Inuyasha: The End (Really This Time)
Mar. 29th, 2010 02:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteSo I watched the last episode (26) of Inuyasha: The Final Act today. There was laughter, there were tears, and there were surprises. There were a few things I was right about in my last post about it and a few things I was wrong about.
I was so, so happy that Kagome didn't give into her fear of the darkness and make a wish to see Inuyasha again before they met once more. The preview actually did a good job of making me come up with potential hypotheses only to see them shot out of the sky.
I was quite glad to be wrong about the Jewel not being able to grant the wish for it to disappear. Turns out that it was never Onigumo's wish in the first place, and Kikyou's dying wish (to see Inuyasha again)/her lingering feelings for him are what led Kagome having the Jewel inside of her and eventually coming to the Feudal Era with the necessity of destroying the Jewel once and for all. Inuyasha saying that Kagome was born to meet him initially seemed a little selfish, but he did prefix it with everything that Kagome taught him, which I was impressed by: he could have said Kikyou taught him those things, or that he learned them on his own, but it was Kagome that really did it, just by being there, and that's love: that's sweet.
I think the desire to see the Jewel well and truly disappear with all your heart played a big part in Kagome being born with the Jewel within her (Grandmother paradox! Who is Kagome's ancestor if Kagome stays in the Feudal Era?): Kikyou may have wanted that but she still had doubts about what she would do without a Jewel to guard if Inuyasha weren't human. Onigumo may have wanted that but he doubted that Kikyou could ever love him as he was--a crippled human. And Inuyasha never seemed to want the Jewel to disappear because it was his only way of being with the woman he loved, whether it was Kikyou or Kagome.
In the end, I guess Kagome's will overrode that of everyone else who had ever wished on the Jewel with even a tiny bit of selfishness, and that's why she was able to "purify it" and make it go way forever. She had the strength of heart from Inuyasha being there beside her.
It was her own strength of heart that allowed them to be reunited later on, three years later. I'm actually quite impressed with Kagome being able to survive high school that long, and it certainly leaves a lot of room for fanfiction. Even if the well was supposedly sealed during that time and Kagome and Inuyasha didn't see one another, who's to say one or both of them didn't have adventures in their worlds? I mean, Shippo was off taking Fox Demon exams, Sango and Miroku were busy popping out babies (seriously, twin girls and a boy? Or just two girls and a boy?), Rin was getting re-accustomed to living with humans, and Sesshomaru and Jaken, Koga and Ayame were all doing their own things.
I thought it was especially cute how Sesshomaru occasionally swung by the neighborhood, not to say hi to his half-demon brother or anything, but to give Rin presents. That's adorable. It's also cool that their ending is left someone vague: Rin gets to choose what life she wants to live, but she's got a role-model in Kagome if she decides it shouldn't just be "the human world" versus "the demon world." She could somehow find a way to be happy in both, I think, though it wouldn't necessarily mesh with what Sesshomaru wants to/would do.
Speaking of Sesshomaru, I officially LOVE LOVE LOVE Kagome for having the lady balls to call him "Onii-san!" (or was it "sama?") The expression on Sesshomaru's face had me laughing so loud and hard I almost missed the rest of the lines that were said. And Inuyasha was giving her a look too and it just made me grin even further. You can take the girl out of the 20th/21st century, but you can't take the 20th/21st century out of the girl! Even if Kagome spends the rest of her life in the Feudal Era just as she is, a priestess, and never goes back to her own time (either because she doesn't have the will to make the well work again or because she would fuck up the timeline), she'll always have this attitude that makes her very different from the other girls her age in the Feudal Era.
I was pretty surprised she did that, by the way. I was really thinking that Inuyasha would get reborn in Kagome's world, but then he wouldn't be Inuyasha anymore, would he? That would kind of suck all the fun out of it if either one of them had to change to be with the other. It's kind of a Lois & Clark thing: if they're themselves when they're with each other, then it doesn't matter who either of them are or what either of them do, because they love one another for who they are as people. In other words, Kagome shouldn't change herself into a demon or half-demon for him, and Inuyasha shouldn't wish to be a human for her.
