#Inuyasha analysis

[dyaz-stories]

The Biggest Problem with Kikyou

Warning: This is definitely not Kikyou friendly. Please don’t read if you don’t want to read about it. As always, I’m trying to keep this interesting so I don’t personally think of this as purely ‘anti’, however don’t read if you think it’s going to make you uncomfortable. And as always, you can absolutely say so if you disagree with me.

I have already talked about some of the problems I have with Kikyou, which is why this time, I want to look at her not as a person, through her actions if you will, as I did before, but truly as a character. By that, I mean I want to talk about what consequences her actions have on the story, but also what consequences her actions have for her.

If we look at the story chronologically, the very first action I would mention is her asking Inuyasha to turn himself human/heavily suggesting that he should do it.

(Please keep in mind that Inuyasha absolutely hates being human.) Looking purely at that, it is interesting for me to realize that not only will people not mention that again, but also that, when we find out the truth about the Jewel, this isn’t discussed. It is particularly striking in the epilogue, where she is mentioned without any reflection on who she was, even though using the Jewel on Inuyasha could have had dramatic consequences for him.

Moving on, after her resurrection, Kikyou is brought back differently. The murder of the monk is probably the biggest proof of that.

I’m not going to discuss whether it was right or wrong. Kikyou didn’t want to die again, however she doesn’t show much hesitation before doing what she does. That’s the big deal. I feel comfortable saying that it is meant to show us, the readers, what has become of her. She has fallen, in a way. I don’t think it makes her an uninteresting character, on the contrary, however I have a problem with the fact that this is never mentioned again. Kikyou never shows remorse for doing this — or... pretty much anything — even later, at a point where her character is supposedly redeemed. She doesn’t have a reflection on her actions.

Kikyou later tries to kill Inuyasha, (and is also, accessorily, mean to Kagome in the process). Once again, I want to point out some specificities of that interaction that are often overlooked in my opinion. First, that Kikyou also tortures Kagome.

Second, that Kikyou hears Kagome telling her that Inuyasha isn’t guilty, that she chooses to ignore her, and that it is only after having failed that she goes to see Kaede, to ask her what Kagome was talking about, meaning that she had paid attention to what Kagome was saying and couldn’t be bothered to look into it at the moment.

Last but not least, from this interaction on (and after her conversation with Kaede), Kikyou knows or has guessed that Kagome means more to Inuyasha than her.

I’m not a big fan of describing the ‘Love Triangle’ interaction as, precisely, a Love Triangle, because I think this appellation can only be used when there is love, and I don’t think there is love between Inuyasha and Kikyou. I can actually get behind the fact that Inuyasha used to be in love with Kikyou, although I mostly don’t have an opinion on the subject and I very much don’t think he still loves her during the manga, but I cannot believe that Kikyou loved him. So make no mistake: during later interactions, whether it is when Kikyou claims his life or when she listens to him telling that his life is hers, she knows exactly what she’s asking him to give up. If you take that into consideration, the fact that Kikyou claimed that she did not care for Kagome’s life shows how little she cares about Inuyasha, about his happiness.

And then, there’s how she just leaves Kaede as soon as she starts talking about Inuyasha, even though she just learned he didn’t kill her.

She only stops to ask if Inuyasha has changed. She doesn’t care for his pain, she cares that he’s happy without her. She cares that she’s not the one giving him that — but I don’t think I can say it has anything to do with love, or only the most selfish and, to me, repulsive kind of love.

You see, that’s “the biggest problem about Kikyou”. Typically, it’s ‘you can’t have both’. You can’t tell us that Inukik have a deep and tragic love, all while showing us that Kikyou doesn’t care for Inuyasha’s happiness but only to have him (‘you’re a bad dog baby but I still want you around’), and I mean that literally, and that Inuyasha cares more for Kagome (there are at least three instances of him placing Kagome before Kikyou). This isn’t tragic. This is awful — mostly for one of them.

And since we’re talking consequences: what are the consequences for Kikyou for doing that?

Nothing. Nada. Nichts. No one will ever say that this is awful. No one will ever point out that she can’t ask that of Inuyasha, especially because she very much didn’t die ‘following him’ or anything.

Later in the story, we have two of my biggest pet peeves with her character, three enormous things that she does that are terribly handled in my opinion. One, she gives Naraku a new body.

This is probably where I think the writing is the worst. You see, it could have been the only solution. She could have not have a choice to save Inuyasha. We could simply not have been told about it. Instead, we find out about it, and the characters never do. Let me repeat: the characters never learn that Kikyou voluntarily gave Naraku a new body when she had the possibility not to. There’s another problem at this point, which is that Kagome defends Kikyou and is wrong to do so.

