(Fate is a Harsh Reunion)
O_O
Well, now that that's out of the way, all I can say is that this episode reeked of awesomeness. Given that it was an Ikeda episode, this was obvious, but.. Ho-ly crap. The directing of this episode was just... wow. And it was in widescreen!
Best Moment: Oh god... am I allowed to say "The whole episode"? O_O I mean, it was just one thing after another. The "Kohaku cam" at the beginning was a nice touch, where the slaying of the last of the guards was depicted from Kohaku's perspective, complete with the "shaky cam" effect. This was repeated again later when Sango showed up and surveyed the damage, and again later when Kagura caught sight of Kanna and the baby.
And then there was the confrontation between Kohaku and Sango after Kohaku killed everyone. "You've done it again." Then Kohaku really freaks out as flashes of memory come back, and Kagura ends up whisking him away (the wind effect was nicely done). Once on Kagura's feather, Kohaku's memory of what he's done fully returns, and he TOTALLY freaks out and takes a nosedive off the feather, which was super-duper awesome.
And THEN Sango finds some survivors in the fortress: the old man and workers whom Kohaku told to hide as he protected them. They all praised Kohaku in front of Sango, saying what a good boy he is, and Sango just broke down crying. Total awesomeness.
Phew, well, having said that, I find it unlikely that next week's episode will stand up to this one (especially since it's *cough* Sakuma). Although, we will be getting a new opening. And the almighty chicken of doom shall appear. So... who knows?
(Protect and Plunder)
So, you'd better bet the Best Moment has to come from Kohaku. Watch that little kid kick avian ass! All the guards were like, "Hey, you're a kid. You suck" and then Kohaku just ran out there and went "PWNED!" and then all the guards were like "OOoooOOooo "
(pardon me for yoinking your emoticon, Kuro :P).
Also, in this episode we had another guest voice actor: Hasegawa Nobita, the host of Anime Scramble. Yeah, he's been trying for years to get a spot on the show, but he ended up getting cast as some random merchant rather than "the otaku youkai, Nobi-Nobi" whom he always plays in the dramas. But, hey, you never know, maybe that merchant WAS the otaku youkai and he was selling Inuyasha vases or something.
Anyway, next week, though... UBER ANGSTAGE! Man, the episode preview was, like, the angstiest thing ever, so one can only wonder what the actual episode will be like. It's another Ikeda episode, so the only thing that's certain is that everyone'll be angsting in STYLE. ^_^
(Kagome's Instinctive Choice)
Best Moment: Hi, Kohaku! For some reason, it just feels like it's been a REALLY long time since he's done anything, and the random shot of him helping out an elderly man made me feel all happy. He speaks! And he's not stoned! And the next two episodes are about him! Woo hoo!
Anyway, for some reason, I wasn't as annoyed at Kagome in the anime for biting everyone's heads off as I was when I first read it in the manga last year. She was basically all like, "Wait, Kikyou! Inuyasha's been busting his butt trying to find you, and now you're buggering off without giving him the heads-up?! What's wit' 'choo, woman?!" And then Inuyasha shows up and is like, "Yo, where's mah ho?" and Kagome's all like, "&@#$*@!! OSUWARI!" ... This is heavily paraphrased, mind you.
Oh, an apparently Akago has been given a new name in the captions, that being "Naraku's Baby". I guess people just joining the show now have only seen the kid being toted around by Kanna and Kohaku, and might have been thinking some impure things...
(The Mysterious Light Leading the Saint)
Best Moment: The Shippou/Kirara freak-out. Sango gets a little huffy, so Kirara goes running and cowers with Shippou. This is probably the first time I've ever seen Kirara emote quite that much. ^_^* This whole episode was full of interesting facial expressions, likely due to the fact that we had a new animation director this time around, the likes of whom I've not seen before. Therefore, the art style was ever so slightly different than what we're used to.
Plus, this episode had nekkid Hakudoushi and the beginning of the "Where the hell is Naraku's heart?!" saga that is still continuing to this day in the manga. But, at the new and speedy rate that the anime is going, we should breeze through that right quick.
(A Single Arrow Calling up Trouble)
Maybe it's just because I'm coming right off the Spring Special and its stunning artwork, but the animation in this episode seemed a little... sub-par. Maybe they blew all their budget on the last episode. ^_^* Thankfully, there really wasn't a whole lot in this episode that really required good-looking animation, so I suppose it was okay in the end.
Best Moment: Okay, I admit, I'm a Sesshou-minion fan, so the scene with Rin and Jaken just made me grin.
"~Jaken-sama, Jaken-sama, why are you green?~"
"How should I know?"
