A Feudal Fairy Tale
By way of a very brief summary, It is the Sengoku Jidai (the feudal era of Japan). Inuyasha is a half dog-demon (hence his cute ears) who was once in love with Kikyo, a priestess in charge of the Shikon jewel, the "jewel of four souls." Through a tragic series of events (which I won't reveal so as to avoid major spoilers), Inuyasha and Kikyo end up betraying each other, Inuyasha steals the jewel so he can become a full demon, and the mortally-wounded Kikyo pins him to a tree with a sacred arrow, then dies.
Fast-forward to Tokyo, 1997. Kagome is a typical teenager. She lives in the old family shrine with her mom, her brother and her Grandpa. They've got this old tree and a hidden well on the grounds... and on her 15th birthday a centipede demon comes out of the well and drags her in. When she lands at the bottom, she isn't in Tokyo anymore, Todo. She's in the Sengoku Jidai... 50 years after the Inuyasha/Kikyo incident. More than that, she is Kikyo's reincarnation, AND has the jewel inside her body! She accidentally breaks the spell binding Inuyasha to the tree, he helps defeat the centipede... and then proceeds to try to "sharpen his claws" on Kagome for the jewel. What?! He's not the hero?!
With a little help from a magical dog collar (which, whenever Kagome yells "sit!" slams Inuyasha to the ground), Kgome and Kaede, Kikyo's younger sister (now an old woman) are able to subdue Inuyasha, and after Kagome sort of kind of accidentally shatters the jewel, the two have to work together to recover the pieces.
So much for the summary. Now for an intro to the cast, and after that, links to screencaps and silly altered pictures!
(Most of these pics are scaled-down. Right-click-save to get the bigger, better copies.)
Half dog-demon, Inuyasha's mother was a human. He doesn't really remember his demon father, and his mother died when he was quite young. Inuyasha is a misfit, accepted by neither humans nor demons. He's independent--to the point that he doesn't really trust anyone--but slowly Kagome manages to help him through this, and eventually he learns to trust not only Kagome, but the other members of their little gang as well.
Inuyasha has a crush on Kagome, but it is complicated by the fact that she is the reincarnation of his ex-girlfriend, Kikyo, who did pin him to a tree for all eternity (at least, that was the goal). Further complications arise centered around Kikyo and his past, but I'm not going to spoil it.
Seemingly a perfectly ordinary 15-year old girl from Modern-day Tokyo. In fact a reincarnation of a very powerful priestess and unwitting bearer of the cursed Shikon no Tama. Kagome is probably as powerful as if not more powerful than Kikyo, but she has no training, obviously. She has to learn as she goes, and it's difficult. She enventually falls for Inuyasha, but denies it, naturally. He does his best fighting in order to protect her, which is good, because she needs all the protection she can get. Kagome is able to sense Shikon shards, wherever they may be, and she can see them hidden inside people's bodies, making her a very valuable jewel detector indeed.
A Buddhist monk and pervert extraordinaire, Miroku's grandfather was cursed by a demon, Naraku, with a black hole in his hand. This black hole pulls in anything in its path, eventually even devouring the grandfather. The curse passes down through the generations, and Miroku knows that unless he can destroy Naraku, he will some day vanish into his windtunnel. Miroku is quite the lecher as well, and though he tries hitting on Kagome, he quickly realizes it isn't worth incurring the wrath of Inuyasha, and when Sango shows up, Miroku shifts his attention to her instead.
Sango
Sango is a professional demon slayer. Her entire village is wiped out by Naraku, and she is almost killed herself. She joins up with Kagome, Inuyasha, Miroku and Shippo, despite her misgivings about Inuyasha. She is not entirely thrilled with Miroku's advances either, and spends a lot of time slapping him. She carries a giant boomeraing capable of cutting through demons like they were butter.
Inuyasha's half-brother, Sesshomaru is a full demon who hates humans, Inuyasha, and pretty much everybody and everything else. He's after the Tetsusaiga, the sword forged of their father's fang that can kill 100 demons with one stroke. Too bad for him the sword was forged to protect Inuyasha's mortal (i.e. human) mother, and it burns Sesshoumaru whenever he lays a hand on it. He's pretty ruthless, and has poison claws and the ability to transform into a giant rabid, monstrous dog... but he also has a heart, not that he'd ever admit it. (I'm talking about Rin, of course... if you don't know who that is, then I haven't spoiled anything for you, have I).
Shippou is a kitsune, a shape-shifting fox demon. He's just a kid, and teams up with Kagome and Inuyasha early on, after he tries to steal their Shikon jewel shard to use to avenge his father, who was murdered by the Thunder Brothers. Shippo is fiercely loyal to Kagome, fights with Inuyasha, and isn't much good in fights. He does have some good fox magic, but they're all illusions, and once the bad guys realize that, Shippou generally requires rescuing.
Kouga is the leader of the wolf demon pack. I only include him here because I find the simliarities between Kouga and Ryoga (Ranma 1/2) amusing. Note the physical similarities: the headband, the outfit and coloration, the umbrella/sword as weapon of choice... and then there's the personalities. They both possess incredible brute strength, are rivals of the shows' main male characters, AND are fighting with said heroes over the girls! Rumiko Takahashi seems to like that scenario. That and the hero/heroine bickering constantly because they like each other but won't admit it and so on and so forth.
(Some of my Inuyasha screencaps, from any number of episodes, that I've added silly captions to)
(Screencaps I made of the first episode)
Inu-Yasha World
Sengoku Jidai
The Fluffy Magazine
(a GREAT parody site)
Project S.N.A.G.
The Non-obvious, Totally Pointless Inuyasha Quiz
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