Other Reviews

Eiga Inuyasha 4: Guren no Hourai-jima
(Inuyasha Movie 4: Crimson Hourai Island)

Original Release Date: 12/23/04 Review Date: 06/14/05

Summary

Six children look upon Kikyou, who is floating in a bubble. Suddenly, claw marks appear on all their backs but one. They bid the remaining child, Ai, to escape to the outside world. She reluctantly leaves, but the children's caretakers, the Shitoushin, will have none of it, and send one of their own, Goura, to take her back.
Enter Inuyasha's group. They rescue Ai and manage to subdue Goura by blowing off a piece of his neck. Ai knows Inuyasha from 50 years ago, even though she hasn't aged at that time. She reveals herself as being a hanyou from Hourai Island, a legendary island that appears out of the mist once every 50 years. Inuyasha and Kikyou had gone there the last time it had appeared and attempted to fight the Shitoushin, and as a result, Inuyasha received a similar claw mark on his back which has now reappeared. The group agrees to go with Ai to the island to save the other children.
Meanwhile, another of the Shitoushin, Kyoura, has gone to the mainland to seek out Sesshoumaru, whom he also planted a claw mark on 50 years prior. Apparently Inu-papa had some beef with the Shitoushin, and, as usual, left it to his kids to clean up after him. Sesshoumaru doesn't care, but the mark draws him to the island, anyway.
When Inuyasha's group arrives at the island, they are greeted by a third Shitoushin, Juura, who tries to blow them up with a bazooka. The group splits up, and while Miroku and Sango deal with Juura, Inuyasha and Kagome meet their leader, Ryuura, who wields twin swords. Ryuura and Inuyasha fight for a while, then Ryuura starts to go translucent and decides he'd rather fight when he's all there, so leaves.
Everyone regroups and follows Ai to the village, where they meet the other hanyou children. The oldest, Asagi, berates Ai for coming back, but is soon called to the Meidou no Kama to sacrifice herself and become the Shitoushin's power. Everyone follows her there, and both Inuyasha and Asagi end up getting sucked in. Inuyasha's Fire Rat cloak protects them from the heat inside, but his and Asagi's powers are both drained to feed the Shitoushin.
Outside, the others try to figure out how to open the doors again and recall the lyrics to the song inscribed on them. They first assume that they're supposed to have a human and a youkai join hands to open the door, so Kagome and Shippou try that, but it doesn't work. Then they find some chains on the outside that a human and a youkai are supposed to pull, and they manage to crack the door open.
Still inside, Inuyasha is confronted by the remaining soul of the miko Kanade, who protected the island in the past and gave her life to seal away the bulk of the Shitoushin's powers. She gives Inuyasha the last of her powers so that he can use his sword to break out, then gives him a box that has the Shitoushin's power gemstones sealed inside. Inuyasha fires off a Kongousouha and destroys the Meidou no Kama, getting himself and Asagi out alive.
The Shitoushin, however, decide they want their gems back, so send in the clone. The Kikyou clone, to be exact, and she easily makes off with the gem box. Inuyasha follows her, but she breaks the holy seal on it and returns to the Shitoushin their powers. The Shitoushin decide they don't need to feed off the hanyou children anymore and decide to kill them all. Inuyasha and Kikyou fight some more, but then the real Kikyou randomly shows up, shoots her counterpart in the back, then leaves her bow and arrow behind.
Meanwhile, Sesshoumaru has also randomly shown up, and he and Kyoura fight. Sesshoumaru easily blasts him away with a Souryuuha and makes even more hash out of what was left of the Meidou no Kama. Once this happens, one of the four claw marks on the children's backs disappear. This spurs them on to make a boat in an attempt to escape. However, Ryuura shows up to spoil their fun and beats on Kagome for a while.
Miroku and Sango go after Juura and Goura. Miroku manages to suck Juura's bazooka into his Kazaana, causing Juura to turn into a berserk animal. Miroku uses his Kazaana again to divert Goura's torpedoes and destroy Juura. Another mark disappears. Seeing this, the children realize that the Shitoushin aren't as almighty as they make themselves out to be and start fighting back against Ryuura, but to no avail. Thankfully, Inuyasha shows up to save the day. Ryuura bashes him around for a while, but Inuyasha is eventually able to blow him up. Three down, one to go. Inuyasha notices this, so wanders out to the seaside and Bakuryuuhas Goura into oblivion. And that takes care of that.
