Due to the long running nature of this show, there WILL be some spoilers in this review and the review to follow related to the last season. Read at your own risk, you have been warned. (Although if you've gotten this far, you probably don't need the warning anymore.)
We're almost there. Just one more season and then we'll be done. And I'm kind of glad (I know I said that last time), because I'm running out of things to say about the show. Since I'm tired of posting links to the other articles I did before this one, you can find all the previous parts to the review in the review list under the tab "Inuyasha." To make sure we're covering our copyright obligations, Inuyasha is produced by Sunrise based on the manga by Rumiko Takahashi and licensed in the United States by Viz Media. The Band of Seven are on the prowl, so stay sharp and keep your eyes peeled.
 |
I stand on what I said before: When almost half the band is dead
should they really be the Band of Seven anymore? |
When we last left our heroes, they were just about to catch up to Bankotsu and the remaining Band of Seven members who had just come to a local castle to reclaim Bankotsu's halberd... aggressively. By the time the nakama got there the band was pouring sake in the courtyard surrounded by bodies if that tells you anything. After a brief skirmish, Naraku's presence is confirmed as one of his demon puppets shows up and the Band of Seven is forced to retreat. Eventually the party follows the clues to an island that is said to house this old mummy of a monk by the name of Sant Hakushin, and then things get really interesting after another fight with Bankotsu when it turns out that a number of items in the shrine seem to be assisting Naraku's helpers. (Now why would a force for good ever do something like that? What could this possibly mean? There's a reason, I assure you.) Thank goodness the side-quest cue seems to have finally emptied out, because we seem to have jumped headlong into a mystery folks! Meanwhile other elements are also moving as Kikyo circles the mountain looking for a place to lay to rest the remains she carries and Sesshomaru continues searching for Naraku. Koga's also one the move and things are starting to heat up.
 |
| Thank goodness it doesn't get much further than this. |
In spite of all the reasons why Naraku should not be on Mount Hakurei, all the evidence points to the fact that something is going down there. As a result, in order to avoid the demonic party members being purified by the mountain's affects, Sango and Miroku climb the mountain in order to check it out. Meanwhile a number of epic battles take place, starting with Koga nearly getting blasted to pieces by Ginkotsu and Renkotsu. Fortunately for those of us who deny the existence of medieval cyborgs, this results in Ginkotsu self destructing although Koga also takes heavy damage and ends up having to be dragged to safety by Inuyasha. Suikotsu also meets his end at the hands of Kikyo and Sesshomaru, along with some assistance from his better half who refused to allow himself to kill Rin. Renkotsu also tries to get rid of Kagome and Koga while the former is tending to the latter, but only really succeeds at ticking some people off. Meanwhile, Sango and Miroku finally find conclusive evidence that Naraku is actually hiding inside the mountain and this results in some very nice character development where they basically admit that they love each other more than they try to show. Inuyasha finds the need to try and get up there himself, resulting in his demonic aura being purified and forcing him to go back to being human. This is very inconvenient since Jakotsu happens to have followed him into the mountain and... well, we talked about Jakotsu before I think. (*shivers* Gay guy with ambiguous intentions possibly including rape, it's never explicitly said.) Fortunately for Inuyasha (as well as the audience), Sango and Miroku eventually find Saint Hakushin (who in spite of being mummified is somehow still alive? or undead?) and manage to destroy the barrier before anything too creepy can occur and he mostly just goes blood crazy. Which allows Inuyasha to take Jakotsu out.