Even in the Fushigi Yuugi example, where Tamahome got reborn as Taka in Miaka's world, his memories were artificial, and it's not even known if the people he calls his friends and parents even existed before he came around as a result of Miaka's final wish on Suzaku. But in order to be "whole" again, he has to regain the memories he had as Tamahome, retaining the link between the two worlds despite the danger it might bring. So basically, he's got the full memories of the power house Seishi he was, but not the abilities (necessarily). I think Inuyasha would have to be the same way if he ever went to Kagome's world: have the memories of himself as a half-demon, but stay in a human form. Still, it would seem like a cheat somehow, because it was Kagome accepting and loving him for who he was that made them so strong together.
I like the ending and I don't think I'd change it, though I do want more answers for what happened to both of them in the interim (the three years she was in high school), and of course, what they really did after she finally came back. Sota said that Kagome married, and Kagome calling Sesshomaru "Older Brother" would seem to corroborate that, but clearly Kagome and Inuyasha aren't treating marriage the same way Sango and Miroku are...unless Kagome's got something she isn't telling Inuyasha!
(Gah, I just got to thinking: if Inuyasha and Kagome slept together, would it be as awful as that scene from "Breaking Dawn" when Edward was struggling not to hurt Bella while they had sex? Lamesauce! I'm betting Kagome would be the one on top anyway, or she'd like it rough! Hah! Take that, pansy-ass Bella and sparkle-face Edward!)
Did you notice we never really got to see Midoriko's face? I wonder why that is? We saw her mummy, we saw her silhouette, we saw her "form" fighting inside the Jewel, but we never see her face close-up. Maybe we do in the manga?
Another point of curiosity: if being in the Meido isn't the permanent route to the Underworld that Sesshomaru, Rin, and Kohaku visited, what is it? Or is it different for every person, depending on who cast it? Does it make a difference that Kagome got sucked into the Meido by Byakuya using Inuyasha's sword's demonic energy? Or maybe all of the above doesn't make a difference because it was after the near-destruction of the Jewel, so previous assumptions about the world of the Meido don't matter here? Basically: how the hell did Inuyasha and Kagome exit the Jewel/Meido instead of getting destroyed with it (because they were inside it when Kagome wished for it to disappear forever)?
I feel kind of jilted that, when Kagome and Inuyasha finally met again inside the Jewel, their kiss was so brief, so chaste, so simple-looking that Kikyou and Inuyasha's parting kiss really trumped it. Kikyou and Inuyasha's last kiss, while way more heart-wrenching and emotion-laden and everything, looked damn good, but with Inuyasha and Kagome, it was like "It's you! *smooch!*" Not the whole "YOU'RE HERE! *FACE SUCK*" or anything like that. There wasn't much passion behind it, despite how close to giving up Kagome was, and how desperate Inuyasha was to find her. And the fact that they didn't kiss again when she showed up after a three year absence also felt like a shaft.
...But it's a better shaft than what Takahashi pulled with Ranma, so overall, I'd say I'm pleased. I'm surprised, I'm grateful, I'm still curious, I'm glad the fandom's still got niches to explore and places to play in, but overall, I'm glad it's over, both anime and manga-wise. To be perfectly honest, I think I've seen more of the anime than I've read of the manga, although I haven't watched all of the anime yet. That's my next step: to rewatch all of the anime from the beginning of the TV series through the movies, and maybe if I'm feeling masochistic, watch The Final Act again. I did like the Final Act, and I might get it on DVD when it comes out Stateside.
So how many volumes of the Inuyasha manga in VIZBIG style would there be, anyway, if each VIZBIG is 3 normal volumes, and Inuyasha's got at least 41 volumes in the normal size? I don't know how many total volumes the manga's got, but I'd never try to buy them individually if Viz is releasing them in VIZBIG format. I was flipping through the first volume of the Inuyasha VIZBIG yesterday at Border's, and it's nice to see that Takahashi's art style has improved, but not changed drastically. That's both a good thing (familiar art style you can grow to love) and a bad thing (characters look very recognizable, the "everyone with the same face and different hairstyle" syndrome).
