#I just think Kagome brought a LOT of knowledge back with her from the modern era. my Kagome has the ability to traverse time still at—

[feudals]

small headcanon post... but since it's canon that Kagome has long, wavy hair (typical of girls from her era in Japan, they LOOOOVED wavy hair/curls in fashion back then), I like to imagine Kagome spends a LOT of time taking care of her hair. it's not as wavy or curly like her mom's, but she's found ways to keep her hair shiny and beautiful even in the feudal era with medicinal salves. she cuts her own hair now as well, and tends to keep it mid-back/lower back in length, with her bangs still cute and semi long. Kagome uses something similar to the shampoo ginger ( a plant that LITERALLY produces "shampoo" that you can use to wash your hair. ) to keep her self and her body clean, and has cultivated a crude version of a soap bar with her knowledge as well.

[okayto]

Mini-Review: Inuyasha

15-year-old modern schoolgirl Kagome and grumpy half-demon Inuyasha reluctantly team up to recover the pieces of a magical jewel that were scattered when Kagome fell down a well into magic-filled feudal Japan. On their quest they team up with a monk, a demon slayer, and a young fox demon while trying to stay ahead of the large number of people who want one or all of them dead.

This counts as a classic now, right? I remember plenty of Inuyasha cosplays (including me as Kagome for Halloween once), fanart, and the rare anime merch in real stores while the original series aired in the early aughts. But despite that, I wasn’t a dedicated watcher at the time. Which ended up to my advantage, because now the entire series is easily available.

The premise is simple: Kagome falls down a well at her family’s shrine, and comes out the other side in feudal Japan. She’s attacked by a demon that wants to acquire the magical Shikon Jewel embedded in her body, awakens and is saved by the grumpy half-demon Inuyasha, the jewel shatters, and now they gotta go put it back together. Only, Kagome is the reincarnation of Inuyasha’s former girlfriend, the priestess Kikyo, and the two parted on bad terms each believing their lover had betrayed them. (It was a trick by series Big Bad Naraku, but still.)

And because nothing is ever simple, Kikyo gets brought back to life at one point for Reasons, then proceeds to spent a chunk of the series alternating between helping random peasants (because she’s got such a nice soul) and trying to kill Inuyasha and co (because breakups suck).

This is not an intellectual series, but it is a fun series. Mostly. There’s lot of action, lots of magic and demon-slaying, and the occasional respite/comedy break when Kagome heads home because she’s got a school exam, or needs to stock up on snacks, and say hi to a family who is super chill about their teenager just gallivanting around 500 years in the past, using her archery skills to avoid being eaten for dinner.

Yes. In this portal fantasy the portal remains open, allowing free crossing back and forth, which is convenient. I remain, however, mystified by how far the characters seem to travel while always remaining within a fairly easy trip back to their home base where the well is.

In general, you can’t think about it too hard. It won’t hold up, it’s not supposed to hold up. This is a feudal Japan where no one cares that Kagome is running around in a miniskirt, riding a bicycle and eating cup noodles and bags of chips.

On one hand, Inuyasha, like many action series, is great for the casual viewer: after a brief introduction at the beginning, you know the basic setting and the rest of the story in any given episode is easy to figure out (usually: this brightly-colored character wants to harm these other ones and/or steal their weapons). But what’s fun when viewed in short doses gets old if you’re trying to cram it. Not because it’s bad, but binging does make its flaws more obvious.

Its main flaw is that every single character needs to take a course in communicating.

To be clear, every main character has the emotional intelligence of a sleep-deprived sixth grader. Inuyasha isn’t alone in this, but the number of fights that compelled me to yell please work out your interpersonal drama later when demons are not actively trying to kill you was...a lot.

(Don’t worry, there’s plenty of arguing when they’re not dealing with murder attempts, too!)

Okay, so, why watch? I mean, sometimes you just wanna see cool magical people fighting other magical people in ridiculous ways? I mean look at these people!  You’re not going to mix any of them up with anyone else, huh? And the colors, nice and bright!

Also, initial-minor-antagonist-who-refuses-to-admit-he-would-ever-willingly-be-nice Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha’s older half-brother? He was popular eye candy back then, and he’s still pretty now.

Now, my roommate and I watched this over the course of many months, which is what I recommend. It’s a long series (193 episodes total, excluding movies), and why rush it? A plus to watching now is that the series is complete: the original anime ended before the manga, so 163 episodes in, it just...doesn’t resolve. But a few years later, Inuyasha: The Final Act was released and completed the story.

Even so, the show is long enough that unless you’re really enjoying it, you can go ahead and skip the filler episodes that were stuck in the original run. Just google “Inuyasha filler” and you’ll find multiple lists.

Verdict

English dub? Yes

Visuals: I mean, the first 167 episodes are from 2000-2004, so the aspect ratio is 4:3, but it’s held up OK. Character designs are colorful and distinctive. This isn’t going for anything close to realism, but it’s fun to look at.

