Reporter’s choice: Inuyasha

As I am a big fan of Japanese animation, I spent my vacation watching a series called Inuyasha.

Inuyasha started being published serially in a Japanese weekly magazine from 1996 to 2008. Then the cartoon became animated from 2000 to 2010. It is a full length story so the story could last for 10 years.

I remember when I was an elementary school student watching Inuyasha in television.
At that time, I remember a male character defeating evil creatures with a large and powerful sword. That was just enough to draw a child’s attention. Now I am 20 years old and watching Inuyasha again. Things I see now in the animation have become deeper and wider.

To summarize the story briefly, the main character, Inuyasha, was born between demon and human. He is teased a lot in the animation because he is mixed-breed and he wishes to be a real demon by collecting pieces of a holy bead. He also loves a female shaman, Kikyou. He decided to give up being a demon in order to be able to be human with the power of the holy bead and live forever with his lover. However, a villain named Naraku deceived Kikyou and Inuyasha both, leading Kikyou to seal her lover..., and she also died painfully, full of a sense of betrayal. Suddenly, Kagome who has rebirthed the spirit of Kikyou appears and unseals Inuyasha … incidentally.

Kikyou is also revived and both Kikyou and Inuyasha realize the tragedy was all because of Naraku. Kikyou still loves Inuyasha, but he comes to know Kagome as a peer and gradually falls in love. They go on their way to get revenge on Naraku. Inuyasha’s company met 3 other peers who are also struggling to revenge Naraku. They finally defeat Naraku.

The story describes the poor woman Kikyou well. She loved Inuyasha, but their destiny didn’t let her love lasts forever.

The story of Inuyasha is not a simple revenge play. Stories of characters that appear in the animation are really painful memories and they overcome their traumas to go further. I could see the agony of Inuyasha that he loves Kagome and he also could not erase the memory of Kikyou.

I truly recommend this series of animation to everyone in their twenties. More than the action scenes, I felt like I read a well-made novel through the animation.

Park Hyun-jong, cub-reporter  tommyhiil4444@naver.com

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