kanna has no smell and no demonic aura, making her undetectable to InuYasha's senses and immune to demonic aura-related effects such as the Hakurei-zan barrier.. Kanna is the only incarnation that Naraku trusts with important information about his actions, allowing her to give orders in his place.

Kanna carries a demonic mirror that can steal the souls of those reflected in it. Once a soul is trapped by her mirror, Kanna can control that person's body to carry out her bidding. However, the mirror can be overwhelmed by an especially powerful soul such as Kagome's, forcing Kanna to release all of the trapped souls before the glass shatters. The mirror can also create a glass demon to copy the abilities of whatever it reflects, though Kanna herself suffers damage when the glass demon is wounded. In her last battle in the manga, Kanna is ordered by Naraku to commit suicide, shattering herself and her glass demon into thousands of tiny shards. Driven by Kanna's final thought, one of the shards hits Kagome's right eye and gives her the knowledge how to destroy Naraku. Kanna's death does not appear in the anime, which ended before reaching that part of the story.

Goshinki

Goshinki was Naraku's third detachment. While most of his siblings are human-like in appearance, Goshinki resembles a large, violet-colored dinosaur-like Oni with a pair of horns and and white hair along his spine. In spite of his size, Goshinki possessed a high level of agility, he also had the ability to read the minds of others around him, this allowed him to counter Inuyasha and his friends' attacks. He also had very strong teeth, so much that during his battle with Inuyasha he managed to break Tetsusaiga by biting it in two, therefore introducing Inuyasha's demonic side. Because of Inuyasha's berserk nature as a demon, Goshinki was unable to read his mind and was easily slain. After the battle Sesshomaru salvaged Goshinki's head and had Kaijinbo forge the sword Tokijin from Goshinki's fangs. The sword proved to be very power since it housed Goshinki's anger and hatred for Inuyasha, allowing the sword to possess Kaijinbo. Sesshomaru was able to wield the sword without being possessed due to his indomitable nature.

Muso

Muso (無双, Musō) is separated from Naraku in an attempt to remove his human core, Onigumo, and thus also Onigumo's love for Kikyo. He is the sixth detachment of Naraku. Naraku cares so little for this incarnation that he gives it no name or face; Muso takes both of those for himself from a wandering monk that he kills. Muso ventures to Kikyo's former village, where he runs into InuYasha's group and battles them quickly after their encounter. Soon Naraku quickly realizes, however, that he cannot abandon Onigumo when demons try to gain their freedom from his body, and Muso is absorbed back into Naraku.

The Infant

The Infant (赤子, Akago) is Naraku's heart and seventh detachment, and is capable of speaking fluently. He is a baby that can control people with the darkness in their own hearts. His main goal is to control Kagome's mind by finding pain or anger within her heart, and use her abilities to find the remaining shards of the Shikon Jewel. He finds her jealousy of InuYasha's feelings for Kikyo, but InuYasha saves her before The Infant can control her. Like Hakudoshi and Kagura, The Infant is not loyal to Naraku. He is destroyed along with Moryomaru by Naraku.

Hakudoshi

Hakudoshi (白童子, Hakudōshi) is the eighth detachment from Naraku. Created from The Infant's body, he takes the form of a young child. Because his heart remains inside The Infant, he can use all of the same powers and his own body can endlessly regenerate from any damage.

Both The Infant and Hakudoshi grow tired of Naraku's rule, and seek to betray and overthrow him. To help The Infant in battle and protect him, Hakudoshi creates Moryomaru. Naraku eventually realizes their traitorous intentions and instructs his Saimyosho to abandon Hakudoshi in battle, giving him no protection against Miroku's Wind Tunnel.

In the anime adaptation, Hakudoshi's death is never shown as the series ends before the manga. He is voiced by Ai Kobayashi. In the English dub, he is voiced by Chiara Zanni.

