Inuyasha Review

The atmosphere is why it endures. Sunrise gives the Sengoku setting a specific look, ink-dark forests, paper lanterns, mist, and a palette that stays autumnal throughout, and Kaoru Wada's orchestral score is one of the best in television anime, particularly the erhu and flute cues that establish the entire tone inside a bar. Kagome and Inuyasha work because Takahashi writes their bickering as genuine hurt rather than routine, and the Kikyo triangle keeps real ambivalence for a long stretch.

The structure defeats it. The Shikon shard premise is an infinite quest generator, so hundreds of episodes consist of arriving in a village, fighting a demon, learning nothing new about Naraku, and moving on, while Naraku himself escapes by the same trick so often that he stops being a threat at all. Miroku and Sango are well drawn but their arcs are frozen in place. Animation is competent and thrifty, with heavy reuse of the Wind Scar cut. Excellent mood, exhausted structure.