Inuyasha Kanketsu-hen Ep. 06
犬夜叉 完結編 Episode 06 Review
Inuyasha: Final Act – 06

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Some Japanese villagers report to a Buddhist monk about a tree named Youmeiju, which had been sealed long ago as it had consumed both youkai and humans. Despite the seal still being on the trunk of the tree, the tree is budding. The monk is going to reseal the tree but ends up getting consumed. Inuyasha and company come upon the tree which is now leafy. Kagome senses a Shikon shard in the tree and attempts to shoot it but that reveals Naraku. Youmeiju awakens fully and penetrates Naraku’s barrier to consume him but is consumed instead by Naraku.

Kouga is tracking Mouryoumaru but is interrupted by Kikyou, who warns him about the shards in his legs. Kouga isn’t going to heed her warning despite a warning shot from her bow. Meanwhile, Naraku and Mouryoumaru meet in the air where Mouryoumaru ends up turning Naraku into body parts before consuming them. Kouga and Inuyasha battle Mouryoumaru until Kouga is captured. Naraku consumes Mouryoumaru from the inside and reveals himself and his new form and is about to consume Akago, in whom Naraku’s heart is contained. Kagome helps Kouga get free and Miroku attempts to suck Akago into his Kazaana but because he’s about to die, Inuyasha stops him allowing Naraku to escape.

Thoughts/Review:

I remember when Mouryoumaru was finally destroyed in the manga, I felt a great sense of “finally!” Takahashi-sensei kept bringing him back for battle after battle after battle and these fights went on for many chapters each. They were all as predictable as could be simply because the stories were following the same pattern — Mouryoumaru gets more powerful, he’s fought, the others get more powerful, Mouryoumaru retreats, Mouryoumaru gets more powerful. Lather, rinse, repeat.

In the anime, Mouryoumaru is no where nearly as tedious. His power ups have been done in rapid succession and now he’s part of Naraku. So now that Mouryoumaru and Akago are part of Naraku, we can move on to whatever comes next. Still, some of the sense of Naraku’s parts being in rebellion against him doesn’t really come across in the anime due to the speed, which is a bit unfortunate but oh well.

Sesshoumaru didn’t appear in this episode, but then there was no room for him as the anime writers ended the Mouryoumaru saga. I’m hoping that this anime series will devote a full episode to his meeting his mother because that was one of the better parts of the manga (I’ll say nothing more because I don’t want to spoil anything).

Not a whole lot else for me to comment on, so I’ll just wait for the next episode.