Inuyasha/Fridge


 * Koga repeatedly mocks Inuyasha due to his half-demon status, but did he ever consider what he and Kagome's kids are gonna be if he ever DOES mate with her?
 * One of the major conflicts in the series is that Inu Yasha can't let go of his love for either Kikyou or Kagome, which is justified by the fact that they are essentially the same person in different circumstances. However, every time Koga ever runs into Kikyou, he shows absolutely no interest in her whatsoever. Yeah, she attacked him when they first met, but even Koga admitted that it was in an attempt to save him from being sacrificed to Naraku by Midoriko's will. How strong is his love for Kagome again?
 * But Kikyo doesn't act like Kagome, smell like Kagome, and (despite a passing resemblence) doesn't look like Kagome. Plus she's...ya know...dead. Why would Koga show any interest in Kikyo?
 * She does smell like Kagome (plus bones and graveyard soil and minus modern shampoo/soap/etc., admittedly; Inu Yasha had to take a more focused whiff to realize that they weren't one and the same, per se.), and, despite Takahashi's art style, looks almost identical to Kagome, going by Kaede's, Inu Yasha's, Muso's and that one monk who saw his master get (accidentally) killed by Kikyo's reaction to seeing Kagome for the first time. Though admittedly, he never really got to know Kikyo before she died and got a metric ton of angst shoved into her.
 * There's no way that she smells like Kagome at all. She smells like bones and graveyard soil. Just about every character with super-smell says so. The last time Inu Yasha smelled Kikyo at the time was when she was alive, which is why he said they smelled alike. She may look like Kagome though, at least face-wise. This troper admits to thinking that they were sisters when he was younger. And of course she doesn't act like Kagome. Kagome's personality is one of the things Koga likes about her.
 * Actually, no. When Inuyasha encounters her for the first time after her revival, he remarks that alltough she has no warmth, the scent is almost the same (if with a layer of earth on it, perhaps, but the original scent seems to have remained at least partially.) Koga just never got to know her/ his supposed love for Kagome was pretty shallow/possesive anyway, he talks about her like he wants her as a pet. I don't see anyone dissing Kagome because Naraku sticks to Kikyo.
 * It's the miniskirt.
 * Even discarding the normal complaints about why Kagome doesn't leave any information for herself in the future, one wonders how come no one thought to just have Housenki's son make the jewel they needed and leave it somewhere for Kagome to pick up 400 years after the century it would have taken him to make it.
 * But how would they know somebody wouldn't find it and take it? Then you'd have a much bigger problem on your hands (and a potential fanfic ^_^).
 * During the final battle,
 * Full-blooded youkai can't touch Tessaiga, no matter their intentions.
 * What about Inuyasha's father?
 * The barrier was probably put on Tessaiga after Inuyasha's father died, since he was leaving it to his hanyou son and knew his youkai son would try to steal it (and in the process protected it from other youkai, too). The only youkai shown in the manga to be able to hold Tessaiga is Totosai, and he's its maker and likely the one who put the barrier in the first place.
 * Plus, if he was trying to save Inuyasha, why would he use a sword that can cut a hundred demons with one swing?
 * IIRC, Shippou has handled it without any problem (as has Toutousai and Inu no Taishou, but as its creator and original bearer/source, its feasible that they are immune), although he couldn't use it, and its link to Inu Yasha, shown ability to hold back its full power depending on how hard you swung the blade, and its ability to absorb youki, would all have made it a better alternative to just punching.
 * The barrier is explained at some point as being ineffective to those who care for humans. Half-demons therefore can touch it, since they are human, along with humans themselves (which annoyed both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru when Kagome effortlessly drew the blade). This is why Totosai can touch it, because he bears no grudge against humans (particularly those offering him contracts for weapons). Likewise, Shippo isn't even much of a demon, in the Japanese translation, he's actually described as a "genie" so apparently, he's considered some harmless breed of youkai (or something). He wouldn't have either the demonic energy enough to activate the barrier, or the intention to harm humans.
 * The barrier was never explained. How it works can only be inferred by who could touch it. Hanyous could touch it (Inuyasha and Naraku). Humans could touch it (Kagome, Sango, Sesshoumaru with a human arm, a bandit who had just attacked a village, etc.). Youkai can't (Sesshoumaru and Gatenmaru) with the exception being Totosai. And Naraku, Sesshoumaru (at the time) and the bandit definitely didn't care about humans.
