Transported back to Japan's feudal era, high school student Kagome accidentally releases the feral half-demon dog boy Inu-Yasha from his imprisonment for stealing the Jewel of Four Souls.
Rumiko Takahashi (高橋留美子) was born in Niigata, Japan. She is not only one of the richest women in Japan but also one of the top paid manga artists. She is also the most successful female comic artist in history. She has been writing manga non-stop for 31 years.
Rumiko Takahashi is one of the wealthiest women in Japan. The manga she creates (and its anime adaptations) are very popular in the United States and Europe where they have been released as both manga and anime in English translation. Her works are relatively famous worldwide, and many of her series were some of the forerunners of early English language manga to be released in the nineties. Takahashi is also the best selling female comics artist in history; well over 100 million copies of her various works have been sold.
Though she was said to occasionally doodle in the margins of her papers while attending Niigata Chūō High School, Takahashi's interest in manga did not come until later. During her college years, she enrolled in Gekiga Sonjuku, a manga school founded by Kazuo Koike, mangaka of Crying Freeman and Lone Wolf and Cub. Under his guidance Rumiko Takahashi began to publish her first doujinshi creations in 1975, such as Bye-Bye Road and Star of Futile Dust. Kozue Koike often urged his students to create well-thought out, interesting characters, and this influence would greatly impact Rumiko Takahashi's works throughout her career.
Career and major works:
Takahashi's professional career began in 1978. Her first published story was Those Selfish Aliens, a comedic science fiction story. During the same year, she published Time Warp Trouble, Shake Your Buddha, and the Golden Gods of Poverty in Shōnen Sunday, which would remain the home to most of her major works for the next twenty years. Later that year, Rumiko attempted her first full-length series, Urusei Yatsura. Though it had a rocky start due to publishing difficulties, Urusei Yatsura would become one of the most beloved anime and manga comedies in Japan.
In 1980, Rumiko Takahashi found her niche and began to publish with regularity. At this time she started her second major series, Maison Ikkoku, in Big Comic Spirits. Written for an older audience, Maison Ikkoku is often considered to be one of the all-time best romance manga. Takahashi managed to work on Maison Ikkoku on and off simultaneously with Urusei Yatsura. She concluded both series in 1987, with Urusei Yatsura ending at 34 volumes, and Maison Ikkoku being 15.
During the 1980s, Takahashi became a prolific writer of short story manga, which is surprising considering the massive lengths of most of her works. Her stories The Laughing Target, Maris the Chojo, and Fire Tripper all were adapted into original video animations (OVAs). In 1984, after the end of Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku, Takahashi took a different approach to storytelling and began the dark, macabre Mermaid Saga. This series of short segments was published sporadically until 1994, with the final story being Mermaid's Mask. Many fans contend that this work remains unfinished by Takahashi, since the final story does not end on a conclusive note.
Another short work left untouched is One-Pound Gospel, which, like Mermaid Saga, was published erratically. The last story to be drawn was published in 2001, however just recently she wrote one final chapter concluding the series
Later in 1987, Takahashi began her third major series, Ranma ½. Following the late 80s and early 90s trend of shōnen martial arts manga, Ranma ½ features a gender-bending twist. The series continued for nearly a decade until 1996, when it ended at 38 volumes. Ranma ½ is one of Rumiko Takahashi's most popular series with the Western world.
During the later half of the 1990s, Rumiko Takahashi continued with short stories and her installments of Mermaid Saga and One-Pound Gospel until beginning her fourth major work, InuYasha. While Ran
But that doesn't matter. I've watched the anime. And my friend has read it and said that they were, like, exactly the same.
So, after saying that, I may get on to my review. *Takes a deep breath."
OMGOMGOMGOMG THIS IS THE BEST SERIES ON THE FUCKING PLANET IT IS HEARTWARMING AND DARK AND ROMANTIC AND FULL OF ACTION AND ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, got that out of my system.
