Inuyasha is 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.

 

 

Inuyasha Volume 46 continues the never-ending quest to put Naraku's evil to rest. Naraku finally absorbs Moryomaru, the demon he had assigned to hold his heart, and makes his powers his. In an attempt to stop this , Miroku tries to suck him in, despite sucking in so much of the evil miasma he collapses.  However, Naraku escapes anyway. Now with Koga joining their group, Inuyasha and the gang confer with Kikyo as to their next move. Even odds are it's "Chase Naraku" or "power up Inuyasha's sword".

 

Highlights

Here's an Inuyasha drinking game (age 21 and over only); every time someone says "Miasma", take a drink. It's a little more "monster of the week" action as Inuyasha and the gang run into some monsters that resemble giant peacock porpcupine things; they can fire their quills off to become monsters themselves. Takahashi's creature designs are still creative, but her fights are still rather by the numbers; Inuyasha swings his sword, Sango throws her boomerang, etc. My favorite parts of this fight have to be the addition of Koga to the team and Miroku and Sango's little solo jaunt.  Yeah, remember how they used to fight? Takahashi apparently just did (although she manages to undercut that a bit too). 

 

Koga hanging out with them now allows them to add a little more life to some of the usual gags (Shippo himself remarks this is "getting repetitive" when he sees Koga and Inuyasha at it AGAIN). I particularly liked how a panicky looking Shippo had to hang onto Koga's fur for dear life to keep up with everyone else. Between the fights, the little throw away panels like this are often some of the most amusing parts.

 

However, the second and larger section of the book is bar none the most interesting stuff Inuyasha has been doing in literally volumes. Naraku is seen entering a hidden cave to retrieve his human heart (For those of us who are counting that makes this his second heart). It's a creepy, talking head and he's positive this will allow him to finally defeat our heroes; "The dark power of passion" he smirks. I particularly like that he had apparently stashed the thing in what looked like a pool of dead babies..brrr. This kind of weirdness is what's been missing.

 

Naraku's trap ensnares both Kikyo and Inuyasha, leaving Kagome and the others forced to go by themselves to search for a mystic bow to save Kikyo's life. Gasp and horrors; an adventure where they can't depend on Inuyasha to save them? The adventure that follows deals less with physical combat than supernatural weirdness, on a journey to the center of Kagome's psyche. Memorable sights are a mystical stairway that seems to never end and a faceless monk that takes on the appearance of people with an emotional connection to the viewer. Kagome is forced to finally and really examine her relationship with both Inuyasha and Kikyo and I'm finally given a story that feels like we're going somewhere. Huzzah! If this actually finalizes this subplot I have to admit I actually ENJOYED this volume. And that's a beautiful thing to be able to say.

 

Overall

Shippo said it best, "This is getting repetitive". In response to the poor fox demon's request, the volume suddenly shifts into high gear. When the art design, the still cute character interactions and classic Takahashi premise, are finally put back into a story that feels like it's going somewhere, the clanking, rusted machine that is Inuyasha beguns to actually run smoothly again. For some it may be too little, too late (I haven't put it past them to make Kagome question her relationship with Inuyasha yet AGAIN even after this spirit quest) but for me it feels like vindication. It reminds me why I actually liked Inuyasha to begin with.

 

The fight scenes in the first half of the book, however, show very little depth. It drives home that Takahashi's skills are more in the realm of character interaction and design work than the intricacies of a fracas. The lead villain Naraku has gone through so many different looks all by himself that you'd think they were gunning for a line of action figures. This brings up another good point; many series have gotten by without much deeper plots, or even much deeper fights, but they've been assisted by multiple no good badguys. We've been stuck with Naraku since volume 9.  At least Byakuya, Naraku's latest incarnation is fairly interesting, with a variety of odd powers (turning into a flower and riding a giant paper crane, for example). 

 

Even though some of the character gags are getting reused (Miroku is a perv, Inuyasha has a hot temper etc.) I can't help but still like the little guys. I also still like the setting, with the old villages and samurai and bandits in fancy armors.  Despite that, it's a good thing to see things finally moving. There are officially only ten volumes left after this one. Let's get those last personal problems out of the way and kick Naraku to the curb, yeah? I'm still looking forward to seeing him get his. If you've been reading my reviews to see which volumes are skippable, this is the first one in a while I'd recommend with few reservations to people who remember when Takahashi used to be creative in this series.

 

 

ComicsOnline gives Inuyasha vol 46  4 out of 5 porcupiney demons.