Or so they think. The four energy gems combine and the Shitoushin fuse into one entity that looks like some multi-faceted six-appendaged Hindu god, Ryuujuukyougou or something. He starts making general destruction, and Inuyasha figures they can beat him the way they always beat movie villains, with a combo move with Kagome's arrows, but Kagome reminds him that she lost her bow and arrows earlier. Conveniently, a firefly directs Shion, the wimpy hanyou kid, to the place where Kikyou dropped her bow and arrow, and all the children come to give it to Kagome.
So, Inuyasha and Kagome execute their finishing move as planned, Kagome firing off a holy arrow, and Inuyasha firing off a Kongoubakuryuuha (unlike Ryuujuukyougou, I'm not making that one up o_O). Ryuujuukyougou gets destroyed and the island blows up, just for the heck of it, and everyone escapes in the raft they made. Now where to put all these kids?

Review

So, here it is, the fourth movie. The first piece of Inuyasha animation to come out since the finish of the TV series in September 2004. So, how was it?
Well, first off, it is by and far the best-looking of all the movies. For one thing, they switched over to the character designer for the TV series to direct the animation, so the character designs are no different from what you see in the anime, unlike the other three movies. As another plus, the animation itself is leaps and bounds better than the other movies, surpassing even movie 2 in just the sheer cool-looking-ness of all the battles and special effects. And there were a LOT of battles in this movie, as well as a lot of things going boom.
So, this movie introduces a buttload of original characters, including the four Shitoushin: Ryuura, Juura, Kyoura, and Goura, and the six hanyou kids: Asagi, Ai, Moegi, Shion, Roku, and Dai. Of the originals, Juura was my favorite Shitoushin, and Roku and Dai were my favorite kids (they're twins, so they kinda go together). Juura's the one with the bazooka, so he's always all like, "MWAHAHA! I have a GUN! BOOM BABY!" And then when Miroku sucks up his gun, he's like, "OMG that meanie took my toy! KILL!" It wasn't even his gun to begin with. Kyoura stole it from one of Inu-papa's minions. Roku and Dai, on the other hand, were the bratty kids who were always bad-mouthing everyone's attempts to do anything. They, naturally, also got beaned in the head a lot.
Of the other original characters... Ryuura was a Bankotsu-wannabe, Kyoura was flaming in more ways than one, and Goura... was a big turtle. Asagi was kinda jaded in an "I MUST kill myself to SAVE everyone!!!1one" sort of way, Ai was uselessly cute, Moegi was uselessly quiet, and Shion was uselessly wimpy.
Best Moment: Actually, I was kinda partial to the flashback where Sesshoumaru got his mark. ^_^* He fights Kyoura and defeats him in one swipe... or so he thinks. Kyoura resurrects himself and sends his firebirds down to go peck the hell out of Sesshoumaru's back, as he looks like he's getting riddled with machine gun fire. XD Unfortunately, unlike Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru's marks show through his armor, so it was unnecessary to rip his clothing off to see them.
The islands original purpose was kinda dumb, though, in that it was meant to be a sanctuary for human and youkai lovers so that they and their children didn't have to face the ridicule from the outside world. The ultimate in conservative education of "if we don't teach them about the real world, they'll never have to deal with it". Those kids are going to be in for a serious culture shock when they reach the mainland. "You mean people DON'T turn into fireflies when they die?"
The DVD version will apparently have an epilogue after the credits that was not included in the theatrical version, so we'll have to wait until August to see if there's any more closure to the movie. Until then, I'd recommend the movie for the visuals, and the plot is actually fairly decent and happily lacking in any serious discontinuities from the series. The only real discontinuity is the fact that ALL the hanyou children are relatively cute and normal-looking, when the encounter with Jinenji in the series stated that it was pretty much a 50/50 shot between being a looker and a monster. Maybe they made all the ugly ones get sacrificed first.

Eiga Inuyasha 3: Tenka Hadou no Ken
(Inuyasha Movie 3: The Sword of World Conquest)

Original Release Date: 12/20/03 Review Date: 2/25/04

Summary

Sesshoumaru desires his father's swords, but the father is concerned that he will not use them for the benefit of others. The father tracks down Inuyasha's mother, Izayoi, who has recently given birth to his half-youkai son, and who has been subsequently murdered by Takemaru because of it. He resurrects Izayoi and bids her to live on while he engages in a final battle with Takemaru.
