Topic: Manga and Anime discussion

Expand

InuYasha (Manga) -As I've mentioned countless times by now I'm working my way through the original series in anticipation of the sequel, and quite surprisingly managed to finish the manga before the anime. This is only the second time I've been through the manga (I'm more familiar with the anime), and as such it was interesting going through it with a bit more of a critical eye. To keep this from being overbearing I'm going to break things down arc by arc (or rather phase by phase, as it often doesn't have focused long form arcs like other shonen series, for better or worse, and as such will be giving them my own names most of the time).

"the Beginning Arc" (Chapters 1-93) - Modern schoolgirl Kagome ends up in Japan's feudal era, and after accidentally shattering a magical artifact called the Shikon Jewel into hundreds of fragments, she must set out to collect them alongside half dog demon InuYasha (who seems to be an old enemy of the Priestess Kikyo, whom Kagome appears to be the reincarnation of). This part of the series is very episodic in nature, with the pair finding themselves up against various demons who have found themselves in possession of a jewel shard. There's seemingly constant advancement towards the end goal here (even though you don't really know how many shards there are), and it's kept interesting by the introduction of most of the main cast & prominent side characters, not to mention the quickly advancing romantic angle to InuYasha & Kagome's relationship, which sees nearly constant growth in this early stage, and of which the manga handles much better than the anime does (in their great wisdom, the anime writers completely removed the scene where InuYasha effectively asked Kagome to be in a relationship for whatever reason, and mishandled some other moments as well). I should also note that at this point, the manga is much more graphic than the anime. It's quite a bit more gory (particularly decapitation happy) and while it's not saturated with nudity, unobstructed views of female characters' breasts aren't uncommon (usually the few times when InuYasha accidentally walks in on Kagome bathing, or humanoid female demons who I guess understandably don't share human modesty). Some stories from this arc were so graphic that they had to be reworked quite a bit to be included in the anime, such as the Noh Mask & the Cannabalistic Sage Tokijin, the later of which was delayed quite a bit in the anime.
"Naraku's Castle Arc" (Chapters 94-223) - Shortly after the main villain, Naraku, is introduced, the quest turns to finding and defeating him (he appears to have most of the jewel shards), and in this arc the group wanders around looking for his elusive castle. The series still takes on an episodic format at this stage, though with most events being traps set up by Naraku (including a fake castle or two), there isn't a lot of advancement towards the main goal, and things kinda go in circles until Rumiko (the mangaka) just sort of randomly decides she's ready for the gang to stumble upon the real deal. Granted, while nostalgia may play a part, I still really like this part of the series, and think it looses something afterwards. To be fair, there are other things going on here as well, such as the introduction of the last few prominent long term characters early on, InuYasha gains 3 new abilities throughout, InuYasha & Kagome's relationship is still a common focus, and you get the beginning of Miroku & Sango's romance as well. While it's still quite a bit more gory than the anime at this point, the nudity makes an abrupt departure shortly after Kagura is introduced (other than one other instance, once again featuring Kagura, way out somewhere in the 300's).
"Band of 7/Mt. Hakurei Arc" (Chapters 224-282) - This is the only arc in the series that more closely resembles the more structured type of arc you usually see in shonen action series, and is a lot of fans' favorite. Naraku is holed up in a specific location, and in order to get to him our heroes must fight past a vicious assassin group known as the Band of 7. It's also the moment in the narrative where the various side characters all start coming together in their own quests to kill Naraku, though not all are enthusiastic at the prospect of working with the core group. Unfortunately, while they still have their moments, romantic interactions between InuYasha & Kagome start taking a backseat to other things, and it marks the beginning of a long period where they seemingly spend more time pissy with each other over a recent Kikyo or Koga appearance than they do having actual romantic moments between themselves. There's quite a bit of advancement in Miroku & Sango's relationship though. It still retains it's gory edge over the anime, and in terms of darkness even features the series' only attempted rape (this is very toned down in the anime).
"The Last Shard Arc" (Chapters 283-326) - At this point there's only one jewel shard left that's not yet claimed by a notable character, and as it has somehow found it's way into the underworld, it's a race between our heroes & Naraku to find out how to retrieve it. As it's an entire arc focused on collecting one jewel shard, even as a big fan of the series there's no denying that Rumiko is definitely starting to meander about at this point. Still, InuYasha gets his first power up since the Naraku's Castle Arc, and while they still have moments, InuYasha & Kagome relationship time is spread out more than ever, at this point starting to be relegated to the very sparse (yet admittedly often humorous) modern era chapters. Miroku & Sango have better luck and make a HUGE leap near the arc's beginning.
"Moryomaru Arc" (Chapters 327-448) - Across the series Naraku has "birthed" incarnations (henchmen created from his flesh), and in this arc one by the name of Moryomaru (well, technically another behind him) decides to gather the others and try to usurp Naraku. Important things do happen here (particularly the death of a notable side character, and InuYasha, Sesshomaru, & even Koga all get powerups), but it's by far my least favorite arc and really feels like Rumiko is stalling for the sake of stalling at this point, even if it is ultimately to clean the slate back to just Naraku for the finale. InuYasha & Kagome's moments are still limited to the rare modern era reprieve, and there's not many Miroku & Sango moments either. At this point most of the manga's edge has gone and it's not particularly any gorier than the anime (ironic, as it's at the very beginning of this arc where the first anime series abruptly ends).
"Resolutions Arc" (Chapters 449-558) - By this point it's time for things to come to a close, so things actually start happening all the time (in fact it begins by wrapping up Kikyo & Koga's role in the story, and doesn't stop there). Most of the main cast instead of just InuYasha gets powerups, many times for the first time, relationships start growing again & it's off to the final battle & end. By far the most I was invested in it since the Naraku's Castle arc.

