Inuyasha
Rumiko Takahashi created the Japanese manga series Inuyasha. It was published in Shogakukan’s shnen manga magazine Weekly Shnen Sunday from November 1996 to June 2008, with chapters collected in fifty-six tank volumes.
The Storyline
· After mistakingly falling into a well at her family shrine, Kagome Higurashi, a fifteen-year-old middle school girl from modern-day Tokyo, is sent to the Sengoku era.
· She encounters the half-dog demon, half-human Inuyasha. When the precious Shikon Jewel resurfaces from deep within Kagome’s body, she breaks it into dozens of pieces that disperse over Japan.
· Inuyasha and Kagome go out to reclaim Jewel’s shards, and they get joined by the lustful monk Miroku, the demon slayer Sango, and the fox demon Shippo on their journey.
· They go out together to restore the Shikon Jewel before the wicked half-demon Naraku takes it.
Plot
· Kagome Higurashi lives with her mother, grandpa, and younger brother on the premises of her family’s Shinto shrine in modern-day Tokyo.
· Kagome gets pulled into the enshrined Bone Eater’s Well by a centipede monster; rather than hitting rock bottom, Kagome finds herself in a parallel dimension, albeit one set in the past, during Japan’s Sengoku era.
· Kikyo, a warrior saint who was the previous caretaker of the Shikon Jewel, which grants its owner any wish their heart desires, defeated the demon fifty years prior. Kagome got discovered to be the reincarnation of Kikyo.
· The Shikon Jewel was burnt alongside Kikyo’s body to ultimately cast it out of this world to keep it safe from those who can exploit its power for evil.
· When Kagome discovers a sleeping kid pinned to a tree by a sacred arrow, she learns that she is Inuyasha, a half-demon, half-human who Kikyo tied to the tree as her final act when he attempted to take the gem.
· When a centipede demon attacks Kagome, she desperately frees Inuyasha to kill the centipede demon. Still, when he turns on her and tries to steal the jewel again, he is restrained with a magical beaded necklace causing him to fall to the ground violently.
· The Shikon Gem is pulled from Kagome’s body and captured by a crow demon, whom Kagome kills with an arrow, but in the process, shatters the jewel into numerous pieces, which disperse over Japan and into the control of other demons and humans.
· Inuyasha assists Kagome in collecting the shards and dealing with the threats they encounter as Shippo, a young fox demon, joins them. Kikyo is eventually resurrected and shown to have been Inuyasha’s lover, although her account of their breakup casts doubt on the events.
· As the group is joined by the perverse monk Miroku, whose hand got cursed with a Wind Tunnel inherited from his grandfather, they learn about their families’ curse and the events leading to Inuyasha’s imprisonment and Kikyo’s death were to obtain the Shikon Jewel.
· While consuming demons to boost his power and eliminate any vulnerabilities, Naraku acquires the majority of the shards.
· As Inuyasha and his comrades travel together, he and Kagome fall in love, compounded by Inuyasha’s lingering affections for Kikyo.
· Naraku is pursued by his foes, briefly removing his human heart and gravely wounding Kikyo.
· After being killed but subsequently resurrected by Naraku and kept alive and under his control by a Shikon Jewel piece, Kohaku regains his free will and memories and strives to flee Naraku’s clutches and get revenge on his murdered family.
· As Naraku reassembles the Shikon Jewel, Kikyo spends the rest of her life energy offering Kohaku a second shot at life.
· Although Inuyasha and his friends finally beat him, Naraku uses his wish to seal himself and Kagome inside the Shikon Jewel. Before dying, he recognizes that his ultimate want is for Kikyo’s love despite his hatred for her and that he can never achieve it.
· The Shikon Jewel, now shown to be sentient, wants Kagome to make a selfish wish for her and Naraku to remain stuck in an eternal fight, prolonging their life.
· With Inuyasha alongside her, Kagome wishes for the Shikon Jewel to vanish forever, letting her return to her time with the well-sealed and losing communication with Inuyasha for three years.
· The Sengoku era changes dramatically: Sango and Miroku marry and have three children together; Kohaku begins his dream to become a mighty demon slayer with Kirara as his companion.
· Back in the present, eighteen-year-old Kagome finishes high school before ultimately reactivating the Bone Eater’s Well in her garden. Kagome returns to the Sengoku era, reuniting with Inuyasha, marrying him, and continuing her training with Kaede to become a topmost-level priestess.
Accomplishments
As of September 2020, the manga series had sold over 50 million copies. The manga was awarded the 47th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shnen category in 2002.