Continuing with my 12 moments of anime for 2009 (in order of significance to me personally), here’s #10:

Inuyasha is the only long-running series for which I’ve seen all the anime episodes and read all 558 chapters of the manga. The original 167-episode anime finishing airing in Japan in 2004 and finishing airing on Adult Swim in 2006. Since then, fans have been impatient and frustrated about how the anime ended without any conclusion while the manga continued on. In October 2006, I wrote a post about why Inuyasha should have a new TV anime and, throughout the past three years, it’s received over 130 comments by passionate fans begging for more episodes. Finally, in October 2009, five years after the first anime ended in Japan, Sunrise decided to make 26 more Inuyasha episodes to cover the rest of the manga chapters.

Since the manga ended over a year ago, Inuyasha fandom has been slowly dying, but the new Final Act (Kanketsu-hen) anime series is reviving it. I agree with many fans that the new anime is rushing through the last bunch of chapters too quickly, but at least we finally have new Inuyasha after all these years. It will probably never be the success it once was in the U.S., but since I was an Inuyasha fanatic for many years, it will always be special to me =)

Click here to return to moment 11.

Click here to go on to moment 9.

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Other blogs participating in this year’s 12 moments of anime project: otou-san, schneider, doctordazza, Gargron, Scamp, zaon47, kevo, rabbitpoets, drmchsr0, Pontifus, ghostlightning, 53RG10, Vii, Seinime, _ETERNAL, FuyuMaiden, Eater-of-All, Shinmaru, calaggie, canon, Nazarielle, Cuchlann, Jinx

Five years after the 167-episode Inuyasha series finished airing in Japan, and one year after Rumiko Takahashi finished the manga, we finally have a new Inuyasha anime that will finish the famous feudal fairy tale…

The first new episode of Inuyasha Kanketsuhan (The Final Act) aired a few days ago. Although no TV English dub release has been announced yet, the new episodes will be available subtitled on Hulu and the Shonen Sunday web site only a few hours after the Japanese airing. This is a good move by Viz to keep fans watching the official releases until they possibly put the series on TV or DVD.

Without any recap, the first new episode jumps right into the story where episode 167 left off. This lack of recap points to the fact that probably only hardcore fans of the original anime, or those who have read the manga, will be interested in this sequel. Inuyasha is a series that is full of different simultaneous subplots going on between its many characters, so even casual fans will probably need to refresh their memory of the latter part of the series if they wish to tackle this sequel many years later.

As for my initial impressions, first of all it was great seeing the Inuyasha cast again. I was a hardcore Inuyasha fan for nearly five years, and although my interest in it dwindled while reading the latter volumes of the manga, I still love the characters. I love the seiyuu in Inuyasha too, and I was thrilled that Sunrise managed to reassemble the entire cast. It was great hearing Kappei Yamaguchi, Satsuki Yukino, Houkou Kuwashima, and the rest after so long ^_^ They seem to be keeping a lot of the background music used in the first series too, as I recognized many familiar tunes while watching the new episode. Do As Infinity performed many songs for Inuyasha in the past, and they’re back again with a good opening for The Final Act. AAA is new to the Inuyasha front, but I personally like the new ending they provide.

New opening “Kimi ga Inai Mirai” by Do As Infinity

New ending “With You” by AAA

The music, character designs, voices, and just about everything in the new Inuyasha series seems to be just like the old series, making it seamless to go from episode 167 to episode 1 of The Final Act. However, I did have one issue with this new episode which I hope does not last – it was extremely rushed. That first new episode was like, chapters 359 to 370. They skipped things, rearranged the order of events, and tweaked other events (and the scene with Kikyo was from chapter 375!) It would be too much to discuss everything that was changed or skipped in these chapters but you can skim through their pages on One Manga to see what I mean. Chapters 357 and 358, though a filler story, were skipped altogether.

Although I know I’ll enjoy watching new Inuyasha anime after so many years, I’m kind of scared that Sunrise only has 26 episodes with which to cram 20 volumes worth of material. For the first series, not counting the anime-only filler episodes, we had about 150 episodes for 36 volumes. If we only have 26 episodes for 20 volumes, they’re gonna have to rush and cut out a lot of scenes and/or unimportant chapters. I hope it slows down later on but after seeing the preview for episode 2 of The Final Act, it looks like that episode will include at least five chapters and will rearrange the order of events.

