Informatii

InuYasha (犬夜叉, InuYasha?), full title InuYasha, a Feudal Fairy Tale (戦国お伽草子–犬夜叉, Sengoku Otogi Zōshi InuYasha?) (also romanized as Inuyasha), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. The story centers around a time-traveling middle school student, a half-demon, a lecherous monk, a young fox demon, a demon slayer, and a nekomata during the Sengoku period who seek to find all the fragments of the Jewel of Four Souls (Shikon no Tama) and to keep them out of the hands of evil doers, especially Naraku.

The manga was adapted into a 167 episode anime series directed by Masashi Ikeda (episodes 1 to 44) and Yasunao Aoki (44 onwards) and produced by Sunrise. The anime first aired on Yomiuri TV in Japan from 16 October 2000 to 13 September 2004. The television run of the anime ceased without a conclusion to the story. As of December 2007, the manga is still being released in Japan.

In 2002, the manga won the Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen title of the year.

Synopsis

The story begins in Feudal Japan with InuYasha, a hanyo stealing the Shikon no Tama, a jewel that can increase anyone's powers enormously, from a village. He does not get far before Kikyo, the young miko of the village, shoots InuYasha with a sacred arrow which seals him indefinitely to Goshinboku, a sacred tree in the nearby forest. Mortally wounded, Kikyo tells her younger sister, Kaede, to burn the jewel with her body to prevent it from falling into the hands of evil.

In modern Tokyo, a junior high-school girl named Kagome Higurashi is on her way to school. She stops in the well house of her family's Shinto shrine to retrieve her cat, Buyo, when a centipede demon emerges from the well and pulls her into the Sengoku period of Japan.

Not knowing where she is, Kagome wanders around a forest near the well. She spots Goshinboku off in the distance and proceeds towards it. When she reaches the tree, she finds InuYasha, who is still sealed with an arrow to the tree in an enchanted sleep. Villagers seize her and take her to the old priestess, Kaede. Recognizing that Kagome is the re-incarnation of her sister Kikyo, Kaede tells the story of Kikyo and InuYasha.

The centipede attacks again, and Kagome is forced to release InuYasha from his enchantment to kill it. After he defeats the centipede, InuYasha tries to take the Jewel of Four Souls from Kagome. To prevent that and save Kagome's life, Kaede casts magical prayer beads around InuYasha's neck so that Kagome can subdue him.

The jewel attracts more demons, and in a battle against a carrion crow demon, the jewel is shattered into numerous shards spread across Japan.

Kagome and InuYasha set out to collect the shards and restore the Jewel of Four Souls. Along the way they befriend Shippo, a fox demon, Miroku, a cursed monk, and Sango, a demon-slayer whose brother was possessed and forced to slaughter the rest of their village. The group encounters many friends and foes during the adventure including: InuYasha's older half-brother Sesshomaru, Kikyo who was resurrected with part of Kagome's soul, Naraku who tricked Kikyo and InuYasha into turning against each other, and a wolf demon named Koga who is in love with Kagome and constantly bickers with InuYasha.
Manga
The manga was serialized in Japan in the weekly publication Shonen Sunday by Shogakukan, with the first installment issued on 13 November 1996. Every 180 pages, usually ten chapters, the issues are collected in bound tankōbon. The latest chapter (published on 12 December 2007) is chapter 534, Arrow of Shouki. The endnotes of the most recent chapters seem to indicate that the manga has reached its climax, and will soon have a conclusion.

In the United States, the English version is published by Viz Media. The artwork is flipped to conform to the American standard of reading left to right. Volume 1 was published in March 1998, with either two or three new volumes following each year. At present, the series has stepped up to a quarterly release basis. Volume 30 was published on 10 July 2007, and volume 31 on 9 October 2007. Volume 32 is expected to be in stores on 8 January 2008. Viz is still several years away from catching up to the number of volumes in Japan.

The manga won the 2002 Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen title of the year.

The anime ended at the equivalent of the 36th manga volume, chapter 356

Anime
The InuYasha anime series spanned 167 episodes. It was broadcast across Japan by the anime satellite television network Animax, which also aired the series on its English-language network in South Asia and on its networks in East Asia, Yomiuri TV and Nippon Television. The series ended its television run in Japan on September 13, 2004.

The anime is licensed in North America by Viz and ShoPro Entertainment, with dubbing done by the The Ocean Group. It was first broadcast in the United States on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on August 31, 2002 in dubbed form. In the United States, the final episode of InuYasha aired on October 27, 2006. It is now in rotation, with one episode airing Tuesday through Sunday at 2:00 a.m. Eastern Time (repeated at 5:30 a.m.).

The series premiered in Canada on YTV on September 5, 2003. YTV's Bionix programming block aired the final episode on December 1, 2006. Reruns continued to air in the Bionix block until October 12, 2007.

InuYasha has also been dubbed in Mandarin Chinese and aired on Xing Kong, a Taiwanese TV Channel. It was also been dubbed in Bahasa Melayu on NTV7 and currently on TV9.