Because, you see, this is a story. Yes, I know you know that, but bear with me. The fact that this is a story means that you’re supposed to draw conclusions. There are messages, if you will. Typically, if you have a character who never trusts anyone because he was betrayed in the past and he trusts someone and that person doesn’t betray him, it means ‘choose who you give your trust to’. If you have that same character and he trusts someone and gets betrayed again, it means ‘don’t trust anyone’. Kagome, here, trusts Kikyou several times (she helps her but Kikyou could move, she defends Kikyou but Kikyou did exactly what she says she didn’t, she tries to help Kikyou against Naraku but Kikyou could move and she’ll try to kill her and she gives the Jewel to their worst enemy and she doesn’t warn them about it) and is always wrong to do so. Which, in a story, can be translated by: don’t fucking trust her. If one betrayal is a red flag, what’s that supposed to be?

However, from then on, Kagome’s attitude towards Kikyou will always be shown to us as due to her jealousy.

On a side note, I want to say that even though I’ve seen people criticize the representation of anime-Kikyou because she laughs in Inuyasha’s face after trying to kill Kagome, but manga-Kikyou flat out lies to him. Which, once more, Inuyasha will never find out about.

And so, Kikyou gives the Jewel to Naraku. She gives a nuclear bomb to a terrorist, a machine gun to a serial killer, a… You got it. Does Kikyou warn people about it? No. Does she stick around to make sure people won’t be hurt? No.

How is it resolved?

Yeah, that’s it. Kikyou gave the Jewel to Naraku, but she’s sorry that Inuyasha got hurt because she doesn’t want him to die (which contradicts the previous events with such aplomb that…

Really, Rumiko?). Inuyasha trusts her though (for absolutely no reason after everything she’s done) and the reason why Kagome isn’t happy about it is because she’s jealous and not at all because Kikyou tried to kill her. Or tortured her. Or did things that make her untrustworthy. Which would make sense, and don’t get me wrong, it totally should be used as the reason why Kagome has a problem with it, but the story shows it to us as jealousy, through Miroku and Shippo’s comments, but also through Kagome’s ‘childish’ reaction (girl’s fifteen, but this is still her walking away from her injured boyfriend and apparently not caring for his injuries any more). As for Miroku, he’s not going to say anything about trusting Kikyou. Even Sango won’t, even though that should make it a lot harder for her to get to Kohaku.

No, that’s the resolution.

But, okay, I’ll let it slide, because that is extremely useful.

Oh wait.

How is it useful exactly? Because, correct me if I’m wrong but 1) Kikyou gives up everything she did to save Kohaku (1) life 2) It was all useless anyway. The only reason why Kikyou decided to do this was because she wanted to destroy the Jewel and Naraku in one hit, which we know because there were tons of other occasions. There was a point where Naraku was nearly destroyed by being hit by two sacred arrows, shot by an untrained priestess whose powers were sealed since her birth. What about that time when she went to visit him? She could have killed him then.

Oh, and that other arrow she gave Kagome? That could have killed him too. What about that time when Naraku’s heart wasn’t in his body? He could have died then too.

So, the only reason why Kikyou does that, is because she wants to destroy him and the Jewel. Which, I get. It was her job to purify the Jewel, she died before she could finish it, now she wants to do it, it’s all good.

Except that… It wouldn’t have worked? That’s not how you can destroy the Jewel?

Which means that everything she did was pointless anyway? Which means that all those deaths, all that pain, all this was for nothing? Except maybe bringing Kohaku back, but I’m sorry, as much as I love Kohaku (and I really like him, actually), I can’t say it was worth it. Sorry, dear. Also, the fact that Kohaku stays kinda undermines Sango’s development in my opinion, so…

Speaking of Kohaku, he’s another typical case of ‘you can’t have both’. You can’t both tell us that Kikyou only wants to use him, which he knows, and tell us that she’s helping him.

She’s not even trying to do that. And if the reason is ‘but it’s because she actually cares’ or whatever other bullshit, there’s no reason why Kikyou would make him feel better but people who actually love him wouldn’t. Kikyou really has a tendency to sacrifice people who she ‘cares for’, hm? Sorry, this is starting to get on my nerves.

Anyway, my point is, this reduces the utility of Kikyou in the story to nothing, in terms of action. She isn’t of any use in the final fight. It’s not even her light that appears in the Jewel in the end and helps destroying it, it’s Kagome’s.

And this, this whole thing, is the biggest, I’d even go as far as saying the real, problem with Kikyou. And I probably forgot stuff. Her actions have huge consequences on the story and for everyone. Yet, they are never used for her to have character growth. The changes in her character are inexplicable and come out of nowhere. The horrible things she does or says or thinks are not addressed again, when the characters even find out about them. Once again, I truly think Kikyou had potential. I personally think she would have made a much better villain than Naraku (there’s this nice post that compares the Jewel to the Ring in a Lord of the Ring, and it made me think that she would have made a great ‘fallen Galadriel’). However, I firmly stand behind the fact that she was terribly handled. She never has to answer for her actions. She’s not redeemed at the end of the story. A blind eye is just turned to everything she has done.

[omgitscharlie]

I was just thinking about this because I made that post about how Inuyasha is a fuckin’ dad now but I want to touch on Kagome being a mom versus Inuyasha being a dad and how/ why people are so much more moved and emotional about the differences.