But anyway, great to have more Inuyasha anime. I just hope they slow it down a bit =)

Before I talk about my opinion of how the series ended, I just wanted to lay out some helpful info: the Inuyasha manga series has been running in Shounen Sunday in Japan since 1996, and of course, has now ended in 2008 at chapter 558. The anime series began in 2000 and ended in 2004 with a very inconclusive ending; it basically stopped the story at around volume 36 of the manga because the anime was too close to catching up with the manga. The anime began airing in the US in 2002 and ended in 2006. Currently, Viz is up to volume 33 of the English version of the manga, with 34 and 35 slowly on their way. I began writing individual chapter reviews of the Inuyasha manga starting at chapter 482 when the series hit its 10th anniversary, but I had to stop at chapter 520 because I no longer had the time to keep them up.

But although I no longer write individual chapter reviews of the manga, I of course had to make one final Inuyasha manga-related post since the series has finally reached its greatly anticipated conclusion. About a year and a half ago I wrote a post about why a new Inuyasha anime needs to be made in order for the series to regain its former popularity, since it now has more than enough manga material to work with. I also talked about how the quality of the manga has deteriorated since the anime ended, and now that the manga itself has finally ended, my opinion hasn’t really changed much. Personally I think that the Inuyasha series was absolutely brilliant and endearing until around volume 41, when it began to becomes less and less interesting. I won’t go into detail about why, since I already addressed that in the previous post, but lets just say that from volume 41 and onward, the series had its good story arcs and its boring story arcs, but it never went back to the excellence it used to be. It seemed like this latter half of the series was used by Takahashi-san to experiment with different possible ways to end the series, thus it just seemed kind of scattered and she began making up new subplots instead of trying to tie them up.

And finally now, we have the series finale. First of all, the main villain Naraku, who has “died” a number of times in the series only to come back again, is finally killed in chapter 552. I guess a unique aspect of Inuyasha when compared to other long-running shounen series’ is that it’s kept the same main villain all these years. Because of this, I would suspect that Naraku’s death would be all the more epic, but personally I thought it was kind of lame. Instead of feeling totally relieved and happy that one of the most hated and evil villains of all is finally defeated, out of nowhere Takahashi throws in a bit of sentiment about how he only wanted his wish of being with Kikyou granted. After years of portraying Naraku as a heartless bastard who only had base desires for Kikyou, we’re just now suddenly supposed to feel a shred of sympathy for him? I don’t know, but that was the impression I got. If she wanted Naraku to be a more complex character instead of pure evil, she should have given us evidence long before this. Personally, I think Naraku should’ve gone down with a huge bang, and Takahashi should have added one of her humorous filler chapters of the gang having a party and celebrating his defeat! XD But oh well, it could’ve been worse I guess ~_^

And as for tying the whole series up in the last chapter, considering all the characters and subplots Takahashi had to work with, I think she did an okay job (though definitely not perfect). The last chapter was about 40 pages instead of the usual 20 so that helped a lot. To make things easier, let me divide the series conclusion into good points and bad points…

Good points: First of all, while Naraku’s death was mediocre, I thought the “death” of the Shikon Jewel was really awesome. Instead of selfishly making a wish on the Shikon Jewel for Inuyasha to save her or to return to her world, Kagome instead chooses not to choose, because she knows that Inuyasha will save her without her having to wish for it (she instead wishes for the Jewel to disappear). To me this was a very unpredictable and interesting ending for the Jewel. And in the last chapter, we finally get to see Miroku and Sango settle down and have their kids, and we also get a good idea of how the remaining main characters will spend the rest of their days. After reading the few chapters before this one, I was afraid that Inuyasha and Kagome would never get to see each other again, and Kagome would be forced to stay on her side forever. So I was really relieved that in the end they got to be together after all, thus answering a question that fans have had for many years. Also, Kagome calling Sesshoumaru “Onii-san” (and the look on Sesshoumaru’s face at that moment) was priceless XD

