Just in case you?ve been hiding out in a Hamilton Beach warehouse somewhere and not watching Cartoon Network Adult Swim, here?s the scoop on Inu Yasha. The series is based on the manga by Rumiko Takahashi, creator of Ranma ? and Urusei Yatsura. The series deftly weaves Japanese folklore and traditional anime elements into a moving tapestry containing action, adventure, and humor.
The Inu Yasha: Season I Box Set is composed of 27 episodes. The set also contains a Character Relationship Chart, textless opening and closing, the Inu Yasha movie 1 trailer, and all 27 episodes across five DVDs. Buyers who have grown fat on domestic DVD releases that sport a gazillion extras (the Producer commenting on the Director?s commentary of the unrated, unedited version of the original theatrical release) may deem the Box Set a little light on the extras. But it does contain what most people want: all 27 of the first season?s episodes.
The series begins as Kagome Higurashi, a 15 year-old-girl, falls down a dried up, old well. Inexplicably, she is transported into the past to a point roughly 50 years after the half-human/half-demon Inu Yasha was imprisoned by her ancestress, Kikyo. Kagome has in her possession a magic jewel that increases a demon?s power. Along with Kaede, a priestess, Kagome uses the jewel to fetter Inu Yasha. When the jewel is shattered, Kagome and Inu Yasha must join together to recover the fragments and avert disaster.
How are you doing so far? Need a margarita? Got one right here, salt on the rim...
Kagome and Inu Yasha do bicker from time to time (some would say endlessly), but they don?t let that stand in the way of dispatching demons and monsters by the truckload. In the Warring States xxx, two new characters pop in: Shippo, an orphan fox spirit, and Hojo, a handsome classmate from Kagome?s school. Hojo is concerned with Kagome?s recent absences. Kagome, on the other hand, is able to see just how bristly Inu Yasha can be next to the attractive, courtly Hojo.
Season One also contains some dramatic story arcs, including a multiple part adventure that begins with ?Kikyo?s Stolen Ashes.? During Kikyo?s time, 50 years before the current story, Kikyo tends Onigumo, a thief who has been badly burned. As Onigumo heals, he comes to lust for the Sacred Jewel... and for Kikyo. Consumed by his passions, Onigumo summons a horde of demons who consume his flesh and his soul. Out of this debacle rises Naraku, a terribly evil demon who transcends the 50 years and reappears as a foe for Kagome and Inu Yasha. To protect Kagome, Inu Yasha attempts to return her to the present day world she came from, thus blocking the channel between the two time periods. Inu Yasha, Kagome, Shippo, and the others, must face a huge array of evil demons and their minions as they attempt to accomplish this goal. Imagine a demon who heaves up a steady stream of evil wolves; yeah... you got the picture. It lends new meaning to the term ?projectile vomiting...?
At this juncture, you either buy into the characters and their demonic back story or you don?t. Your blender has delivered a delicious concoction to your TV or a lumpy mess. The series? plot, including the search for the elusive Sacred Jewel, has been seen by some as a metaphor for today?s world with all its pain and strife. Regardless of such overtones, Inu Yasha: Season I Box Set has its ups and downs and backs and forths, but ultimately it lays the groundwork for everything that comes along later.
So drink up, anime lovers, time?s a-wastin?. The release of the Inu Yasha: Season II Box Set could come at any minute!