In the present era, Kagome's grandfather brings out what he calls "Murakumo no Tsurugi", an apparently legendary sword wielded by Sosa-no-wo-no-Mikoto. Unfortunately, he read the name on the sword incorrectly, as it is actually "Sou'unga", not "Murakumo no Tsurugi". Souta touches the sword, and a little spirit comes out and warns them that Sou'unga has been unsealed. At that, Sou'unga flies out of the temple and heads into town.
Inuyasha and Kagome are walking home from school when Sou'unga intercepts them. The sheath-spirit, now known as Saya, recognizes Inuyasha's Tessaiga, and tells him that Sou'unga is his father's sword and it is trying to unseal itself. Sou'unga finally does unseal itself and sticks into the ground, forming an almost "alternate universe" where everything is destroyed. Inuyasha pulls the sword out, and everything returns to normal, but the sword takes control of his hand. Not wanting something so destructive in a peaceful era, Inuyasha returns to the Sengoku Jidai with the sword.
Upon arriving, however, Inuyasha begins attacking Shippou, followed by some villagers. He manages to wrestle himself into control long enough for everyone to escape, then proceeds to destroy the village.
The next day, Kagome returns (jeez, what took her so long?!), and everyone heads off to find Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru finds him first, however, having sensed that Sou'unga had been unsealed, and is none too happy to find out that Inuyasha got ahold of it first. So, they fight. Kagome goes to intercept them and meets Toutousai along the way, who explains about the sword. Meanwhile, Sou'unga has given Inuyasha enough extra power to drive Sesshoumaru back to the edge of a cliff. Sesshoumaru, in a move of desperation, swipes Inuyasha's Tessaiga, strikes him with it, then collapses. Sou'unga demands a blood sacrifice, so Inuyasha goes after Rin and Jaken, who had been watching. At that moment, Kagome intercepts him and commands him to "sit". The beads and the sword vie for control of his body, and the result ends in both being blown off him.
Later, an oni discovers the discarded Sou'unga. Sou'unga is unimpressed with the oni, so takes control of it to make it find it a better master. Sou'unga finds Takemaru and revives him, planting ideas that he hated not only the Inu no Taishou and his kin, but Izayoi as well. As Sou'unga cannot be wielded by humans, Sou'unga has Takemaru attach Sesshoumaru's lost left arm. This transforms Takemaru into a half-oni.
Meanwhile, Kagome wakes up, having been knocked unconscious by the earlier blast. She notes that Inuyasha is missing, but they have acquired Rin and Jaken, since Sesshoumaru left them behind (Jaken had gotten hit by a flying bead and was knocked unconscious as well). Saya explains that the only way to defeat Sou'unga's ultimate attack, Gokuryuuha, the powers of Tessaiga and Tenseiga need to be combined. In other words, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru need to work together. ... Yeah, right.
Proving that they can't work together, both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru come upon Takemaru's grave, having noted that Sou'unga's aura was there. They beat on each other some more, and Sesshoumaru ends up flattening Inuyasha with his Souryuuha.
Takemaru has taken over a fortress and revived a bunch of zombie soldiers to do his bidding with Sou'unga. Everyone gathers there independently, and start hacking away at the endless troops. And they really are endless, as they keep coming back to life. Sesshoumaru finds that his oni sword, Toukijin, reacts badly to the zombies, so ends up having to occasionally fight with his bare hands.
Takemaru (or maybe Sou'unga) desires Tenseiga for some reason, so sends the incredible exploding zombie after Sesshoumaru. It works, and Tenseiga is thrown towards Rin. She runs into the fray to retrieve it, Kagome following, but they both get abducted by one of Takemaru's oni. Naturally, Inu and Sess drop what they're doing to follow.
Sou'unga tells Takemaru that Kagome and Rin are the same as Izayoi, and that he should hate and kill them, too. Takemaru tries, but Sesshoumaru intercepts. So, they beat on each other while Kagome and Rin run. Inuyasha makes it into the castle later and Kagome tells him to fight alongside his brother. Inuyasha doesn't like that idea.
Sesshoumaru tries hitting Takemaru with Tenseiga, but he just revives himself. Inuyasha shows up, and Takemaru decides to Gokuryuuha them both. Inuyasha intercepts him and tells him that he has his human mother to thank for his strength of heart. This gets to Takemaru, and he suddenly realizes that he didn't hate Izayoi, so breaks Sou'unga's control of him and falls dead.