Bad points: As could be expected from a long-running series with numerous characters and subplots, I felt that some characters and subplots in Inuyasha were left with insufficient development, or were just plain pointless. For example, was it really necessary for Inuyasha to get all those new attacks for Tessaiga in the latter part of the series when he uses the majority of them maybe once or twice? And what was the point of Kouga getting a new attack when he was written out of the series not too long after, and doesn’t even get to appear in the last chapter? And also after all this time, we never hear a thing about Kagome’s father (the anime mentions him but not the manga). Other minor characters such as that kid with the freaky eyes in chapter 493, and even Sesshoumaru’s mom and Houjo-kun lacked a proper conclusion. And there are probably other characters and subplots I forgot about that were lacking but I guess Takahashi wrapped up the main ones well enough. Another thing, I thought that Kagome’s sudden disappearance from the Sengoku Jidai in the end was really lacking: there should have at least been a few pages showing Inuyasha, Shippou, Miroku, and Sango grieving about not being able to see her again. I mean, the five of them have been traveling around together all these years, and suddenly she’s gone and they didn’t even get to say goodbye. Instead, the last chapter just jumps to three years in the future already with only minor flashbacks, and we don’t even see any rejoicing when she finally does come back…so yeah, there definitely should have been more emotion in the ending.

And although Inuyasha and Kagome do indeed end up together in the end, one has to wonder if this would have been so if Kikyou hadn’t died. Inuyasha never actually chose between Kagome and Kikyou…Kikyou was already dead when he ended up with Kagome, so does he now love Kagome more than Kikyou? If Kikyou were to suddenly come back, would he then be conflicted again or would he loyally stay with Kagome? Inuyasha never actually chose one over the other so it could still be argued that the only reason Inuyasha chose Kagome in the end is because she’s the only one of the two left (if Kikyou was still around, this may have been different). Another interesting fact is that even in the last chapter we never see Inuyasha and Kagome kiss (they did in the second movie but that’s not canon and it was hardly a passionate kiss), while Kikyou and Inuyasha have kissed a couple of times before, and quite passionately. Inuyasha and Kagome still haven’t even outright confessed their love…I wonder if Takahashi-san purposely left it debatable whether Inuyasha truly chose Kagome over Kikyou or not.

One last thing I was kind of confused about (though maybe someone can clear it up for me), why, after three years, was Kagome suddenly able to go back through the well? This whole time she and Inuyasha have been missing each other and visiting the well, so why after three years did the well suddenly become connected again? Not sure if I missed something about this but it seems really questionable ~_^ I always predicted that after the Shikon Jewel is destroyed, the time slip on the well would close and Kagome would be forced to remain on her side. It would then be Inuyasha who chooses to go back to her world and live as a human, instead of the other way around. I kinda like my ending better but oh well ^^,,, Perhaps now that the manga has ended, a new anime series will be on the way.

Well, to sum things up, Inuyasha is the only one of Takahashi’s series’ that I’ve read all the way through and I’ve heard that she’s infamous for not writing good endings. But I’m at least somewhat satisfied with the ending of Inuyasha. Actually, the only other series of hers that I’m familiar with is Ranma 1/2, and though I think it’s hilarious, sometimes it gets too silly and slapstick for me. The reason I like Inuyasha so much is because even though its not a comedy series, it has humor that’s more realistic and character-driven, and not as hyperbolic. Also, being one long, continuing story instead of stand-alone episodes like Ranma, together with Takahashi’s brilliant ability to create endearing characters, you’ve got a series with great character development and an intricate, fascinating storyline. Thus Inuyasha was my favorite series for nearly 5 years. Although my interest in it has been decreasing in the past year (mostly due to the manga not being as good as it used to be) it will always be one of my favorites and I’m so glad I was able to follow Inuyasha and the gang all the way to the end of their amazing adventure.

