Inuyasha:
       Inuyasha, half demon and half human, obviously the main character of "Inuyasha,"
has a huge, but dead, dog demon for a father, and a slightly evil full demon brother who
wants to kill him.  Inuyasha is half-demon, but every new moon, he turns into a full human.
Also, he turns into a full demon every time he is in a life-threatening situation, but isn't
carrying his sword, Tetsusaiga (pronounced Tetsiga).  
       After a little love affair with a human priestess named Kikyo, and right before using 
the Shikon Jewel (a.k.a. Sacred Jewel, a.k.a. Jewel of Four Souls) to become fully human,
both Inuyasha and Kikyo are tricked into betraying each other by a demon named Naraku.
Kikyo pins Inuyasha to a tree with a Sacred Arrow, and dies shortly after at the hands of
Naraku, who disguises himself as Inuyasha.
       This is where are story begins.  Inuyasha is pinned to that damn tree for forty years,
until he is found and released by a human girl named Kagome.  Kagome has come to 
possess the Shikon Jewel, but accidentally shatters it to pieces, which are scattered all 
over...Japan??  So, Kagome and Inuyasha set off on a long and arduous journey to collect
all the shards of the Shikon Jewel.  Along the way, they make many friends, including
Shippo, Miroku, and Sango, and of course, many enemies, including Naraku, his
incarnations, and Inuyasha's brother, Sesshomaru.

Kagome:
       Kagome Higurashi is a 15-year old high school girl from present-day Japan.  One
day, she happens to fall down a well near her house.  Because she is the reincarnation
of the dead priestess, Kikyo, Kagome somehow has the Shikon no tama inside of her
body.  It allows her to be transported to the Feudal Age of Japan (1500's), where she is
immediately attacked by a demon.  After escaping the demon, Kagome finds another
demon, Inuyasha,  pinned to a tree by an arrow, and releases him.  Kagome accidentally
shatters the Jewel when she shoots it with a Sacred Arrow (any run-of-the-mill arrow
becomes a wonderful magical powerful Sacred Arrow when shot by Kagome or Kikyo).
Kagome, who can locate and sense nearby fragments of the jewel, and a reluctant
Inuyasha set off on a journey to make the jewel whole again.

Shippo:
       (',') Shippo is a small (maybe 2 ft. tall) fox-like demon whose only abilities are
small tricks and illusions, and a little shape-shifting ability, but he is cute.  His father,
a fox demon, was killed by the Thunder Brothers, so Kagome and Inuyasha allow him to
accompany him on their way to collect the jewel shards.

Miroku:
       Miroku is a slightly perverted, slightly scheming, but very goodhearted Buddhist monk.
In the past, his grandfather (also a monk) was in a battle with Naraku, who cursed the monk
with a "Wind Tunnel."  The wind tunnel was a hole in his right hand that is capable of
drawing anything in its path into the void forever -- very powerful but very dangerous.
The down side is that it is a certainty that while Naraku is still alive, the hole will
eventually suck up the one who bears it.  Miroku, himself, was trying to collect enough jewel
shards to become strong enough to defeat Naraku.  Eventually, he too meets Inuyasha and
company and joins him on his quest.

Sango:
       Sango is a strong, pretty, young woman who is from a village of professional demon
slayers.  She carries and wields a huge boomerang and a small sword, along with her skin-
tight fighting suit, poison powder, and a gas mask.  On one of her jobs, she, her father,
her brother Kohaku, and all the rest of the demon slayers were hired to kill a large demon
that was attacking a small castle.  It turned out to all be a trap, in which Naraku took
control of Kohaku's mind and forced him to kill all the other demon slayers -- all, that is,
except for Sango.  Sango was still injured badly by her brother, and immediately after the
attack, Kohaku regained full consciousness.  In the meantime, Naraku sent a huge host of
demons to Sango's vunerable village.  The demons killed all and destroyed everything.
Naraku also tricked Sango into thinking that the half-demon Inuyasha was the one who
destroyed her village.  All along, Sango had no idea that Naraku had deceived her.  She
took a Jewel Shard from Naraku, who befriended her, and its power gave her the energy to
fight.  She was furious at Inuyasha, and attacked him with all of her strength.  Eventually,
however, Inuyasha and Kagome convinced Sango of the truth, and she decided to join them
in their fight against Naraku.

Naraku:
       Years ago, a pitiful and nasty man named Onigumo was found by the priestess Kikyo.
He was almost fatally injured, so Kikyo cared for him in a cave outiside her village.  After
Onigumo falls in love with Kikyo, he makes a plan to get out of his useless body.  He calls
upon hundreds of demons, and they all merge into his body, transforming him into a very
powerful demon named Naraku.
       Naraku is the ultimate antagonist of Inuyasha, and almost every conflict in the story
can traced back to him.  He is a powerful demon, but his most powerful weapon by far is
deceit.  He has fooled, tricked, or lied to almost every character in pursuit of one thing --
the Jewel of Four Souls.  Since Naraku was created by the merging of many demons with a
human, he is still not full human.  Although no one knows this, Naraku is only a part-demon,
and he wants to use the power of the Sacred Jewel to become fully demon.