And then Kagura showed up, looking for the dog-man himself, but he wasn't there, so she just left (much to the befuddlement of Rin and Jaken). She looked so sad when she couldn't find him! ^_^*
Also, this week's episode gave us our eighth ending theme: "Brand-New World" by V6. The animation was basically a Inuyasha-group montage (with Kohaku randomly thrown in one shot o_O), and the song was... upbeat. Not quite as annoyingly perky as "Itazurana Kiss" was, and I'm still debating as to whether or not it's upbeat enough to be considered a mood-killer. But, there really isn't anything as grittingly angsty as the Kikyou death thing coming up, so I don't think it'll have any emotional scenes to jarringly snap us out of. ... Eh, I guess I'm just not a fan of peppy ending themes (the sole exception being "Dragon Half" :P).
(A Fateful Love Song of Before We Met)
Basically, this episode was "everything you already knew about Kikyou, we're just showing it to you explicitly and in order". So, it was more of a Kikyou character study, building on existing information and stretching it into an hour-long episode. So, did it work? ... Eh. It was certainly well-done, it's just... it was nothing new. It maybe satisfied a few curiosities, but other than that...
The nice thing about this episode is that it'll probably make Kikyou-haters rethink their position on her (provided you can get them to sit through it). Basically, they were just shoving down our throats, "Oh, it's so sad, she's destined to do nothing but fight youkai her whole life and can never know love!" and stuff.
Best Moment: The gift exchange. Inuyasha and Kikyou meet up with each other, and Inuyasha gives Kikyou a little shell compact that his mother used to use. Kikyou, on the other hand, was GOING to give Inuyasha the sit-beads, but thought better of it after he presented her with nifty girly stuff that she never got the chance to use. So, then Kikyou went home and proceeded to dance around singing "I Feel Pretty" while putting on make-up. No, not really. At least... not the first part. Kikyou in lipstick... just looks goofy. ^_^*
Another cool thing about this episode is that it basically tied together almost every single Kikyou flashback throughout the series and put them into a continuous story. The Sesshoumaru special did that a little bit with the arm thing, but this episode just went all-out in explaining the flashbacks. Plus, we learn that Kaede lost her eye in a youkai attack, because Kikyou was busy zoning out somewhere and couldn't protect the village in time. It's actually a nice recurring theme in the episode that, while Kikyou starts out strong an unshakable, after she falls for Inuyasha, she begins to neglect her duties and bad things happen, proving exactly WHY she's not allowed to love.
This episode also finally gave me the satisfaction of a new piece of BGM (we haven't had any new stuff since episode 125-ish). It was just a new mix of Kikyou's theme, with peaceful little "oooh" vocals like Kagome's theme tends to get. It also had a special ending, but the ending was basically just a clip show of everyone's introduction episodes, set to "Change the World", the first opening theme.
And speaking of music, yeah, this was the episode where Tackey played a guest character: Shako, Sango's grandfather. He was in the episode maybe all of two minutes right towards the beginning, and all he did was beat on Mistress Centipede a little and get a chunk taken out of his shoulder. He also sounded way too young (which I kinda expected would happen).
Anything else? Oh yeah, voices! Naraku was given a different voice in this episode, which confused me for a second before I realized that, yes, he is a shape-shifter and didn't have Kagewaki's body at that time. It was kinda cool how he'd remove his babboon pelt to reveal Inuyasha or Kikyou, whoever he was pretending to be at that time. And he even took care of that nice inconsistancy of how Inuyasha got the Shikon no Tama out of the shrine when Naraku had just stolen it from Kikyou (it's cuz Naraku PUT it there to trap Inuyasha ^_^).
Oh, and Inu and Kikyou kiss in this episode. You are forewarned. Actually, I almost thought they were going to go further, since after the kiss scene, there was just a shot of the sky at night, and Kikyou's voice comes from offscreen saying, "Is it okay to do this?", and I was like O_O. Thankfully, when it panned down, they were just standing together, and "do this" referred to "seeing each other", not... um... "do this". -_-*
Whell, that was a nice jaunt with filler, and while it was entirely unenlightening in the "new material" category, it did have a lot of "expanded material", which made it a nice episode (though it did run kinda slowly). But, we're back to canon next week, in which Kikyou returns for real! Sort of. See ya then!
(The Wild-Tempered Bird-user, Abi-hime)
So, we've got the introduction of Abi today. We welcome another Ranma voice actor to the cast in the form of Shimazu Saeko, who previously played Kodachi Kuno. And Abi certainly was as wild-tempered as the title of the episode suggested. She went completely ballistic on Inuyasha after he killed her birds, and she initially greeted Naraku with a nice fireball to the face. Down, girl.