Once again, sorry for the delays with the IY chapter reviews. As I’ve said, I’ve been busy with moving away to university and doing long overdue work on the main site. I’ll try not to get any more than three chapters behind on these reviews…

Anyway, chapters 517 and 518 wrapped up the Magatsuhi arc, for now anyway since it’s confirmed that he’s still alive somewhere. LOL, so last minute this arc ends up being a power-up arc for Sesshoumaru after all! XD But like I mentioned last time, it was more interesting than most power-up arcs because all the characters were involved and Magatsuhi doesn’t seem to be just an average monster-of-the-week. It was cool that Sesshoumaru FINALLY got his left arm back after all this time. That’s probably the main reason he never used his dog-youkai form…it would be hard to jump around on three legs XD

A bit unexpected in chapter 518 is Sesshoumaru leaving Rin, Kohaku, and even Jaken behind to pursue Magatsuhi by himself. I don’t know why, but I get this weird feeling, with all the talk that Takahashi-san might kill Sesshoumaru off eventually, that he may not return to Rin and Jaken this time. When Rin said “This is just him leaving us like he always does…please hurry back, Sesshoumaru-sama” made it feel like he actually won’t be coming back this time. I hope I’m wrong though. I also wonder if Inuyasha’s group will eventually go after Magatsuhi as well, and if they’ll leave Kohaku at Kaede’s village (maybe Sango will stay behind with him. Jaken and Rin will probably wait there for Sesshoumaru too). Anyway, along with Sesshoumaru’s subplot, we have the other subplot of Kagome’s spiritual power being sealed by Magatsuhi and thus her being unable to purify Kohaku’s shard. There’s been some foreshadowing of Kagome being more powerful than she appears to be, so hopefully soon we’ll be seeing what that leads up to =)

And then there’s chapter 520, once again another light, comical Inuyasha/Kagome filler story Takahashi-san uses to break up the tension. One of the things I’ve always liked about the Inuyasha series is how it can jump from action-packed, dramatic fantasy to funny, slice-of-life situations quite smoothly. That’s part of Takahashi-san’s genius I guess ^^ LOL, I still can’t understand how Kagome can do well in school with all the time she spends in the Sengoku Jidai but oh well =P If she’s taking high school entrance exams, does that mean she’s almost done with middle school and will graduate soon? Over these 500+ chapters I kinda lost track of her school status =P The past few “back in the real world” chapters seem to be hinting at the fact that eventually Kagome will have to choose whether to focus more on her life in the real world or on the Sengoku Jidai. I still get the feeling that once Naraku and the Shikon Jewel are destroyed, she won’t be able to travel through the well anymore…

Well anyway, we’ll probably be seeing Sesshoumaru mastering his new Bakusaiga next arc. Hopefully it’ll be as interesting as this past arc was =)

Once again, due to lack of free time and my wanting to concentrate on other posts, I’ve fallen behind on the IY chapter reviews. I’m trying to catch up now and hopefully this’ll be the last time I’ll have to cover three chapters at a time and I can go back to doing one or two at a time.

As for these chapters, we’re still in the midst of the Magatsuhi arc and there’s no sign of it ending anytime soon. Personally, I think this is actually one of the better, more exciting of the recent arcs. As I stated in my last review, I originally thought this arc was gonna be another “power-up” story for Sesshoumaru since he lost the Meidou Zangetsuha, and that Magatsuhi was gonna be just another “monster-of-the-week.” But it turns out, there’s a lot more going on in this arc than that; Inuyasha’s group is as equally involved as Sesshoumaru’s group and we also have the other sub plots of Kohaku’s tainted shard and Kagome’s spiritual power being sealed by Magatsuhi. Being a part of the Shikon Jewel, the very item that all the conflict in the Inuyasha saga revolves around, also gives the impression that Magatsuhi will not be your average villain after all.

Another plus for this arc is that it features good character development for Sesshoumaru. Not only is it cool to see the return of his dog-youkai form, but a lot more of his caring side is revealed, for example, how he protected Kohaku and even helped guide Inuyasha’s group to safety. In chapter 517, Inuyasha also showed obvious concern when Sesshoumaru was seemingly trapped by Magatsuhi’s tentacles. When I think back to the times when the two brothers would engage in fights to the death whenever they saw each other, to how they are now, it’s pretty amazing how Takahashi-san has developed their relationship so gradually and precisely. I doubt they’ll ever have any “brotherly love” or flat out admit that they care about each other, but it’s still pretty interesting to think about how their relationship has changed over these 500+ chapters, and also how they’ve grown to be more caring and concerned for others.