Byakuya

Byakuya (白夜) is Naraku's ninth and final detachment, meant to replace Kagura. His main purpose is to observe InuYasha and Mōryōmaru's growing powers and report back to Naraku. He has an incredible power to create illusions, but has many other powers as well: he can possess people with paper soldiers, summon vines to entrap his enemies, teleport others to different dimensions, detach organs from his body, and erect barriers. He travels on a giant origami paper crane.

After taking the power of one slash of InuYasha's Meidou Zangetsuha, he later slashes Kagome with the blade. However, before he gets a chance at a second strike, InuYasha attacks him with his Meidou Zangetsuha and Byakuya is absorbed into it. When Naraku dies, a Meidou appears behind Kagome, due to Byakuya's Meidou Blade.

Band of Seven

The Band of Seven (七人隊, Shichinintai) are seven mercenaries brought back to life by Naraku using the Shikon Jewel shards. All of their names end in kotsu (骨), meaning "bone".

Bankotsu

Bankotsu (蛮骨) is the leader,and the strongest member of the Band of Seven. He is also the youngest of the group. He carries the huge Banryu halberd. Bankotsu is a skilled mercenary and has killed many people; he does retain a sense of honor and compassion, but reserves them only for his six companions.

After being resurrected, Bankotsu reclaims his weapon, Banryu, and kills everyone in the surrounding area. The scent of blood draws InuYasha's group to him, and Bankotsu engages in battle with them. However, the Band of Seven is called back by Naraku after InuYasha's Wind Scar nicks Banryu. He takes the jewel shards Renkotsu stole from Kagome to repair his damaged blade, giving it the power to deflect the Wind Scar. Later, Bankotsu realizes how deceptive Renkotsu has become, killing him when he learned Renkotsu murdered Jakotsu. With seven fragments in his body and two in his halberd, Bankotsu heads off to destroy InuYasha. In the manga, InuYasha wins slowly cuts the Shikon shards out of his body as the battle progresses until Bankotsu is cut in two, with Naraku stripping the remaining half of its Shikon shard. In the anime, Bankotsu slays 1,000 yōkai and kills 1,000 warlords with Banryu. Banryu, in turn, transforms into a demonic weapon that can project its wielder's hatred as powerful demonic energy. However, this proves to be his downfall as InuYasha reflects this attack with the Backlash Wave, crushing Bankotsu and shattering Banryū.

Renkotsu

Renkotsu (煉骨) is the second in command and is the third strongest member of the Band of Seven. An expert military engineer, he creates explosives and incendiary devices, including a type of flaming oil that he can spew from his mouth, and reconstructs Ginkotsu into a living artillery weapon that resembles a modern tank. He is also a gifted strategist and has some skill at hand to hand combat, although the only members of the group he surpasses in fighting skills are Mukotsu and Kyokotsu.

He becomes resentful of Bankotsu's power and dares to betray him. After Ginkotsu self-destructs to save Renkotsu from Koga, Renkotsu takes Ginkotsu's shard and inserts it into his wounded shoulder. Later, he kills the injured Jakotsu after his battle with InuYasha and takes his shard. As punishment for hiding the shards and killing Jakotsu, Bankotsu kills him.

Jakotsu

Jakotsu (蛇骨), the second strongest of the Band of Seven and the third in command. He was a close friend of Bankotsu even before the group's formation, and Jakotsu is the only person Bankotsu trusts. His chief weapon, the Snake Sword or Jakotsuto, has segmented retractable blades that curve out across a great distance, making it difficult for an opponent to calculate his next move. Jakotsu is depicted acting in a homosexual manner, such as admiring Koga's loincloth and claiming to have feelings for InuYasha, but because of his sadistic qualities, he basically wants to kill them in what he considers to be an affectionate way.

Jakotsu loses a lengthy battle to InuYasha and is badly wounded, giving Renkotsu the opportunity to steal his Shikon shard. As he dies from the shard's removal, Jakotsu says he is happy because he got to fight the battle he wanted and he had fun with his second chance in life. Bankotsu later avenges his friend's death by killing Renkotsu.

