#which is one of THE best filler episodes and one of the BEST InuKag moments

[sailorstarr-chan4]

a conversation I shared on Discord months ago:

Me, watching a random Inuyasha episode: "You know..... sometimes when I watch this series, I just think.... 'I've written porn of this guy.'"

My fiancé: "Instead of slaying demons, he's slaying Dat Ass."

[shinidamachu]

Hi Sid! I would love to know your thoughts on episode 89 (I think) where Inuyasha is taking a look at Kagome's photo album while she's asleep. What do you think he's thinking about coz I have so many ideas. 😂

Hi, babe. You nailed. I checked (because I too suck at remembering the numbers of each episode) and it is episode 89, Nursing Battle of the Rival Lovers and I know just the scene you’re talking about.

Summary: Kagome gets sick and Inuyasha makes it his life mission to be the best boy the world has ever seen. Talk about a quality filler and God tier Inukag content.

The whole concept of this episode is great because for once the roles are reversed. Let’s face it: Kagome might be a “weak” human, but she’s the glue keeping their little group together. She is the one constantly playing the nurse, taking care of them, cleaning, treating then dressing their battle wounds until they’re healed. Inuyasha’s especially. 

His personality and reckless fighting style always put him in danger. As a result, he ends up hurting himself a lot, even though he doesn’t get sick as much due to his demon blood. And it’s usually Kagome who is there watching over him in his most vulnerable moments, something that means a lot given how they started.

Only this time, Kagome is the vulnerable one. She’s the one who needs medical attention and Inuyasha is the one in the place to give it to her. Luckly, he rose up to the challenge, standing by her side and bringing her homemade medicine he learned from his mother.

But I believe deep down it must have freaked Inuyasha a little to see Kagome get sick. The girl has a lot of energy and suddenly she’s all pale and tired, not at all like herself. He’s not used to that. Kagome has always been strong and vibrant. She takes care of people, not the other way around.

There’s also the feeling of impotence. Inuyasha likes to take matters into his own hands, but with sickness? There isn’t something he can punch or someone he can slice in two. It depends more on Kagome than on him, no matter what he does. It’s a waiting game and it kills him.

As for the photo album and what he was thinking, well... I believe it was a huge moment for him, characterization wise, because it’s the first time he realizes Kagome has other people who love and need her just as much as he does.

Not only that, but he also realizes she loves them too. There’s this whole other world outside the walls of the Higurashi shrine. A world Kagome knows because it’s hers, with human connections and experiences. A world he’s not a part of. A world he doesn’t fully understand.

And it’s not that Kagome had never told him about it. It’s that hearing it and seeing for himself are two very different things. Not to mention that Kagome spent way more time and effort searching for the jewel shards and hunting down Naraku with him than anything else. It gets easy to forget there is more to her life than just that. Which is something he can’t quite say about his own.

Just because Kagome makes him feel like he’s the only boy in the world, it doesn’t mean he is. Just because their bond seems to be unbreakable, it doesn’t mean other bonds, with other people, can’t exist. Sango, Miroku and Shippo are the living proof of that. And just because she loves him, it doesn’t mean he’s the only one to get that privilege. Her heart is big enough.

The photo album is a reminder. A reminder that when everything is over, she has a place to come back to. A reminder that they are different. So very different. And so are their worlds. A reminder of every reason as to why they shouldn’t, couldn’t, be together and yet, of how lucky he is that he even got to meet her.

But overall, a reminder of why he had shoved her down the well, locking Kagome on her side all those months ago: in the end of the day, he’ll do whatever is best for her and her safety. Because he loves Kagome. And therefore, he can not be selfish when it comes to her.

[hirazuki]

Ooo I'm curious about your hot takes on the Inuyasha reboot after reading your tags 👀

Ahaha, where to start XD Idk if they are hot takes, but here are my thoughts in bullet point form for coherency, I couldn’t figure out how else to organize them. Under a cut, as usual, because it got lengthy... as usual :D