Well, I guess that’s all I’ve got to say about these chapters and this arc so far. A lot of fans seem to think that Takahashi-san is going to kill off Sesshoumaru in this arc or sometime soon. I sure hope not but you never know. He is doing a lot of noble and slightly out-of-character things lately and isn’t that always when anime/manga characters die? ~_^ Guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I feel like Naraku’s going to make an appearance soon too and I’m curious to see how Inuyasha and co. will finally defeat Magatsuhi =)

FYI: MakiMaki will no longer be making scanlations of the Inuyasha manga. So the only other sources I know of that release the new chapter each week are Freelance-Manga and ADInuyasha.

Wanting desperately to catch up on my Inuyasha reviews, I finally decided to do three chapters at once instead of the usual one or two. Considering how busy I’ve been lately, it might have to be like this for a while. But despite everything that’s going on with me right now, I’m glad I haven’t given up on doing the reviews completely =P

Anyway, as usual after an intense story arc, Takahashi-san presents us with a lighter, “back in the real world” chapter in 512. But it’s not totally filler though, since we get a lot more info and speculation about the “will” of the Shikon Jewel and how it might be sealing Kagome’s spiritual powers, rather than the typical Inuyasha+Kagome humor. The fact that this new sub plot arose in the previous arc with Hitomiko, and continues on through chapter 512 and seems to still have relevance in this new arc that starts in 513 perhaps means that it’s going to lead to something big…maybe we’ll finally get some major conflict resolution in these next few chapters. Of course I could be wrong, but that’s just the feeling I get.

After reading chapter 513, I was a bit disappointed at first because it seemed like the next arc was going to be nothing but a new power-up arc for Sesshoumaru. It seemed inevitable since he just lost Tenseiga’s most powerful attack, and I got the impression that the youkai that came out of the Shikon Jewel would be the “monster of the week” that would help him get said power-up. But after reading chapter 514, it seems like this arc might be more than that. With the conflict of Kohaku’s shard being tainted and Kagome’s relationship with the dark will of the Jewel that’s supposedly sealing her powers, both showing up in this arc along with Sesshoumaru battling against the powerful youkai that came out of the Jewel, there’s a lot going on in this arc than usual. Personally, I think it’s pretty exciting so far and I seriously hope we get at least some of the conflict resolution we’ve all been waiting for these 500+ chapters XD I’ve noticed that with all the characters that have died/been written out of the story, like Kikyou, Kouga, Kagura, Hakudoushi, etc., all we really have left to focus story arcs on are Inuyasha’s group and Sesshoumaru’s group. And since both of them have come together in this new arc, it seems that it might be an interesting one. There’s still a good chance Sesshoumaru will end up with a new power-up, but I’m hoping something a bit more significant will happen soon too =)

First of all, sorry for falling behind with my chapter reviews. My four days at Anime Expo kinda threw me off and I’ve also been busy with other things. But I’m gonna try and use what’s left of my summer break to catch up on posts =)

I’ve actually read chapter 512 already but I’d rather just review 510 and 511 for now and do 512 along with 513 when it comes out. This arc has been pretty interesting…although by the end of it, Kagome still hasn’t gotten any real “power-up” we do get some foreshadowing for yet another new subplot (as if we don’t have enough already XD) about how her spiritual powers are being “sealed.” I’m interested to see how that goes…hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for this conflict to be resolved.

Anyway, as for chapters 511 and 512, I thought they were pretty exciting, mostly because Kagome finally gets a story arc. She hasn’t been the center of any of the main story arcs since Kikyou’s death (which was like, a year ago XD) so it was cool to actually see her in action without any of the other characters around. LOL, she’s one of those characters that fans love to hate because all they do most of the time is stand around and give admonishments to the other characters instead of doing anything themselves, like Sakura from Naruto. It took a while, but Sakura was able to prove herself, so I’m sure Kagome will eventually too. She was able to shoot her arrow through Hitomiko and into Naraku…if her powers are being sealed, how could she do that (or, for that matter, any other time she’s used spiritual arrows?) I guess she can still use some spiritual powers, but can’t realize her true potential until this “seal” is broken. The bow of Azusa must have it’s own power (along with Kikyou’s influence), but hopefully soon Kagome will be able to kick ass on her own like everyone else XD

Well, more on “Kagome’s spiritual powers being sealed” conflict in the ch. 512 to 513 review next time!