I guess it's time for me to find another anime and/or manga series to get very attached to. We'll see what happens....
I was so, so happy that Kagome didn't give into her fear of the darkness and make a wish to see Inuyasha again before they met once more. The preview actually did a good job of making me come up with potential hypotheses only to see them shot out of the sky.
I was quite glad to be wrong about the Jewel not being able to grant the wish for it to disappear. Turns out that it was never Onigumo's wish in the first place, and Kikyou's dying wish (to see Inuyasha again)/her lingering feelings for him are what led Kagome having the Jewel inside of her and eventually coming to the Feudal Era with the necessity of destroying the Jewel once and for all. Inuyasha saying that Kagome was born to meet him initially seemed a little selfish, but he did prefix it with everything that Kagome taught him, which I was impressed by: he could have said Kikyou taught him those things, or that he learned them on his own, but it was Kagome that really did it, just by being there, and that's love: that's sweet.
I think the desire to see the Jewel well and truly disappear with all your heart played a big part in Kagome being born with the Jewel within her (Grandmother paradox! Who is Kagome's ancestor if Kagome stays in the Feudal Era?): Kikyou may have wanted that but she still had doubts about what she would do without a Jewel to guard if Inuyasha weren't human. Onigumo may have wanted that but he doubted that Kikyou could ever love him as he was--a crippled human. And Inuyasha never seemed to want the Jewel to disappear because it was his only way of being with the woman he loved, whether it was Kikyou or Kagome.
In the end, I guess Kagome's will overrode that of everyone else who had ever wished on the Jewel with even a tiny bit of selfishness, and that's why she was able to "purify it" and make it go way forever. She had the strength of heart from Inuyasha being there beside her.
It was her own strength of heart that allowed them to be reunited later on, three years later. I'm actually quite impressed with Kagome being able to survive high school that long, and it certainly leaves a lot of room for fanfiction. Even if the well was supposedly sealed during that time and Kagome and Inuyasha didn't see one another, who's to say one or both of them didn't have adventures in their worlds? I mean, Shippo was off taking Fox Demon exams, Sango and Miroku were busy popping out babies (seriously, twin girls and a boy? Or just two girls and a boy?), Rin was getting re-accustomed to living with humans, and Sesshomaru and Jaken, Koga and Ayame were all doing their own things.
I thought it was especially cute how Sesshomaru occasionally swung by the neighborhood, not to say hi to his half-demon brother or anything, but to give Rin presents. That's adorable. It's also cool that their ending is left someone vague: Rin gets to choose what life she wants to live, but she's got a role-model in Kagome if she decides it shouldn't just be "the human world" versus "the demon world." She could somehow find a way to be happy in both, I think, though it wouldn't necessarily mesh with what Sesshomaru wants to/would do.
Speaking of Sesshomaru, I officially LOVE LOVE LOVE Kagome for having the lady balls to call him "Onii-san!" (or was it "sama?") The expression on Sesshomaru's face had me laughing so loud and hard I almost missed the rest of the lines that were said. And Inuyasha was giving her a look too and it just made me grin even further. You can take the girl out of the 20th/21st century, but you can't take the 20th/21st century out of the girl! Even if Kagome spends the rest of her life in the Feudal Era just as she is, a priestess, and never goes back to her own time (either because she doesn't have the will to make the well work again or because she would fuck up the timeline), she'll always have this attitude that makes her very different from the other girls her age in the Feudal Era.
I was pretty surprised she did that, by the way. I was really thinking that Inuyasha would get reborn in Kagome's world, but then he wouldn't be Inuyasha anymore, would he? That would kind of suck all the fun out of it if either one of them had to change to be with the other. It's kind of a Lois & Clark thing: if they're themselves when they're with each other, then it doesn't matter who either of them are or what either of them do, because they love one another for who they are as people. In other words, Kagome shouldn't change herself into a demon or half-demon for him, and Inuyasha shouldn't wish to be a human for her.