We are 13 episodes in, and I still have no idea wtf is going on or what the series is actually about. And yes, I’m aware that we didn’t know of Naraku’s existence or of the overarching plot until at least episode 16 of that series either and Inuyasha was still very episodic in nature at that early point too, but here’s the thing: Inuyasha did not build upon a pre-existing series. For better or for worse, Yashahime has certain expectations to live up to that the original anime didn’t, by virtue of its being a sequel. Unfair? Maybe, but tough; that’s what happens when you make a sequel. Additionally, despite us not knowing The Main Plot™ of Inuyasha until later, the basic framework for it was laid out clearly by... episode 2? I think? Find and collect the Shikon Jewel shards. Boom, done. Were there distractions or fillers? Sure, but you never got the sense that the characters simply up and forgot about the shards. Even in fillers, the shards often made some kind of appearance. With Yashahime, there’s like three potential storylines going on: 1. The most obvious: most of our main cast from the OG is missing; where are they? Apparently no one in-story cares! :D Inuyasha, who’s that lol. I’m all for a sequel focusing on the new generation with cameos of the old crew; after all, they already had their own series. But this is like... no one cares about them? No one talks about them? And the more characters go about not mentioning them, the stronger their absence is felt. Like, for instance, Kaede knows Moroha is InuKag’s daughter. Moroha grew up on her own, doesn’t know her parents. Kaede doesn’t mention them to Moroha, doesn’t even spare a passing thought about them for the audience’s benefit, Moroha doesn’t ask. Kagome’s family in the present day meet Moroha, recognize her as Kagome’s daughter and... say nothing??? Souta shows Towa Kagome and Inuyasha’s old photos, but doesn’t say a word to Moroha?! Like. It makes no sense. By people not even acknowledging their existence, it makes the fact that they are nowhere to be found even weirder. Also the new gen girls don’t care about their parents or finding out who they were/are... like, okay, it would maybe be in character for one or two of them, but all three don’t give a fuck??? 2. Kirinmaru/the rainbow pearls: Idk how familiar you are with the story, but similar deal with Naraku and the shards here. Kirinmaru is being set up as the villain, still a mysterious figure; our new gen trio is supposed to collect the rainbow pearls that... some of his henchmen have? Or he is after them? Or is that Riku? Unclear. ANYWAY the new gen girls often forget all about the pearls’ existence :D 3. Setsuna’s memories: Setsuna’s dreams have been stolen by the dream butterfly and they need to get them back, because without her dreams she has no memories and is unable to sleep. Cool! Finally a solid, easy-to-follow plot line! Except wait! Towa, who supposedly made it her goal to get Setsuna’s sleep back, forgets all about it! All the time! Like, none of them make an effort to look into this other than being like “oh yeah, know anything about the dream butterfly?” to random folks every now and then. The Inugang back in the day was putting some grad school level research towards their goals, just saying. It just feels like everything’s all wishy-washy and there’s nothing really solid tying the series together. People just remember shit exists when it’s convenient.

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Character development is MIA. I’m not expecting ground-breaking char dev in 13 episodes (though I do know 12 episode series that were phenomenal in that regard), but like... I do expect the series to focus on building the dynamics between the main three characters. So far, the series is more focused on teasing the audience with glimpses and promises of the OG cast instead. The creators are using nostalgia and bait (esp of a certain pairing) to drive interest in the series, rather than developing the new characters as fully-fledged characters for their own sakes. 

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Moroha is was the only thing I actually liked about the series. She is a little spitfire and you can somehow instantly see both Inuyasha and Kagome in her, while she also remains very uniquely herself; I have never seen such a successfully developed main pairing child in any series. She featured quite prominently in the first few episodes -- and unlike both her parents, she’s got a great memory and knowledge of lore -- where she balanced funny moments with badass fighting moments and being the token supernatural encyclopedia. It was great! And then... they’ve like... forgotten her. She’s been left behind so many times by the twins. She’s the butt of every joke. She’s become the type of comic relief that’s, well, insulting. More like a buffoon than anything else. And it’s basically all for the sake of giving the floor to Towa :/

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Setsuna is okay. Not offensive, but unremarkable. She’s got her dad’s personality but like way toned down due to her different growing up circumstances, which is nice, but like... I feel she isn’t given any room to grow or breathe or anything. She’s also basically there as a device to enhance Towa’s development.

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Towa... oy. I tried to like her, I really did, but she just doesn’t work for me. They set her up having a very Kurosaki Ichigo type deal with beating up bullies and getting into trouble at school and shit -- I’m fine with that. That’s cool. Esp if it’s linked to not feeling like she fits in bc she’s a hanyou? Awesome. Except once she travels back in time to the feudal era it’s all “Oh killing is bad you shouldn’t kill people” and “even though they attacked me I can’t possibly hurt them” and “you need to empathize and talk things out” and “friendship is magic” and shit. It feels like she had a personality transplant, it literally makes no sense. Her design is totally nonsensical too -- out of everyone at her school, she’s the only one dressed in a bright white suit? Do protags not wear the school uniform? Someone should tell Kagome lmao. She’s a pro at hand to hand, and she can absorb demons’ powers and fling them back at them like a personified Tessaiga, and she has a lightsaber sword, and she’s immune to miasma, and -- like... you get it. It’s too much. It’s way too OP for the type of universe that Inuyasha/Yashahime is set in. She’s hanyou for fuck’s sake; remember all the training Inuyasha had to go through? When he couldn’t lift his sword? When his sword attacked him? Sango, Miroku, Kagome, even Sesshomaru all had trouble with their weapons and had to work to become stronger. But Towa? Nope. Towa is straight out of the Yas Queen/Girl Boss manual, so she gets a free pass on everything.

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UGH they are doing the VLD/bad writing thing where things happen (like, BIG THINGS) and none of the characters actually react to them. Or stuff happens and there are no consequences. No one ever talks about anything. It’s wild.