LOL, so last time I was saying how it didn’t look like this arc was going to revolve around weapons/power-ups? Well, it seems I spoke too soon XD But it’s okay because at least Tessaiga or Tenseiga aren’t hogging the spotlight =P Chapters 508 and 509 pretty much flow together so I’m gonna review them as one entity rather than separately. Anyway, it’s obvious that something is going to happen with the bow of Azusa and/or how Kagome uses it; these two chapters are pretty much setting the stage for whatever this power-up may be…and we probably won’t know until at least the next chapter or a few more to come. But I think this power-up arc is a lot more interesting than the norm because rather than having the typical “fighting against evil youkai” we have a big internal conflict – Kagome has a major decision to make about whether she should destroy Hitomiko and save herself, try futilely to escape from Hitomiko’s attacks, or figure out a way to use the bow of Azusa’s power and save her. It’s pretty obvious by the end of 509 that she’s going to try and use the bow properly to save Hitomiko, but how? It’s already established that her spiritual powers aren’t as strong as Kikyou’s so is she gonna somehow “borrow” Kikyou’s power using the bow, or is she gonna tap into some “hidden” spiritual power within herself? The story’s really exciting right now ’cause I honestly can’t predict what’s going to happen =)

Well, that’s all I’ve got to say about these two chapters. BTW, if you’ve been keeping up with the IY manga scanlations, you probably know that there was some delay with the release of chapter 509. I know that there are three groups which release the weekly English scanlations of the IY manga; Freelance-Manga, MakiMaki, and another group called Advanced Inuyasha I think. I usually get my scanlations from MakiMaki and sometimes Freelance-Manga. But I could never find a web site for Advanced Inuyasha. I also hear that Kuro, who used to do the weekly scanlations on her site, Ear-Tweak, still posts translations elsewhere. So if someone could give me a link to the Advanced Inuyasha site, and also where Kuro currently posts translations, I’d be very appreciative ^.^ You can never have too many sources for Inuyasha manga!

Oh yeah, just thought I’d point out that this is my blog’s 100th post ^_^ I’ve been so busy, I haven’t even kept track, otherwise I would’ve done something more unique for my 100th post. Oh well =P I think I’ll do a post related to that next time…

Sorry I’ve been falling behind on chapter reviews. But summer break is coming up, so hopefully I’ll be able to catch up, and do some other good posts as well =) Anyway, I actually thought the fox youkai filler arc was gonna end last chapter, but apparently I wasn’t very observant =P Chapter 505 was just the introduction to it, and 506 was the real stuff…and I’ve got to say, I liked it much better XD Last time I was saying how this filler arc was kind of silly, but 506 was quite hilarious, with the unique humor that only Takahashi-san could present ^^ Now that I’ve read both chapters of the arc, my opinion has changed about it…I really think it’s one of the most funny and unique of the filler arcs. Anyway, some highlights of chapter 506 were of course “Inuyasha vs Shippou” humor, Miroku getting the fox youkai to transform into pretty girls, and random fox youkai transforming into Miroku and scoring points against Sango! XD So now that this arc is really over, I’m pretty sure we won’t be hearing about the fox youjutsu exam again, but you never know. Maybe Takahashi-san will want to bring it up once more when she feels like making another funny filler arc. And something else hilarious about this arc…comparing it to Naruto of course! XD As MakiMaki said on the last page, “in the end, only Shikamaru passes.”

So now we’re back to the serious stuff in chapter 507. A brand-new, and hopefully plot-advancing, arc! And it doesn’t look like it’s gonna have anything to do with weapons/power-ups this time! Yay! XD We get a new miko too. I don’t think Hitomiko will become an important character besides in this arc, but seeing her made me miss Kikyou =( Anyway, it also looks like Kagome is finally gonna get some screentime in this arc…seriously, she hasn’t done anything really significant since Kikyou’s death arc. All she’s pretty much done these past 40 or so chapters is stand in the background, so it’s about time =P But I wonder, last time we saw Naraku he was after Kohaku’s shard, and now out of nowhere he’s after Kagome…maybe he knows that Kagome can keep Kohaku’s shard purified (though not as good as Kikyou), so in order to finally obtain the last shard, he needs to get rid of her too. Well, it’s too early to say much else about this new arc, but hopefully it’ll be an interesting one =)

Review: This is actually the first anime drama CD I’ve ever bought or even listened too. It was kind of strange just hearing the voices and sound effects without seeing any animation (you gotta use your imagination for that ^^) but I loved it! Surprisingly, using my very limited knowledge of Japanese, I was able to understand a good amount of what was going on, and a lot of the parts were quite hilarious XD It also reminded me how much I miss the IY anime and also how much I love the IY seiyuus! ^.^ They’ve gotta be the most talented group of voice actors I’ve ever heard – each of them matches their character perfectly and you can tell they love their job too ^^ Even though the anime has been over since 2004, they still haven’t lost their touch at all!

