Inu-Yasha

Director
Masashi Ikeda
Production
Sunrise, Yomiuri TV
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
30 mins/per episode
Year
2000

Inu-Yasha

By Frank Orville
19th May 04

I tried to like Inu-Yasha, I really did. And to be fair, it isn't bad. But I've been spoiled on Takahashi-san's wonderful manga, and the anime just doesn't quite measure up.

By now, everyone should have heard about Inu-Yasha. This "feudal fairytale" is the story of a schoolgirl from modern Japan, named Kagome, sent back in time 500 years through a magic well. She ends up fighting monsters, demons, and spirits at the side of a demon boy named Inu-Yasha. All the while she still attends school in the present, getting further and further behind in her studying while working hard to keep her friends from learning about her double life.

The anime is a reasonably faithful reproduction of the original manga. There are no major changes (yet) in the characters or story, but there are quite a few minor changes. In fact, there are so many changes that the anime just does not have the same flavor as the manga. Two changes in particular ruin the anime for me.

The first of these is the level of detail. The original manga by Rumiko Takahashi is something of a study in contrast. The artwork is absolutely beautiful, but at the same time usually very simple and minimal. This simplicity of style gives the manga a very powerful effect, particularly in those few times where the detail gets cranked up. The anime, on the other hand, tries (and fails) to copy this sense of power by going the opposite direction. The art is always very lavish and heavily detailed. It looks beautiful, but it also serves to distract from the main story and action.

Consider the very opening scene of the very first episode, with Inu-Yasha stealing the jewel of four souls. In the manga, the town is a little farming village in the dirt. In the anime, it is a sweeping, majestic city, almost like a temple on the hillsides of Kyoto. And the scene lasts twice as long as it really should. What was three or four pages in the manga gets stretched out to three or four minutes in the anime. The scene just loses most of its power with all the extra detail and length. This is fairly typical for most of the anime in general, and the very first episode in particular.

The one other change that ruins the show is in the character of Kagome. The change is very subtle, but it is very important. In the manga, her character feels very much like someone who is thrown into a completely strange situation and is scrambling to cope. In the anime, her character does not seem to have any trouble at all coping with the oddity of her situation. She just seems too capable. To me, the best part of the manga is watching Kagome grow, learn, and come into her own power, because that is where most of the conflict comes from. But Kagome's growth is no real source of conflict in the anime, because she seems to adjust right away with being the proverbial fish out of water. She is already a capable woman, so seeing her become one is neither exciting nor fulfilling.

So really, the anime isn't bad, but it just isn't good either. It is an average adaptation of an above-average manga. You can watch the anime if you wish, but the original manga is far better.

6/10

-- Frank Orville 19th May 04

Inu-Yasha Images