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Inuyasha: The Final Act | 3 - Meidou Zangetsuha
o.O Well I'm officially confused, LOL. This week's episode was so mixed up that I'm beginning to draw the conclusion that its best to watch this thing without any prior knowledge of the manga :P
I was surprised to see this episode open with Sesshoumaru, as he reflected on Kagura's death. Totosai shows up, insults him, and tells him that he was called by Tenseiga. The sword was reacting to a change in Sesshoumaru's heart (prompting the ever-loyal Jaken to claim there was nothing wrong with Sess's heart in the first place, LOL) and was ready to be reforged into a weapon.
After the opening, we jump immediately to Kaede's village, where Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Kaede are discussing Kikyo's plan to complete the jewel and slay Naraku. There is a wonderful manga Mir/San moment, when she gives him a taste of his own medicine for a change, haha. After their discussion - which includes the fact that Kohaku will have to die if Kikyo's plan is to be completed - we cut to the present day, where Kagome is applying to high school o.O Now I know this came way later in the manga...and then we segue into some Chapter 512 goodness, when Jii-chan is discussing "the right wish" that must be made on the Shikon jewel. Kagome then continues to study furiously for her upcoming entrance exams, only to find the brainy session had been nothing but a dream.
I wasn't happy with the way the inserted this scene here, taking away the value of Inuyasha coming back to her time to reassure her, after she lost her powers to Hitmiko. Which was only the first time I went "WTF" during this episode - and we aren't even halfway through! :P
The next scene is the group gathered together again the feudal era, and it immediately turns into the Kitsune Inn/Examinee 77 arc. Shippo learns about the rankings for fox demons, and how he can progress up the ladder to the #1 rank ~ namely, by playing tricks on his friends. Of course, he takes great pleasure in torturing Inuyasha, and this part of the episode harkens back to the comedy stylings of the original anime. Lots of slapstick, "sits", Sango beating up on Miroku, etc etc etc. All of this turns into the beginning of the dragon-scaled Tessaiga arc, when Mujina shows up to steal tessaiga's power with the Dakki sword. "She" fools Shippo into helping her, but Inuyasha sees through the disguise and dispatches the imposter with a kick, after breaking the mysterious sword. Knowing Tessaiga steals the power of the weapons it defeats, he gives the sword a thoughtful glance...
...and then we're right back to Sesshoumaru and Totosai, in what basically amounts to an animated version of the episode namesake's chapter, Meidou Zangetsuha. Totosai tells Sesshoumaru to show him the technique, and he explains to Jaken and Rin how Tenseiga is connected to the underworld and how, by reforging the sword, Sesshoumaru can now open a pathway between this world and the next. Of course, he humorously grouses to himself that Sesshoumaru mastered the technique in one go, while Sesshoumaru is remembering his encounter with Mouyoumaru, and how he taunted Sess that Kagura's death was for nothing. Sesshoumaru promises himself that it was for him to decide whether or not she died in vain, and with an upsweep of wind, commands his group "let's go."
The preview for next week promises some dragon-scaled Tessaiga action, as well as the introduction of Byakuya (and some shenanigans with Sesshoumaru, it appears).
I'm just...confused now. I have no idea WTF the animators are doing with the canon story, beyond mangling it, but I'm trying to keep an open mind. They are certainly making it difficult to anticipate whether or not my most-desired arcs (Hell arc, Bakusaiga) will be animated, and if they are ~ when? Considering the time they spent on Tenseiga here (and the reason why it had to be reforged), I am hopeful that we'll get to visit with SessMom before Inuyasha comes along to steal Meidou Zangetsuha from his brother. Maybe we'll even get to learn the story behind Tenseiga and Tessaiga, that which allows Inuyasha to take the technique in the first place? Who knows...
So, yeah. I'm not going to reread manga chapters before watching the anime; I think I'd be hopelessly lost, as now they are not only going forward in time, but backwards as well. I do hope we'll spend more time with Miroku and Sango, beyond the Kohaku angle of the story, because both of them have pretty important character arcs coming up as well. If they don't get their due when Shippo did, I'm going to be mad >:(
So, in conclusion...it was nice to see some light-heartedness injected into the story; the pacing is still crazy mad, now compounded with a bit of confusion as they move forwards and backwards on the timeline; and I haven't given up hope that SessMom will make an appearance *crosses fingers* The meidou zangetsuha was decently animated as well, but I wasn't knocked off my socks like last week with Kagura's death.
I was surprised to see this episode open with Sesshoumaru, as he reflected on Kagura's death. Totosai shows up, insults him, and tells him that he was called by Tenseiga. The sword was reacting to a change in Sesshoumaru's heart (prompting the ever-loyal Jaken to claim there was nothing wrong with Sess's heart in the first place, LOL) and was ready to be reforged into a weapon.