Even in the Fushigi Yuugi example, where Tamahome got reborn as Taka in Miaka's world, his memories were artificial, and it's not even known if the people he calls his friends and parents even existed before he came around as a result of Miaka's final wish on Suzaku. But in order to be "whole" again, he has to regain the memories he had as Tamahome, retaining the link between the two worlds despite the danger it might bring. So basically, he's got the full memories of the power house Seishi he was, but not the abilities (necessarily). I think Inuyasha would have to be the same way if he ever went to Kagome's world: have the memories of himself as a half-demon, but stay in a human form. Still, it would seem like a cheat somehow, because it was Kagome accepting and loving him for who he was that made them so strong together.
I like the ending and I don't think I'd change it, though I do want more answers for what happened to both of them in the interim (the three years she was in high school), and of course, what they really did after she finally came back. Sota said that Kagome married, and Kagome calling Sesshomaru "Older Brother" would seem to corroborate that, but clearly Kagome and Inuyasha aren't treating marriage the same way Sango and Miroku are...unless Kagome's got something she isn't telling Inuyasha!
(Gah, I just got to thinking: if Inuyasha and Kagome slept together, would it be as awful as that scene from "Breaking Dawn" when Edward was struggling not to hurt Bella while they had sex? Lamesauce! I'm betting Kagome would be the one on top anyway, or she'd like it rough! Hah! Take that, pansy-ass Bella and sparkle-face Edward!)
Did you notice we never really got to see Midoriko's face? I wonder why that is? We saw her mummy, we saw her silhouette, we saw her "form" fighting inside the Jewel, but we never see her face close-up. Maybe we do in the manga?
Another point of curiosity: if being in the Meido isn't the permanent route to the Underworld that Sesshomaru, Rin, and Kohaku visited, what is it? Or is it different for every person, depending on who cast it? Does it make a difference that Kagome got sucked into the Meido by Byakuya using Inuyasha's sword's demonic energy? Or maybe all of the above doesn't make a difference because it was after the near-destruction of the Jewel, so previous assumptions about the world of the Meido don't matter here? Basically: how the hell did Inuyasha and Kagome exit the Jewel/Meido instead of getting destroyed with it (because they were inside it when Kagome wished for it to disappear forever)?
I feel kind of jilted that, when Kagome and Inuyasha finally met again inside the Jewel, their kiss was so brief, so chaste, so simple-looking that Kikyou and Inuyasha's parting kiss really trumped it. Kikyou and Inuyasha's last kiss, while way more heart-wrenching and emotion-laden and everything, looked damn good, but with Inuyasha and Kagome, it was like "It's you! *smooch!*" Not the whole "YOU'RE HERE! *FACE SUCK*" or anything like that. There wasn't much passion behind it, despite how close to giving up Kagome was, and how desperate Inuyasha was to find her. And the fact that they didn't kiss again when she showed up after a three year absence also felt like a shaft.
...But it's a better shaft than what Takahashi pulled with Ranma, so overall, I'd say I'm pleased. I'm surprised, I'm grateful, I'm still curious, I'm glad the fandom's still got niches to explore and places to play in, but overall, I'm glad it's over, both anime and manga-wise. To be perfectly honest, I think I've seen more of the anime than I've read of the manga, although I haven't watched all of the anime yet. That's my next step: to rewatch all of the anime from the beginning of the TV series through the movies, and maybe if I'm feeling masochistic, watch The Final Act again. I did like the Final Act, and I might get it on DVD when it comes out Stateside.
So how many volumes of the Inuyasha manga in VIZBIG style would there be, anyway, if each VIZBIG is 3 normal volumes, and Inuyasha's got at least 41 volumes in the normal size? I don't know how many total volumes the manga's got, but I'd never try to buy them individually if Viz is releasing them in VIZBIG format. I was flipping through the first volume of the Inuyasha VIZBIG yesterday at Border's, and it's nice to see that Takahashi's art style has improved, but not changed drastically. That's both a good thing (familiar art style you can grow to love) and a bad thing (characters look very recognizable, the "everyone with the same face and different hairstyle" syndrome).
I guess it's time for me to find another anime and/or manga series to get very attached to. We'll see what happens....