Best Moment: The "Osuwari" that wasn't. Inuyasha starts picking on Shippou, so Kagome tells him to stop. He doesn't, so she threatens, "O-SU-WA-", which immediately causes Inuyasha to quit. Since he stopped, Kagome sighs and never completes the incantation, thus leaving Inu unflattened for this week. It's certainly nice to know that she's TRYING to not be an abusive girlfriend.
After a check of the manga, apparently Miroku's uncalled-for comment in today's episode was actually canon, surprisingly enough. He says he'll slay the demons if he's given food, a place to sleep, and women. Everyone eyes him. He then retracts that and says he'll slay the demon for women only. Sango beans him.
"I said I was joking."
"Then you shouldn't have said anything at all."
Unlike the anime, he still has never asked anyone else to bear his children after he proposed to Sango, though.
Hakudoushi also practically stole the spotlight in this episode, too, even though he didn't do anything. He and Entei were just curled up together, asleep. It was too freakin' cute. ^_^* However, I don't ever want to see a rampaging stampede of Myougas EVER again. That was freaky. "Gamyon gamyon gamyon gamyon!"
So, this wraps up the TV series for a while. The first movie will run next week, and then the show's off the air until mid-April, when we'll likely get the one-hour special with Tackey as a guest character. Until then... uh... read the manga. ^_^
(The Bizarre Sentries of the Gate to the Next World)
But, once we actually got into the meat of the episode, I suppose it was okay. I got a kick out of hearing Gozu talk, though. He was voiced by the same guy as Sai in Hikaru no Go, so when I heard this echo-y "Do you wish to pass?" come sailing out of nowhere, I immediately thought, "Ohhh, you can see that? You can hear my voice?" :P
Best Moment: Kagura pwning the 'Doushi. Kagura wasn't terribly thrilled that Hakudoushi had failed to mention that you can only pass through the gate if you're dead, so takes out her frustrations on him by slicing him in half. She had a really funny look on her face when he told her she was expendable. It was like, "Haaah?"
The animation in today's episode was hit-and-miss. I'm not too keen on Sakuma as the animation director, but he's been in charge of a good chunk of the episodes in the series, especially some of the more recent ones. Hopefully we'll get Ikeda back soon, or I might smite something. :P
(Housenki and the Final Shard)
So, what did the anime writers do to take up time? Well, they added Sesshoumaru, for one thing. Unfortunately, they didn't really have him DO anything. He was just wandering around looking for Kohaku and following Naraku's scent. Although, his dialogue with Jaken pretty much summed this up:
"Where are we going, Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"Don't ask me that."
And they just keep cutting back to him, letting us know that yes, he's still looking for Naraku, but no, he hasn't found him yet. Even though Naraku's just hiding in the bush behind him, ready to spring out and give him a wedgie.
Since this episode wasn't very exciting, Best Moment goes to Housenki II and his proclamation that Inuyasha will have to wait 100 years. Inuyasha and Kagome just fall over. ^_^*
The episode was also pretty action-less aside from stuff the anime writers added. They must have a thing against rocks, since there was some serious rock-abuse today. First, Inuyasha's climbing a cliff and gets stalled by an outcropping... so blows it up! Also, Hakudoushi and Kagura are standing on a cliff, and Hakudoushi starts pelting Kagura with rocks. Play nice, kiddies. :P
(3000 Leagues in Search of Father)
True, there are some gripes. Miroku's random "bear my child" moment at the beginning was rather uncalled-for, but it resulted in Sango's best line EVER: "Hoooooouuuushiiiiii-saaaaaaaaammmaaaaaaaaaaa..." The whole Chokyuukai thing was kinda random, too, even though this is indeed where he appeared in the manga. However, in the manga, Entei just stomped on him and Hakudoushi stole his spear. Now Entei just smacks him over the horizon, and Hakudoushi's already got his spear from Rengokuki. How the heck did Chokyuukai get unsealed, anyway?
This episode was a nice mix of humor and drama as well. The first half was mostly humor, with the Miroku/Sango thing, and some funny dialogue ("I got saved by an idiot!"). Plus the whole "I'm not a tanuki!" thing that harkens back from the introduction of Shippou. Even the episode title is a parody of "Haha o Tazunete Sanzen-ri", a show from 30-some-odd years ago that was translated into English as "3000 Leagues in Search of Mother", which is why this week's episode was given an English title as such (the literal translation is "3000 Ri to Visit my Father").