Worth watching? Yeah, probably. Sometimes you just need a silly action show, and Inuyasha delivers in spades. It’s not perfect--monk Miroku’s lechery and groping is treated as a small character flaw and usually played for laughs, which gets old real quick. A lot of the side characters are legitimately fun as well, from Sesshoumaru’s little entourage Jaken and Rin (does he care about them? he’ll kill you before admitting it) to Kagome’s easygoing family to the recurring wolf demon allies.

Overall, I think I have to hold a long-running fantasy action show to a different standard of “is it good” than I do, say, something with 12-26 episodes. It’d have to get to the point quickly if it was shorter; even skipping the filler, this is the adaptation of a 56-volume manga so there’s just going to be a lot of adventures where the entire point is just “characters get [magical weapon/power-up/knowledge] and beat up some bad guys.” There’s something fun and also comforting in knowing it’s not going to get deep.

Where to watch (USA, as of November 2020): Hulu (sub and dub episodes 1-167, then 168-193 under the separate listing of Inuyasha The Final Act), Crunchyroll (sub and dub episodes 1-54), Netflix (sub and dub episodes 1-54), Viz.com (sub and dub episodes 1-193); multiple blu-ray and DVD sets

Click my “reviews” tag below or search “mini review” on my blog to find more!

[ruddcatha]

Chapter 2 of The Guardian has been posted, find it now at Ao3 and FFN

Kagome stirred, trying to rouse herself from her dreams and the golden eyes that seemed to see into her very soul.  The sound of her alarm barely broke through her daze, she had never felt so exhausted before.  She looked at the offending object, grumbling when she realized that it really was 7 a.m. already, and they had to leave for the site at 8:30.  She stumbled into the kitchenette of her dorm, muttering to Sango who laughed and handed her a cup of coffee, knowing Kagome was NOT a morning person.  Kagome shot her a glance, her chocolate eyes full of worship and thankfulness as she took her first sip of the life sustaining liquid.  Two and half cups of coffee and a piece of toast with orange marmalade later, she felt human enough to shower and prepare for the day.

Kagome caught Sango’s attention and nodded towards the bathroom.  “Go ahead, I’m already done in there…. Unlike SOME people I don’t need an injection of caffeine in the morning” was the teasing response. Kagome gave a joking growl, shaking her head at Sango as she entered the bathroom.  Sango was her best friend from High School, they had been in the same class. Sometimes Kagome wished she had followed Sango’s footsteps and gone straight into Grad School after graduating from university, but she had taken two years to travel to various shrines and museums, learning on her own about different cultures.  She had almost wiped out her savings traveling from Japan to Australia and China to broaden her own knowledge base before applying and joining the archeology program with Sango.  Sango was the sister Kagome never had, and Kagome would gladly trade her younger brother Souta to officially claim Sango as kin.  

Kagome sighed blissfully as the hot water from the shower cascaded over her body.  Her muscles were still sore from the previous day, and she knew it was important to get the knots worked out before going back.  She turned the temperature up even more as she relaxed, lathering, and rinsing her long hair.  She reluctantly turned off the shower, she had not realized that the bathroom had filled with steam.  She frowned and thought ‘I didn’t think the temperature was that hot.’ The bathroom had disappeared in the white haze, she was not able to make out any of the fixtures, it was as if she had entered a dream state, separated out from the rest of the world.  She bent down, trying to find anything to help her get her bearings, for some reason she was desperate to find her towel.  Even though she knew she was by herself, she felt exposed.  She tried to call out for Sango, but the mist around her seemed to absorb the sound. She closed her eyes in both pain and relief as her right hand connected soundly with a solid surface.  She quickly moved towards the surface, reaching out to trace the edges to identify the counter and catch her bearings.  As she moved closer, she began to see her outline in the mirror, distorted through the haze.  She stopped dead, feeling as if all the blood in her body had turned to ice as she looked at her reflection… and the glowing red eyes that seemed to be behind her.  Keeping her hand on the counter, afraid that if she let go, she would be lost in the mist, she quickly looked to see who… or what… was there.

“HEY KAGOME” Sango yanked open the bathroom door “we have to get going or we’ll be late.  What’s keeping you?”  Kagome’s vision instantly cleared, the mist vanishing, the red eyes no more than a figment of her imagination.  “hey you ok?” Sango asked, seeing her friend’s death grip on the counter. Kagome shook her head, trying to ease the fear and tension “yea San, just lost track of time.  Give me a minute and I’ll be ready.”  She dashed to her bedroom, the tension in her easing as she covered herself with a pair of cargo pants and a black tank top. Remembering the chill the day before, and still feeling chills from earlier, she grabbed an old army jacket that she had found in a thrift store.  As she left the bedroom, she grabbed a stack of papers off her printer to bring with her.  Sango raised an eyebrow at the ensemble, Kagome just shrugged, lifted the corner of her mouth “the pockets will come in handy.”  Sango laughed, agreeing with her, heading towards the door of their apartment.  As they made their way to the parking lot, Sango tossed Kagome a bag with two slices of bacon and a sausage link “toast is not enough for today, who knows when Totosai will let us break for lunch.”  Kagome gratefully ate the offering, climbing into the back of the first jeep with Sango, Jaken had already claimed shotgun with Totosai driving.