Sou'unga's not too happy about that, so possesses Sesshoumaru's severed arm and turns into a spikey thing with sword for an arm. It opens a path to Hell that starts trying to suck people in. Kagome protects everyone with Saya's barrier, then notices Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru fighing with Sou'unga, and with each other. She runs out of the barrier and yells at them to work together.
Sou'unga is Gokuryuuha-ing the daylights out of everything, and Inuyasha is equally Bakuryuuha-ing it back, but to no avail. However, Inuyasha won't give up, because he has people to protect, and that's the reason he's fighting. Sesshoumaru thinks about Jaken and Rin and insists that he protects no one, and then proceeds to send a Tenseiga blast into the Bakuryuuha, adding to its power and destroying the Sou'unga spikey thing.
So, all that's left is the Sou'unga sword itself and Sesshoumaru's arm, which fall to earth... and are intercepted by a figure in glowing blue light. Hello, Inu-papa. He tells the boys that he has nothing more he can teach them, and that they must find their own ways from now on. And then he is gone.
Later, Sesshoumaru's group has parted ways with Inuyasha's, and Kagome comments that Inuyasha's dad looked like a nice guy, and she was glad she got to meet him. Inuyasha's mostly "whatever" about it.
After the credits, Kagome tells Inuyasha she's got something good for him, and tells him to close his eyes. He does so, and she replaces the rosary around his neck. And what's so good about THAT?!

Review

Whee, third movie! I've been wanting to see this one, and now that I have, my opinion is kinda... "eh". It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, either. There wasn't enough Jaken. Jaken, like, made the movie.
So, in this movie, we are introduced to the Almighty Inu-papa. And... man, I was right! Sesshoumaru inherited the looks, but Inu got the personality. Inu-papa was right up there with the brashness, hot-headedness, and need to smite anything that ticked him off with something big and explosive. It was like, "WTF, you killed my chick! I MAKE A BIG BOOM!" Also, where the HECK was he keeping that fire-rat cloak when he gave it to Izayoi? It looked like he pulled it out of his armor or something.
However, they still managed to keep Inu-papa's death slightly canon. He had a big gash across his chest at the beginning of the movie, and Myouga later revealed that this injury was from the fight with Ryuukossei. Good, they didn't COMPLETELY disregard that. Just mostly...
Of all the stuff that happens in this movie, I'd still have to say the Best Moment is... Tenseiga sweatdropping. If you were unsure whether that sword really did have a mind of it's own... here's further proof. Toutousai, Myouga, and Saya were all talking about what happened right after Inu-papa bit the big one, and what the fates of the three swords were. Tenseiga ended up being hung on a tree with a sign on it that said "To Sesshoumaru" with a little heart on it. Sesshoumaru gives it a flat look. Tenseiga sweatdrops.
Then, of course, there were the two Inuyasha vs. Sesshoumaru battles. The first one was cool. The second one sucked. In the first one, Inuyasha's still possessed by Sou'unga. The cool thing about that fight was that Sesshoumaru was actually the weaker of the two, and ended up having multitudes of "WTF?!" moments. Like, "WTF, the sword just talked! Now it's bad-mouthing me. Shut up! Ack, it just boosted Inuyasha's strength and turned him all demon-y!" I mean, it was the first time Sesshoumaru's really been in a pinch and shown that he cared that he was in a pinch.
The second fight, however... was just dumb. They had no reason to be fighting each other. Sesshoumaru was just being pissy. And it ended up just being a "Bakuryuuha vs. Souryuuha" and which one of them could hold up longer. Sesshoumaru won. Then just left. Ho hum.
Sesshoumaru's fight with Takemaru was kinda cool, though, even though Sess didn't fare too well. He somehow got Toukijin knocked out of his hands early on, and ended up fighting with Tenseiga. Then he momentarily pulled a Zoro from One Piece and held Tenseiga in his mouth while he chucked Toukijin at Takemaru. ^_^* But, man, Dokkasou, how I've missed you. Sess needs to slice things apart with his bare hands more often.
The thing after the credits... kinda bothered me and kinda didn't. It bothered me because Kagome replacing the rosary on Inuyasha showed a lack of trust. However, during the movie, she'd looked at the broken rosary and commented that now that he doesn't have it, she feels like she's lost her connection with him. Which is more or less true, since they spend very little time together in this movie.
So, all in all, it was okay. Not the greatest thing to come out of Inuyasha-dom, but certainly not the worst. The animation is hit-and-miss, and not as good as movie 2, although there are some neat computer effects, mostly with the backgrounds. So, I'd reccommend watching it once just to see it, and maybe more than once if you're a die-hard Sesshoumaru fan or something.