In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Ai Orikasa. In the English dub, he is voiced by Jenn Forgie.

Suikotsu

Suikotsu (睡骨) is the fourth strongest of the Band of Seven. He has a split personality: "Doctor Suikotsu" has a normal human appearance and is good, kind, and respected by villagers; "Suikotsu of the Band of Seven" has bristly hair and shaded patterns on his face, and is evil and bloodthirsty. He has phenomenal strength, agility, and savage combat skills, and uses exceptionally long-bladed iron claws as weapons. He returns to his former village with his normal appearance, but still violent and willing to kill. After taking Rin as a hostage, he is beaten by the combined strength of Sesshomaru and Kikyo's sacred arrow, and asks them to remove the Shikon shard from his neck to let him die peacefully. Respecting his wishes, Kikyo reaches for the shard but is stopped by Jakotsu, who takes it to Bankotsu.

In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Hiroaki Hirata. In the English dub, he is voiced by Michael Donovan.

Ginkotsu

Ginkotsu (銀骨) has metal parts on his body and various amounts of weaponry within and is the fifth strongest of the Band of Seven. His speech is rarely intelligible, only changing when angered. In his earlier, relatively human form, he carries a katana, an axe attached with a chain, a spear, "steel" wires, a grappler that replaced his left arm, disk-blades, a cannon on his shoulder, and a drill in his chest.

He barely survives his first encounter with InuYasha and is reconstructed by Renkotsu into a siege tank with spider-like legs and disk-blade wheels. In his tank form, his offense is two main cannons along with the "steel" wires. In the anime, his additional weapons include a larger array of firearms, as well as a rocket-like launch of his main body, which contains wire launchers and a flamethrower. His final weapon is a self-destruct mechanism.

He and Renkotsu fight Koga together. In the manga, he explodes when Koga stuffs pieces of Renkotsu's armor into his cannons, causing them to backfire. In the anime, he survives this attack, but goes berserk when Renkotsu receives a heavy wound to his left shoulder; to save Renkotsu, Ginkotsu fruitlessly unleashes his entire arsenal at Koga, then self-destructs in an explosion while shielding Renkotsu with his own jewel shard.

In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Hisao Egawa. In the English dub, he is voiced by Mark Gibbon.

Mukotsu

Mukotsu (霧骨) is a short poison master and is the sixth strongest of the Band of Seven. He abducts Kagome and, in the anime, initiates a wedding ceremony with her but becomes angry at her reaction to his facial features, and attacks her when she tries to remove his Shikon Jewel shard. However, in the manga, Mukotsu attempts to harass Kagome until she stabs him, and soon after Miroku and Sango appear. Mukotsu poisons Kagome, Miroku, and Sango, nearly killing them, but is soon killed by Sesshomaru, who is immune to his poisons.

In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Tetsu Inada. In the English dub, he is voiced by Trevor Devall.

Kyokotsu

Kyokotsu (凶骨) is the largest but weakest of the Band of Seven. His weapon is his size itself, and he proves to be a formidable foe. Against Koga, Kyokotsu also uses a giant iron ball attached to a flail-like long chain, but this is nearly useless against Koga's speed. He terrorizes yōkai-wolf tribes who are defenseless against his size and invulnerability. Despite his massive size and fearsome looks, Kyokotsu is human. Kyokotsu is defeated when he holds Kōga too close to his face, allowing Koga to pull out his Shikon shard and kill him instantly.

Supporting characters

Kaede

Kaede (楓) is Kikyo's younger sister and assists her with various tasks such as gathering herbs or holding her arrows. After Kikyo's death, Kaede becomes a miko in her own right and defends the village against demons. When Kagome arrives, Kaede recognizes her as the reincarnation of Kikyo. After Kagome frees InuYasha, Kaede puts the "Beads of Subjugation" onto him to give Kagome the power to control him with a spoken word. Kaede is well-respected and held in high regards by the villagers and the members of InuYasha's group, which she often advises about demons and other spiritual anomalies. Though InuYasha is easily annoyed with her, he listens to her when necessary and doesn't hesitate to protect her from a threat.

