Inuyasha was one of the better-known Japanese anime and manga series from the 1990s and 2000s. It was centered on the titular protagonist working with a human girl from modern times to recover the fragments of a dangerous jewel that could grant wishes, which saw them encountering a wide range of people who are both friendly and not so friendly towards them. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about Inuyasha:
1. Created By Rumiko Takahashi
Inuyasha was created by Rumiko Takahashi, who is both one of the most famous and one of the most affluent manga artists that can be found out there. This is because she is responsible for a number of successful series such as Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, and Inuyasha.
2. Departure from Previous Series
Takahashi meant for Inuyasha to be a darker departure from her previous series. For context, Takahasi had created more serious series before creating Inuyasha, but she tended to be best-known for Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2, which were very comedic in nature.
3. Involves Time Travel
Some of Inuyasha is set in what would have been modern times when the series was in the process of being released. However, most of the story is set in the past, which was made possible within the series by a site called the Bone Eater’s Well. Time travel happened a few more times over the course of the series, so it should come as no surprise to learn that it played a somewhat important role in the overall narrative.
4. Set in the Sengoku Period
The past refers to the Sengoku period, which can be translated to something along the lines of the Warring States period. Based on this, it should come as no surprise to learn that it was a time in which central authority had broken down in Japan, which resulted in different clans fighting one another for power throughout the island country. Takahashi chose the Sengoku period because it was suitable for her desire to do something darker.
5. Takahashi Didn’t Bother to Research Sengoku Period in Depth
With that said, Takahashi didn’t actually do any in-depth research on the Sengoku period when doing her manga. On the one hand, this was somewhat understandable because the Sengoku period is a very popular time for Japanese media, meaning that most Japanese people will have at least some understanding of what it would look like. On the other hand, well, suffice to say that Japanese pop history isn’t any better than pop history anywhere else.
6. The Story Involves Youkai
Inuyasha has more than a few youkai showing up over the course of the series. Defining youkai can be rather difficult, but essentially, they are an entire class of demons, spirits, and monsters that can come into existence through various means. For example, some animals are believed to be capable of becoming youkai through age, extreme resentment, or some other trigger. However, humans and even inanimate objects are capable of becoming youkai as well under certain circumstances.
7. Youkai Can Be Very Similar to Humans
Some youkai are capable of being very similar to humans, which is perhaps unsurprising when some of them used to be humans. Regardless, the more interesting point is that some youkai are so human-like that they are capable of getting into romantic relationships with humans, which can produce offspring that take characteristics from both sides of the union. The titular protagonist of Inuyasha is one such example, being the child of a dog demon and a human.
8. Half-Human, Half-Youkai Are Called Hanyou
In the Inuyasha series, the children of human-youkai pairings are called Hanyou, which translates to something along the lines of “half demon.” Unfortunately for them, they bear physical characteristics that reveal their half-human, half-youkai status, which causes both humans and youkai to discriminate against them. Due to this, it tends to be difficult for said individuals to find acceptance outside of close family members and other rare individuals.
9. The Dog Demon Is Speculated to Be Based on the Tiangou
Curiously, there are some fans that speculate that the dog demons in Inuyasha are based on the Chinese tiangou, which became the basis for the Japanese tengu even the two look nothing alike. In short, the Chinese tiangou was a flying dog monster that was sometimes said to have been fended off by an archer shooting into the sky. Dog demons in Inuyasha are powerful demons that can fly unassisted. Moreover, there is a flashback that depicts a dog demon in a very similar manner to stories of how tiangou were fended off.
10. Now Complete
Both the Inuyasha manga and the Inuyasha anime have been complete for some time. As a result, there is nothing stopping people from binging them if that is their desire.
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