For Kagome, she grew up in a place/ time where everything was pretty mundane, aside from losing her dad at a young age. There were no taboos or prejudices placed upon her as she was just a typical highschool teenage girl living in modern Tokyo. In her brain, we can assume that it was just inherent in her mind that she would grow up, go to college, get a job, get married and have kids. She knowingly just knew she would fulfill all of these societal milestones due to who she was and what he life was like. 

Not only that, but she is inherently nurturing (ie. Shippo) and it’s very clear that she would like to have her own children one day. Even if it’s not something top of her mind, there is a subconscious obviousness in her brain that she’ll be a mom one day (just like most - not all - women in this day and age/ throughout history).

Now we look at Inuyasha and his upbringing. Throughout his entire life, he was ridiculed, terrorized, ousted and flat out bullied just for being something he didn’t choose. Society looked at him and told him there was nothing to love and it would be disgusting for anyone to be with him, let alone have a child with him. The thought of kids probably rarely crossed his mind because it was either a waste of time/ pointless to him or too painful for him to really think about. He’d resigned himself to the thought of being completely alone for the rest of his life (up until Kikyo, but even that is ehh in my opinion). 

He’s a half-demon. No one wants to reproduce with a half-breed, whether they be human or demon. In his mind, the thought of friends (the only person remotely close to that being Myouga but even then he’s more of an advisor and is there at the behest of his late father), let alone a family of his own, is foreign and unobtainable to him. 

Inuyasha has been completely alone for we don’t really know just how many years. Yes, there is plenty of speculation but I don’t think it’s ever been explicitly stated. It could be fifteen or a hundred (not counting his time pinned to the tree). And not only was he alone, but hated/ looked down upon just for what he was.

Then he meets Kagome and his world changes. He’s suddenly surrounded by friends and people who consider him family. He finds a woman who loves him for him, as he is, not any other way. She wants to marry him. She wants to have a family with him.

Having friends was probably overwhelming for him on its own; but then to have a wife? A woman who wants to give her life to him? A woman who transcended five hundred years and left her whole life behind just to be with him? I can only imagine what he’s feeling.

Just when he doesn’t think he deserves anything more, Kagome gives him a child. They have a baby together. That’s why I always get so emotional when I say: “Inuyasha is a DAD.”

[shinjiteflorana]

Reblog this post with a single picture that summarises the Inuyasha series.

[towardstomorrow]

What if...

...the whole inuyasha series is just a dream of Kagome while she fell asleep during math class!? Dreams can give you an endless feeling and you losing your sense for time, but in reality you just slept 10mins 😱

[tenseiga]

just noticed how sessh's narrative is often told by other people (jaken, inuyasha, sesshoumaru's mom) whereas the main gang has the luxury of being the narrator of their own stories. they get to explain how they're feeling and why, vs sesshoumaru being interpreted by the audience through another character. he's always seen in the third person, and we the audience are never allowed to relate his side of a story.

how does it change how we view sesshoumaru? maybe this explains the disconnect between his canon behaviour and what he ends up doing in fan content

[swordmaidenfuyu]

Kagome and Kikyou: Duality Themes

I’ve been obsessed with this series since I was seven. Despite having gone on to different fandoms that dealt with much more ‘mature’ themes since then, something about the Inuyasha series just draws me back every time, maybe because it taught me so much about love and kindness at an impressionable age. Upon rereading it over 13 years later, I hope I can do these characters more justice than I did at 7. This essay is a continuation of several exploring Kikyou and Kagome’s themes.

Kikyou’s theme is tied to loneliness and sorrow. She represents Inuyasha’s past, as well as his past mistakes. It is no coincidence that she was Inuyasha’s first lover, in a time when he was desperately lonely and hungry for acceptance.

Kikyou, too, in turn, after she was revived, lives and fights for the past. First, it was to drag Inuyasha, who supposedly betrayed her, to the afterworld; then it was to defeat Naraku, the man who took everything from her when she was alive. But in the end, we see that her real purpose has always been finding peace for her soul to pass on. She needed to accept that Inuyasha had changed and moved on after her death, accept that their relationship hadn’t worked out, she needed to come to terms with the fact someone else will be by his side, succeeding where she had failed, and her own jealousy. Finally, she must let go of her desire for revenge tethering her to this life and let others continue her legacy. The emotions and trials Kikyou dealt with was heavy, but in the end she overcame them and passed away peacefully, with no regrets.

Kagome’s theme is companionship and courage. She symbolises the future, and Inuyasha’s motivation to live. It is not surprising that Rumiko chooses her to be the one to literally revive Inuyasha and the one to heal his heart. She accompanies him and teaches him to rely on friends, guiding the distrustful Inuyasha to even find compassion for his enemies, sometimes even succeeding in turning them into powerful allies aka Kouga, Sesshoumaru, etc. Kagome’s all about embracing the present and turning sorrow into strength. Rather than giving in to sorrow and regret, she urges Inuyasha to continue living (her vitality is actually visually represented by her vibrant green color scheme). It is no wonder that her MO boils down to this line: I want Inuyasha to live. I want you to be happy. I want you to smile a lot. I don’t know what what I can do for you, but I’ll always be by your side.