After the opening, we jump immediately to Kaede's village, where Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Kaede are discussing Kikyo's plan to complete the jewel and slay Naraku. There is a wonderful manga Mir/San moment, when she gives him a taste of his own medicine for a change, haha. After their discussion - which includes the fact that Kohaku will have to die if Kikyo's plan is to be completed - we cut to the present day, where Kagome is applying to high school o.O Now I know this came way later in the manga...and then we segue into some Chapter 512 goodness, when Jii-chan is discussing "the right wish" that must be made on the Shikon jewel. Kagome then continues to study furiously for her upcoming entrance exams, only to find the brainy session had been nothing but a dream.
I wasn't happy with the way the inserted this scene here, taking away the value of Inuyasha coming back to her time to reassure her, after she lost her powers to Hitmiko. Which was only the first time I went "WTF" during this episode - and we aren't even halfway through! :P
The next scene is the group gathered together again the feudal era, and it immediately turns into the Kitsune Inn/Examinee 77 arc. Shippo learns about the rankings for fox demons, and how he can progress up the ladder to the #1 rank ~ namely, by playing tricks on his friends. Of course, he takes great pleasure in torturing Inuyasha, and this part of the episode harkens back to the comedy stylings of the original anime. Lots of slapstick, "sits", Sango beating up on Miroku, etc etc etc. All of this turns into the beginning of the dragon-scaled Tessaiga arc, when Mujina shows up to steal tessaiga's power with the Dakki sword. "She" fools Shippo into helping her, but Inuyasha sees through the disguise and dispatches the imposter with a kick, after breaking the mysterious sword. Knowing Tessaiga steals the power of the weapons it defeats, he gives the sword a thoughtful glance...
...and then we're right back to Sesshoumaru and Totosai, in what basically amounts to an animated version of the episode namesake's chapter, Meidou Zangetsuha. Totosai tells Sesshoumaru to show him the technique, and he explains to Jaken and Rin how Tenseiga is connected to the underworld and how, by reforging the sword, Sesshoumaru can now open a pathway between this world and the next. Of course, he humorously grouses to himself that Sesshoumaru mastered the technique in one go, while Sesshoumaru is remembering his encounter with Mouyoumaru, and how he taunted Sess that Kagura's death was for nothing. Sesshoumaru promises himself that it was for him to decide whether or not she died in vain, and with an upsweep of wind, commands his group "let's go."
The preview for next week promises some dragon-scaled Tessaiga action, as well as the introduction of Byakuya (and some shenanigans with Sesshoumaru, it appears).
I'm just...confused now. I have no idea WTF the animators are doing with the canon story, beyond mangling it, but I'm trying to keep an open mind. They are certainly making it difficult to anticipate whether or not my most-desired arcs (Hell arc, Bakusaiga) will be animated, and if they are ~ when? Considering the time they spent on Tenseiga here (and the reason why it had to be reforged), I am hopeful that we'll get to visit with SessMom before Inuyasha comes along to steal Meidou Zangetsuha from his brother. Maybe we'll even get to learn the story behind Tenseiga and Tessaiga, that which allows Inuyasha to take the technique in the first place? Who knows...
So, yeah. I'm not going to reread manga chapters before watching the anime; I think I'd be hopelessly lost, as now they are not only going forward in time, but backwards as well. I do hope we'll spend more time with Miroku and Sango, beyond the Kohaku angle of the story, because both of them have pretty important character arcs coming up as well. If they don't get their due when Shippo did, I'm going to be mad >:(
So, in conclusion...it was nice to see some light-heartedness injected into the story; the pacing is still crazy mad, now compounded with a bit of confusion as they move forwards and backwards on the timeline; and I haven't given up hope that SessMom will make an appearance *crosses fingers* The meidou zangetsuha was decently animated as well, but I wasn't knocked off my socks like last week with Kagura's death.
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Well, for the first two episodes at least, I tried to find the manga references they were using in each episode - but this one is literally all over the place. Even if you don't remember the exact sequence of events (and Lord knows I don't!), it pings on your radar. Like, the whole thing from the "right wish" chapter. That was fairly significant for the Inu/Kag relationship, and its completely unordered and glossed over here (making me wonder if they're gonna skip Chapter 494 altogether >:().
I guess because of the limited number of episodes, this anime is even more of an alternate universe from the manga than the first one. Not that I'm complaining about that, but it feels like they're cutting out some of the good along with the filler and that's just annoying (especially when you see how much of this episode stars freaking SHIPPO of all characters) :P