As they drove to the shrine, Kagome began to review the limited information she had been able to pull from google and obscure legend sites, looking to learn more about the Inu Yokai.  She tuned out the conversation around her as she scoured the pages, frustrated with the limited information she had available.  She wanted actual useful information, damnit, but none of the information she had found seemed in any way credible or explained the statues in the shrine.  She allowed herself to listen to the conversation around her, Sango teasing Jaken over his fascination with frogs and toads.  “I will have you know, there is a very big dist….” Jaken said, about to go into a lecture when Sango leaned over and smacked his forehead “WE KNOW WE KNOW; YOU HAVE TOLD US A THOUSAND TIMES!” Kagome and Dr. Totosai laughed, used to the banter from classes.  Kagome felt the tension from the morning easing with the familiar routine with her friends and classmates.  A sense of calm came over her as they drew closer to the shrine, a smile teasing her lips as the last vestiges of fear faded from her memory, forgotten in her excitement.

The two jeeps made their way carefully through the forest, the modern world disappearing around the team. Soon the two flags that marked the entrance to the underground shrine were visible, and Totosai brought his vehicle to a halt.  The air around the shrine smelled cleaner somehow as Kagome took in a deep breath, the smells of the forest barely detectable.  Sango and Kagome collected their gear from the back of their vehicle before walking to the entrance, waiting to receive their locations for the day.  “Alright” Dr. Totosai exclaimed, looking over his notes “Jaken and Hojo, I want you two in the first room on the left, you made good progress there in identifying the markings and offerings that were found.  Sango, I would like you and Akitoki to take the second room on the right. That room has not been touched yet, and I want you to begin your survey, marking off any artifacts you find and noting them in the logs before you begin recovery.  Kagome, you will be with me again in the main room, I want to see if we can continue to translate the text we found.” Totosai looked at his watch “it is now 9:00, let’s reconvene at 12:30 for lunch and to discuss the afternoons assignments.”  He looked around at his five assistants and saw everyone nod before turning on their lanterns and descending into the entrance.

As the sound of footsteps entering the hallway echoed, a pair of golden eyes snapped open, the owner’s attention drawn towards the stone doors that separated the intruders from his resting place.  In a blur of movement, the figure leapt off the ground, landing with ease in an alcove that had been carved into the upper walls of the room, hidden from view by clever carving, allowing a perfect vantage point.  The light from the lanterns did not reach the alcove, but the individual did not need any additional light to view the two figures as they entered the room. A young man moved silently, hidden in shadows.  He turned his head, listening to the voices below, trying to make out any recognizable words, as the figure looked over the edge, curious but cautious. He knew that they were speaking Japanese from the few words he could make out, but it was a dialect that he was unfamiliar with, and while words seemed familiar, they were also strange, as if the language had changed.  He saw them approach the tallest statue in the front of the room, his eyes narrowed, waiting for any sign of aggression.  He relaxed when the two seemed focused on the legend inscribed on the wall, growling in disgust at their attempts to pronounce the words.  

The man had no idea how long he had been sealed, or who these people were.  He knew his mission, but until he knew that they could be trusted, he would keep out of sight, trying to learn more about them and why they were there.  His eyes were drawn to the young woman below him, and he felt his breath catch as her face was caught in the light.  Despite the distance between them, he could see her features as clearly as if he had been standing next to her, the tilt of her nose, the shade of her eyes.  He was entranced by her, the light dancing off her reflection as she moved, concealing then revealing her features as if choreographed.  Her voice was soft, and he felt his ears move to try and catch more of the sounds.

“Professor over here!” Kagome exclaimed softly.  When Totosai looked around, she had moved to the back corner of the room.  As he made his way to her, she tilted her head, looking at the empty pedestal before her.  “This is the only open pedestal in this room” she whispered as Totosai came near “and look here.”  Totosai leaned down to the base of the pedestal, looking where Kagome pointed. None of the pedestals in the room held any characters or names, but this one was different.  At the base of the pedestal was a stylized carving of a dog, surrounded by a circle.  While a dog carving was not unusual in Japanese art, this carving was designed like the ancient depiction of a demon dog, with a lightning bolt marking on each side of its face.  Kagome tilted her head in curiosity, recognizing the markings.  She looked back to the singe statue in the front of the room then back to the pedestal, confirming to herself that they did, indeed, look almost identical.  She wondered it this was the demon form of the Inu no Taisho.  Looking around the room, it seemed strange that only one pedestal had the marking, while the others were plain.  Lost in her own thoughts and musings, she did not notice her professor going still, his right hand moving to rub his left forearm as he stared at the image.

Kagome reached out an arm to touch the symbol, yet a sound made her pause.  A low growl seemed to echo through the room, so faint she almost thought she was imagining it.  She turned, looking to see where it was coming from, but the sound faded as if it had never been.  She turned to Totosai, about to ask if he had heard it as well, but was interrupted “Kagome, it is 12:30, let’s go get lunch with the others, we can come back after.” She sighed then nodded, grabbing her lantern as she left the room to join Sango.  Totosai watched her leave, then moved to the center of the room, rolling back the long sleeve that covered his left arm. He held his arm up above his head and lifted his lantern with his right hand.  A mark on his arm began to glow silver in the light, the image of a demon dog surrounded by a circle.  He looked up towards the top of the walls, his soft voice echoing in the chamber.