Kaede loses an eye sometime during her life. In the manga, her eye appears to be freshly bandaged and bleeding shortly before Kikyo's death, suggesting that the wound occurs when "InuYasha" (really Naraku in disguise) attacks the village to steal the Shikon Jewel; supplementary information states that she "lost her elder sister and her eye in an incident fifty years ago." The anime simply says that she lost it during a demon attack on the village.

Myoga

Myoga (冥加, Myōga) is a flea demon who appears randomly and gives InuYasha information on current events, foes, and the shards of the Shikon Jewel. Assigned to protect Tetsusaiga's hiding place in the grave of InuYasha's father, he runs away when Sesshomaru comes there in search of the sword. Myoga often flees before or during a battle, which the others recognize as a sign of pending danger; his mere presence in any area is enough to determine its safety. Myoga enjoys drinking demon blood, and actually saves InuYasha's life at one point by drinking a spider demon's venom out of his blood. He can save the others in a similar manner, but often gets slapped for drinking their blood without permission. In the anime series, he is engaged to another flea demon named Shoga, but continually runs from her to avoid the marriage.

Jaken

Jaken (邪見) is a small green imp-like yōkai who is extremely loyal to Sesshomaru, often praising his master's greatness although Sesshomaru usually ignores him. Jaken himself is not especially powerful, despite bearing a weapon known as the Staff of Two Heads (人頭杖, nintōjō). He seldom engages in battle and is actually killed by Kaijinbo with Tōkijin, but Sesshomaru resurrects him with Tenseiga.

The manga explains little about Jaken's past, but the anime shows that Jaken was once a lord among similar demons. During battle with another yōkai tribe, the enemy leader had Jaken by his neck when Sesshomaru appeared and told the demon to move out of his path. When this was not obeyed, he destroyed the yōkai with this poison whip. Out of a sense of obligation, Jaken followed Sesshomaru, who allowed him to become a servant if he could use the Staff of Two Heads.

Shippo

Shippo (七宝, Shippō) is an orphaned young fox demon who attempts to steal the Shikon Jewel from Kagome and InuYasha, wanting to become stronger and avenge his father's death. Though his plan fails, Kagome and InuYasha aid him after hearing his story, and he becomes their companion for the rest of the series.

Shippo normally appears to be a young boy with certain fox-like features: his legs, feet, ears, and tail. He can shape-shift, but his other forms (such as a large pink flying balloon) are temporary and often ineffective, usually given away by his lingering fox tail. He can also create illusory duplicates of himself, as well as weak fox-fire magic and toy-based tricks such as his giant spinning top attack. Naively observant, he often directs cheeky comments to InuYasha, earning a smack on the head. InuYasha and Kagome serve as older sibling figures to Shippo. Because of his small size, Shippo often rides on Kirara or the shoulders of others. His actual age is never stated in the series; according to the official InuYasha guide by Rumiko Takahashi, his appearance is equivalent to that of a seven year old boy.

Kirara

Kirara (雲母) is Sango's faithful demon-cat companion. Kirara usually appears to be a small kitten-sized feline with two tails, but can become large enough to carry several passengers (usually Sango, Miroku, and Shippo). Her full-sized form has more prominent fangs, flames around her feet and tail, and enough power to fly through the air fast enough to keep up with InuYasha's top speed.

At the end of the series after Naraku's defeat, she joins Kohaku as he trains to become a demon slayer while Sango starts her new life with Miroku and their children. The anime series suggests that she was once the companion of Midoriko, the miko who created the Shikon Jewel.