 * How would it have made a better alternative to just punching? At least with just his claws, he can actively/knowingly hold back enough to do the job. If he used Tessaiga it would severly or at least significantly weaken him and slow him down.
 * Dragonscale Tessaiga has explicitly shown the ability to cure youkai possession by absorbing the possessing soul without harming the possessed one (yeah, the one time IY used it that way was on a human, but Dragonscale Tessaiga has also explicitly been shown to be capable of absorbing human ki as well -- a brand of human ki which normally harms youkai, for that matter), and Tessaiga possesses a very powerful barrier. Not to mention that Sesshoumaru only withheld Bakusaiga because it was impossible to use without killing Inu Yasha -- he never indicated that he had any problems with the idea of injuring/weakening him since he was pretty sure that he could kill Naraku by himself as soon as Rin was safe.
 * Sesshoumaru has demonstrated his ability to use Tessaiga in a pinch, even in spite of its barrier (at least in two instances which are admittedly not canon to the manga: "The Woman Who Loved Sesshoumaru" and Swords of an Honorable Ruler). However, he's an enormously proud and stubborn bastard and by that point in the plot he's long since decided he doesn't want Tessaiga. Which means he simply won't lower himself to try to use it, even if that means having to fight possessed!Inuyasha with his bare hands.
 * And of course, the ending, where
 * No,
 * During the third movie, Sesshomaru and a Sou'unga-possessed Takemaru are in very close quarters. Sou'unga knows that Sesshomaru wanted to wield Sou'unga at one point, but also knows that the sword he wields is half of what's needed to stop him. Why, during that battle in enclosed quarters (and before Inuyasha showed up), didn't Sou'unga use the Dragon Twister to take Sesshomaru out? Granted, Sesshomaru's Tenseiga would have protected him just like when Inuyasha gained the Wind Scar, but it would have removed him from the match entirely and allowed Sou'unga to defeat Inuyasha without worry. Then, when Sesshomaru had recovered, Sou'unga could have presented Tessaiga to Sesshomaru to win him over. Granted, the villain was supposed to lose, but that's one major Idiot Ball.
 * It may simply have been that there wasn't room. It was still Takemaru and Sou'unga rather than Sou'unga acting on its own, and something as massively destructive as the Gokuryuuha would have engulfed everything and brought the castle right down on their heads, seriously damaging Takemaru and potentially burying Sou'unga. Even if Sou'unga was willing to take the chance, Takemaru is at least marginally a better strategist than to do that to himself.
 * When Kikyou first appeared, she wanted to drag Inuyasha's soul into hell with hers, so they they could be together forever. Considering Kikyou's soul is reincarnated in Kagome then if she dies her soul should go back into Kagome. That would mean Inuyasha would basically be giving up his life to be alone in hell. What a brilliant idea.
 * Well, that Kikyo didn't really have a soul. She was a reanimated corpse. And it didn't really seem like she was dragging Inuyasha's soul to hell, just him entirely. Did she even like Inuyasha at that point in time, though? I thought she was dragging him to hell to leave him there to get her revenge and only said that they were going to be together forever in order to convince him.
 * Actually even the reanimated kikyo DID have a partial soul, it's just that the soul transfer was interrupted before enough of kagome's soul (kikyo's soul reincarnated in kagome) was taken out to kill her.
 * It really looked as though she was in full out Yandere mode at that point, especially considering the conversation she had with Kagome prior to it, the kiss she gave Inu Yasha, and sad look she gave him when he went to save Kagome. Still, there's really no indication that Kagome would have gotten her soul fragment (she did manage to keep Kagome from pulling all her soul back into her during their first encounter) back unless Kikyou wanted her to, especially considering how ridiculously skilled Kikyou was at spiritual magics;
 * When it first comes to the attention of the entire cast and Kikyo as well that Naraku was behind Kikyo's assassination, nobody seems to try to argue this properly to the dead priestess, nor does Kikyo seem to remotely care, she still fixes her sight on the falsely accused man of hers. Nobody seems to address this with any more than a brief moment of thought either, simply dismissing that Inuyasha is being tracked by a killer dead girlfriend regardless if he's innocent or not, and it only becomes obvious that nobody seems to pay attention to this fact when they are visited by Kikyo several times throughout the series and care is still not placed. Considering everyone seems to have a consensus that Inuyasha is vital to their quest due to his raw power, you'd think his friends would do something about it.