 “Yōkoso hogo-sha, Welcome Guardian.”

A soft sound from behind him made Totosai turn around.  He watched as a figure of a man unfolded, his red kimono a striking contrast to long silver hair that flowed over his shoulders.  Two ears stood atop his head, flicking at the sound of footsteps retreating from the shrine.  His golden eyes stared straight into Totosai’s before turning to look at the mark. Totosai lowered his arms, tilting his head towards the figure in reverence.

 “Welcome back...Lord Inuysha.”

@heavenin--hell​, thank you again for the inspiration!

[alewyren]

tumblr is dead but I’m gonna post my thoughts on Inuyasha here too for archiving purposes. cw for (non-detailed) discussion of sexual assault and suicide wrt kikyo

OKAY. SO. MY THOUGHTS ON INUYASHA. warning for some INCREDIBLY hot takes.

it. sure was a journey. I am not sure if I liked the series overall or not. It had some legit good/touching moments, but it dragged SO LONG and there were a lot of things I thought could've been handled better. But it was fun liveblogging it for sure. And I got NarKik out of it, which snapped me out of my year-long creative dry spell, so it was at least a net positive time investment LMFAO.

I liked... mmmmost of the characters? sango, sesshoumaru, kagura, kanna, naraku, kohaku, K I K Y O, and even kagome were all Good. On the flipside, Inuyasha himself is FUCKING TERRIBLE and he sucks and I hate him. Emotional immaturity ain't cute, he gets everything handed to him on a silver platter, rarely apologizes for being a selfish prick, and the other characters are WAY too forgiving of his bullshit. I got tired of the tsundere het romance cliches between him and Kagome pretty fast, as well as how often he was jealous of her. Like, Kagome's insecurities over Kikyo I can legit understand (despite being #1 Kikyo Fucker). But whenever she's so much as civil with Kouga and Inuyasha's all HANDS OFF MY WOMAN I'm like... dude shut up you two-timing hypocrite. If You Like It Then You Should’ve Put A Ring On It. Credit where credit is due tho, they did chill out over time and some of their moments together towards the end of the series were legit sweet. I'm pretty meh on Inukag overall, and iffy on the resolution of her moving to his era permanently, but that last panel of him greeting her as she came out of the well gave me a Feel.

(Actually, on that note, it... would have been legit kind of hella if the series had ended with Inuyasha himself permanently moving to the modern era? Aside from their friends he had far fewer attachments in his world than she did hers, and there's so much more potential with him having to adapt to the modern era, lol. ALTERNATIVELY, kikyo lives and she switches places with kagome and makes a new life for herself in the modern era. thus letting her truly live as a normal girl. But I'll Get To Kikyo Later. smh)

The premise of the series is actually pretty strong, though of course you can poke holes in it. To my knowledge it was the first isekai anime that really took off, and the driving plot of collecting the Shikon fragments is excellent monster of the week material (though I'm not really a monster of the week fan myself). Also, youkai are awesome. Focusing the series on real-world mythology makes my Shin Megami Tensei heart very excited.

I know the series runs on emotion rather than logic, but I REALLY have some questions here. The fact that the well is explicitly stated to take Kagome back in time rather than to another world makes no sense at all. First of all, where are all the youkai in the present day? Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru are at least a couple hundred years old, right? What happened to them in that 500 year timespan? Surely some creature or another from the series would have naturally survived that long. So what happened? Was there a mass-youkai extinction somewhere along the line? Shouldn't this be cause for concern? Also, do Kagome's time-traveling actions create a stable time loop or a branching timeline? If Naraku won in the past, how would that affect the present? The two eras are just completely isolated from each other and I really don't get it. That kind of stuff. Yeah yeah I know MST3K mantra and all but MAN this bothers me.

Which brings me to Exhibit A of stuff I think should have gone differently: Kagome should have stayed the protagonist, and the modern era should have gotten more focus. Not as in her day-to-day school shenanigans, but stuff touching on the questions listed above. There's just a lot of untapped potential regarding How This Shit Works, rather than confining the story pretty much entirely to the Sengoku Jidai With Youkai. Also there could be plenty of shenanigans with characters OTHER than Kagome and Inuyasha hanging out in the present. LIKE KIKYO. okay yeah my kikyo bias is showing but it would be the perfect opportunity to 1. hide her from naraku (unless he found a way into the present, but that just ties into my previous point), 2. develop her friendship with Kagome. Which would have done both of them wonders. BUT I'LL GET TO KIKYO LATER. (I'm dying imagining Kagome introducing Kikyo to her schoolmates as her cousin and taking her shopping though..... teaching her how to ordinary human... like..... HHH.)