Kohaku

Kohaku (琥珀) is Sango's younger brother. Disguised as the young nobleman Kagewaki Hitomi, Naraku summons Sango's family and companions to slay a false demon, then controls Kohaku with a Shikon shard and makes him kill all of the other demon slayers (Sango survives solely by sheer luck). Castle guards also kill Kohaku that night.

Naraku resurrects him as an amnesiac puppet, but after several encounters with Sango and her friends, Kohaku begins to recover his painful memories. Kagura helps him escape from Naraku, who kills her for the defection. Hoping to redeem himself, Kohaku travels with Kikyo until she tells him he must leave her to keep his shard pure. He later joins Sesshomaru's group and becomes Rin's friend and co-protector.

In the last chapter of the manga, Kohaku goes with Kirara and a new demon-slaying weapon which Totosai made for him. When Totosai asks him if he will visit his sister Sango, he replies that he will not, since the house is getting too crowded.

In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Akiko Yajima. In the English dub, he is initially voiced by Alex Doduk, then later by Danny McKinnon.

Totosai

Totosai (刀々斎, Tōtōsai) is an elderly blacksmith yōkai who forged Tetsusaiga and Tensaiga from the fangs of his old friend, The Great Dog Demon, who entrusted him to help his two sons. As InuYasha grows stronger and Sesshomaru grows more compassionate, they become more capable of mastering their respective swords, which Totosai strengthens accordingly. He spends most of his time at his forge inside a volcano, but sometimes travels elsewhere on a flying three-eyed ox named Mō-Mō.

Totosai often appears to be a cowardly, absent-minded old man, but he is strong enough to pause an attack from Sesshomaru long enough to allow InuYasha to get away; he can breathe fire and his giant forge hammer can open large fire pits in the ground. At the end of the series, he continues his role as a blacksmith as seen when giving Kohaku a new weapon.

Rin

Rin (りん) is an orphan girl who finds Sesshomaru in the woods after he is badly injured by InuYasha's Wind Scar. Although Sesshomaru snubs her, she visits him regularly and attempts to take care of him, even stealing fish from the village for him until she learns that he doesn't eat human food. The villagers beat her for the theft, but when Sesshomaru idly inquires about her injuries, she seems strangely happy about his interest in her welfare. During this time, she never speaks, only communicating with hand gestures and smiles.

Later, the wolf-demon Koga chases a thief to her village, then lets his wolves kill and eat the villagers. Rin flees through the forest towards Sesshomaru, but the wolves catch up to her. Recovered from his wounds, Sesshomaru is leaving when he catches Rin's scent and follows it to her mauled corpse. Remembering her smile, he retests Tenseiga by using it to resurrect her. After setting Rin on her feet again, Sesshomaru walks away, leaving the dumbfounded Jaken and a wide-eyed Rin standing on the path. After a moment, they both follow. The next time Rin appears, she is clean, wearing a new, colorful kimono, and talking and acting more like a typical child. Throughout the series, she continues to follow "Lord Sesshomaru", as she calls him; when he is away on dangerous tasks, she waits for him with Jaken and a two-headed dragon which she names "Ah-Un".

Though Sesshomaru never states any feelings for her, he displays a strong protective instinct and Rin is obviously devoted to him. Rin is killed for a second time when she and Kohaku, now also journeying with Sesshomaru, are taken by the "Dog from Hell." When he finds her body, Sesshomaru is visibly disturbed, especially when he learns that Tenseiga can only revive a person once. Rin's lifeless body is taken by the Master of Hell, with Sesshomaru and Kohaku following to retrieve her. When they return from the Land of the Dead, Sesshomaru's mother uses her Meidou stone to revive Rin. Jaken confirms that it made Sesshomaru happy while Sesshomaru puts his hand on Rin's cheek.

In the final chapter of the manga, set three years after the defeat of Naraku, Rin no longer travels with Sesshomaru and Jaken. Instead, she lives with Kaede, which InuYasha comments is "practice" for her to live in a human village as an adult, or whatever life she chooses. Sesshomaru is shown visiting her and bringing her gifts.