Conclusion - I think it had a pretty solid ending. Poor Koga simply gets written out (after losing his jewel shards & giving up on Kagome, results so expected I don't consider them spoilers, he simply runs off about 100 chapters before the end, never to be seen again. Luckily the anime remembers to give him an ending), but for the most part every major player is given their due, and it's a pretty satisfying ending.

However, and this may just be me caring waaay to much, for a series so focused on InuYasha & Kagome's relationship, I can't quite shake the feeling it didn't end on the bang it should have (no pun intended). Throughout it's entire nearly 560 chapter run they never once shared even one kiss (hey, even Kikyo got 2), though once again the anime rectifies this. Granted, Kagome loved him so much that even after being seperated for 3 years she jumped at the chance to be with him even though it meant probably never seeing her world or family again, and maybe Rumiko thought that alone spoke louder than any traditional romance tropes could, but it still strikes me as odd that their official marriage status was only confirmed in a roundabout way, when she refered to Sesshomaru as "big brother", and even in the special epilogue chapter, which has never been animated, you never even get a slight look in at their everyday married life, with what downtime it contains taking place in Miroku & Sango's household, which we already got to see at the end of the series proper.

Granted, Rumiko is just as bad (if not worse) than Dragon Ball's Akira Toriyama in terms of planning (every interview of her's I've read she admits she never plans ahead on any of her series, letting things flow week by week, and she admitted to being particularly indecisive on the issue of InuYasha & Kagome's relationship, seriously considering a "bad end", only deciding once she had started on the final chapters already, and only after calling up Kagome's Japanese VA for her input, as she figured she'd know the character better than herself at that point). So, she was either too indecisive to include a kiss/more involved marriage moment due to last minute decision making (apparently the endings for Ranma & Rinne are even less satisfying, according to others I've heard from), was pressured into a happy ending and didn't include any out of spite, or I'm thinking way to hard about it.

If you've read through all of this (especially for such an old series at this point) I salute you, and can look forward to my thoughts on the anime at some point in the future. Recently posted my thoughts on the second movie in the Movie thread.