But, since this was an excellent episode, it's Best Moment time. And it's gonna be hard to choose. But I'm gonna have to go with Kanta bawling his eyes out over his father's body. The music, lighting, animation, and Kanta's seiyuu all made for one tear-jerking scene. The main reason I liked the end of 81 so much was because of effective use of music. And this scene pulled that off equally well.
I'm gonna have to devote another whole paragraph to the animation, since it was mucho yummy today. Naturally, the fact that Ikeda was the art director already let me know that the animation and character designs were going to be to my liking. Shippou, Kanta, and Rin were SUPER cute (I'm pretty sure this is Ikeda's first shot at Rin). And Sesshoumaru was... beautiful, for lack of a better word ^_^*. The scene of him going into a trance before using Tenseiga was very nicely-animated.
Also, Kanta's seiyuu was super-cute, and did a DANG good job crying. He wasn't voiced by anyone I'm particularly familiar with (Narahashi Miki), but, man... total cuteness.
So, yeah. I've been rambling about this episode long enough. I liked it. A lot. Sesshoumaru's apparently in next week's episode as well, even though I'm pretty sure he finished all his canon work this week, so... maybe he's justi in the cast list because he's in the recap. But Jaken and Rin are there, too, and I doubt their little scene needs to be recapped ^_^*.
(Out-of-Control Entei and the Terrifying Hakudoushi)
Which brings us to our Best Moment: The introduction of Hakudoushi. This scene was an original to the anime, but it was spiffy regardless. Rengokuki keeps asking Kagura to marry him (o_O), so Hakudoushi steps in and say's he'll settle things. Rengokuki attacks him, and with ninja skillz, Hakudoushi nonchalantly swipes his spear, tosses him over his head, and slices him apart. I mean, that already makes Hakudoushi cooler than Naraku, because he actually DOES stuff, not just hide out in a castle with his harpsichords as his only company.
This episode already is one of the most violent ones in a long time. Up until now, the anime has deleted any sort of decapitation that was originally present in the manga (and there was a LOT). But this time, there was no way around it, sso we've got the headless youkai in all their headless glory. Rengokuki's death was especially bloody.
Another thing I noticed about this episode is that there were obviously two animation teams at work. The art director looked the same throughout (as the character design style remained consistant), but scenes like Inuyasha's quick battle with the headless oni were animated insanely better than the rest of the episode. He was like, flyin' outta the bush... voosh!
Well, next week, more heads will roll (groan) as Hakudoushi's head-hunting streak continues. Plus we'll get Sesshoumaru's one canon appearance for the entire season. I'll bet he's thrilled.
(Released Youkai Horse Entei)
Best Moment: The changing of hands. In other words, Kanna takes one half of the baby, Kagura the other. This may seem insignificant, but it's the beginning of the setup that lasts up until even where the manga is currently. Kanna has the baby, Kagura has Hakudoushi. It all started right there. And it made me feel giddy that the whole setup I've taken as a given in the manga has finally made its way into the anime.
A close second would be Hakudoushi at the very end. The episode ends with Kagura's half of the baby pulsing, and a grown arm reaching out of the blanket. That's all we get of him in this episode, but it's definitely a tantalizing teaser for next week (Patches is a 'Doushi fan).
Entei himself was definitely souped up for the anime as well. Hooray for fight scenes! And that horsey definitely packs a serious punch. I don't recall him actually doing that much in the manga, plus he seemed to get killed off fairly easily. But, it's been a year since I've read this part, so I might be wrong.
(Eternal Feelings, the Halberd of Heaven and Earth)
Best Moment: Hoshiyomi's death. Granted, the method of his death was a complete copy/paste of Bankotsu's death from 122, aside from the addition of Kagome's arrow. However, as he died, he regained a peaceful face as he saw Tsukiyomi's spirit reaching out to comfort him. "This is fine. This is... nice..." He looked so happy to be dead. ^_^
The episode did have some redeeming qualities, though. Inuyasha protecting Kagome and forcing Akitoki to give up on her, for one thing. Also, in the end, Inuyasha likened Hoshiyomi to himself, in how Hoshiyomi relied on a spear that ended up consuming his soul, and Inuyasha had desired to become a full youkai, which would have ended up consuming his soul. But while Hoshiyomi got to the point of being beyond help, Inuyasha had Kagome there with him to make things better.
Oh yeah, that whole "Kagome" on Houjou-kun's family tree thing? Well, Akitoki gave up on our Kagome and wandered down the street until he ran into a girl named, of all things, Suzaku. Shuddering at the "bad karma" of that name (^_^*) he suggests the girl change her name to something nicer. How 'bout Kagome? And the rest is history. At least until present-day Houjou-kun spills orange pop on it.