Anyway, Kagome as the protagonist. She was very much the protagonist at the start of the series--she took a more active role in a lot of the monster of the week conflicts, and just had a lot more focus and screentime in general. Then Inuyasha got his sword upgrades and her role in conflicts became reduced to sensing Shikon fragments and occasional use of arrows. It took until the last hundred chapters for her to get ANY sort of substantial power-up, and it felt... unearned? I had been looking forward to her developing her miko powers alongside Inuyasha's youkai powers, and getting bow upgrades to match his Tessaiga upgrades, but it just... didn't happen. Her miko powers having been sealed all along felt like an ass pull, and I wasn't really a fan of the test of character she had to go through in order to get the fancy bow upgrade being solely focused on overcoming her feelings of jealousy towards Kikyo... again... like it's valid for her to feel that way but we've been here already! Surely there's more to her character than this! I think it would've been awesome if she actually got some fights of her own too, and maybe Kaede and eventually Kikyo mentoring her growth as a miko? But as far as canon went, it just felt like she got shallower and less interesting over time as Inuyasha slowly took over the protagonist role and that was a damn shame. Let Kagome be the plucky isekai protagonist she was always meant to be! This, of course, ties in with my assertion that the modern era should have gotten more focus too.

okay, so. it's time. kikyo. Kikyo. I fucking LOVE kikyo, absolutely my fave chara, I was not expecting to love Kikyo this much lmao. All that ship war propaganda was a big fat lie. She has an ASTONISHINGLY mature narrative about the effect of tragedy and trauma on people and relationships, but it was SO under-utilized and shafted in favor of the Love Triangle and Inuyasha's Manpain and I'm FUCKING UPSET. Kikyo was (or at least had the makings to be) the best character in Inuyasha but she was not done justice at all, in this essay I

Like, sit down and think about it. Here we have a woman who lost her parents at a young age, taking on the responsibilities of her household, and training to be a miko on top of it--which in the world of Inuyasha is a very emotionally demanding position that requires her to basically devote her entire life to her duties, ESPECIALLY once she's entrusted with the Shikon Jewel. All while being required to live a life of asceticism and suppressing worldly desires. In short, she basically never had a chance to actually, like. Live. Keep in mind that she was a child/teenager throughout all this (she was 17/18 when she died). That's a LOT of pressure on someone that young.

At this point, she's understandably lonely and depressed, and then along comes Inuyasha. She falls in love with him, gets a taste of a life that would truly make her happy, and has it ripped away. Like, there's some really fucking dark subtext to the whole Onigumo plot. She shows kindness to a random stranger, who proceeds to make a deal with the devil to LITERALLY RAPE HER, and her life is ruined as a result. No, Kikyo wasn't literally raped in canon, because even though Onigumo wanted to rape her Naraku's intentions towards her were... more complicated if still incredibly fucked up, but good lord the subtext is THERE. And as a result of the ensuing incident, believing Inuyasha betrayed her, she straight up KILLS HERSELF. Yes, it was partly to protect the Shikon Jewel, but she did not want to come back to life. Let that sink in. Kikyo was driven to suicide by an incident incited by a man who took advantage of her kindness in order to rape her. (nostalgia critic voice) FAMILY PICTURE!

I'm not gonna pretend Kikyo was the only victim here, though. Inuyasha has pretty clear PTSD from the event too, even after learning Kikyo is innocent. But through his relationship with Kagome, he begins to heal and move on. Then Kikyo gets brought back as a clay zombie, fucks up his whole grieving process, kickstarts the love triangle, you know the story. Kikyo's perspective is actually really interesting to dig into though. She didn't want to be brought back. She's PISSED. Even when the dust settles and she learns that Inuyasha is innocent, the anger and trauma have changed her. She's got a good ol' dose of PTSD herself. She's colder, harsher, engages in risky/self-destructive behavior, and distances herself from her loved ones. Like, think about it. Was there any logical reason she had to separate from Inuyasha and his group to fight Naraku on her own? To keep them in the dark about why she surrendered the Shikon Jewel to Naraku? No. That's a character flaw on HER part. And all this puts real strain on her relationship with Inuyasha. They still love each other, but their mutual trauma has completely changed their dynamic. Their love is based on their past relationship rather than their present chemistry. They don't make each other happy anymore. Neither of them are at fault for that. That's REAL AS FUCK. That's what trauma DOES to people and relationships.

So, yes, I'm a hardcore Kikyo stan who supports InuKag over InuKik. We exist. InuKik does not work as a relationship in the present because they've both changed due to trauma and that's the GODDAMN POINT. It's not a story about true love, it's a story about moving on from first love. The problem is that Kikyo's character is largely confined to her role as a love rival to Kagome. Inuyasha's side of the InuKik narrative, of letting go of the past and healing, is resolved. Kikyo's is not. And boy, I was ABSOLUTELY FUCKING LIVID that the love triangle was resolved through Kikyo's death rather than Inuyasha just... fucking, PICKING KAGOME OVER KIKYO BEFOREHAND RATHER THAN HER NEEDING TO DIE. She can still die after that! I swear, I'm not just salty because my fave died. At least 70% of my favorite charas are dead. I literally don't care anymore. I'm mad that she was killed off in a way that reduced her to being Inuyasha's Woman rather than getting a chance to heal and grow apart from him, as he did from her. And this in turn cheapens the narrative around why InuKik doesn't work as a present relationship to begin with, because he never actually picks present love over past love! He just keeps committing emotional infidelity until Kikyo gets killed off to wrap things up in a neat little bow with no character growth on his part! This shit is why I hate Inuyasha (the character).