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Eiga Inuyasha 4: Guren no Hourai-jima (Inuyasha Movie 4: Crimson Hourai Island)
Original Release Date: 12/23/04	Review Date: 06/14/05
Summary
Six children look upon Kikyou, who is floating in a bubble. Suddenly, claw marks appear on all their backs but one. They bid the remaining child, Ai, to escape to the outside world. She reluctantly leaves, but the children's caretakers, the Shitoushin, will have none of it, and send one of their own, Goura, to take her back. Enter Inuyasha's group. They rescue Ai and manage to subdue Goura by blowing off a piece of his neck. Ai knows Inuyasha from 50 years ago, even though she hasn't aged at that time. She reveals herself as being a hanyou from Hourai Island, a legendary island that appears out of the mist once every 50 years. Inuyasha and Kikyou had gone there the last time it had appeared and attempted to fight the Shitoushin, and as a result, Inuyasha received a similar claw mark on his back which has now reappeared. The group agrees to go with Ai to the island to save the other children. Meanwhile, another of the Shitoushin, Kyoura, has gone to the mainland to seek out Sesshoumaru, whom he also planted a claw mark on 50 years prior. Apparently Inu-papa had some beef with the Shitoushin, and, as usual, left it to his kids to clean up after him. Sesshoumaru doesn't care, but the mark draws him to the island, anyway. When Inuyasha's group arrives at the island, they are greeted by a third Shitoushin, Juura, who tries to blow them up with a bazooka. The group splits up, and while Miroku and Sango deal with Juura, Inuyasha and Kagome meet their leader, Ryuura, who wields twin swords. Ryuura and Inuyasha fight for a while, then Ryuura starts to go translucent and decides he'd rather fight when he's all there, so leaves. Everyone regroups and follows Ai to the village, where they meet the other hanyou children. The oldest, Asagi, berates Ai for coming back, but is soon called to the Meidou no Kama to sacrifice herself and become the Shitoushin's power. Everyone follows her there, and both Inuyasha and Asagi end up getting sucked in. Inuyasha's Fire Rat cloak protects them from the heat inside, but his and Asagi's powers are both drained to feed the Shitoushin. Outside, the others try to figure out how to open the doors again and recall the lyrics to the song inscribed on them. They first assume that they're supposed to have a human and a youkai join hands to open the door, so Kagome and Shippou try that, but it doesn't work. Then they find some chains on the outside that a human and a youkai are supposed to pull, and they manage to crack the door open. Still inside, Inuyasha is confronted by the remaining soul of the miko Kanade, who protected the island in the past and gave her life to seal away the bulk of the Shitoushin's powers. She gives Inuyasha the last of her powers so that he can use his sword to break out, then gives him a box that has the Shitoushin's power gemstones sealed inside. Inuyasha fires off a Kongousouha and destroys the Meidou no Kama, getting himself and Asagi out alive. The Shitoushin, however, decide they want their gems back, so send in the clone. The Kikyou clone, to be exact, and she easily makes off with the gem box. Inuyasha follows her, but she breaks the holy seal on it and returns to the Shitoushin their powers. The Shitoushin decide they don't need to feed off the hanyou children anymore and decide to kill them all. Inuyasha and Kikyou fight some more, but then the real Kikyou randomly shows up, shoots her counterpart in the back, then leaves her bow and arrow behind. Meanwhile, Sesshoumaru has also randomly shown up, and he and Kyoura fight. Sesshoumaru easily blasts him away with a Souryuuha and makes even more hash out of what was left of the Meidou no Kama. Once this happens, one of the four claw marks on the children's backs disappear. This spurs them on to make a boat in an attempt to escape. However, Ryuura shows up to spoil their fun and beats on Kagome for a while. Miroku and Sango go after Juura and Goura. Miroku manages to suck Juura's bazooka into his Kazaana, causing Juura to turn into a berserk animal. Miroku uses his Kazaana again to divert Goura's torpedoes and destroy Juura. Another mark disappears. Seeing this, the children realize that the Shitoushin aren't as almighty as they make themselves out to be and start fighting back against Ryuura, but to no avail. Thankfully, Inuyasha shows up to save the day. Ryuura bashes him around for a while, but Inuyasha is eventually able to blow him up. Three down, one to go. Inuyasha notices this, so wanders out to the seaside and Bakuryuuhas Goura into oblivion. And that takes care of that. Or so they think. The four energy gems combine and the Shitoushin fuse into one entity that looks like some multi-faceted six-appendaged Hindu god, Ryuujuukyougou or something. He starts making general destruction, and Inuyasha figures they can beat him the way they always beat movie villains, with a combo move with Kagome's arrows, but Kagome reminds him that she lost her bow and arrows earlier. Conveniently, a firefly directs Shion, the wimpy hanyou kid, to the place where Kikyou dropped her bow and arrow, and all the children come to give it to Kagome. So, Inuyasha and Kagome execute their finishing move as planned, Kagome firing off a holy arrow, and Inuyasha firing off a Kongoubakuryuuha (unlike Ryuujuukyougou, I'm not making that one up o_O). Ryuujuukyougou gets destroyed and the island blows up, just for the heck of it, and everyone escapes in the raft they made. Now where to put all these kids?
