Episodes 9 ~ 16
Episode 9: Shippo Appears! The Thunder Brothers, Hiten and Manten!!
In a poor attempt to steal Kagome’s Shikon shards, the group met Shippo, a young fox demon (kitsune) who had yet to master his skills as a illusionist demon. Shippo’s father was in the possession of a shard before he was killed and skinned by two ferocious youkai known as the thunder brothers. The thunder brothers, Hiten and Manten had gathered several pieces of shards and were in search for more. With Kagome’s shards as bait, Shippo tried to lure out the thunder brothers and avenge his father, but instead, Kagome was kidnapped and Shippo ran back to Inuyasha with Kagome’s shards. (Inuyasha was trapped under one of Shippo’s tricks).
In order to save herself from being turned into shampoo for the near-bald Manten, Kagome lied about her relationship with Inuyasha. She told the brothers that if they use her as hostage, Inuyasha will give them the shards in exchange for her life. And so they followed her back to Inuyasha and a battled ensued.
It’s a cute episode. Shippo and Myouga made fun of Inuyasha’s fashion sense. Kagome lied about how Inuyasha was “in love” with her. And when Hiten confronted Inuyasha about his so called “feelings” toward Kagome, Inuyasha turned absolutely speechless. It’s an episode that cannot be missed.
Episode 10: Clash of Demon Blades! Raigekijin vs. Tessaiga!!
While Inuyasha was preoccupied with Hiten, Kagome and Shippo had their hands full with an enraged Manten. To save Kagome from Manten, Inuyasha threw Tessaiga toward her direction and effectively impaled Manten. One down, one to go. But now Inuyasha was without Tessaiga.
With only the scabbard, Inuyasha put up a pretty good fight against Hiten. Moreover, to increase his power, Hiten devoured his brother’s dead body and Manten’s 2 Shikon shards. With a nicely aimed arrow from Kagome which stopped Hiten’s flying wheels beneath his feet, Inuyasha’s scabbard called the sword, and he chopped Hiten in half.
From then on Shippo became part of the group. This episode depicted the old proverb “beauty is only skin deep” through the relationship between the two thunder brothers. Hiten was handsome, while Manten was ugly and bald. But to Hiten, Manten was still his “kawaii otooto” (cute little brother). And perhaps for the first time, Inuyasha realized that he actually cared about Kagome, that she wasn’t simply his shard detector.
Episode 11: Reborn in the Modern Era, the Cursed Noh Mask.
Kagome “sat” Inuyasha eight times and broke his back as he tried to smash the well during one of her “escape attempts”. Kagome returned to the modern time to prepare for an upcoming test. And Inuyasha was more than pissed off at her.
In the Higurashi shrine’s storage room, an ancient Noh mask escaped and injured Kagome’s grandfather. Then it went on and murdered several people and absorbed their bodies in search for a good body. Kagome’s mother had to stay with their grandfather in the hospital overnight so Kagome was left alone with Souta. However, Kagome’s Shikon shards attracted the Noh mask and it went after Kagome. Kagome ran out of the house with the shards and sent Souta to call for Inuyasha’s help. She sensed a Shikon shard within the mask. Inuyasha came promptly and defeated the mask. Kagome retrieved the shard and rushed back to take her test.
Noh masks are used in traditional Japanese Noh plays. This episode was significant because Souta first saw Inuyasha in action and began to admire the hanyou as a hero. And more importantly, Kagome now knows that shards can exist in her time and endanger the people here as well. So her mission to gather all the shards became even more crucial. Moreover, we’re introduced to a boy from Kagome’s school who has a crush on her, someone by the name of Hojo-kun. As of now, Kagome has more romantic feelings toward Hojo than Inuyasha.
Episode 12: Tatarimokke and the Little Evil Spirit
Tatarimokke is a guardian spirit that guides the dead souls of children to the other world. But if the children’s souls were bad, he would open his eyes all the way and take them to hell. While still in her world, Kagome met a ghost, a little girl named Mayu. Mayu died in a fire a few months back, and her little brother turned out to be Souta’s friend, who was also in that fire and was in a coma.