Speaking of the family tree, the Houjou family needs some serious help naming people. According to the tree, Akitoki had siblings named Harutoki, Natsutoki and Fuyutoki. His father also had two wives whose names I couldn't make out. But he had some uncles/aunts named Imadoki and Nandoki. I couldn't make out his kid's name, either, but it was something-toki as well. Hm, maybe that means our present-day Houjou-kun has a "-toki" first name as well.
(The Big Duel of Shou'un Falls)
Best Moment: Kagome's conversation with Hoshiyomi. For it was in that scene that Hoshiyomi went from "generic megolomaniac who likes breaking things" to "character". Faaar too many of the original villains have just been "Ha ha, I'm going beat up on you because I have nothing better to do" types of people, but Hoshiyomi actually has every right to be pissed off. His girlfriend seals him up and steals his spear with no explanation, and then he gets reawakened by Naraku destroying Mt. Hakurei, so he's generally in a real "WTF?!" mood at the moment.
Because of this, I think I'm starting to see what the whole "point" of this arc is (at least, I HOPE this is what the point is, since it's the only way it'll be worthwhile). All throughout, Kagome's been given the question from all sides "Why are you with a hanyou? It's not gonna work out." Both Akitoki and Hoshiyomi are telling her to avoid youkai since there's bound to be betrayal, so HOPEFULLY this will end with Kagome and Inuyasha somehow proving their loyalty to each other and that it WILL actually work out in the end. Either that or Tsukiyomi and Hoshiyomi will make amends to prove pretty much the same thing.
As for the rest of the episode... meh. Inuyasha fought a ninja turtle. Akitoki got licked by the Almighty Chicken of Doom(tm). Sango got scaled. Miroku finally said "you suck" and did just that. Nothing like an Indiana Jones solution to a big and pointless battle. ^_^
(The Two's Survival in the Land of Youkai)
So, today we've got the appearance of Hoshiyomi. No, it's not Menoumaru, no matter HOW much he looks like him. His Earth's Edge (or Kon no Yaiba, whatever you want to call it) apparently has the ability to absorb other weapons' powers, like he does with Tessaiga at the end. However, I think Mister Hellstar has a tad too much ass-kick in that blade, as he ends up whipping this level 5 Kamehameha out of his butt that levels everything for a couple miles. And Akitoki's Heaven's Edge (Ken no Yaiba) apparently has the ability to make the wielder fall down a lot. So, when put together, the Halberd of Heaven and Earth (Kenkon no Naginata) must have the ability to make you fall down REALLY hard and leave a five mile wide crater! PH33R!
Best Moment: Um... nothing particularly stood out about this episode, other than the animation was much nicer than the typical TV fare (granted, it WAS an Ikeda episode, so I shouldn't expect any less in the visual department). The part with Kagome vs. the Evil Schoolgirl Puppets was animated especially nicely. The only actual "scene" that stood out in my mind was Kagome flashing back to Inuyasha. It zooms in on Inu, he turns around, and says, "Keh!". And... that's all the scene was. ^_^* It just cracked me up more than it should have. And, no, Akitoki did not kiss Kagome.
One thing that kinda bothered me was the portrayal of the ninja demons. Suzaku was supposed to be the flaming one, obviously, but he was SO stereotypical, it was painful. It's like they were forcing it ("LOOK AT ME, I'M GAY!"). Byakko and Seiryuu currently have no personalities, and Genbu ended up being the only one I could actually stand, since he was the "Why am I surrounded by these idiots?" one. ^_^
(The Ancestor's Name is Kagome)
In the Sengoku Jidai, the aforementioned Akitoki is on a journey to purify a blade surrounded by dark energy. The others accompany him, but they end up getting attacked by a pack of ninja youkai.
So, this episode marks the first time the TV series has made any direct references to any of the movies. Although, oddly, Akitoki was the only holdover from Movie 2, since no actual events of that movie were ever referenced in this episode (aside from Akitoki becoming Shippou's "servant").
Best Moment: At the beginning of their journey, everyone picks modes of transportation. Kagome rides on Inuyasha's back, Shippou rides on Miroku's shoulder, and Akitoki is forced to brave riding Kirara. He fumbles around for a bit, and ends up getting airsick. ^_^*
The four ninja youkai were never named within the episode itself, but they're named for the four familiar Chinese constellations: Suzaku, Seiryuu, Byakko, and Genbu. We never saw any faces on them this time around, but they'll be in three more episodes, so maybe we'll get some actual personality with them. Their leader, though all you saw was his sillhouette, looks suspiciously like Menoumaru, the villain from Movie 1 (it's not, though, since he's not in the cast list and isn't voiced by Seki Tomokazu).
