It took me several days to finish Inuyasha (with breaks in-between) and have now gone through the mishmash of gushing and frustrated reviews posted here. I get both sides and LOL’d at some of the snark I found. Here are their main points and my take on each:
LENGTH - I don’t think the manga’s length itself is the problem but the repetitiveness of several story arcs that didn’t move the story that much forward and could have been skipped.
ART - No it’s not pretty like we’re used to from the likes of Vampire Knight, REAL, Blade of the Immortal and Otoyomegatari but there’s something very endearing about it similar to other classics like Mitsuru Adachi’s Rough.
CHARACTERS - Most of the villagers and youkai they meet are forgettable and the main characters have strong similarities with previous characters from Maison Ikkoku and Ranma. However, there are noticeable character growths among everyone (although it’s not perfect and could have been done at a slightly shorter period).
HUMOR - Is a mix between subtle and slapstick.
VIOLENCE - Is present in nearly all chapters but done in an old school sort of way; it’s “clean” meaning no rape and torture which other mangakas working in similar genres automatically add.
ROMANCE - I like that it’s mostly at the background and a bit understated. Normally I’d be annoyed with a main character who can’t seem to make up his/her mind but the reasons for the love triangle here is understandable and I sympathized with them all.
NARAKU (aka The Villain) - Is indeed as annoying as they say. I’ve never felt fear from his many “power-ups” and just wanted him dead like how one wishes to step on a cockroach that should have long been gone.
CLICHE - I think what most people fail to realize is that most of the themes we thought were from other manga (and have seen many times over) actually originated from the likes of Rumiko Takahashi whose careers started back in the 70s. I’ve read somewhere that Maison Ikkoku, her previous manga, inspired succeeding generations of romance and comedy tropes.
ENDING - Did not feel rushed and capped things off nicely. I wish they showed Kouga one last time though.
ANIME vs MANGA - I usually like manga better than any anime (if I ended up reading it first) but this seems to be special case. Having read all 559 chapters of the manga and having watched 1 episode of the anime just now, the anime feels more compact and interesting.
Bottomline:
Inuyasha could benefit from whittling down a few hundred chapters but it has the makings of an instant classic and deserves its spot just below some of manga world’s greatest series.
(-178)