Mayu was a delinquent and vengeful ghost. She even tried to kill her little brother, Satoru. It turned out that she got into a fight with her mother that morning over her sick brother, and she tried to hide in the closet to make her mother worry. But instead her coat caught fire over the stove and her apartment was caught in a blaze. Her mother rushed back in time to rescue Satoru, but because Mayu was asleep in the closet, her mother didn’t know and couldn’t rescue her.
Kagome wished to help Mayu escaped from her hatred, since the tatarimokke youkai would take Mayu to hell if her evil actions continued, and Inuyasha couldn’t talk her out of it. Finally Kagome made Mayu see that her mother loved her as well, and Mayu’s spirit finally moved on.
Kagome fought this battle by herself. This episode was the only episode in Inuyasha that managed to bring tears to my eyes. The love Mayu’s mother had for Mayu was touching beyond words.
Episode 13: The Mystery of the New Moon. Black Haired Inuyasha.
Hojo-kun asked Kagome out for a date, too bad Kagome’s feelings toward Inuyasha are getting stronger, especially after this episode...
Kagome, Inuyasha, Myouga, and Shippo met a girl named Nazuna, who absolutely hated demons. Demons called Kumogashira invaded Nazuna’s village and killed off nearly everyone there. So the girl lives with an old monk in a temple. Kagome wanted to help the girl out, but Inuyasha was more than eager to get out of town before sunset.
The Kumogashira suddenly invaded the temple in the middle of the night, and for some reason Inuyasha couldn’t fend them off. Instead, the gang along with Nazuna escaped into the forest. The old monk was trapped behind in the temple. It was in the forest that Kagome and Shippo discovered Inuyasha’s secret: He turned full human on the night of the first month, where the moon completely disappears.
With Inuyasha’s demon abilities completely gone, they were defenseless. Even then Inuyasha had to drag Shippo along with him back to the temple since Kagome left all the shards there. They found out that the old monk was the real demon behind all the Kumogashira. During his pathetic fight with the demon, Inuyasha was injected with poison. To rescue him, Kagome jumped to him with Tessaiga in hand and tears in her eyes. Tessaiga’s barrier protected them through the night. Myouga sucked out the poison from Inuyasha and Inuyasha rested on Kagome’s laps all night, during which he murmured the famous line: “you smell good.”
The sun rose just in time and Inuyasha turned back to the butt-kicking hanyou that he was. He killed the demon, took back the shards which infused themselves inside the demon’s body. They’ve gathered a pretty large piece of the shards. Nazuna learned that not all demons are bad. And Inuyasha was deeply affected by Kagome’s tears, it was the first time that someone cried for him. Kagome’s feelings for Inuyasha advanced toward the next level.
Awesome episode, wonderful background music, and the scene where Inuyasha transformed back to his normal self were simply amazing. I pity those who never watched this episode.
Episode 14: Kikyo’s Stolen Remains
Let me make clear that I hated writing about this episode.
The gang headed back to Kaede’s village because of something Inuyasha sensed. It turned out that a mononoke named Urasue stole Kikyo’s ashes and soil form her grave and injured Kaede. Kaede wanted to trace down the mononoko but Inuyasha said he won’t help because he hated Kikyo for piercing his heart with that arrow. Kagome had a sense that perhaps Inuyasha didn’t hate Kikyo at all, but just the opposite. Meanwhile, Inuyasha was having a hard time looking at Kagome because she reminded him too much of Kikyo. At the same time, he knew that their personalities were completely different.
Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippo and Kaede finally went to track down Urasue. At the same time, Urasue used clay, earth and Kikyo’s ashes to form a body in Kikyo’s image. She gave the body life, but couldn’t find Kikyo’s soul, for Kikyo’s soul has already been reborn in Kagome. When Urasue noticed the similarities between Kikyo and Kagome, she separated Kagome from the rest of them and planned to use Kagome to fully bring Kikyo back to life.
As of now, Kagome was still not infatuated with Inuyasha. When she realized Inuyasha’s true feelings for Kikyo, she sincerely felt bad for his “one-sided love”. Of course, she didn’t know the truth, for the truth comes in the next, the most painful episode so far.
