First Impression: InuYasha: The Final Act
Story: Based from the final twenty volumes in the manga, InuYasha: The Final Act continues where the anime series left off. Half-demon Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo go up against Naraku and the evil he spawned. Everything is on the line, but will Inuyasha and Kagome’s love survive during the final battle over the powerful Jewel of Four Souls?
Impression:
Episode one of the new season is busy, stuffed from opening to ending with dead heroes returning, wicked creatures plotting against each other, and friends and family reuniting. I counted no less than three major plot twists in this first episode alone. But I could be wrong- my memory of the end of the first season is fuzzy at best, and the production staff didn’t have the courtesy to do more than a quick character re-introduction. There’s no plot recap, and no flashbacks. The crew at Sunrise has a lot of material to go, so I don’t expect this breakneck pace to slacken anytime soon, if it ever does. It would be nice for those of us who have forgotten a lot of its sprawling cast and convoluted plot to get a recap episode, but that’s probably not happening. We’ll have to make the best of it.
Summary:
This is InuYasha as I liked it best: a shameless mix of fantasy, pulp, and romance. It still has many of the same flaws: it’s too complicated for its own good, and the dialogue is still very corny. In fact, it’s like the series never left the air. Similar its titular hero, InuYasha: The Final Act has been waiting for over five years for someone to awaken it, and it hasn’t aged at all in that time. This is a busy, but welcome return to Saturday nights.
Episode one of the new season is busy, stuffed from opening to ending with dead heroes returning, wicked creatures plotting against each other, and friends and family reuniting. I counted no less than three major plot twists in this first episode alone. But I could be wrong- my memory of the end of the first season is fuzzy at best, and the production staff didn’t have the courtesy to do more than a quick character re-introduction. There’s no plot recap, and no flashbacks. The crew at Sunrise has a lot of material to go, so I don’t expect this breakneck pace to slacken anytime soon, if it ever does. It would be nice for those of us who have forgotten a lot of its sprawling cast and convoluted plot to get a recap episode, but that’s probably not happening. We’ll have to make the best of it.
Summary:
This is InuYasha as I liked it best: a shameless mix of fantasy, pulp, and romance. It still has many of the same flaws: it’s too complicated for its own good, and the dialogue is still very corny. In fact, it’s like the series never left the air. Similar its titular hero, InuYasha: The Final Act has been waiting for over five years for someone to awaken it, and it hasn’t aged at all in that time. This is a busy, but welcome return to Saturday nights.
By: Bradley Meek
Season Premiere: October 3, 2009
Director: Yasunao Aoki
Anime Production: Sunrise
