Inuyasha Vol. 45 continues the story of Kagome, the reincarnation of a Japanese priestess from the feudal era, and her adventures with Inuyasha, a half-demon. The Shikon Jewel, a crystal tainted with evil power that enhances the abilities of demons, has shattered and the pair is trying to collect all of it.  However, it's now (aside from three shards with Kohaku and Koga respectively) completely in the hands of their arch-nemesis, the half-demon Naraku. There’s no telling what evil he will do next, and their small band of heroes fights to destroy him and save the innocent people of feudal Japan. They fight demons and fall in love with each other in elaborate love triangles..it is a Takahashi series after all. Inuyasha is part action/ horror (with some gore) and part funny/sad love story.

In the previous volume, Inuyasha and his friends teamed up with Koga and a young wolf demon to defeat a monster that was devouring wolf tribe members…and they eventually ended up sparring with Moryomaru for about the tenth time. Predictably, he escaped once more. Yes, even my recaps are becoming sarcastic now. However, in a neat change of pace, Koga was useful in the fight, and it looks like he might even be traveling with the gang now! Sweet, right?

Highlights

At the start, Inuyasha and friends are investigating what looks like is going to be another monster-of-the-week; a tree demon that's been returning to life lately, and oh look, Naraku's given it a shard. Inuyasha himself remarks on how Naraku's basically been handing the things out like candy to every two-bit demon in Japan in order to take them on; yes, the protagonist himself is like "not again". Then it gets interesting when Naraku himself shows up; leading into what has to be the reason to buy this volume. Naraku takes on Moryomaru, the minion he's been "fattening" up to power himself up with. The weird fight of sort that ensues has tentacles flailing, and all sorts of ooze flying. They absorb each other, etc, it's pretty weird-looking stuff.  The ingenuity in the creatures and the art is as high as ever; someone just popping in for this volume would really enjoy it as much as any long-time reader. If there's one thing Takahsi does well, it's make an outlandish fight like this super accessible and easy to follow.

Even Miroku and Kagome get a couple good moments in this volume. Hopefully Inuyasha  will start to be about everyone again, and not just our titular hero with the really simple battle plans. Hint: They used to start and end with "I'll hit it with my sword" and they now start with "I'll throw diamond spears from my sword at it" and end with "hit the demon vortex".

Overall

Yes, there is progress in this volume. Even though Koga runs off at the start, he does spend most of the volume with them, and on top of that, we finally get the end of one our long-time villains. Godspeed, you redundant foe and let a flight of angels carry you to your rest…someplace far, far away.

I probably complain too much; I really do want to like Inuyasha. The characters and their interactions are funny, the world is extremely creatively drawn and I was a huge Ranma fan. When Inuyasha snaps at Koga, or Miroku makes a deadpan comment, or when Shippo says something naive and cute I remember why I fell in love with this series a couple years ago. When Naraku becomes a weird as hell spiderlike monster and tries to absorb a giant flying half monk/demon spiky monstrosity, I grin and admire the bizarre imagery. Then when Naraku escapes for the umpteenth time, I die a little inside.

I'd really have to recommend Takahashi's new series Rin-Ne over these later volumes of Inuyasha; they move and innovate and this series has really begun to spin its wheels. This volume still passed my "did something happen check" and for Inuyasha, with flying colors, but is finally seeing one foe die enough for a volume? It shouldn't be, it really shouldn't.

My advice is to skip a volume here and there and return for the finale; it's a great series on the whole, but man, when it slows down around volume 30, it slows down something fierce.  Here's hoping Kagome and Inuyasha get their happy ending..and soon.

                            
ComicsOnline gives Inuyasha vol 45, 3 out of 5 big tentacly monstosities.