Koga:
       Koga is the leader of the wolf demon tribe, and he possesses 3 shards of the Shikon
Jewel -- one in each leg and an arm.  He is in the process of collecting the shards so that
he will become powerful enough to defeat the Birds of Paradise (don't let the name fool you),
who are also collecting the jewel shards.  He meets Inuyasha and his friends and decides that
Kagome's ability to sense jewel shards would be useful to him.  So, he kidnaps her and later
declares that he is in love with her.  After a big mixed up battle with the Birds of Paradise,
Inuyasha thinks Kagome might also love Koga.  Kagome becmes angry at his jealousy, and they
have a big fight.  However, all arguing ends when Kagura appears.  Working at the will of
Naraku, Kagura kills a huge portion of Koga's tribe, and frames it on Inuyasha (sound
familiar?)  Koga finds out, becomes enraged, and foolishly takes a poisonous fake jewel shard
from Kagura.  He attacks Inuyasha and injures him badly, but when the poison takes over, he
is down for the count.  Inuyasha gets up in time to attack Kagura before she kills Koga, and
she is forced to fly away on her giant feather.  Kagome uses the power of a sacred arrow to
remove the fake shard and poison, and Koga takes off.

Sesshomaru:
       Sesshomaru is Inuyasha's full demon brother.  He wears somewhat elaborate clothes, and
he is very powerful.  He is incredibly fast, wields a light whip, and carries a sword called
Tensusaiga (pronounced Tensaga).  His sword, forged by the same swordsmith as Inuyasha's
sword, has the ability to bring dead people/demons back to life.  He eventually comes to
possess an extremely powerful, evil sword that was created from the remains of Goshinki.  
       Sesshomaru has always hated Inuyasha, and has challenged him many times in a conflict
over Inuyasha's sword.  Sesshomaru is accompanied as he wanders by Jakken and Rin.  In one
battle with his brother, Inuyasha cut off one of Sesshomaru's arms, but sometimes he "borrows"
arms from other demons.

Kikyo:
       Kikyo is probably the most complicated character in the entire series.  She died very
shortly after she pinned Inuyasha to the tree, but she died thinking that Inuyasha killed her.
About 40 years later, Kikyo was brought back to life by an ugly witch demon.  Even though
she loved Inuyasha in the past, her first thought was to kill Inuyasha and get revenge.

Myoga:
       A tiny flee-like person who follows and advises Inuyasha and his friends, but whose
cowardice sometimes keeps him in hiding.

Kaede:
       Believe it or not, Kaede is Kikyo's little sister...remember, Kikyo died 50 years
ago.  Kaede is the head of a small village, and her wisdom is often very useful to Inuyasha
and his friends.

Kagura:
       Naraku's first and most successful incarnation.  This sorceress of the wind has total
control over all wind, which can be surprisingly sharp.  Her powers also give her the ever-
useful ability of controlling dead bodies.  Although she isn't the strongest demon, her sensibility
has kept her from being killed by Inuyasha, and she has definitely caused the most damage.

Kanna:
       Naraku's second incarnation.  She is a pale little girl who wields a mirror capable of
drawing in souls of anyone who happens to gaze upon it, and can also reflect back any sort
of attack aimed at it.  She was defeated after her mirror exceded its soul-capacity and
shattered.

Goskinki:
       The third incarnation of Naraku.  Goshinki is a huge beast with amazingly sharp teeth
and claws, but that isn't his strongest attribute.  He possesses the power to read the mind of
anyone nearby him, and he hears all their thoughts.  Goshinki broke Inuyasha's sword and
almost succeeded in killing him.  However, Inuyasha transformed into a full demon for the
very first time...and ripped him to shreds.

Juromaru and Kageromaru:
       Naraku's 4th and 5th incarnations.  The first of the duo was a young demon who appeared
only moderately powerful, but the second of the two was the real killer.  Kageromaru lied
dormant inside his brother until it was the right time to attack.  Kageromaru is a little snake-like
version of his brother with sickles for hands and possessed great speed.  But, Inuyasha
overcame the two with the reluctant aid of Koga.

Toto-sai:
       An old man with great big creepy empty eyeballs, rides a great big bug-eyed ox, and is a
master swordsmith.  Toto-sai forged the magical and powerful sword Tetsusaiga from the fang
of Inuyasha's father, who bestowed it upon him.  The sword has a powerful ability called the
Wind Scar, capable of killed 100 demons with one swing, and also has the ability to prevent
Inuyasha from turning full demon.

Kohaku:
       Sango's little brother.  After his near death experience, Kohaku has been brought under
complete control by Naraku, who plans to use his as a tool to kill Inuyasha and his friends.

Kaijinbo:
       An evil swordsmith banished by Toto-sai long ago.  He forged the sword Tokijin from the
fangs of Goshinki, and the swords hatred and evil power allow its owner, Sesshomaru, to
possess great power.

Jaken:
       Lord Sesshomaru's faithful...very faithful...servant.

Rin:
       An absent-minded orphan girl who follows Sesshomaru wherever he goes.

Hojo:
       A human boy from Kagome's original time.  He attends school with Kagome and has a crush
on her.  Hojo has asked Kagome out on dates more than once, but Kagome's adventures always
seem to get in the way.  Also in Kagome's time are her mother, grandfather, and her little
brother, Sota.