Inuyasha Kanketsu-hen Ep. 07
犬夜叉 完結編 Episode 07 Review
Inuyasha: Final Act – 07

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Naraku retrieves his human heart in order to carry out a new plan to take down Kikyou and Inuyasha. Meanwhile, Kikyou has healed Miroku and taken her leave with Kohaku but soon becomes aware of spiderwebs emanating from Naraku. She has Kohaku hide with her two shikigami to avoid Naraku as she gets caught in his trap. Inuyasha and company along with Kouga are going to where Kagome sees massive amounts of spider threads coming from the sky. Inuyasha senses Kikyou and is soon trapped along with Kagome. Naraku attempts to sew discord and corruption by showing the vision of when Kikyou sealed Inuyasha fifty years earlier.

Elsewhere, Byakuya finds Kohaku and is about to take the shard from him when Sesshoumaru arrives and drives Byakuya away. Meanwhile, to save Kikyou’s life, Kouga, Miroku, Sango, and Shippou take Kagome to Mt. Azusa to retrieve a special bow with which Kagome would shoot Kikyou and heal her. The spirit of the mountain tests Kagome’s heart by taking on the appearance of Kikyou, then summoning an illusion of Kikyou. So when Kagome has an accident and is hanging off the side of a cliff, she and the illusion of Kikyou have a lengthy chat. While this is going on, Inuyasha brings the real Kikyou to the base of the mountain and then goes to look for Kagome. Kagome passes the test but falls off the cliff as Naraku notes from safety that Kagome has freed herself from his threads.

Thoughts/Review:

It is almost surprising to me that things weren’t wrapped up at the end of this episode considering how fast things are going. That said, this story arc in the manga was rather important and so the anime writers had no choice but to continue the story with the next episode.

One thing this episode reminded me of is how basically Kagome has always been jealous of Kikyou. Jealousy is a negative emotion and so in my mind, Kagome should always be easy prey for Naraku’s corrupting influence. Granted, Kagome does want to do the right thing, but she also has a lot of issues when it comes to Kikyou’s and Inuyasha’s relationship.

I’m glad that the little comedy moments involving Jaken manage to survive. Sesshoumaru warning Rin not to touch Kohaku because of the snakes Byakuya bound Kohaku with were deadly only to have Jaken get bit made me laugh. I remember chuckling when I read the manga initially but it seemed a bit more funny in the anime.

Speaking of Byakuya, it just dawned on me that he’s continuing to address Sesshoumaru as “Sesshoumaru-sama.” Granted, Sesshoumaru is a daiyoukai, one of the elite and most powerful youkai around, but it is interesting that Byakuya would show such respect. I’m trying to think if any other Naraku detachment showed Sesshoumaru that much respect.

I really have nothing else to say so onto the next episode.