This entire series is amazing. I laughed, cried, and bit my nails along with the characters. They are all so diverse and deep and complicated that I swear it's almost like Rumiko wrote about real people. The cast is so large and yet every one of the characters has their own unique look and personality, and that's, like, impossible to do.
I am obssessed with this series, and proud of it. I have it as a skin on my laptop. I've written fanfictions about it. I am absolutely in love with the demon Bankotsu (you'll meet him late in the series). I have the freaking TV season box sets. I am the biggest Inuyasha otaku there is. And unashamed to admit it. This series made me sob bitter tears and laugh until my sides hurt. It made me squeal during the romantic moments and scream when something bad happened to a character. I yelled at the TV for twenty minutes when Inuyasha was being an idiot because he almost seems like a real guy (minus the dog ears) making real mistakes.
If there is one person on this planet who does not read/watch this series, then God will have failed. Seriously. How any simple human can create comething so otherworldly out of mere pen and paper is amazing. If you are hesitating about buying this... GROW SOME BALLS AND GET IT! YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!!!!!
Flashback. I'm a child, sneaking into my teen brother's bedroom while he's out with his friends so I can wear the sweater he never lets me touch and watch Inuyasha on the little TV my parents gave him. The show starts at 9pm. It's past my bedtime but I don't care. I never sleep anyways. This is as good as it gets.
I was reading a Shonen Sunday Special today that I can't find on Goodreads, so I'm just logging it as volume 1 for now. This manga brings back so many good memories for me. It's like pure nostalgia. Loved every second of it.
MY CHILDHOOD <3 I watched this on Cartoon Network back in, what 2002/2003(?) when the anime aired and I was hooked. Read the manga a decade later and it is still a favorite of mine.
Next to Dragon Knights this was the first manga I was introduced to before I became a manga reader. Since this was the first manga I read, I definitely have a soft spot for it and I absolutely love it despite its flaws. Yes, this manga is not perfect and there are some parts that are completely stupid but those flaws can be found in other manga as well.
The story is a manga trope that was popular in the 90's. An ordinary high school girl is transported into a fantasy world where she discovers she has a grand destiny that involves the salvation of their world or defeating a great evil.
Already in the first volume, this manga sucks you in for an adventure. The characters also great. They're likable, badass, and have motivations for their actions that you can sympathize with.
Kagome is your average fifteen year old girl who’s really fun. I enjoyed her because, to me, she’s not annoying given her circumstance. She’s in an unfamiliar place and because of that she can’t help but be in danger. It also doesn’t help that she has the Shikon jewel which attracts unwanted attention. And she's not always passive. She’s nice but can blow in people’s faces. She's always eager to help others but is not afraid to tell others to their face if they're in the wrong.
Inuyasha is an awesome anti-hero. He doesn’t want to help Kagome gather the jewel shards because it’s the right thing to do. He wants to use the jewel to for his own personal gain. He’s a typical tough guy who eventually lets his guard down by gaining more friends. His actions are also believable (even if they are not always the right one) because of his past and what he's been through.
The other characters are pretty awesome. I don't have any character (except one) that I actually hate but we'll get into further details on those characters once we go further into the manga volumes.
The villains are really creative and a lot of fun. Although I don't know much about Japanese mythology, I do believe all the villains are creatures based off a creature or legend from mythology. One of the first villains is very creative on her type of weapons and attacks. She uses hair for crying out loud. HAIR!!
The main villain is also pretty awesome too. Not only does he have a high level of creep factor going on there but he is also smart, resourceful and always manages to stay several steps ahead of the heroes (even the badass side characters).
So I love this manga. It's definitely one of my favorites even if it's not perfect.
This was mostly a nostalgia trip for me. I remember getting into the show years ago and now working at a store that sells manga I found this one calling to me. I never finished the anime so looking forward to getting past where I saw up to!
As far as the manga goes, I like the art style. It's easy to understand the action but still detailed enough to be interesting. The relationship between Kagome and Inuyasha is great, and I love that Kaede is there to kind of force them together.
