Inuyasha Kanketsu-hen Ep. 02
犬夜叉 完結編 Episode 02 Review
Inuyasha: Final Act – 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Sango and Kohaku pay a visit to their old village while the rest of Inuyasha’s group explores Midoriko’s Cave. That night, Inuyasha finds Kikyou nearby after Midoriko’s soul is taken by one of her Shikigami. Kikyou uses the soul to heal herself, revealing her plan to use the completed Shikon no Tama to defeat Naraku. Kohaku hears this and goes after her as he has a shard in him.

Meanwhile, Kouga goes after an ancestral weapon known as the Goraishi and has to defeat the guardian to do so. However, Kouga discovers that the two Shikon shards are no longer under his control.

Mouryoumaru consumes the youkai Meioju at the request of Akago in order to obtain the impenetrable shell. About the same time, Kagura encounters Naraku, who returns her heart to her thus freeing her from his control. However, he stabs her with his extending body parts and injects her with shouki, ensuring that she is poisoned and will die.

Mouryoumaru encounters Sesshoumaru and a battle ensues with Sesshoumaru on the losing end. Mouryoumaru intends to consume Sesshoumaru and his youki but Sesshoumaru ends up being too much and Mouryoumaru is forced to retreat. Sesshoumaru senses Kagura nearby and goes to her to be with her as she dies, leaving her happy. Inuyasha and company arrive just after she passes away, Sesshoumaru informing Inuyasha that she died with a smile on her face.

Thoughts/Review:

Again, we press forward at a breakneck speed. While there is no doubt that the anime series could cut a ton out of the original manga and lose nothing, I do wonder if a bit too much is being cut out here now. I kinda wish the series was a bit longer to allow for more character impact during certain moments.

Still, we can do without a great deal of Mouryoumaru powering up and I thought that the episode handled that well enough. We get to see that he’s out attempting to consume youkai and take their powers and abilities. However, in his battle against Sesshoumaru, there was no impact to the fight in my eyes. It was as if the players went through the motions more than an actual fight. Maybe that’s partly because of Sesshoumaru never losing his cool. That’s not to say the fight was poorly animated. I thought that aspect was fine.

On the other hand, Kouga’s fight with the guardian did feel real, especially when he saved his two companions and was awarded Goraishi.

Kagura’s death felt so rushed to me. When I read it in the original manga, there was more of an impact but then there were weeks of buildup to it. Her dying so quickly means the writers couldn’t do much buildup, but I felt the writers did the best the could considering how fast they have to move to get everything done in the episodes they have.