And, of course, everyone's screaming about the thing that happens in the preview for 138: Akitoki attempting to kiss Kagome while she's unconscious. Will he succeed? Not likely, but we'll have to wait until next week to find out.
(The Mysterious Invisible Youkai Appears!)
Best Moment: Sango also gets the invisibility treatment for a while, and happens to catch Miroku up to his usual antics. Though Shippou's spell has worn off, she does not realize she is visible so glares evilly at Miroku for an obscenely long time, all the while completely terrorizing our poor Houshi. Finally, Miroku can't take the scruitiny any longer and apologizes profusely to Sango, thus cluing her in that her actions were visible to everyone.
This was something that bothered a lot of manga fans, and now that I think about it, even though I'm not a MiroSan fan, it's still bothersome. After the whole "proposal" thing a few episodes ago, the manga subtlely removed any more flirtation on Miroku's part. Whether this was because he was actively avoiding it because he was engaged, or because the chance never arose again, I can't tell, but it's still something worth noting. However, here we are four episodes later, and he's at it again in the anime. Sigh, and I thought last week's episode showed hope that the anime writers DO know how to do more with Miroku than just have him hitting on everyone. 'Tis not to be.
Anyway, next week is the TV premiere of the second movie, so no episode. I might do a movie review, even though I've already seen it, but... we'll see.
(Miroku's Master's Final Party)
Similar to 128, the episode was filler aside from the last minute or so, which involved Kagura and the baby reading the souls of dead monks to find information about the boundary between this world and the next. Hopefully that means we'll get to Hakudoushi sometime in the near future, altough all the episode titles announced as of today are obviously more filler.
Best Moment: The Kazaana vaccuum cleaner. Miroku comments that there's a lot of dust in the room, and Kagome has a little daydream about Miroku using his Kazaana as a vaccuum, all the while talking like someone on an infomercial proclaiming all its great features.
There was also the Sango-Inuyasha Almost-Kiss moment, where Sango's a little on the tipsy side and starts glomping Inu in front of Miroku. And then Kagome proceeds to sit Inuyasha with a recording of her voice played on continuous repeat.
Despite the craziness of this episode, there was actually some bonafide character development for Miroku, making it a worthwhile episode even if you're not into random insanity. The crazy moments were good, the serious moments were equally good. Because, for the first time, they actually had Miroku filler that did NOT center around him chasing women or being a pervert. They've FINALLY realized that he has other qualities that can be expanded, ESPECIALLY because he's technically engaged now. It was an excellent filler, if I do say so myself, making two good ones in a row! Hopefully they can keep it up next week, though I kind of have my doubts.
(The Woman Who Loved Sesshoumaru)
Later, the strangely alive Sara confronts Sesshoumaru and tells him she can fulfill his desires. She had encountered him earlier in her life, shortly after his arm had been severed and he was still hot about Tetsusaiga.
Sara uses a puppet of herself, much like Naraku, to trick Inuyasha and steal Tetsusaiga. Sesshoumaru intervenes, but has no interest in her gift of Tetsusaiga. Sara had sold her soul to demons, much like Onigumo, in order to have the power to do this for him, and so that he might respect her. When he rejects her again, the demons within her reveal their true form and lash out. Sesshoumaru's Toukijin, born of hate, cannon quell them, so he is forced to use Tetsusaiga, whose barrier still rejects him. He deals with it and is able to get one shot off before the sword flies from his hand. But, it is enough, and the demon that Sara had become is destroyed and her soul can rest in peace.
Amusingly, it was easy to tell where episode 133 ended and 134 started. The two episodes were obviously done by two animation teams, since while 133 was pretty average-looking, 134 was... wow. Very nice. The only inconsistancy I noticed was Sara's sword, which she had in 134, but did not in 133. It looks like 133 and 134 were done by the teams that did 124 and 122, respectively.
Another thing that excited me about this episode more than it should have was Shippou. He actually had intelligent dialogue this time around, other than yelling people's names or narrating what's going on onscreen, which is usual for him. He was actually the FIRST to catch on that there was something fishy about Sara, and had actual logic behind it, too. Go, little guy, go!
Best Moment: Oh god, I have to pick? I'd have to say Sesshoumaru and the riflemen. It was pretty cool when he deflected all their bullets back at them with his whip thing. But the best part was that the whole flashback sequence dealt with what Sesshoumaru was up to immediately after losing his arm, thus tying into actual canon, which is friggin' awesome.