Plus, I don’t know if this is a conscious storytelling decision on Rumiko Takahashi’s part, but it seems that almost every Inuyasha and Kikyou encounter occurs at night, often under the stars, which is cold and distant; while every significant development in Inuyasha and Kagome’s relationship happens under full light of day, which is always close and warm. This also plays really well into their individual themes.

Kagome and Kikyou. The Girl from the Future and The Girl from the Past. Happiness and Sorrow. Companionship and Loneliness. Vitality and Death. Day and Night. Two opposite dualities within the same soul. I feel like people who claim ‘Kikyou is too arrogant, Kagome is too dependant’ etc don’t understand the full picture. They’re meant to represent different things. Meant to contrast and be compared. But ultimately, they influence each other in profound and important ways. Just as they’re able to bring out the worst in each other, they also brought out the best. Without Kikyou, we wouldn’t have such a strong-willed and memorable Kagome. Without Kagome, Kikyou’s soul wouldn’t have found closure and peace.

Their relationship with Inuyasha too would turn out very different. Had Kikyou never been revived, Inuyasha would not have found closure with his past. He would’ve gone on forever wondering whether Kikyou had forgiven him, whether it could’ve been different etc. Kagome would never realise just how much she loved Inuyasha and was willing to sacrifice for him, would’ve gone on comparing herself with Kikyou. Had Kagome never healed Inuyasha’s heart, however, he would’ve remained the selfish and lonely person he was at the beginning of the series. He wouldn’t have made his promise to protect Kikyou or, for that matter, showed her any concern after she was revived (if she could’ve been revived at all). They would likely resume their fight 50 years ago or gone on separate quests for revenge.

The fandom likes to talk about which girl Inuyasha would ‘choose’, and that certainly doesn’t change after the series’ official end. Some claim he never had to make an actual decision and so anything is fair ground. And yeah, they’re right in a sense. At the same time, I feel it’s not as simple as choosing the girl so much as choosing how to live. And when you look at it like that, Inuyasha did make a choice. I think it’s a genius move on Rumiko’s part (whether or not intentional) to let the story end the way it did. It’s all thematically fitting. Inuyasha with Kagome, draws on the moral centre of the story, which is not to let your sorrow and despair overcome you. No matter how painful the past and present seem, you must find the courage to live and embrace happiness when it comes to you :)

[lunar-k4t]

This is a very basic analysis of Inuyasha but I still wanted to post it ✨ Inuyasha is usually seen sleeping in a siting position. This is because growing up having to defend himself he had to always be on the alert and couldn't really relax because if he let his guard down he'd die. I was super happy when he fell asleep in kagome's bed because that was probably the first time he ever really felt safe/comfortable. Even kagome points out that she hasn't seen him ever sleep so soundly 💤

[narkik]

why do you like naraku?? do you like him in a 'hes awful and i love him' way or 'he did nothing wrong and hes a secret sweetheart' way. like do you believe that he is a good person?

!!! this is a gr8 question anon!! tysm :’)

while on one hand, i do love naraku in the ‘he’s awful and that’s great’ kind of way, i think love him because his character is insanely intricate, in a way i don’t see very often. he’s a man who tries, so very desperately, to be his own person - i.e. the evil persona he projects and exerts for the majority of the series - and tries not succumb to the feelings he has for kikyou, because those feelings are not his own. he is not onigumo, though the jewel considers them to be a replacement of one another, the same way it viewed kagome to be a replacement of kikyou, and planned to pit them together for all eternity.

this is a trope we see in many heroic quests - the idea of rejecting one’s ‘destiny’, accepting both light/dark halves to oneself, becoming your own person - but is a route not frequently explored in villainous characters. naraku wants to be evil, cold, and selfish for himself, and despises his lingering love for kikyou because it is a hinderance to his own goals and self-exerted identity.

however, by the end of the series, naraku realizes that without his love for kikyou, he has no other identity. his body literally falls apart without the human heart that wants her; when he removes his feelings for her in the mountain, he loses ambition for his quest in pursing the jewel.

and this is why naraku himself comes loves kikyou - he realizes that his love for her is the only thing he knows about himself. by the time of his death, naraku acknowledges just how essential love was in his own creation and person - which, IMO, is a very humbling blow. it was very much a self-fulfilling prophecy; in his efforts to not be the ‘villain in love with a priestess figure’ the jewel wanted to replace magatsuhi, naraku realized his love was the only thing he had left, after all else had been taken away.

tldr; while i don’t think naraku is a ‘good’ character by any means, i don’t think he had much of a choice in the first place, nor did he have the acknowledgement of his own identity that kagome gave inuyasha & vice versa. he is the character kagome would have been if she was not loved by inuyasha; he is the man inuyasha would have been without his humanity. ultimately, i think he was someone struggling to learn who he was, but is not given much credit beyond a two-dimensional villain by fandom - which, ironically, is exactly what the shikon jewel did to him.