 |
| Naraku: Ha! You are no match for my tentacles and eyeliner! |
The last two members of the Band of Seven, Renkotsu and Bankotsu are soon dealt with, though Bankotsu is a bit trickier since not only is he a formidable fighter, but he actually got some character development. Granted, if he had known how Inuyasha generally deals with his foes he may have tried a different finishing strategy than giving his halberd a demonic aura. Otherwise the fight might have gone on way longer than it did. Naturally other things are going on right now too. For instance, on the outside, Kikyo sees Kagura fleeing the scene with a small bundle in her arms before figuring out how to finally lay Saint Hakushin to rest, and Miroku and Sango stumble across these nasty clumps of flesh that look like they were used to sculpt something. But where would the show be without the villain finally showing up, and Naraku finally does, sporting an even creepier appearance. To add to the ominous eyeliner, he's now also sporting tentacles and some extra eyeballs. So what's the first thing he does after reforming himself? Solidify his victory by insuring that the entire Nakama is dead? No, that would be the easy thing to do. Instead, he leaves them for dead in the crumbling mountain to attempt to kill Kikyo now that he's separated himself from Onigumo's heart. Thus the first half of the season ends on a real downer as Inuyasha is distracted by her apparent demise (somehow she manages to fall off another cliff. You'd think she'd be afraid of heights by now with all the cliffs she's gone over.).
 |
Yeah, we always knew it was the
little ones you needed to watch out for. |
The repercussions for this set of developments are pretty vast. For one thing, we have a new character introduced in the latter half of the show. This is Akago, a new incarnation of Naraku who looks like an infant and happened to be the bundle Kagura was carrying away from the scene as Mount Hakurei is about to collapse. He's a pretty nasty little boy, seeing as he can reach into peoples souls and try to control them, and he tries this with Kagome, and fails but still shows what a clever little devil he is by devising the plan to lure Inuyasha away so that he could get at Kagome in the first place. While he runs around for Naraku to try and find the last jewel shard, we get to take a break for a bit and have a few character episodes as the rest of the gang regroups, Kagome's school holds a cultural festival, and Miroku and Sango officially become a couple following a creepy scenario involving a village of possessed women who've been forced to swallow demonic salamander eggs (Eww...).
 |
Wow, apparently no one can resist
being attracted to Sesshomaru in-universe, either. ^^ |
There's also some filler and retconning as Shippo becomes the leader of a nakama of fox demons for an episode (one of the most annoying you'll see in either language ><;) and a story arc about a human woman who had an unrequited love for Sesshomaru and pulled an Onigumo because of it. We also get to see a couple of other minor characters again as we run into the old exorcist who couldn't sense auras, as well as a character from the films, Akitoki Hojo, an ancestor of Hojo's (the unlucky boy who likes Kagome in the present) as he has been given the task of finding a way to purify half of a very special naginata at the end of the season. Of course, since Mount Hakurei basically dissolved, this isn't quite as easy as it should have been so he has to find a different shrine to go to. The search for the shrine is where the season leaves off with the Nakama fighting it out with a gang of nasties inspired by the four primary directions on the compass who follow this guy named Hoshiyomi. They don't seem to be related to Naraku in any way which is a little annoying (damn filler ><), especially since Kagome is stressing out because the Hojo in the present showed her a family tree that revealed Akitoki's wife was named Kagome leading her to wonder if she stays in the past and marries him. We're still getting quite a bit of filler, but it doesn't feel like quite as much as last time, which is good, because I am getting sick of filler.
This season we get one new intro and one new outro. The intro "One Day, One Dream" by Tackey and Tsubasa isn't much more than another generic pop song, but "Come" by Namie Amuro does very well as an outro. However, there is also an image song that plays around the time of Kikyo's untimely exit, and a new them introduced for the infant that sounds rightly evil and ominous for when he's scheming something. His voice actor is also the only really notable addition to the cast, (aside from filler characters that I'm not gonna count). Ai Kobayashi (Deunan from Appleseed) does a good job at voicing a creepy kid, but Chiara Zanni, his English voice actress isn't half bad either. We're almost there gang. On it's own, I can't say this season is as good as the first two, but not as bad as the last one either, so it's gone back into tolerable ranges, so I think we'll make it. So, until next time, jya ne!
Images taken from Inuyasha.