There are so many options for bad guys and we get a great sample in this volume. It really does feel like just a taste of what's to come so it does leave you wanting more.
Why did I ever stop following InuYasha? For a long time, I was reading each volume as it came out. Maybe I got lazy, or maybe I forgot to watch for it. Reading the first volume again reminded me of how much I loved reading it in the first place. It is huge, and it's going to take awhile to get through all of the volumes. (But hey, at least there's a light at the end of this tunnel...) But after reading the first volume, I think it'll be worth it. I really like Rumiko Takahashi's signature style, and I love the characters. This was one of my favorite mangas when I first read it, and it still is.
So this was for a 2019 Reading Challenge - "Read a Manga" - Inu Yasha was left behind by grown children and fit the bill. (I will point out here that I never complete challenges within the allotted time, but keep working towards completion, nonetheless.)
If I had not also watched the first few episodes of the anime when my kids were small, this would have made no sense to me. Good to know that Rumiko Takahashi is one of the richest women in Japan.
My daughter says Outlander is just Inu Yasha in Scotland, with more words and more history.
Inuyasha was the first anime show that I really enjoyed. I found it by accident, I even forget how, and then I watched all 167 episodes on Youtube (it took me about 3 months to finish haha) and then the Final Act on a different site.
What can I say? I love Inuaysha! It's probably my favorite anime show ever, but definitely top three. It's funny and exciting and I can still not get it out of my head, even though I finished it months ago.
InuYasha is a series that I adore. While I watched the anime I feel in love with the characters and would end up sneaking out of my bedroom late at night to catch the show week after week. It was the show that introduced me to anime and at the time I didn't even know what manga was.
It would make sense for my adoration to transfer itself over to the manga. I mean, they did end the anime series early and it's one of my favourite properties of all time. However, my love for the story and characters may be the one thing that's holding me back really loving the manga.
I wasn't incredibly impressed by the first couple of volumes when I read them early last year. The story felt less fluid and the art is in that older style of drawing that I'm not incredibly fond of. It's a difficult adjustment to make, seeing something you love in a different medium and I stopped reading before I was able to adjust to it.
Something that's also giving me some difficulty is the story itself. Because the anime was so incredibly faithful to the manga's material (at least as far as I've read), this isn't anything new to me. Even the dialogue matches up word for word in some places. For someone is still cooing over the anime it's hard to really get into the series because that element of surprise, being introduced to something new, not knowing a characters history, motivation, and future, just isn't there any more.
So I've marked this series as dropped, but just for now! At some point I am going to read this series then entire way through, all 56 volumes of it, because it is so close to my heart. But it has to be at a point where returning to this doesn't activate my sense of deja vu.
If you love something, sometimes you've got to let it go and hope it comes back to you.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to retreat to my dark corner and cry.
Giving this manga one star seems harsh but it's pretty much the only rating I feel is right when I think about my "enjoyment" of this first in a series everyone else but me seems to love. To be fair, though, it's more like 1 ½ star.
Anyway, everyone who followed my Black Butler adventure a little (tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez, once is what I'm talking about) might be a witness that it's hard for me to find a manga series where my enjoyment of it is not a constant rollercoaster ride. I love Detective Conan, I love Ouran High School Host Club (though here I've only watched the anime and not read the manga as well) and the other few mangas I've read here and there were sometimes meh (like some of the Black Butler volumes), awesome (like some of the Black Butler volumes), putting me to sleep in a bookstore (LIKE SOME OF THE BLACK BUTLER VOLUMES). So my goal is and always will be to find another manga series that I love and adore as much as Detective Conan. And when I saw the first few volumes of Inu Yasha at my library, I picked them up with high hopes.
Inu Yasha 01 isn't bad by any means, it's just one of those firsts in a book/manga series that didn't make me feel interested in how the story will continue. Once the manga started, everything happened at once and I was like, wait, can we please slow down a little here? It gave no depth to anything that was happening because there was just too much happening to focus on one thing at a time. This girl literally accidentally time travels and she thinks once or twice about how much she wants to go home and that's it. I know it's a manga and that I shouldn't be expecting too much emotional depth but I WOULD BE FREAKING OUT. Especially considering what shit goes down in the world of Inu Yasha.