[danaty-consolation]

Hello, do you truly agree that they're (Ranma, Inuyasha, Akane and Kagome are) the victims of Rumiko Takahashi's bad writing? I truly do.

Ok I am literally so mad because I was writing a full analysis with images of the manga and then Tumblr glitched and I lost 2 hours of work. So I will keep it simple:

I don't agree.

First Ranma:

This boy is rude, arrogant and even an asshole sometimes. The anime softens him up because he is way ruder to Akane verbally in the manga because he was raised by Genma Saotome, one of the worst dads ever and it makes sense that he is like that because he didn't know any better. He is full of himself but that is also a flaw since he thinks his strength and good looks are the only things that make his worth.

He actually begins to be more open and change because of Akane, no matter how many fianceés he has, who make more problems than good for him. He only sees Akane as his true love.

Does he act like a child who likes a girl and is rude to her? Yes, because he isn't good at being honest about his feelings thanks to the person who raised him, but he begins to slowly change in the manga.

It says in the manga that he will get married to Akane when he fixes his problems, and that is realistic.

He is not a completely good person but he is a flawed human in a martial arts gag manga who is quite realistic comparing its genre.

Akane:

Akane was often treated as a boy because she liked martial arts. A upperclasman dared to all the boys in her school to fight her so they could gain the right to date her. Fighting everyday in the mornings for her freedom.

Also her father comitted her to marry a boy who she doesn't know.

I can see why she says that she doesn't like men.

Being the only decent one Doctor Tofu and she fell in love with him, but we know that he is in love with her sister.

Her mother died when she was super young so she doesn't have a proper mother figure. Kasumi can be one but Akane must not want to make it more difficult for her sister who already does more in her house since her mother absence and when she tries to help it always goes wrong.

She can't cook, she is insecure thanks to Ranma and his fianceés (both in romantic and in her martial arts)

She has to get used to Ranma who is quite rude and always fights with him.

But even with all that, she shines because of her kindness and reassurance. She always helps Ranma and is the most open of the two in showing her feelings.

She doesn't manipulate him and she loves him with all his flaws, she isn't perfect and that's understandable because she is in high school.

People change and grow. Having so much chaos in her life and she still tries to help and protect the people she loves, even with her life at cost.

She is a flawed but good character.

Inuyasha:

Inuyasha didn't trust anyone after being faced with racism and discrimination of being a half-breed on both sides. He began to trust one person and "that person attacked him".

With that background is understandable why he is rude and hurtful at first with Kagome, humans hated him and attacked him.

Kagome is the one that shows him true kindness as we have seen in the manga. The level of their trust is amazing since he doesn't antagonize her as he did with kikyo when she attacks him.

One of his flaws is not talking with Kagome about the grief and culpability he feels about Kikyo. He feels guilty about his grief, confusing his feelings towards her and hurting Kagome.

Another one is his jealousness but is understandable since the one guy who actually makes him super protective about her abducted her once and claimed to be his against her will.

He isn't perfect but he tries to be better.

Kagome:

Her kindness and bravery is a things to be told. Did she asked to be the reincarnation of Kikyo? Nop but she still followed her mission to gain all the shards of the Shikon no Tama, trust a person who was rude to her and compare her with her past life.

She is the first to defend the weakest ones and stop Inuyasha from doing something terrible or stupid with the collar.

She is a strong girl that doesn't let Inuyasha get the best of her and fights back. When she acts irrationally she is the first one to see her errors and tries to be better.

Her only flaw is her jealousness and that is Inuyasha's fault for not trusting her and going the first times in secret to meet Kikyo when Kikyo tried to stray up kill her once and to take Inuyasha with her, not caring about anything else.

She has the right to be insecure and even if Inuyasha tells her later about his talks with Kikyo she still distrusts him a bit.

She is a girl that does her best in school and in fighting demons in the Sengoku.

She has flaws, common of a high school girl and that makes her more appealing.

[dyaz-stories]

Kagome’s most important lesson: it’s okay to have feelings

That one is actually something that strongly gets to me, for… Well, reasons. One of the said ‘reasons’ is that I think it’s pretty rare, when we see this being praised instead of the opposite in some sort of ”Oh that’s self-sacrifice how generous” fashion. Don’t get me wrong, I like my angst as much as anyone, but I don’t think it’s all that interesting of a lesson to take back into real life that you shouldn’t care about your own feelings and completely put someone or something else above yourself.

As a quick side note, this is also (supposed to) be an important lesson for Kikyou (”Free to love, free to hate”) but… I find it more interesting, and I think we actually see it better with Kagome.

To me, there are three steps for Kagome to learn that lesson and to actually determine what it means.

Step one would be accepting her more ‘positive’ emotions.

We see this when she finds Inuyasha hugging Kikyou and telling her that he will protect her, and honestly, just typing that and looking at the screenshots I took weeks ago my heart aches for Kagome and for how she must be feeling, but that’s not the point. I’ll just… Take deep breaths.