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Everyone has amnesia!! :D People either don’t know or don’t remember anything or anyone. People who absolutely should know things all of a sudden magically don’t know them. Like, Kohaku -- traveled with an undead priestess, spent years in the company of demons, traveled with Sesshomaru... and yet had NO CLUE that Setsuna is Sesshomaru’s daughter or that she is hanyou, despite her living and working with his team of demon slayers all this time. Like... how, man. How. And Kaede! Don’t get me started. Since when does she perpetuate random demon-boogeyman type stories as facts? Demon children will kill each other in the nest so that only the strongest one will survive, therefore Setsuna must have killed Towa when they were infants. O_O What are they, sharks? Has she been hanging out with Kisame? Wtf?? And she’s speaking about Sess’s kids as though she doesn’t know him or anything about him, when she has had Rin under her roof all these years. It just makes. no. sense.

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Things that happened in the original series are happening again now! Because that’s the best we’ve got, recycled plot elements wooo! No, but really, characters that died or things that were resolved in Inuyasha keep coming back. Why? What was the purpose of bringing back Kinka and Ginka? To have a foil for Towa and Setsuna as twins? Someone please tell Sunrise they can just create new characters. Like, it’s one thing to have call backs to the original or cameos, references, whatever. But like... this is entire (dead) characters and interactions.

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No one knows how long it’s been since the original series ended. Fans initially heard 20 years from promo material, then “over 15″ and “10 years since” in-series regarding two different events, and now in a future episode summary we’ve gotten 18 years since Hosenki II gave Inuyasha the black pearl. But like, which black pearl? Because the one in Inuyasha’s eye doesn’t exist anymore, but Hosenki II had told Inuyasha that it would take 100 years for him to produce one. So, are we retconning that or where the fuck did it come from? Also, this doesn’t help one bit, it just confuses things even more. Back to the point, though, we have no coherent timeline or real frame of reference whatsoever, and I’m betting it’s in large part to keep the mystery of who is Sesshomaru’s wife going, as it keeps Rin’s age very vague. Everything is vague and mysterious in Yashahime, to the point where no one knows what’s going on, in fandom or in-story even. It’s kinda like how too much plot twist/shock reveal ruins a story, too much mystery does the same. It’s insane that both shippers and antis of that ship can lay equal claim that the “18 years since” announcement works in their favor.

tl;dr: Idk man, Yashahime is a clusterfuck of a series. Even if the mother of Sess’s twins is either of the characters I ship him with, I will still not like the series. There’s no saving this writing. Every episode feels like this:

[sailorstarr-chan4]

Shikon no Tama

Shikon no Tama: if you could change anything about the manga/anime/movies what would that be?

WHERE DO I START??? Lol XDD

Okay, first of all, and to me, this is the biggest Achilles’ heel of the series: DON’T SHOW NARAKU UNTIL THE FINAL ARC. I say this because Naraku had the potential to be a truly despicable, even terrifying villain. Instead, with the whole “escaping at the literal last moment” bullshit used again and again and again, he just becomes an annoying fly you REALLY want to squish and be done with it. And yet he keeps buzzing you around, driving you insane, and just. won’t. DIE!!! His role should have been similar to Voldemort’s or Sauron’s, only show up a handful of times, but ultimately doesn’t have a showdown until the end. It would make him mysterious, terrifying, an elusive demon who needs to be taken down because he started it all. 

Let the bulk of the series be a “monster of the week” story, as the InuGang collects Jewel Shards, without any bullshit with Naraku (or Kikyo!) beating them to it. There’d be more room for character development, and less Naraku BS. Plus, there’d be a whole bunch of minor villains and former villains (like Koga), which honestly, I think Rumiko Takahashi-san is best at anyway lol.  

Kikyo should either a) die her final death a lot sooner, or b) went on and continued to live her life in her own way. I’ve read a lot of fics that have Inuyasha finally say outright he wants to be with Kagome, say goodbye to Kikyo, and she travels on to, like, be a village priestess or something. And I’m cool with that! That said, I’d want her to be properly resurrected so she can actually live “as an ordinary woman.” 

(Or just have her die post-final battle with Naraku. Because angst.)

Those are my plot changes lol. But if the series got a “manga-styled” reboot (like FMA Brotherhood), I’d want: 

A blend of original series and Final Act pacing. Not too dragged out, but also not jammed packed rushed writing. 

Also, keep some of the original series’ fillers, namely: the episode where Kagome is sick and Inuyasha nurses her; the dried-up demons/play that went wrong episode duo BECAUSE IT’S HILARIOUS AF OKAY; and maybe the drunken mist one because that one kills me XD 

MORE INUKAG PHYSICAL INTIMACY. LET THEM HUG MORE. LET THEM BE CLOSER AND TENDER AND SHIT BECAUSE FUCK YOU, SUNRISE!!!