But, pretty much all of Sessho's fight scenes in 134 were spiffy looking. Flicking blood off his claws after massacring some samurai, the fight with Sara-oni, and of course his brief use of Tetsusaiga. His Kaze no Kizu... I dunno, it just looked a heckuva lot cooler than any Kaze no Kizu Inuyasha's ever pulled off. It was just... fwing!
After saying all that, I do have one gripe with the execution of this episode: Sara was waaay too much of a Naraku clone. Even the little sequence that shows Sara-demon's formation was ripped right off the Onigumo thing. And then, once her true form is revealed and the demon starts speaking, what does it want? Why, it just wanted to string Sesshoumaru along and absorb his power to get rid of the human soul inside it! This sounds familiar! At least Sara didn't shapeshift into Rin and pin Sessho to a tree, or else the irony would be a tad TOO thick.
Jaken and Rin only made brief appearences in these episodes, and didn't do anything terribly important. But Jaken's ad-lib was left in. "Sonna... Sesshouna-maru-sama!" And as for those "biting final words" that Kouji mentioned in his blog, I'm pretty sure he was referring to "Ano yo de fue demo fuite yo" ("Play that flute in the next world as well"). To me, it didn't sound particularly "biting", but more like, "yeah, whatever". Thank you, Sesshoumaru, for continuing to be apathy personified, even in filler.
(Miroku's Most Dangerous Confession)
He heads to the river to help Inuyasha and Kagome, only to discover that Sango is not amongst them. Inuyasha destroys the scroll demon, now in the form of a giant salamander, but it does not free the women from the spell. Miroku takes off to look for Sango, but is attacked by her instead. After a rather bloody struggle, he is finally able to subdue her with a holy punch to the gut.
Afterwards, Sango apologizes for running off, and Miroku apologizes for making her run off. He comments that she is very special to him, but at present he can only view her as a companion in arms. However... if it turns out that Naraku is defeated and he comes through alive, he would like Sango to settle down with him and bear his children. Sango says yes.
This is the episode a lot of people have been waiting for. Yes, it's the Sango-Miroku proposal episode. And it was pulled off... rather well, if I do say so myself. The battle between Miroku and Sango was downright awesome, if not a little short-lived (Miroku got pretty beat up in the process, though. Sango's not a pushover like the village women).
Best Moment: Um, duh? The proposal scene, of course! Not because I'm terribly fond of this coupling, but because it was handled very well. The music fit the scene well, and most of the great facial expressions were retained from the manga (especially Kagome's various reactions to the scene as she spies on them from behind a bush). Sango's "Shi-na-i-yo-ne" was handled somewhat differently that I had pictured in my head, but it was still funny.
Also, Miroku looked especially... cute in this episode. Like the artists went to great lengths to make sure he looked good. Man, that guilty expression on his face when Kagome informed him that Sango ran off because of him was priceless. "It was my fault?"
As has been the case for the past couple of weeks, there was a Movie 3 trailer during the final commercial break, but this one actually had some new footage of Inu's mom, indicating that she might be playing more of a role in this movie than previously thought. The preview for the next episode was highly uninformative, even though it's likely one of the most daring fillers the anime writers have yet to produce. Let's just hope they don't screw it up.
(The Scroll of Kannon and the Cursed Trap)
First off, the youkai of the day, who apparently has no name besides "Scroll of Kannon", is dang creepy. It's a water monster, which is why Inuyasha can only smell water when he arrives at the village, but when it moves it looks more like it's made of silly putty covered in mucus. Mmmm. And it has a really weird voice that's borderline male/female. Bleh. Poor Miroku's stuck with the thing at the end, too.
Best Moment: Sango's "evil aura". For the first half of the episode, the comment keeps coming up that there is no dark presence in the town. However, when Sango sees Miroku up to his usual antics, Inuyasha gets caught in the middle and notices a "dark energy" starting to build. ^_^*
The music got character-theme happy in this episode, too, which isn't a bad thing. We're treated to two new renditions of Miroku's theme, and one new rendition of Sango's (although the re-mix of Sango's sounds suspiciously like the them to "Somewhere in Time" :P).
This episode was a lot like 127 in that its purpose was mostly set-up for the events of the next episode. Becasue it's the next episode that I'm sure all the MiroSan fans are waiting for. I'm not a MiroSan fan, but I still can't wait for it, simply because of the episode preview. Because, dang, they pulled their good animators out of the heap for this one, because the couple of shots of the Miroku/Sango battle looked downright awesome. We might have a visual slug-fest on the same order of episode 122, by the looks of it.