Alright, so Kagome sees this and then goes back home. She’s confused, she’s hurt, she doesn’t know what to do with her feelings. She has every reason to be going through that. Inuyasha and her are pretty much together at that point (the ”I want you by my side Kagome” expressed that), and Inuyasha acted extremely jealous over Kouga, even implying that she was seducing him or something along those lines.

(Seriously guys. What gets to Kagome is that she thinks Inuyasha is acting jealous over Kikyou.

She wasn’t even that mad about his comment about Kouga, but then she sees this. He acted jealous over her, and then she left, and then she came back and she sees what she believes to be Inuyasha acting jealous over Kikyou. Sure, on Inuyasha’s side it’s more disgust for Naraku and guilt towards Kikyou, but she doesn’t know/realize that. Not to mention, Inuyasha accused her of being responsible for Kouga’s actions, but now he’s not accusing Kikyou, and this is all happening to her in the same day/on the span of a few days.)

She first tries to reject her feelings. First because of how awful she feels about them. She has that very angry thought about Kikyou, but she immediately rejects it strongly and loathes herself for even thinking that.

Now, don’t get me wrong, wishing someone’s death (well, not death really, but still their disappearance of the planet) is not normal. At this point though, she’s in a very bad place, and I would go as far as saying that this is the result of her bottling up so many stuff, including emotions. Keep in mind, Kikyou tried to kill her. This is not just ‘wishing death upon her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend’, even if it is painted that way.

She then has that acceptance of her own feelings, and realization hits her hard.

Now, this is where the decision must be made, and where the lesson comes into play. Kagome was thinking that she wished she’d never met him, if it was going to hurt that much.

This is probably meant to parallel, almost exactly, what Kikyou must have felt when she thought Inuyasha had betrayed her (hence the whole ”I know what Kikyou is feeling” speech later). Kagome, however, is in a very different situation. At this point, she has no reason to go back to the Feudal Era. Sure, Inuyasha and her friends are there, but the Jewel quest is not really hers anymore. Actually, Kikyou stated that she would be the one to kill Naraku and all that stuff, so Kagome technically doesn’t have to go back.

Kagome, however, decides to act on her feelings, which is something a lot of people give her shit for in the fandom. I’ve read a lot of people saying that it was wrong of her to go back even though ‘Inuyasha chose Kikyou’ (he didn’t, really, but let’s not get into that). She did think about that, actually.

Kagome decided to do what felt right to her (and maybe she didn’t want to leave the guy she was in love with his ex who wants him dead, what a bad person that makes her). She acts on what she wants, which is selfish…

But also not all that selfish.

Because that’s who Kagome is. She isn’t repeating Kikyou’s mistake, as Kikyou was precisely completely alienating herself, at least before her death, but that doesn’t make her a bad or selfish person.

Why? Because listening to your emotions and treating yourself with respect doesn’t make you a bad nor a selfish person.

Second step is her accepting her more ‘negative’ emotions, all the while still having her more positive ones and admitting that they can go hand in hand.

As mentioned before, Kagome completely buried her thought about wanting Kikyou gone. However, while that thought was definitely a ‘bad’ one, her emotions about the situation were not inherently wrong. On the contrary, in the arc with the baby, we see that her trying to bury them and to alienate herself helps the baby get a grip on her. The reason the baby can control her is not because of those emotions, it’s because she’s repressing them. As soon as she accepts them and is willing to admit that she has these emotions because of her love for Inuyasha, he can’t control her anymore.

The arc actually ends with her being at peace with that. She will probably be hurt and get angry again (which is really the same thing for Kagome but I’ll have to talk about that at another point), but she is willing to accept that as a counterpart to her feelings and relationship with Inuyasha.

(On a side note, I want to point out that this is something I personally dislike about how Kagome and the InuKagKik triangle was handled. Pretending that Kagome’s feelings for Kikyou come solely from her love for Inuyasha is just… Not true. But it’s not something I want to get into right now.)

But what about Mount Azusa, then? Is it a regression?

Well, I do have a lot of problems with mount Azusa, particularly for what Kagome has to go through, but that has more to do with the ‘Show vs Tell’ problem that I have with the storytelling in Inuyasha whenever Kikyou is involved. I think I can tell what mount Azusa is supposed to mean for Kagome’s character. I’ll probably make an analysis of that arc at some point, but since I’m super salty about it and I try not to get too angry when I do that stuff, it’s probably going to take me ages.

Mount Azusa is about balance and reason. At first, we saw Kagome accepting her positive emotions, namely her love for Inuyasha, but rejecting what she actually felt about Kikyou, jealousy. Then, she accepted the fact that there was a contradiction between what her mind told her and how she felt. Finally, with mount Azusa, she manages to reconcile both, through questioning her feelings: she realizes that they can evolve and that people change with time.

