Inu-Yasha 3 (Big ed.)

Rumiko Takahashi – Viz – 2010 – 56 volumes
This omnibus contains vols. 7-9 of the series.

I’m always at a loss when writing these big Inu-Yasha volumes up, because the thing I enjoy most is that it’s a rather pure exercise in shounen manga. It has very dynamic, exciting fights with interesting enemies and a nicely blossoming cast of side characters. Inu-Yasha himself makes a good prickly anti-hero, and Kagome is the perfect kind of love interest. It’s good because it fulfills the formula to a T, and that’s the most constructive thing I can possibly say about it. Everything else makes for a weak-sounding “oh, this enemy was great” or “so-and-so is getting on my nerves.” I think it’s even more overwhelming when it’s in a huge chunk like this, because I read the whole thing in one sitting and it still felt like not much happened, a sure sign of addiction.

There were a handful of good stories this time around. A fight with Sesshomaru that led to Inu-Yasha and Miroku finally meeting up with Naraku, an encounter with the resurrected Kikyo that included some strangely choice romance scenes between Inu-Yasha and Kagome, and a nice one-shot plot unrelated to the main storyline where the group has to steal a Shikon shard from a human who has turned to cannibalism in search of eternal life. We are also introduced to a village of “exterminators” in the last chapter of the volume, but I expect we’ll be hearing more about that next time.

Volume 8 has been my favorite so far. Character development is not the order of the day in a series like Inu-Yasha, but the Kikyo story here was good for quite a bit of it, with jealousy on Kagome’s side and a frank admission of his feelings for both Kikyo and Kagome on Inu-Yasha’s side. There’s also a rather sweet reunion at the beginning of the volume after Kagome had been in the present for an extended period of time. Again, while what runs between Kagome and Inu-Yasha is not a generous romance, it is far more than what other Takahashi leading couples have had in the past (and the present, for that matter). Volume 8 also reveals the origins of Naraku, though there is still quite a bit of mystery left to go as far as his story is concerned.

I also really liked the Peach Man one-shot. Both it and the Kikyo story share this series’ strength (aside from being true to the genre), which is its rich folk tale-inspired world. There is a neat monster at the beginning of volume 8, but the way Kikyo is revived and sustains herself, along with the way Naraku was birthed, lend themselves well to the amazing atmosphere of the place where Inu-Yasha dwells. The Peach Man is no different, making a story told in the human villages come to life as the group investigates what they think is an ogre tricking humans into his lair. There’s not that much to the Peach Man as far as motivation, explanation, and powers go, but he does have some neat tricks to keep things interesting, and the story takes place over the new moon, so Inu-Yasha has that complication to deal with as well.

I also love the continued insistence that Kagome’s school life continues even while she travels in Inu-Yasha’s world. She studies while in the past, and she still has to periodically return to the present in order to take tests and keep up appearances. It’s a small thing, and I can see how some might consider it an annoying detail that interrupts the story, but I think it’s very unusual and an interesting complication.

It’s good stuff, and it’s not for nothing that this was one of the most popular shounen series. You don’t need me to tell you whether or not to read it. But just know that, even after hearing all about the ups and downs of the story secondhand for years, I’m still finding a lot to like and follow in these compilations. I love the VizBig format, by the way. Such a good second chance for long series like this.