u/txumaranai

On my tenth rewatch at 29 years old, it’s only on this rewatch I really started thinking specifically: what about Inuyasha makes it attractive.

To be honest, I don’t think the plot and story development (which are very important elements) are that strong relative to other anime out there so I was wondering why it’s a number 1 for me and many others out there.

For me I’ve concluded it’s 4 things:

1. The premise: the whole mystery in the beginning about why kikyo shot Inuyasha, why Kikyo died, Naraku’s involvement, Sengoku jidai demon world setting, the well that goes back in time etc, all of these set the introduction to the story up incredibly in my option
2. Kikyo element: love her or hate her this woman’s existence CARRIED the show. Without her being made up, the enjoyment of Inuyasha for me would’ve been slashed by 70%. There would be no betrayal storyline, tension, Shikon Jewel and all the messiness etc.
3. Characters: where the story fails in terms of plot development and pacing, it’s made up by the incredible characters, their backstories, distinctive character design and motivations. These characters, you actually give a shit about them and emotionally align and feel for them in their respective situations (e.g Sango’s emotional turbulence with Kohaku, Inuyasha’s guilt for Kikyo’s death and emotionally punishing himself, Sesshomaru’s slow organic affinity towards Rin etc)These characters trigger an emotional response in the audience and that’s what good art does: makes you feel all types of emotions =))
4. Nostalgia: duh

EDIT: Also forgot, the soundtrack is AMAZING at capturing the vibe. Both Kaoru Wada's compositions AND the OP/ED songs by Jpop artists. I truly don't think Inuyasha would've emotionally been as good for me without the music (esp. from Kaoru Wada)

I always felt like as a shounen adventure anime, it has more female fans but that's just my conjecture I want to find out if it's actually true. What gender are you guys??