That's pretty much my only complaint, the missing depth that's too-much-is-happening-at-once's fault. I have the next 5 volumes here, so I'll definitely continue this series and hope that it gets better for me. If that doesn't happen with the next 5 volumes, I won't read any further because ain't nobody got time for a 60 volumes long manga series that you don't enjoy.
I was surprised by how good this volume was. I tend to be a lot more into the more recent anime/manga, but this is an excellent example of an older work with a really strong storyline and the potential for a very cute romance. I was rather upset by how much chest the author drew though. If I owned this book, I'd definitely want to censor it before letting my siblings read it.
I read a good chunk of this manga series back in middle school, but I can't remember where I left off. I did watch the entire anime, but I don't think I ever finished the manga. So I'm logging volume 1 only just for tracking purposes.
I love this series! Rumiko Takahashi returns with a story that has all the comedy of her popular series "Ranma 1/2", but with more attention to plot and character development.
Kagome is a young Japanese highschooler in modern Japan. When she falls in an ancient well on her home property, she finds herself transferred to ancient Japan! There, she discovers she is a reincarnation of a priestess whose job was to protect a magical item called the Shikon Jewel. Ancient Japan is littered with a cast of characters, from talking animals to demons and half-demons. This jewel if in posession of a demon or a half-demon, can make that demon extra powerful and lethal. When Kagome causes the Shikon jewel to shatter, she is forced to pair up with Inuyasha, an unruly half-demon, in order to repair the damage she has done!
This series is progressive in a way that Takahashi's "Ranma 1/2" fails to be. Whereas Ranma 1/2 was filled with comedic scenes and the characters' relationships suffered as a result, here Takahashi balances everything out - the plot moves, and at such a thrilling pace! The characters develop, learn, and fall in love, and the comedy is enough to split your sides without subtracting from the overall story's movement.
I would recommend this series to any graphic-novel fan.
Era dall'inizio dell'anno che volevo rileggere Inuyasha, è arrivato il momento u.u Come si suol dire, il primo amore non si scorda mai :3. Amo Inuyasha e ai tempi avevo anche fatto il cosplay di Kagome (perchè a detta di chi guardava l'anime come me ci somigliavo XD). Ovviamente non posso rileggerlo dai miei manga perchè... beh diciamo che ho le edizioni sottili del 2001, la colla potrebbe non reggere e non voglio rovinarli ;). Sia santificato MangaEden! 🙏🏻 Ah, ovviamente tutti i volumi avranno un rating non inferiore alle quattro stelle, quelli con i miei capitoli preferiti possono anche arrivare a cinque. Io vi ho avvertito XD
Inuyasha was one of the first anime series I watched, and so it has a special place in my heart. While I absolutely despised Inuyasha, our half-demon hero, at first, I loved seeing his feelings for Kagome grow throughout the manga. I loved the juxtaposition of the past world of demons with Kagome's modern world. There were parts hat were so sad they brought me close to tears, and parts where I actually chuckled to myself. A true gem in the manga genre, I'd highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good PNR or a great story in general.
This took approximately forever to get through. There are so many freaking volumes. At first, I enjoyed it, because it was kind of funny and silly. Unfortunately, it's incredibly formulaic and repetitive, kind of like episodes of The Power Rangers. You know what's going to happen, but it takes all of time to get there.
Basically, for about fifty of the volumes, they keep having skirmishes with the big bad of the series, Naraku. He's a hanyou like Inuyasha, determined to use the Shikon no Tama to become a full youkai and to be the most powerful dude in the world. He creates an evil league of evil to help him in his quest, and is generally a pain. Worst of all, whenever the good guys are winning a battle, he dematerializes, so that he can fight another day. Can anyone explain to me why only the bad guys have this power?