Review
So, here it is, the fourth movie. The first piece of Inuyasha animation to come out since the finish of the TV series in September 2004. So, how was it? Well, first off, it is by and far the best-looking of all the movies. For one thing, they switched over to the character designer for the TV series to direct the animation, so the character designs are no different from what you see in the anime, unlike the other three movies. As another plus, the animation itself is leaps and bounds better than the other movies, surpassing even movie 2 in just the sheer cool-looking-ness of all the battles and special effects. And there were a LOT of battles in this movie, as well as a lot of things going boom. So, this movie introduces a buttload of original characters, including the four Shitoushin: Ryuura, Juura, Kyoura, and Goura, and the six hanyou kids: Asagi, Ai, Moegi, Shion, Roku, and Dai. Of the originals, Juura was my favorite Shitoushin, and Roku and Dai were my favorite kids (they're twins, so they kinda go together). Juura's the one with the bazooka, so he's always all like, "MWAHAHA! I have a GUN! BOOM BABY!" And then when Miroku sucks up his gun, he's like, "OMG that meanie took my toy! KILL!" It wasn't even his gun to begin with. Kyoura stole it from one of Inu-papa's minions. Roku and Dai, on the other hand, were the bratty kids who were always bad-mouthing everyone's attempts to do anything. They, naturally, also got beaned in the head a lot. Of the other original characters... Ryuura was a Bankotsu-wannabe, Kyoura was flaming in more ways than one, and Goura... was a big turtle. Asagi was kinda jaded in an "I MUST kill myself to SAVE everyone!!!1one" sort of way, Ai was uselessly cute, Moegi was uselessly quiet, and Shion was uselessly wimpy. Best Moment: Actually, I was kinda partial to the flashback where Sesshoumaru got his mark. ^_^* He fights Kyoura and defeats him in one swipe... or so he thinks. Kyoura resurrects himself and sends his firebirds down to go peck the hell out of Sesshoumaru's back, as he looks like he's getting riddled with machine gun fire. XD Unfortunately, unlike Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru's marks show through his armor, so it was unnecessary to rip his clothing off to see them. The islands original purpose was kinda dumb, though, in that it was meant to be a sanctuary for human and youkai lovers so that they and their children didn't have to face the ridicule from the outside world. The ultimate in conservative education of "if we don't teach them about the real world, they'll never have to deal with it". Those kids are going to be in for a serious culture shock when they reach the mainland. "You mean people DON'T turn into fireflies when they die?" The DVD version will apparently have an epilogue after the credits that was not included in the theatrical version, so we'll have to wait until August to see if there's any more closure to the movie. Until then, I'd recommend the movie for the visuals, and the plot is actually fairly decent and happily lacking in any serious discontinuities from the series. The only real discontinuity is the fact that ALL the hanyou children are relatively cute and normal-looking, when the encounter with Jinenji in the series stated that it was pretty much a 50/50 shot between being a looker and a monster. Maybe they made all the ugly ones get sacrificed first.