Kagome's kindness towards Kikyo also plays a part in why she softens up by the end, yes, but that kindness is entirely depicted as "I want to save her because she's important to Inuyasha and I love Inuyasha." Kagome's character growth in these moments hinges on her picking love over jealousy, NOT through actually bonding with Kikyo. On top of that, Kikyo saving Kohaku over defeating Naraku struck me as out of character (have to show she's not a bad person after all? which she isn't, but still). It definitely made her death feel even more pointless. How come Kohaku gets to live and not her!!! Seriously, the fact that Kohaku gets to live and Kikyo doesn't REALLY rubs me the wrong way. She barely even knew Kohaku! He was willing to die to defeat Naraku! NOT killing Kohaku to defeat Naraku almost cost MORE lives! It could've been a poignant resolution to her character arc, but there wasn't enough buildup for it to be a convincing decision for her to make.

And oh my god, there's SO much wasted potential here. Kikyo's resentment towards Kagome is super understandable, and it's never really explored. Kagome replaced her. Kagome is filling the role she should have filled. What's even left for her except her hatred of Naraku? She asserts that Inuyasha cannot forget her (her being lowkey possessive of him is *chef kiss* my wife is a bitch and I like her so much), and he doesn't, but she still straight up tries to kill Kagome lmao. Like I said they do reconcile, but it's kinda half-assed. Kikyo's feelings are never explored in-depth. She's never truly given a chance to heal and realize that she does have a place in the world beyond her decaying relationship with Inuyasha and hatred for Naraku. That her scarred, flawed existence is still just as fucking valid as Kohaku or Rin or Jaken being able to live after being brought back from the dead. Like lemme stress again that the girl experienced INTENSE trauma and COMMITTED SUICIDE. The notion that she's the only one who needs to die in order to restore the natural order, that her death is beautiful and tragic but necessary, is..... gross, tbh. :U

Like, she can still die, lmao. IMO it'd be legitimately more interesting if she lived, if she had an opportunity to carve a place for herself outside of Kagome like Kagome did Kikyo, but it IS possible for her to die without it making ME want to die. Just resolve the love triangle shit first, flesh out some of her relationships outside of Inuyasha himself (ESPECIALLY Kagome), show her healing and softening, and then she can die protecting everyone or some shit. That would've been fine. But No. She just gets killed off for the service of Inuyasha's character, so he can hook up with Kagome guilt-free, with NONE of this addressed. Because it's more palatable for a woman to be dead than broken up with, I guess? I Hate It Here, You Guys.

her (near) last words being "I've finally become an ordinary woman" rubbed me the wrong way too... it like, tried to wrap her character arc up in a neat little bow while ALSO entirely confining its resolution to being Inuyasha's Woman and discarding the narrative of trauma driving them apart. I love the narrative of the girl forced to be inhuman who just wants to be normal. This just felt like... a really cheap way to go about doing that, at the disservice of her character being about OLD love, for a forced (and false) sense of closure. Didn't like it. God fucking damn, typing it all out just made me even MORE pissed off.

tl;dr: kikyo had the makings of an amazing trauma survivor narrative but it got shafted. she deserved everything. thank you for coming to my TED talk.

SIGH. okay. there are other characters I wanna touch on too. Uhhh I actually thought Naraku was pretty cool, though he became way less interesting after Mt Hakurei (for the most part--he was cool again during the direct lead-up to Kikyo's death as well as the final battle). His identity crisis was pretty neat, as was the way he specifically targeted other people's emotions and relationships as a way to compensate for his own utter lack of a sense of self. Not to mention the cold, detached way he regards his own emotions ("my pp stands up whenever i look at kikyo, wish it wouldn't do that :/") and how this leads him to succumb to the influence of the Shikon Jewel, in contrast to Inuyasha and Kagome breaking the cycle. His lack of motivation is actually kind of the point, and I think it's neat as hell! Things got boring once The Baby entered the picture, and I got the sense Rumiko wasn't really sure what to do with Naraku for a while. His style of villainy got a lot more distant and "just as keikaku," when it was the way he got up in everyone's business and pushed their buttons for his own shallow amusement that made me like him in the first place. His fragments aside from Kagura and eventually Kanna were way less interesting, and I think it would've been neat to go more into his role as basically being an abusive dad, but it's fine. The Baby was a fucking boring and atrocious villain though, jfc. The /idea/ of Naraku's own heart rebelling against him was cool enough, but it means jack shit when The Baby is just a bland-ass villain who doesn't remotely represent the character traits that make up Naraku's "heart" in the first place, even aside from Kikyo.