In Latin America, InuYasha is shown on Cartoon Network LA, dubbed in Spanish and in Portuguese (Brazil or with SAP in other countries). At one point in Latin America, new episodes of InuYasha were airing twice a day, 5 times a week, with reruns airing Saturday night - 5 episodes in two hours. Due to this faster schedule, the series finished a complete run faster in Latin America than in the United States. The final episode aired in December 2006, with reruns continuing to air.
[edit] Movies
Four movies, which exist separate from the anime plot, have been released. The first movie, InuYasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time was released on 16 December 2001, in Japan with InuYasha the Movie: Fire on the Mystic Island being the last movie to be released on 23 December 2004, in Japan. The fourth movie was released three months after the series finale of InuYasha in Japan. As of September 2007, there have been no plans for a fifth movie.

Four theatrical releases of the series have appeared so far:

Music
"Change the world"
Opening for episodes: 1 - 34
Lyrics by Rie Matsumoto, music by Miki Watanabe and arranged by Keiichi Ueno
Performed by V6
"I Am"
Opening for episodes: 35 - 64
Lyrics by hitomi, music by Masato Kitano and arranged by Zentaro Watanabe
Performed by Hitomi
"Owari nai Yume" (終わりない夢 Unending Dream)
Opening for episodes: 65 - 95
Lyrics by Nanase Aikawa, music by Hiroshi Shibazaki and arranged by Kaname
Performed by Nanase Aikawa
"Grip!"
Opening for episodes: 96 - 127
Lyrics by Kaori Mochida, music by Kazuhiro Kara and arranged by Hal
Performed by Every Little Thing
"One Day, One Dream"
Opening for episodes: 128 - 157
Lyrics by Hideyuki Kohata, music by Kei Yoshikawa and arranged by Chokkaku
Performed by Tackey & Tsubasa
"Angelus" (アンジェラス)
Opening for episodes: 158 - 167
Lyrics by Bounceback, music by Bulge and arranged by Yasuaki Maejima
Performed by Hitomi Shimatani
"My will"
Ending for episodes: 1 - 20, and 167
Lyrics by Mai Matsumuro, music by Yasho Ohtani, arranged by Keisuke Kikuchi and chorus arrangement by Yas Kitajima
Performed by dream
"Fukai mori" (深い森 Deep Forest)
Ending for episodes: 21 - 41
Lyrics by D-A-I, music by D-A-I, and arranged by D-A-I and Seiji Kameda
Performed by Do As Infinity
"Dearest"
Ending for episodes: 42 - 60
Lyrics by Ayumi Hamasaki, music by CREA (Ayumi Hamasaki) + D-A-I and arranged by Naoto Suzuki
Performed by Ayumi Hamasaki
"Every Heart" (ミンナノキモチ - Minnano Kimochi)
Ending for episodes: 61 - 85
Lyrics by Natsumi Watanabe, music by Bounceback and arranged by H-wonder
Performed by BoA
"Shinjitsu no Uta" (真実の詩 Song of Truth)
Ending for episodes: 86 - 108
Lyrics by D-A-I, music by D-A-I, and arranged by D-A-I and Seiji Kameda
Performed by Do As Infinity
"Itazura na Kiss" (イタズラな Kiss - Mischievous Kiss)
Ending for episodes: 109 - 127
Lyrics by Misono, music by 北野正人, and arranged by 五十嵐充 and Day After Tomorrow
Performed by Day After Tomorrow
"Come"
Ending for episodes: 128 - 147
Lyrics by Kask/Mansson/Cunnah and music by Kask/Mansson/Cunnah
Japanese lyrics by Yuriko Mori and arranged by Cobra Endo
Performed by Namie Amuro
"Change the world"
Special ending for episode: 148
Lyrics by Rie Matsumoto, music by Miki Watanabe and arranged by Keiichi Ueno
Performed by V6
"Brand new world"
Ending for episodes: 149 - 166
Lyrics by Mizue, music by Ōyagihirō and arranged by 家原正樹
Performed by V6
"No more words"
From InuYasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time
Lyrics by Ayumi Hamasaki, music by CREA and Do As Infinity, and arranged by Naoto Suzuki and Tasuku
Performed by Ayumi Hamasaki
"Yura Yura" (ゆらゆら Rock)
From InuYasha the Movie: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass
Lyrics by Kaori Mochida, music by Kunio Tako and arranged by Yasuo Otani, Masafumi Nakao and Ichiro Ito
Performed by Every Little Thing
"Ai no Uta" (愛の歌 Song of Love)
Insert song from InuYasha the Movie: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass
Lyrics by Kaori Mochida, music by Kunio Tako and arranged by Akira Murata
Performed by Every Little Thing
"Four Seasons"
From InuYasha the Movie: Swords of an Honorable Ruler
Lyrics by JUSME, music by MONK and arranged by MONK
Performed by Namie Amuro
"Rakuen" (楽園 Paradise)
From InuYasha the Movie: Fire on the Mystic Island
Lyrics by Ryo Owatari, music by Do As Infinity and arranged by Do As Infinity and Seiji Kameda
Performed by Do As Infinity