Eiga Inuyasha 3: Tenka Hadou no Ken (Inuyasha Movie 3: The Sword of World Conquest)
Original Release Date: 12/20/03	Review Date: 2/25/04
Summary
Sesshoumaru desires his father's swords, but the father is concerned that he will not use them for the benefit of others. The father tracks down Inuyasha's mother, Izayoi, who has recently given birth to his half-youkai son, and who has been subsequently murdered by Takemaru because of it. He resurrects Izayoi and bids her to live on while he engages in a final battle with Takemaru. In the present era, Kagome's grandfather brings out what he calls "Murakumo no Tsurugi", an apparently legendary sword wielded by Sosa-no-wo-no-Mikoto. Unfortunately, he read the name on the sword incorrectly, as it is actually "Sou'unga", not "Murakumo no Tsurugi". Souta touches the sword, and a little spirit comes out and warns them that Sou'unga has been unsealed. At that, Sou'unga flies out of the temple and heads into town. Inuyasha and Kagome are walking home from school when Sou'unga intercepts them. The sheath-spirit, now known as Saya, recognizes Inuyasha's Tessaiga, and tells him that Sou'unga is his father's sword and it is trying to unseal itself. Sou'unga finally does unseal itself and sticks into the ground, forming an almost "alternate universe" where everything is destroyed. Inuyasha pulls the sword out, and everything returns to normal, but the sword takes control of his hand. Not wanting something so destructive in a peaceful era, Inuyasha returns to the Sengoku Jidai with the sword. Upon arriving, however, Inuyasha begins attacking Shippou, followed by some villagers. He manages to wrestle himself into control long enough for everyone to escape, then proceeds to destroy the village. The next day, Kagome returns (jeez, what took her so long?!), and everyone heads off to find Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru finds him first, however, having sensed that Sou'unga had been unsealed, and is none too happy to find out that Inuyasha got ahold of it first. So, they fight. Kagome goes to intercept them and meets Toutousai along the way, who explains about the sword. Meanwhile, Sou'unga has given Inuyasha enough extra power to drive Sesshoumaru back to the edge of a cliff. Sesshoumaru, in a move of desperation, swipes Inuyasha's Tessaiga, strikes him with it, then collapses. Sou'unga demands a blood sacrifice, so Inuyasha goes after Rin and Jaken, who had been watching. At that moment, Kagome intercepts him and commands him to "sit". The beads and the sword vie for control of his body, and the result ends in both being blown off him. Later, an oni discovers the discarded Sou'unga. Sou'unga is unimpressed with the oni, so takes control of it to make it find it a better master. Sou'unga finds Takemaru and revives him, planting ideas that he hated not only the Inu no Taishou and his kin, but Izayoi as well. As Sou'unga cannot be wielded by humans, Sou'unga has Takemaru attach Sesshoumaru's lost left arm. This transforms Takemaru into a half-oni. Meanwhile, Kagome wakes up, having been knocked unconscious by the earlier blast. She notes that Inuyasha is missing, but they have acquired Rin and Jaken, since Sesshoumaru left them behind (Jaken had gotten hit by a flying bead and was knocked unconscious as well). Saya explains that the only way to defeat Sou'unga's ultimate attack, Gokuryuuha, the powers of Tessaiga and Tenseiga need to be combined. In other words, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru need to work together. ... Yeah, right. Proving that they can't work together, both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru come upon Takemaru's grave, having noted that Sou'unga's aura was there. They beat on each other some more, and Sesshoumaru ends up flattening Inuyasha with his Souryuuha. Takemaru has taken over a fortress and revived a bunch of zombie soldiers to do his bidding with Sou'unga. Everyone gathers there independently, and start hacking away at the endless troops. And they really are endless, as they keep coming back to life. Sesshoumaru finds that his oni sword, Toukijin, reacts badly to the zombies, so ends up having to occasionally fight with his bare hands. Takemaru (or maybe Sou'unga) desires Tenseiga for some reason, so sends the incredible exploding zombie after Sesshoumaru. It works, and Tenseiga is thrown towards Rin. She runs into the fray to retrieve it, Kagome following, but they both get abducted by one of Takemaru's oni. Naturally, Inu and Sess drop what they're doing to follow. Sou'unga tells Takemaru that Kagome and Rin are the same as Izayoi, and that he should hate and kill them, too. Takemaru tries, but Sesshoumaru intercepts. So, they beat on each other while Kagome and Rin run. Inuyasha makes it into the castle later and Kagome tells him to fight alongside his brother. Inuyasha doesn't like that idea. Sesshoumaru tries hitting Takemaru with Tenseiga, but he just revives himself. Inuyasha shows up, and Takemaru decides to Gokuryuuha them both. Inuyasha intercepts him and tells him that he has his human mother to thank for his strength of heart. This gets to Takemaru, and he suddenly realizes that he didn't hate Izayoi, so breaks Sou'unga's control of him and falls dead. Sou'unga's not too happy about that, so possesses Sesshoumaru's severed arm and turns into a spikey thing with sword for an arm. It opens a path to Hell that starts trying to suck people in. Kagome protects everyone with Saya's barrier, then notices Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru fighing with Sou'unga, and with each other. She runs out of the barrier and yells at them to work together. Sou'unga is Gokuryuuha-ing the daylights out of everything, and Inuyasha is equally Bakuryuuha-ing it back, but to no avail. However, Inuyasha won't give up, because he has people to protect, and that's the reason he's fighting. Sesshoumaru thinks about Jaken and Rin and insists that he protects no one, and then proceeds to send a Tenseiga blast into the Bakuryuuha, adding to its power and destroying the Sou'unga spikey thing. So, all that's left is the Sou'unga sword itself and Sesshoumaru's arm, which fall to earth... and are intercepted by a figure in glowing blue light. Hello, Inu-papa. He tells the boys that he has nothing more he can teach them, and that they must find their own ways from now on. And then he is gone. Later, Sesshoumaru's group has parted ways with Inuyasha's, and Kagome comments that Inuyasha's dad looked like a nice guy, and she was glad she got to meet him. Inuyasha's mostly "whatever" about it. After the credits, Kagome tells Inuyasha she's got something good for him, and tells him to close his eyes. He does so, and she replaces the rosary around his neck. And what's so good about THAT?!
