Inu-Yasha 7 (VizBig ed.)

Rumiko Takahashi – Viz – 2011 – 56 volumes
this is an omnibus containing vols 19-21

In case I haven’t said this enough, I love these omnibuses of Inu-Yasha. It’s such a simple and highly addictive pleasure, and it’s so easy to plow straight through the volumes, that a 3-in-1 book like this is perfect for me.

There’s a good mix of stories in this volume, including ones that focus on Miroku/Sango and Shippo. Shippo’s story was short, but much appreciated, since he’s almost literally a hanger-on at this point. There are also stories about Kikyo, about the Tetsusaiga and its power-ups, about Inu-Yasha’s continued struggles against going full demon and why this should concern him, and another appearance by Koga in a story where Inu-Yasha turns human.

My favorites are always the stories where Inu-Yasha turns human, though this one was a little underwhelming since the point was not that he was vulnerable, but more about who saw him that way. This also takes the fun out of the Koga part of the story too, since I like these for the clash of personalities (his fruitless advances towards Kagome, and the way that he and Inu-Yasha bicker) and again, there was a bigger concern about someone else finding out about Inu-Yasha’s human-for-a-night thing.

It was Shippo’s story that was my favorite this time around, though. It was only a chapter or two long, but it was a really sweet story about Shippo wanting to give a lonely little girl a chance to see her dead brother again, and getting a chance to really save her from a demon. Even Inu-Yasha gave him the chance to look cool in front of the little girl.

The Miroku/Sango story was also pretty great. Not only did Miroku get to show off his real power for a change, there was also the fact that Sango helped him do it, and the two of them grew closer as a result. Part of the seriousness of this story was spoiled by periodic interruptions to a fight Inu-Yasha and Kagome were having about whether or not Sango liked Miroku, but the humor breaks were much appreciated.

Those two lighter stories came later in the volume, after the huge revelation stories about tetsusaiga and Inu-Yasha’s demon blood. Tetsusaiga is still too heavy, and Inu-Yasha finally learns what he needs to do in order to lighten the load, but it’s no easy thing… basically, he needs to slay a demon that not even his father could defeat. One that is immune to swords. His motivation for finally conquering the tetsusaiga comes after a story where he slays dozens of human bandits in his full demon form, completely unaware of what he was doing. Both of these stories are pretty serious-minded, and the demon form story in particular is heavy stuff, but still makes for great reading in the context of the series.

After a big volume like this, it can feel a little like an endless parade of battles… and yet, I have such fun with it. Everything is so well-written and pitch-perfect, it’s hard to deny it the pure joy of being a shounen manga. And I love the little Inu-Yasha/Kagome moments because I am a huge girl about these things. It is what it is, and it pretty much maintains the same tone from volume one, but the fact that it’s amazing immediately and doesn’t diminish throughout the 21 volumes I’ve read so far is quite an achievement.