Synopsis: Using my intermediate level of Japanese skills, I was able to understand maybe about 40% to 50% of everything that happened in the story…more than I thought I could actually ^^a Basically what happens is Inuyasha and the gang face off against this youkai that’s using the power of a Shikon shard and stealing people’s voices to use for energy. It can also switch voices too. LOL, there’s this one short but hilarious part where Inuyasha’s and Kagome’s voices get switched, as do Miroku’s and Sango’s. Hearing Kagome talk with Inuyasha’s “yakuza” speech and Inuyasha use female speech, etc., was just classic! XD Anyway, in order to get a chance to fight the youkai and get the voices of a local village back, they had to engage in three “word games” with the youkai. The first, that popular Japanese “end catcher” game (I knew the name of it, I just can’t remember now XP) where you say a word or phrase and the next person has to take the last vowel or syllable of that word or phrase and quickly make their own, and so on. It was hilarious because Kagome kept getting the “o” sound and what word did she use? “Osuwari!” of course! XD (much to Inuyasha’s displeasure). The next game was solving riddles I think (couldn’t really understand much of it) and last, a tongue twister. LOL, that was the hardest tongue twister I ever heard! (but our talented seiyuus pulled it off great ^^)

Sesshoumaru, Jaken, and Rin are also in the story. Jaken and Rin have a few cute/funny moments where they sing, and praise Sesshoumaru of course. I think two versions of this CD were released; this one (Inuyasha’s version) and Sesshoumaru’s version, so I think Sesshoumaru’s might have more of his side of the story included on it. Anyway, you’ve also got your subplots too – in the beginning of the story, Kagome gives Inuyasha a gift (a bell/charm thing I think) that can supposedly grant a wish. But later, when Shippou and the others start teasing him about it, he gets totally flustered and throws it away! Kagome gets mad and runs off on them, only to get kidnapped by the voice-stealing youkai, but of course Inuyasha and the others come to the rescue, Inuyasha having recovered the bell too (I think he also uses it to help him find the youkai when they’re fighting it in the mist). After they take the shard from the youkai, it goes back to its original form (and ends up being smaller than Shippou =P), the voices return, Inuyasha and Kagome make up, and alls well that ends well ^_^

There’s also one last bit of comedy on the final track where the village that they saved has some sort of singing contest and Shippou enters. Using the tune from Kagome’s song (“Tatta Hitotsu no Yakusoku”) he sings a short but hilarious remix of it, where he literally sings about Inuyasha not knowing anything about women and Miroku “stroking” Sango XD

Download and track listing: I’ve uploaded a RAR file of this CD here (it’s a good 125.5MB so be warned). Just to make it clear, this CD does not contain any actual songs. It’s a drama CD of just audio and would probably only appeal to someone who’s a fan of the Japanese version of Inuyasha and/or someone fluent in Japanese or learning it. Anyway, sorry I couldn’t give proper names to all the tracks in the file (they’re all called “Track 01,” “Track 02,” etc.) so I’ve included a list of all the tracks below. If anyone wants to submit translations of them, that would be great ^_^

Track 1 is just the typical Inuyasha introduction used in the later episodes of the TV series. Tracks 2 to 22 are the main story. Tracks 23 and 24 are commentary by the seiyuus. I couldn’t understand much of what they were saying (I was hoping to hear something about a new anime series ~_^) but they were just talking about how the series is over 10 years and how they’ve all gotten older since then too XD They also did some more tongue twisters ^^ And lastly, tracks 25 and 26 are the funny epilogue featuring Shippou’s little song.

Well, hope you guys enjoy the CD. If anyone wants to submit English translations of the tracks, the booklet, or any part of this CD, I’d be very appreciative ^_^