Speaking of which, his fixation on Kikyo is a LOT of fun. Their interactions (which he was apparently secretly into), how he rejected his own humanity and destroyed both himself and the object of his desires, etc. Which is another reason he got less fun after Mt. Hakurei tbh. I fucking hate the way Kikyo's death was handled overall but I liked that he had to reclaim his human heart in order to overwhelm and kill her. That was neat. Something something toxic desire destroying both yourself and the person it's directed at. Then at the very end he realized that his entire existence was completely pointless and empty and his complicated feelings towards Kikyo were the only thing that ever made him actually, like, give a shit. Pour one out for this absolute dumbass. He's a relatable villain because I too would go to absolutely insane lengths to get over a girl I never even dated.

Uhh who else. Sango and Miroku. Sango was my favorite character in the main party. She's the most level-headed of the bunch, has a super cute design, and her story with Kohaku was responsible for a lot of the emotional moments in the series that really landed for me. Her friendship with Kagome was actually super cute and heartfelt. That scene early on where she broke down crying in Kagome's lap because she was scared of being alone again HURT. Also, Kirara is fucking precious. Miroku I've got mixed feelings about, since on the one hand he's a legitimately interesting character and some of his scenes with Sango did hit fairly hard, but DEAR GOD I hate the quirky pervert trope with a burning passion. If it were played seriously, I'd stan him to hell and back a la Adachi. But it isn't, so it's not. I've got mixed feelings about MirSan too. Their resolution was really sweet, but I was kinda like "wha" when Kagome said Sango had a thing for Miroku in the first place. Like, sure okay, but I think more time should've been spent showing her falling for him in the first place lol. Also the butt-grabbing joke got old fast. And when he proposed to her and basically refused to stop flirting with other women I facepalmed so hard. Can't have character growth when you have unfunny running gags! To his credit, he did chill out for the most part, but still kept making jokes about flirting/scoring that clearly made Sango unhappy and I'm like. Why. Then the bit with Hirai-Kotsu needing to be fixed. I liked their mutual resolve to protect each other, but I thought Sango's comment about how she couldn't live without him was..... a bit much. Like what about Kohaku??? But anyway I'm just glad Sango got a happy ending even if I'm still super *SQUINTS* at Miroku.

Sesshoumaru was pretty neat, I get why he's popular, though wasn't really My Type. Sure he's cool, but his /personality/ was a bit lacking and I think we should have gotten some more insight into his relationship with his father for how much focus his quest for the Best Sword got. His development was pretty good, but I've kind of got an issue with how Rin was more of a plot device than a character. Like, okay, one of the reasons I decided to start reading Inuyasha was because the announcement of Yashahime sparked a wave of Sessh/Rin discourse and I wanted to form my own take on it. And, yeah okay I don't like Sessh/Rin either and I say this as a certified Nasty, lmao. Less because it's problematic (though I find it kind of offputting myself, even aged-up) and more because it's bland. Rin has no character whatsoever outside of being a vehicle for his development and I'm REALLY not a fan of girls being objects for male charas' development. Still, I'm not gonna boycott Yashahime if Sessh/Rin is canon or anything. I prefer him with Kagura or even Kikyo but they're dead, so. If Rin has to be his cum dumpster to make this happen, then that's how it's gotta be.

Thats about it I think. I'd put it a rung or two above Naruto in terms of overall quality, but BOY am I still mad abt Kikyo. 6/10 probably wouldn't recommend, but it WAS fun.

[bunny-wk-fanfic]

Hi Bunny~ I hope you don't mind me dropping in for a request (as you know Fear told me to come in, too). I was wondering if you could do a Male!Merida (Brave) finding Kagome unconscious in the woods and takes her back to the castle secretly to tend to her wounds. Not really sure where this idea came from, but you have freedom to mess around with it! :D love you Bunny~

I apologize for the long wait, here is your request.

There were a lot of things he wasn’t good at, being the lordly prince his mother wanted was the first thing that came to mind. Understanding how to rule was not something he had a grasp on was another thing, but that was changing. Thanks in help to his mother. It was a quick lesson, that while his father may be king, it was his mother that ruled the land.

So he studied her as he studied how to wield a blade or use the bow from his father. Where his father taught him how to hunt and fight in battle, his mother taught him negotiations and ruling both a castle and land fairly. It did take to seeing a witch in an attempt to change his fate, get out of a marriage with the daughters of another clan, that helped bring about this change.

What he did wish he had better knowledge of, was how to help treat wounds.

Looking up from the whittling he had currently taken up, he stared at the small figure that was currently in his bed. He had never seen such a small woman before, he first thought she was a child when he stumbled upon her during a ride a while back. His cheeks warmed when he remembered that wasn’t so.

Still, he brought the woman back, and for some unknown reason, hid her away in his room. With how long she’s been asleep though, he was beginning to feel that it would have been best if he brought her to see someone.

A knock at his door startled him, quick to put the knife and wood he had been whittling to the side and rush to the door.

“Brother, brother!” three voices cried out from the other side, urging him to get to his door quicker.

