OMG -- can Rumiko Takahashi’s manga get any more popular? First, Ranma 1/2 was flying off the rack, and now it’s Inu-Yasha. (As soon as I finish this, I have to buy us some more copies.)
We start with Kagome, a typically sweet and dutiful Japanese school girl. She lives with her family and her cat, Buyo, in an old shrine, and everything is pretty normal until she falls down a well.
At this point, it’s good to strike from your mind any thoughts of Lassie (“What is it, girl? Has Timmy fallen in the well?”) or even Alice (“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”) No, Inu-Yasha is a bit more exciting than that. For instance, Kagome doesn’t exactly fall down the Bone Eating Well -- she is suddenly grabbed and hauled in by a centipede demon. No Wonderland, this, but ancient, feudal Japan, where demons and monsters and all the old legends are alive and well.
Fighting for her life against Centipede Lady, Kagome encounters the title character, Inu-Yasha. Half-human, half-dog demon, Inu-Yasha had been bound to the Tree of Ages until Kagome breaks the spell (cast by his first love, the priestess Kikyou.) As it happens, both the Centipede Demon and Inu-Yasha want the same thing: the power-enhancing Jewel of Four Souls, aka the Shikon no Tama, so Inu-Yasha joins forces with Kagome and the demon is a goner. In the process, Kagome is discovered to be the reincarnation of Kikyou; the jewel is discovered, struggled over, and smashed into shards; and the plot is set for what will eventually turn out to be a 33+ volume manga series.
Love & betrayal, blood & battle, monsters & magic, weapons & people of power, plus not a few screamingly funny lines, Inu-Yasha is a great yarn. Rumiko Takahashi has won 3 Shogakukan Manga Awards and the Inkpot, which is really no wonder. Inu-Yasha is also out as a television program, and a series of video games.
So, if you’re ready to meet the bloodsucking demon flea and the human monk with the wind tunnel in his hand -- or watch Kagome immobilize Inu-Yasha with the secret word, “Sit!” (too funny...) as he brandishes the magic sword, the Iron Crushing Fang, give this series a try.
And hey -- if you’re already a fan, who’s your favorite character?
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