Basically, Kagome’s ‘mistake’ was to be too focused on the second lesson. She ‘blindly’ accepted her feelings, including the bad ones, and now she gets to understand that they can change. We even see Inuyasha chiming in, because Kagome feels bad for her past feelings now, and he tells her that they don’t matter because she was still doing her best, which is about how it’s okay to do mistakes.

I think that lesson is a good and important one as well by the way, I just have problems with its execution. But that’s a story for another time. For example right here, Kagome says “Kikyou hated me and tried to kill you”, and it’s just left out that Kikyou also tried to kill her. I said it was a story for another time.

So here we are. Kagome went from not being able to accept or understand her feelings for Inuyasha to not only do so, but also make a choice that respects those feelings instead of throwing them away. She later reaffirms those feelings while accepting less shiny ones, such as jealousy, and she doesn’t give herself a hard time over it, because she knows she can’t help it. Finally, she learns that those feelings can change, instead of giving herself a free pass for having those bad feelings because it’s ‘normal’ and she evolves, one more time. She also understand not to blame herself for said past feelings and to see past her own mistakes.

The message behind this journey is ”it’s okay to have feelings”, and I love it so much. Don’t blame yourself for your feelings. Think about them. Understand where they’re coming from. And allow them to change.

[xfangheartx]

Regarding Koga.

WARNING: If you’re a Koga-stan, you might wanna look away. Read at your own risk.

So, this post is regarding a certain wolf demon in a certain series about time travel and demons.

I’m talking about this guy:

Koga, the leader of the Eastern Wolf Demon Tribe. Look at this guy. Handsome, tanned, looks like the type you’d fall in love with, right?

Except there’s just one teensy problem.

In his very first appearance, what did he do? He sets his wolves to attack a single village...and in doing so, he took the life of this sweet little girl.

And in later episodes, he later kidnaps Kagome with the intent to use her to sense Shikon Jewel shards, but he later develops an infatuation for her. He claims he loves her, but really, it’s just a shallow school boy crush at best.

And yet, all of a sudden, Kagome goes from being angry to forgiving him, instantly? And after almost his entire clan is killed, we’re supposed to feel sorry for him?

Apparently, this was all done to paint Koga in a more sympathetic light...but the fact remains that he still slaughtered an entire human village. Not only that, but his empty claim of “changing” and “protecting humans” is really just some shallow attempt to impress Kagome and get her on his side. Koga showed absolutely no remorse, even when he met Rin again (in episode 99 of the anime, at least). In fact, he doesn’t even remember her. That just proves that Koga is not really doing this for peace of mind or out of regret. In the end, he’s just being selfish.

If you ask me, Koga should have had an arc where he truly regrets the things he did in the past and tries to find a way to make it right and not expecting anything in return, just peace of mind.

[shinjiteflorana]

BUT GUYS-

DID INU GO HUMAN WHILE PINNED TO THE TREE????

[just-inu]

Wow. So, I'm watching The Final Act for the first time (thanks hulu!) and I just went through 4 episodes, and Kikyo just died. Back in the days when I had to sneak, turn the volume down to like 2 and wait every week for the new epi, I HATED Kikyo. Like many adolescents, I identified with Kagome and shipped her and Inutrasha from day 1, episode 1: ' The Girl Who's Mind Was Overcome By The Awesome Anime. ' It was also early in the series, Kikyo came back in what the 5th manga(??) And she was all homicidal rage/undead betrayed bitchiness. Now that I've finally begun to wrap up the series, even though some of it differs a lot from the manga, I understand Kikyo. I cried when she passed on. Her acceptance, her warmth. Her character grew from someone who had found happiness, lost everything, on to a vengeful shell, and finally was able to heal. And poor Inuyasha, who will never stop loving her in a way, who feels responsible for everything that happened to them despite him having no control over Naraku, not even knowing about Naraku to begin with! He cries for her, the woman he first loved, the person he wanted to protect. Not the only person, to be sure, but someone he would always be tied to. He loves Kagome, in a more deep and powerful way, but he can mourn the loss of Kikyo too. Feelings for one woman do not invalidate those for the other. That's my favorite thing about Inuyasha. How the characters have truly grown. That's flawless writing. Kagome is his soulmate, but Kikyo was his first love, and he's allowed to grieve over that.

[danaty-consolation]

Hello, do you truly agree that Kagome and Inuyasha's relationship's toxic? I truly do.

The last one of these types of asks thankfully!

And no, I don't agree with that at all.

A toxic relationship is when both of them don't grow and get stuck, making the other one worse and uncomfortable. Inuyasha and Kagome never feel like this when they are together and they actually become better versions of themselves since both of them grew.

So I will keep it short since I already talked how much they grew in another ask:

Inuyasha and Kagome's relationship is healthy, they are both young and learned from their mistakes but at some point, it was flawed by jealousness because of Koga and Kikyo.

Kikyo: Thanks for Inuyasha not communicating with Kagome how he really felt about Kikyo and going the first time to see her to talk without telling Kagome.

Koga: Inuyasha is protective because Koga literally kidnapped her once and told everyone she was his against her will.