Koga

Koga (鋼牙, Kōga) is the young leader of the southern yōkai-wolf tribe, which is nearly wiped out by Kagura and Naraku. He first meets InuYasha as an opponent in battle, but becomes a reluctant, occasional ally despite maintaining a strong sense of rivalry with the "useless puppy" about their relative combat strengths as well as Koga's persistent courtship of Kagome.

After suffering serious wounds, Koga is partially restored by three Shikon shards embedded into his legs and right arm. The shards are eventually taken away from him by Naraku, gravely weakening him; he leaves and disappears from the manga, after telling Kagome that she may leave InuYasha and come to him at any time.

Media

Manga

See also: List of InuYasha chapters

Written by Rumiko Takahashi, InuYasha premiered in Japan in Shōnen Sunday on November 13, 1996 and concluded June 18, 2008. The chapters are also being published by Shogakukan in collected volumes, with the first volume released in May 1997. As of November 2008, 55 volumes of the series have been released in Japan.

Viz Media licensed the series for an English translated release in North America. The first volume was released in March 1998. At the time, manga was normally published "flipped"--that is, printed in exact reverse order-- to conform to the American convention of reading books from left to right. This resulted in the individual pages being mirrored from the original, so the images seen are also mirrored leaving right-handed characters appearing to be left-handed. Though Viz has since stopped flipping their manga releases, as InuYasha was already well into printing by the time this change was made, it continues to be released in the flipped format. New volumes of the series are released quarterly, and as of January 6, 2009, 36 volumes have been released in North America.

Viz Media is also releasing a separate series of "manga" volumes, called "ani-manga", which are derived from the anime episodes using colored frames from colored frames. These volumes are slightly smaller than the regular manga volumes, are oriented in the Japanese tradition of right to left, feature new covers with higher quality pages, and a higher price point versus the regular volumes. Each ani-manga volume is arranged into chapters that correspond to the anime episodes rather than the manga.

Anime

Main article: List of InuYasha episodes

Based on the first thirty-six volumes of the manga series, the InuYasha anime adaptation produced by Sunrise premiered in Japan on Animax on October 16, 2000 and ran for 167 episodes until its conclusion on September 13, 2004. It also aired Animax's English-language networks in South Asia and East Asia and it was broadcast on Yomiuri TV and Nippon Television.

The anime is licensed for release in North America by Viz Media. The English dub of the series was broadcast on Cartoon Network as part of its Adult Swim programming block from August 31, 2002 through October 27, 2006, with episodes continuing to air in reruns. The series aired on Canada on YTV's Bionix programming block from September 5, 2003 through December 1, 2006, with reruns continuing to run until October 12, 2007.

Movies

Four movies, which exist separately from the anime time line, have been released in Japan. All four movies have also been released with English subtitles and dubbed audio tracks to Region 1 DVD by Viz Media. The first movie, InuYasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time, was released in Japan on December 16, 2001. In the movie, InuYasha, Kagome, Shippo, Sango, and Miroku must face Menomaru, a demonic enemy brought to life by a jewel shard, as they continue their quest for the Shikon Jewel shards. In the second movie, InuYasha the Movie: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass released on December 21, 2002, the group defeats Naraku and returns to their normal lives only to have to deal with a new enemy named Kaguya.

The third film, InuYasha the Movie: Swords of an Honorable Ruler, was released on December 20, 2003. In it, a third sword of InuYasha's father called So'unga is unleashed from its centuries-old seal and seeks to destroy the Earth forcing InuYasha and Sesshomaru to work together to stop it. The fourth movie, InuYasha the Movie: Fire on the Mystic Island was released on December 23, 2004, and depicts InuYasha and his friends attempting to rescue children trapped on the mysterious island Houraijima by the wrath of the four gods, the Shitoushin.