Anime time again courtesy of Shawn Francis, this time he takes a look a popular classic anime, InuYasha, based on the Manga by acclaimed writer/artist Rumiko Takahashi, creator of the equally popular Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura. Here focusing on the the complete movie collection Blu-ray, released stateside by Viz. Check out Shawn's review after the jump...
Written By Shawn Francis
I
have never heard of InuYasha and had to do some googling to educate
myself on it. It basically started as a The Final Act, attached to it,
which, apparently, is an adaptation of the final volumes of the
manga. Four animated movies followed that have no connection to any
part of the manga, but act as standalone movies.
InuYasha
is the name of a half human/half dog demon character whose mission is
to recover all the pieces of this magical jewel that were
accidentally split into pieces by a human girl named, Kagome. This
Kagome is from modern day Japan, InuYasha is from feudal Japan,
Kagome is able to interact with InuYasha by jumping down this magical
well that exists on her property and getting transported back in
time. Oh, and they appear to be “girlfriend and boyfriend.”
These
two do not work alone. There are others they have banded together
with to recover the shards of this magical Jewel: Miroku, a monk
whose primary power is a wind tunnel embedded in this cursed left
hand; Sango, a Demon Slayer, who has no powers but fights with a
massive boomerang shaped weapon, and rides a giant cat-like creature
called, Kirara. Rounding out this motley crew is Shippo, a
shape-shifter, child-like Fox demon and Myoga. a flea-sized demon who
looks like an old man, with six arms.
There
are four films in this collection, spread out on two discs. On Disc
#1 you get Affections Touching Across Time (2001), which deals
directly with InuYasha’s past. His demonic father defeated another
demon by the name of Hyoga. Here we are centuries later and InuYasha
must deal with its offspring, Menomaru, who has a moth motif going
on. He controls the insect, using them as weapons as they swarm and
flower their victims with dust that renders them unconscious. He
seeks revenge, in so doing he harnesses his dead father’s powers
and becomes a Godzilla sized moth-like being that InuYasha and
company must contend with. In The Castle Beyond The Looking Glass
(2002) a specific demon, Naraku, responsible for Miroku’s
cursed wind tunnel hand is seemingly, and finally, killed by
InuYasha. But this is where things go from bad to worse, a couple of
female “demons” who were either in league with, or enslaved to,
Naraku are free to wreak their own brand of havoc. Havoc that
involves releasing some kind of powerful entity that was imprisoned
in a mirror, and who has the power to give InuYasha the one thing he
desires, to become a full demon.
On
Disc #2 we have Swords Of An Honorable Ruler (2003). A
prologue recounts InuYasha’s his tragic birth, where is mother and
father died. The story here revolves around the three swords his
demonic father wielded. One of them was possessed and only he had the
strength to use it without any serious “consequences” befalling
him, but upon his death instructions were never given as to what
should become of it. The other two were bequeathed to InuYasha and
his brother, Sesshomaru, respectively. The name of this evil sword is
So’unga, and the story this time is how to stop it once it starts
corrupting every one that handles it, even InuYasha.
The
final film, Fire On The Mystic Island (2004), again concerns
itself with an event from InuYasha’s past, where he and former
“girlfriend,” Kikyo, were boating one day and encountered a
mysterious island that materialized out of no where. Here they
encountered some very evil Gods that “marked” InuYasha. 50 years
later, InuYasha and gang rescue a child from some very evil Gods on
an island and this time the Four War Gods will have InuYasha and
their missing “property” (the rescued child) once and for all.
When
I started watching these movies and saw how the first two were
“resolved” I became concerned that the other two were going to be
predictable. In movie #1 InuYasha is seemingly wounded mortally, but
Kagome’s love for him “resolves the issues.” In Movie #2, it’s
Kagome who’s seemingly wounded mortally, but, again, Kagome’s vow
of eternal love for him gets them and everyone to a better place.
Thankfully, Movies #3 and #4 do not revolve themselves specifically
around their relationship, and I was relieved to see endings that did
not hinge on their “undying love for one another.”
Each
movie gets better and better, and there isn’t one that looks, or is
plotted like the other. They each have unique settings, villains and
supporting characters, which I give a strong thumbs up to. Movies #3
and #4 were the best, for the stories kept InuYasha and Kagome’s
relationship on the back burner. The comedy, which I’m never a big
fan of animated movies and series, is more plentiful in Movies #1 and
#2, and again, I was relived to see it toned way down in the later
films.
Movie
#3, Swords Of An Honorable Ruler, is most notably the more
violent and bloody, since one aspect of the plot revolves around
resurrecting the dead, and there are plenty of scenes of “zombies”
laying siege on our heroes. These zombies aren’t munching on people
though; only fighting them.
The
animation (action and character) is consistent throughout all three
films and is quite good, being smooth and dynamic in the action
scenes, as they should be.
All
three are rendered in 1080i (not ‘p’) 1.78:1 aspect ratios, and
you can either listen to the movies dubbed in English (5.1 or
stereo), or in its original Japanese language (5.1 or stereo). Both
come with English subtitles, too.
Extras
include Production Artwork, English credits and a trailer for Neon
Alley’s streaming website.
I’m
not a fan of comedy animes, which is how this collection first
looked, but I was happy to find that despite the comedy, which did
not overtake the narratives, even in the first two movies, there were
serious storylines where characters lived and died. Recommended to
all InuYasha fans, but you guys probably already knew that by now,
and for general fans of anime, who may not be familiar with this
character, give it a look, it’s got a lot of good points going for
it.
(Note:
For U.K., fans, you’ll have to import this collection; it doesn’t
appear you have a UK distributor of this title. Viz Media puts it out
in he U.S.).
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