“What is it?” he grimaced when his hand grasped the door, keeping the three from tumbling in. While it hurt to ignore them the past few days, he didn’t need them seeing the woman and then the rest of the castle finding out. Or worse, their mother.

“You promised to show us how to use the bow.” their voices were a little more subdued.

Grimacing, Meraud crouched down and pressed his brow against the worn wooden door. “I know, and I will. But not today.”

There was a sound of shuffling before his brothers murmured their agreements. Again it broke his heart to keep doing this to them, but until the woman was awake… Well, he’d give it another day and then if she didn’t wake up, then he’d go and get someone that could better help her.

Standing up with a grunt, he scruffed at his hair before running his hand down his face with a deep sigh. Why was he doing this again? Even he couldn’t answer that. Turning, he took a single step when the sound of a bow being drawn back sounded in the silent room stopped him.

Looking up, he blinked at the woman that stood before him, his bow drawn and aimed at him. Blinking wide eyes, his gaze shifting from her, to where he propped his bow and quiver near the fireplace, and back to where she stood.

Her face was still pale, hair sticking to her brow and cheeks as she squinted up at him. Despite the slight shaking in her arms, he saw that her form was one that spoke of experience with a bow. Raising his hands slowly, he ducked slightly. “Easy now, no need for that.” he took a few cautious steps forward, stopping when she raised the bow a little higher. “Alight, alright.”

Narrowing blue eyes, Kagome stared at the man across from her. Waking up, she had hoped it was Kaede’s hut, a quick scan revealed that wasn’t true. It was far too European, and reminded her of the castles from movies to be anything remotely Japanese. And when she became aware of voices, her eyes widened when she saw a towering male with vivid red hair.

Waking up in a strange room with only a man in the vicinity, it did not leave a great first impression. Seeing a bow, Kagome didn’t think twice about going for it, more than happy that the man seemed too occupied with the conversation he was having through the door to pay her any attention.

Perhaps jumping through the well after three years of nothing had not been the greatest idea. But she had so hoped…

His words were thick, she almost didn’t understand him when he first spoke up directly to her. Observing his clothing, her heart skipped a beat when she saw the skirt… wait. That was a traditional design for… some part of United Kingdom, wasn’t it? The Scottish?

Arms lowering, Kagome stumbled into the hard chair behind her as that last thought hit close to home. Was she in Scotland? Oh, she hoped this was just a very, very, traditional location or there was some sort of event that would call upon wearing traditional clothing. She didn’t think she could handle being in medieval Europe. How would medieval Europeans take to a modern Japanese woman?

“Are you alright?” the man ducked into her line of sight, barely tamed red hair falling over his shoulder.

This closer look made her realize just how huge he was in comparison to herself. He could have easily overtaken her despite her being armed with a bow, yet he hadn’t. Said weapon hung limply from her fingers, and he still kept a respectful distance from her. Pale eyes watched her in concern, reminding her of his question.

Was she alright? Physically, yes, although she was beginning to feel sick to her stomach. Mentally? She figured not panicking was a solid way to say she was alright. Emotionally? That would she would need to come back around to at a later date.

“…I… I don’t know.” eyes fluttered as she attempted to hold back the stinging that was building in her eyes. “Wh-where am I?”

“DunBroch.” when she flinched at his answer, his brows furrowed slightly. “You’re… you’re not from around here.”

Despite it being a statement, Kagome shook her head. “No. I’m from… far, far to the east.” putting the bow and quiver aside, she leaned forward. “Where did you find me?”

“Out in the woods.” he crouched down a bit.

Brows furrowed, Kagome attempted to recall her arrival, but as far back she could remember was when she felt the well burst to life with magic. “Was there anything near? A well? River? A… a cottage or hut?”

He shook his head. “Nae. Do you know how you came to be in the woods?”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Kagome scoffed. Of course. That didn’t mean she didn’t wander around until she passed out. Perhaps, if he agreed, he could take her back to where he found her, and she could figure out where it was exactly she arrived at. With a wry smile, she looked back at him. “Would you believe me if I said magic.”

Brows shooting up, he nodded his head. “Oh, aye.”

A silence stretched between them, until Kagome’s stomach growled. Eyes widening, Kagome’s cheeks instantly bloomed into a deep blush. It had sounded so much louder than it really was. It earned a chuckle from the man across from her as he stood up.

He presented her with an open hand. “Come on, then, you have been asleep for two days now.”

Hesitating for a few moments, it took another grumble from her stomach before she accepted his hand. “…thank you…”

“Meraud.” his smile was bright and warm as he looked down at her.

“…Kagome.” she took the time to sound out her name. “Thank you. Most wouldn’t be so, charitable and generous to a complete stranger.”

“It wouldn’t be fair to leave ya out there all alone.” he was careful in handling her, she figured it could be due to their differences in size. “And if magic is what brought you here, then I might know someone that might be able to help you.”

Hope blossomed deep within her, though it was slightly dampened again with embarrassment when her stomach rumbled once again. Blushing, she ducked her head as he led her out of the room and hopefully towards somewhere to eat.

He let out a short laugh, securing her hand in his. “But first, let’s get you something to eat!”