And if you tell me about the many sits she says to him in the anime, I will just say that Sunrise did way more than in the manga for comedic effect.

[dyaz-stories]

Hello! i recently started watching inuyasha and there is one thing bothering me,do u think inuyasha loves kikyo more than kagome?

Oooh dear anon, this is an old, divisive question in the fandom!

I could tell you that it has a lot to do with interpretation. For example, I don’t really consider love in terms of quantity, and there are plenty of people among the fandom who think that Inuyasha never really loved Kikyo, and others who think he never really loved Kagome. I will say, I dislike the second take because it’s often tied with the idea that you can’t love more than once or that Inuyasha can never stop loving Kikyo and I dislike the idea — and I don’t think it’s true. As for the first one, I actually like the idea that Inuyasha liked Kikyo because it emphasizes this very idea: you can love more than once.

However, I do think there are a lot of elements in the manga that we can use. It’s complicated, and frankly, not always handled well, but if I were to give you a tl;dr, it would be: it’s Kagome. As I said, I don’t really think of love in terms of quantity, but I think Kagome is the one Inuyasha is in love with during the story. Following take on that isn’t technically spoilers considering how old the series is but I do advise against reading it if you really just started and you want to experience everything first hand. Also, I base myself exclusively on the manga, so it’s not 100% relevant for the anime!

So, I can’t really discuss Inukag in that context without first talking about Inukik and, as I’ve said before, I don’t believe Inukik knew each other very long nor very well before the Naraku incident. I know the anime distinctively goes against that (Tragic Love Song of Destiny), but I don’t think it makes much sense on many levels, from Kikyo chosing to test the Jewel on Inuyasha to her even offering him to become human if she knew how much he absolute despises being human.

Basically, my take on it is that they didn’t have that many conversations at all.

Does that mean he couldn’t have loved her? I’m not one to make such a call honestly, though I get why many people feel it’s a shallow basis. I do think Inuyasha worshipped the ground Kikyo walked on and that he had very strong feelings for her — I’ll let you decide whether or not that qualifies as love.

Things start getting complicated, of course, after the betrayal and when Kagome appears in Inuyasha’s life. I do want to point out that Inuyasha and Kagome’s relationship is very, very different from Inuyasha and Kikyo’s, just like Kagome and Kikyo are very, very different. There are two things to note about Kikyo though and it’s that 1) she’s the first person Inuyasha had an actual connection to and 2) she’s dead. The fact that she’s dead is essential in the InuKagKik dynamic, as Inuyasha’s guilt is the stone the ‘love triangle’ is built on.

(I don’t think it’s actually a love triangle because I don’t think Kikyo and Inuyasha love each other at this point and I think Kagome and the group are the ones who miscontrued it that way)

However, in the manga at least, Inuyasha affirms his feelings for Kagome very early on and very clearly. After Kikyo falls off a cliff for the first time (yes she has a tendency to do that), he’s all sad and everything and Kagome’s smile cheers him up.

Like, just seeing her smile, after his ex ‘love’ died again as far as he knows. He says he ‘wants her by his side’,

tells her that there is no replacing her and that his feelings for Kikyo are mostly guilt,

and dismisses her worries that he is still in love with Kikyo.

In comes what half of the fandom defines as him ‘choosing Kikyo’. I actually have a whole analysis on that. Bottom line is, I don’t believe he chose Kikyo, I don’t think he loves her romantically, and generally, I think the whole debacle has to do with Kagome’s insecurities and inability to see that he’s not in love with Kikyo and that he just feels guilty, and Inuyasha’s guilt. I think Kagome doesn’t think clearly when it comes to Kikyo and Inuyasha.

And after that, well, the thing is, I believe that Rumiko changed her mind. I connect it to Kikyo, because as I’ve said in other meta pieces, I feel the story ‘bends’ around her. I think she tried to make InuKik more important than it originally was and, to be honest with you, it made it very hard for me to enjoy Inukag by the end of the manga / anime. I mean, I can’t see this Inuyasha kissing Kikyo, and I don’t think this kiss is justified considering who they are at this point. I think he should have mourned her earlier on— I have a lot of feelings but oh well.

Still, in the end, it’s all about Kagome. I know many people feel that she was his ‘second choice’, and with how the manga framed it, I totally get it. I’m very bitter about the almost-kiss scene because it particularly carries that feeling for me (and I actually wrote about it for Inukag week last year) due to the lack of resolution around many things with Kikyo — if Rumiko wanted us to feel that she was what stopped him from being with Kagome, it would have been nice to mention again, at some point, that she wanted him to die with her.

However I do think the conclusion we get when it comes to Inuyasha’s feelings is as clear as can be in the mess that is the last part of the manga.

She was born for him, and he was born for her. And honestly, I think the fact that he says that is what matters most.

Bonus: Inukag moments where Inuyasha shows his feelings dump

[inu-fiction]

You guys science out InuYasha and I think that's amazing

Aww! Thank you <3