Review
Whee, third movie! I've been wanting to see this one, and now that I have, my opinion is kinda... "eh". It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, either. There wasn't enough Jaken. Jaken, like, made the movie. So, in this movie, we are introduced to the Almighty Inu-papa. And... man, I was right! Sesshoumaru inherited the looks, but Inu got the personality. Inu-papa was right up there with the brashness, hot-headedness, and need to smite anything that ticked him off with something big and explosive. It was like, "WTF, you killed my chick! I MAKE A BIG BOOM!" Also, where the HECK was he keeping that fire-rat cloak when he gave it to Izayoi? It looked like he pulled it out of his armor or something. However, they still managed to keep Inu-papa's death slightly canon. He had a big gash across his chest at the beginning of the movie, and Myouga later revealed that this injury was from the fight with Ryuukossei. Good, they didn't COMPLETELY disregard that. Just mostly... Of all the stuff that happens in this movie, I'd still have to say the Best Moment is... Tenseiga sweatdropping. If you were unsure whether that sword really did have a mind of it's own... here's further proof. Toutousai, Myouga, and Saya were all talking about what happened right after Inu-papa bit the big one, and what the fates of the three swords were. Tenseiga ended up being hung on a tree with a sign on it that said "To Sesshoumaru" with a little heart on it. Sesshoumaru gives it a flat look. Tenseiga sweatdrops. Then, of course, there were the two Inuyasha vs. Sesshoumaru battles. The first one was cool. The second one sucked. In the first one, Inuyasha's still possessed by Sou'unga. The cool thing about that fight was that Sesshoumaru was actually the weaker of the two, and ended up having multitudes of "WTF?!" moments. Like, "WTF, the sword just talked! Now it's bad-mouthing me. Shut up! Ack, it just boosted Inuyasha's strength and turned him all demon-y!" I mean, it was the first time Sesshoumaru's really been in a pinch and shown that he cared that he was in a pinch. The second fight, however... was just dumb. They had no reason to be fighting each other. Sesshoumaru was just being pissy. And it ended up just being a "Bakuryuuha vs. Souryuuha" and which one of them could hold up longer. Sesshoumaru won. Then just left. Ho hum. Sesshoumaru's fight with Takemaru was kinda cool, though, even though Sess didn't fare too well. He somehow got Toukijin knocked out of his hands early on, and ended up fighting with Tenseiga. Then he momentarily pulled a Zoro from One Piece and held Tenseiga in his mouth while he chucked Toukijin at Takemaru. ^_^* But, man, Dokkasou, how I've missed you. Sess needs to slice things apart with his bare hands more often. The thing after the credits... kinda bothered me and kinda didn't. It bothered me because Kagome replacing the rosary on Inuyasha showed a lack of trust. However, during the movie, she'd looked at the broken rosary and commented that now that he doesn't have it, she feels like she's lost her connection with him. Which is more or less true, since they spend very little time together in this movie. So, all in all, it was okay. Not the greatest thing to come out of Inuyasha-dom, but certainly not the worst. The animation is hit-and-miss, and not as good as movie 2, although there are some neat computer effects, mostly with the backgrounds. So, I'd reccommend watching it once just to see it, and maybe more than once if you're a die-hard Sesshoumaru fan or something.