Episode 15: Sorrowful Miko – Kikyo’s Resurrection
With Urasue’s sorcery, she succeeded in stealing Kagome’s soul. Kagome’s soul flew back to Kikyo’s new body and Kagome lost consciousness just as Inuyasha arrived.
Urasure intended to use Kikyo as a slave, but she didn’t realize that Kikyo’s spirit was out of her control. Kikyo killed Urasue. The even bigger surprise came when the reborn Kikyo started to bleed. She screamed to Inuyasha: “why did you betray me”. Kaede then informed that Inuyasha delivered the fatal wound. But Inuyasha remembered that Kikyo was the one that betrayed their promise.
Fifty years ago, Kikyo was a powerful miko. To keep herself pure of mortal thoughts, she had to exclude herself from emotions and focus on purifying the Shikon no Tama. But then Inuyasha came in search of the Tama that could turn him full demon. Kikyo fell in love with Inuyasha and Inuyasha with Kikyo, for they were one of the same, both excluded from society, both unable to lead normal lives. Finally Kikyo told Inuyasha that he could use the power of the Tama to turn into a full human, then they could be together. On the promised day, Kikyo waited for Inuyasha, but in her memory, Inuyasha ambushed her and took the Tama after severely injuring her. In Inuyasha’s memory, Kikyo ambushed him with arrows. He thought Kikyo had betrayed him and went to the village and stole the Tama, then as he was running in the forest, Kikyo hit him again with arrows and sealed him onto the Goshinboku.
Just as Kikyo was carrying out her “revenge”, Inuyasha’s scream woke Kagome’s consciousness, and Kagome called back the soul in Kikyo’s new body. Kikyo ran away before all of Kagome’s souls could return. Most of her souls had returned to Kagome, the only thing that kept her together was pure hatred for Inuyasha. As Inuyasha went after her, the injured Kikyo fell down a cliff and disappeared. Inuyasha presumed her to be dead.
This episode set the story for the rest of this wonderfully written anime. Inuyasha and Kikyo remembered different things from fifty years ago. Just who betrayed whom? What reallyAnd here’s another question to ponder over: If they loved each other so much, then how come they couldn’t trust each other?
Episode 16: The Air Void in the Right Hand. The Delinquent Monk, Miroku.
Some background on Buddhist monks: They cannot smoke, gamble, steal, kill, marry (have sex), drink, eat meat, or lie; and they’re supposed to be bald. And the young monk Miroku fit into the category of “none of the above”.
Miroku had a few shards of his own, and he accidentally saw the huge piece on Kagome’s neck as she was bathing in a hot spring and decided to go after it. His servant distracted Inuyasha while he kidnapped Kagome and her bike. During which he used the power of his right hand. Kagome ran from Miroku and he let her, for he had secretly stole the Shard from Kagome.
Inuyasha and them went after the monk and traced him to a populated village. Inuyasha fought with Miroku in the village but it was pretty much an even match. Finally to get out of the fight, Miroku lured Inuyasha to the outskirts of the village and let loose the power of his right hand. There is an air void (kazaana) in his hand, and it sucks in everything in its path like a black hole Kagome saw that Miroku wasn’t a bad guy since he purposely left the village so he wouldn’t hurt anyone. So they had a peace talk.
Miroku told them his history. His grandfather was cursed by a demon named Naraku 50 years ago, and the kazaana was passed down from generation to generation. Eventually, it will suck up the owner of the kazaana as well. And Miroku is on a quest to kill Naraku before he’s sucked up by the kazaana as well. Apparently this Naraku can change his appearance by will. And from Miroku’s description, Naraku almost got his hands on the Shikon no Tama, and had killed the priestess that was guarding it at the time – Kikyo. It was then that Inuyasha realized that it was Naraku who took his form and injured Kikyo. Then turned into Kikyo and tricked him into attacking the village.
Kagome invited Miroku to join them to find all the shards since they were all on the same side. But Miroku wasn’t gaining Inuyasha’s favors since he asked Kagome to bear his child and wouldn’t stop touching her. The episode ended with some light humor. And our favorite monk of all time is finally introduced. Four down... one to go... if you get my drift. ^_~