(Roar, Shippou's Technique - "Kokoro no Kizu")
"Kokoro no Kizu" is, obviously, a parody on "Kaze no Kizu", and while "Kaze no Kizu" means "Wound of Wind", "Kokoro no Kizu" means "Wounded Heart". However, Kokoro no Kizu isn't a big, destructive technique like its parodied namesake. Shippou just glows red and bites his opponent really hard ^_^*. Even then, he still didn't actually defeat the youkai. It slunk away later, only to run into Miroku, who nonchalantly stuck an ofuda to its head, purifying it.
The five foxes themselves had less-than-creative names: Ippou, Jippou, Sanpou, Shihou, and Gohou (the first parts of their names each mean "one" through "five", respectively, while Shippou's already means "seven"). So where's Roppou? :P
Best Moment: Shippou attempting to learn Kaze no Kizu from Inuyasha. Already, the scene posed a massive oversight on the writers' parts, considering Shippou was somehow able to hold Tetsusaiga, even though he's a youkai. Maybe benign youkai can hold it. But, Inuyasha's not exactly the greatest teacher in the world, and explains the use of the Kaze no Kizu using sound effects: "It's sorta like 'GAGAGAAA' and then 'ZUBABAAA'." And then he gives and example and ends up destroying the town's gate. Whoops.
I liked this episode better than last week's, but we still had the whole "it's filler and we have no idea how to expand on the other characters" issue, so Miroku was still being unneccesarily flirtatious (though not as bad as last week), Sango was still whacking him, and Kagome was still sitting Inuyasha for trivial reasons. However, next week is the return of canon! It's Sango/Miroku canon, which isn't exactly my favorite pairing in the world... but it's canon!
(Chokyuukai and the Abducted Bride)
Anyway, this whole "Chokyuukai" thing is actually a parody on the name "Chohakkai" from the legend of "Saiyuki" ("Dragonball" was based on this same legend). The episode explains the prudent parts of the Chinese legend, so even if you're unfamiliar with it, at least you know where it comes from.
Best Moment: Miroku gets one of Chokyuukai's headbands and is inspired by its ability to make any woman instantly fall in love with someone. Unfortunately, he ends up getting the headband on his own head, and does the whole sparkle-eyed thingy, while effeminately proclaiming, "Danna-samaaa!" This joke seems to be re-used from episode 65, but it was still amusing to see the roles reversed for our dear Houshi.
Also, even though this episode is technically filler, Chokyuukai does in fact appear in the manga, though he is never named. Actually, Hakudoushi just kills him and steals his spear. And, on a re-watch, sure enough, Chokyuukai's spear in this episode is the same spear that Hakudoushi is holding in the opening. Unfortunately, Chokyuukai was sealed away at the end of this episode. Maybe he'll get released again along with Entei later.
(The Dried Youkai and the School Festival Battle)
Best moment: Inuyasha vs. Houjou-kun. Houjou-kun, playing the part of the prince in the play, challenges Inuyasha to a duel for the heart of Kagome. Inuyasha accepts and whips out Tetsusaiga. Fortunately(?), a youkai gets in the way... and Inuyasha smacks it with a Kaze no Kizu, destroying most of the auditorium in the process.
Also, the choir performance was rather amusing, considering the song of choice was about Kagome's quest to collect the Shikon no Tama, sung to the tune of "Ode to Joy", to boot.
And you can't have an episode with people in costume without throwing in references to other series somewhere. There was one guy who I'm pretty sure was supposed to be Luffy from "One Piece", except his shirt was blue instead of red (he still had the hat, though). Also, there was a girl who I swear was dressed as Lum from "Urusei Yatsura". Finally, the guy with the spikey red hair and cape was very obviously Munto, from the show that shares his name.
And since this episode was the premiere of the new opening, "One Day, One Dream", AND the new ending, "Come", I'll comment on those as well.
While "One Day" didn't really do much for me, music-wise, the actual opening seqence was top-notch. It's probably the cleanest and most heavily-animated opening yet for this series, and featured Naraku, Hakudoushi, Entei, and Sesshoumaru (though why the latter person was so heavily featured, I have no idea, considering he will be in, at most, two canon episodes this season).
"Come" was just the opposite. While the ending animation was nothing to write home about (it never is), the song was woderful (although, it doesn't take much to be better than "Itazurana Kiss"). It's stylistically different from all the other ones, with it's sort of techno/trance beat, but it's still mellow enough to not be a mood-killer, unlike the previous ending.
All in all, I though it was a wonderful start to season 5, and I hope that the quality of this episode is indicitive of filler episodes to come.