Speaking of power, Inuyasha and his brother have a lot of it, more than anyone else apparently. Apparently being hanyou is to power as being a muggle-born witch has to do with magical ability, which is to say that it has very little to do with it. However, what drove me completely crazy was that Inuyasha has like three attacks for thirty-some volumes of the series. He doesn't learn anything! He continues to fight like an idiot, and finally gets attacks because other people help him out. Inuyasha does not really seem like a hero who would be able to defeat anyone intelligent enough to target his weaknesses.
Okay, so as a shounen, it's not that great, because the action is so mindless and repetitive. How about the romance elements? Those are better at least, right? Not in my opinion. For longer than I deem acceptable, Inuyasha continues to be torn between Kagome and Kikyou. I get that it's a complicated situation, but that is so not cool. Plus, Kagome's like 14 or something at the beginning. Sheesh.
The other romance of the series is Houshi and Sango, which I definitely did not ship either. Houshi really creeps me out because of the way he asks every woman he meets if she'll bear his child. Sango would probably be my favorite character, because she kicks so much ass, but she always becomes so girly and not like herself around Houshi. Ugh!
The art is not great, though it does have a certain charm. However, this charm dissipates over time. In a lot of long manga series, the art gets better along the way, but not so here.
This definitely turned out not to be my thing. The story is weak (seriously, how did Kagome pass middle school?) and so is the characterization. However, this is one of the most popular manga there is, so keep in mind that lots of people probably would not agree with my reactions.
I got hooked on the InuYasha series back when it was available to be viewed at a reasonable time of day on the Cartoon Network. When I moved to a new home and discovered that our community cable service was running InuYasha at 5:30am my addiction to this series went on hiatus. I wanted to know if the series had an end and if so how Ms. Takahasi decided to conclude this story. Happily I found the entire manga series had been scanned, in English, all 558 volumes. I finally was able to find out what happened to InuYasha, Kagome, Sango, Mirouku, Shippo, Kahuko and Kikiyo and of course, Naraku. The characters matured and were each able to find their own unique strengths and powers. I have to say I am glad I don't speak or read Japanese. It appears InuYasha was given something of a potty mouth, at least by my standards. It was nice to see how his character manages to mellow out some by the end of the series. The story ends in a very satisfying way for me, at least. For those unfamiliar with this story line, a brief summation: Kagome, a modern day, junior high age, teenager falls down a well on family property and finds herself transported back in time to Feudal Age Japan and in addition finds out that she is the reincarnation both, physically and spiritually, of a priestess endowed with power to fight evil forces running rampant in the country at that time. Upon her arrival she immediately encounters InuYasha who is half demon and half human and has been sealed by an arrow to a tree for 50 years. How an why these two beings meet and how they join forces is the meat of this series. It is available for viewing and your reading pleasure at onemanga.com
the shameless manga reviewing continues with another manga that dominated my teen life, INUYASHA.
I remember seeing the anime on Adult Swim before tracking down the comic. back then when Adult Swim was still pretty fresh, I would TAPE (yes, TAPE) the anime hours and one night I happened to have an episode of Inuyasha on my tape. then the madness started.
Inuyasha is a story set in early medieval Japan which is what I think makes it so interesting. the focus is on what happens on the other side of Kagome's well, less on what happens in her world (modern day Japan). the series (both anime and manga) are not very superfluous either which I find refreshing compared to other anime/manga that are just too flashy. here we have normal hair colors, accurate historical clothing, a nice balance of humor, drama and action, etc. I remember laughing and crying as well as sitting on the edge of my seat while plowing through this series.
the only problem with Inuyasha is WHY THE FUCK IS IT SO LONG?! I mean it's a good story but come on! at nearly 50 volumes of graphic novels (all about 250 pages each), one definitely starts to feel the fatigue. yet, this is Rumiko Takahashi's trademark. note that Ranma 1/2 was very lengthy as well, but only to about 38 volumes. Takahashi has a tendency to take an idea and then just repeat that theme in various abstractions throughout her series which is what causes some of her works to be so stinkin' long.
this "technique" of Takahashi works can get very annoying, but with Inuyasha, it is worth the wait and annoyance.