 * At the time, Kikyou wasn't willing to listen even when Miroku flat out told her what had happened and they think that she's dead at the end of that. After that point, Kikyou gets the full story from Kaede and starts her various machinations, at which point no one knows where she is. As for not doing anything about her Yandere actions, the problem is that Inu Yasha won't think of acting against her after their history together, and none of them are even remotely capable of finding her unless she wants to be found. Especially when considering that she can casually generate a barrier that none of them can notice and only Kagome can bypass, and Kikyou can generally shut her down at will unless Kagome gets really pissed off.
 * It’s a little more complicated than that. Once Kikyo finds out about Naraku she understands that Inuyasha didn’t betrayed her and she’s no longer angry with him. The thing is, she repeatedly states that his life belongs to her, implying that she still wants him to die with her, but not because she feels bretayed by him but because she loves him and wants to be with him even in death.
 * Naraku takes the blame for turning Inuyasha and Kikyo against each other, but no one ever notices or points out that the two were doomed anyway. By the end of the series it's made clear that the Shikon no Tama twists any wish other than "disappear" to its own end. Wishing to be human wouldn't purify the jewel. Kikyo and Inuyasha would only be trapped in a different terrible fate.
 * Kagome does make an attempt to justify why she wears her outfit, however it goes against typical logical sense. Kagome states that it is easier to clean blood out of her clothes. Blood is red, Kagome's outfit is mostly white. Not only that, practicality wise when someone stops to think about it, the entire rest of the cast wears full clothing down to their legs, however Kagome's legs are fully exposed to the elements at all times. It isn't that she doesn't own pants either, she's clearly wearing some in the first episode.
 * Well, as for the first part, school uniforms are probably made of more laundry friendly materials than most normal clothes. But mostly, its because IY is the only Takahashi series where she doesn't give the cast much in the way of a variable wardrobe, even though it'd probably be sensible. Maybe she was trying to give Kagome a more unique image, rather than have her be dressed like Sango.
 * An another note, which could be Fridge Brilliance, kagome looks so much like kikyo that even Inuyasha at first had a hard time telling she wasn't Kikyo, so putting her in a standard miko outfit of the time, which is certainly what Kagome would have been wearing, it would be difficult to tell her from Kikyo. Not to mention Kagome was probably trying to hang onto whatever shred of her identity as a normal junior high student she had left.
 * Given that they weren't invented in the Feudal Era, how is it that Miroku instantly knew how to ride Kagome's bike when he was saving/kidnapping her back when they first met?
 * Won't Inuyasha as a hanyou live much longer than Kagome? Apparently he'll still look the same in 50 years and more, while she will age as a regular human. This certainly gives the ending a more bittersweet touch than the fairly happy one it appears as at first.


 * For a long while, I was trying to figure out why Namie Amuro's "Four Seasons" was played at the ending of Inuyasha's third movie. It was a sweet song and all, but it didn't seem like it fit with the movie. The song, if anything, was like a love song ... And maybe it was suppose to be. The main villain Takemaru was in love with Inuyasha's mother, but she had chosen Inuyasha's father instead. There was first part of the song translated that said "The sweet darkness I find/fumbling around deep in my memories/I can taste the sweetness of the past/Although you're not anywhere/I'll be all right." This could be talking about the love he had for her and the love he continued to have, even . Another way to look at it is the love between Inuyasha's mother and father. The second part of the song seemed to be more dedicated towards them. "If feelings again happened that way/We'll be all right/If I just believe/No matter how far away you are/Stay with me." Note at how the first part had "I'll be all right" compared to "We'll be all right" in the second one.
 * I always interpreted the song as Izayoi singing to Inu-Yasha's dead father. That way, it seems as if she's reminiscing on the time they had together and assuring herself that they'll be together again someday. Thus, I heard "I'll be alright" as referring to herself alone, and "We'll be alright" as referring to her and Inu-Yasha.


 * What does Sesshoumaru eat? When he met Rin, Sesshoumaru said he doesn't eat human food. We never see him eat in-series and his mother even wonders about it.