Add vào goodreads là để kể chuyện mình đặt inu tái bản trên tiki tập 1, bọc sách đẹp lắm nhưng mà bản in bị lỗi, thiếu mất chục trang cuối =)) Mình đã phát rồ lên sau khi buổi tối về nhà nhận ra điều đó, gọi điện nhắn tin khắp nơi từ bạn bè để kể lể khóc lóc, kêu than đến tiki và trẻ để đòi đổi sách. Nhưng do lười với mất thời gian nên mình huỷ luôn cái claim đổi sách của mình. (Dù lúc mói đi claim thì hừng hực khí thế lắm, nhưng cách cư xử của cả tiki lẫn trẻ làm người dễ dãi như mình bỏ qua nỗi bực tức luôn). Mình nghĩ cũng có cái để kỷ niệm vì sự khiếm khuyết, ko hoàn hảo trong cuộc sống. Ấy thế mà mấy hôm sau, đọc cái quyển kia kìa, *chọt chọt*, nghệ thuạt bài trí của người Nhật á, có đoạn bảo là đồ vật như có số phận và định mệnh gắn với con người, bỗng dưng lại thấy buồn cười, ơ hờ nghĩ đến việc bỏ tiền ra nhận đồ lỗi lại thành số phận. Đấy, thế nên mình chả bao giờ yên ổn đọc self help được vì lại tự xông vào cuộc luận chiến trong đầu. Thôi, quay lại với việc note kỷ niệm về Inu, mấy hôm nay, ôm Kindle đọc Inu thấy hạnh phúc sao mà giản đơn đến thế, trái tim đập rộn ràng, cười như điên khi đọc những đoạn dễ thương như cục xương. Ôi thiếu gia sesshomaru, rin, kagome, inu và các bạn sao có thể đáng yêu vậy chứ. Nói chung mình hạn chế làm những việc khơi dậy ký ức hồi đi học, mà lại đọc Inu lại nhớ nhung lúc trẻ tuổi. Tất cả chỉ tại vì Trẻ tái bản lại Inu.
В чест на това, че тази година се навършват 20 години от написването на тази манга, избрах нея като следваща за четене. Факта, че анимето е в моя топ 3 за всички времена, на най-добрите истории, също помогна за започването на тази манга преди десетките други, които искам да прочета. Това е история, която съдържа абсолютно всичко, което търся! Романтика, приключения, битки и кървища, магия, комични моменти, сериозни моменти, наситени и интересни персонажи, завладяваща история. Смесването на феодалния и модерния свят също е голям плюс за мен. Има нещо във феодална Япония, което ме привлича. Колкото до арта... Не е най-добрия, разбира се, но като се има предвид на колко е години си е супер. Пък и има някакъв чар в ръчно рисуваните страници... Да виждаш движението на четката и сбърканите на места контури. Винаги оценявам автентичното. Авторката се е справила добре и с рисуването и с писането. Като бях малка самия Инуяша ми беше много на сърце (както твърде голяма бройка несъществуващи извън книгите момчета). Бях влюбена в него и не веднъж съм си лягала с мисълта, какво ли ще е да си Кагоме или Кикьо. И коя от двете. Важното е, че сега ще се изкефя пак на това приключение и може би ще видя в него нещо друго и ново през призмата на порасналото ми възприятие за света.
Even though I watched the anime countless of times already (and foresee countless more in the future), I still had and still have butterflies in my stomach reading about Inuyasha and Kagome's adventures in feudal Japan (as well as the funny bits in modern Japan). This show defined my entire childhood and will forever be my favorite thing created by mankind on this planet lol. I still remember watching the first episode of season 1 for the first time around 15 years ago, my older brother and I locking ourselves up in our parents' bedroom to avoid the huge crowd in the downstairs' karaoke party and playing cards, when suddenly "Change the World" started playing on TV. Perfect.♥