Inuyasha Kanketsu-hen Ep. 15
犬夜叉 完結編 Episode 15 Review
Inuyasha: Final Act – 15

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Sesshoumaru returns, having met with Byakuya and having used Kanna’s mirror fragment. He challenges Inuyasha to a fight and attacks, forcing Inuyasha’s hand. For Sesshoumaru, he knows this is a trap but feels it is worth springing. Meanwhile, Byakuya arrives and sends Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha to a youkai dimension so they can fight in peace. Byakuya monitors the fight for Naraku while Toutousai arrives and allows Inuyasha’s group and Sesshoumaru’s group to see what is happening.

Tenseiga has taken some of Tessaiga’s youryouku, forcing Inuyasha to take on his youkai form for Tessaiga to use his youki. When Tessaiga’s blade meets Tenseiga’s, Tessaiga regains some of its stolen powers. The fight continues with Sesshoumaru accepting that Inuyasha is the true heir of Tessaiga, but one last Meidou Zangetsuha attack is forthcoming as Sesshoumaru wants to see if Inuyasha can take it. Inuyasha is sucked into the Meidou and Sesshoumaru throws Tenseiga into it. That allows the two swords to resonate and Inuyasha to realize how to escape the Meidou trap.

Naraku isn’t having that and using Kanna’s mirror dust on Tenseiga, gains remote control of the sword, using it to attack Inuyasha with a surprise Kongousouha attack. Two large diamond shards, corrupted with Naraku’s shouki, are embedded in Inuyasha. Inuyasha is on the short end, so Sesshoumaru intervenes as if to kill Inuyasha himself. However, this allows Inuyasha to reclaim Kongousouha as well as Meidou Zangetsuha while breaking Tenseiga. The shouki from Naraku is too much and he loses his youkai form. Sesshoumaru removes the large shards from Inuyasha as the Meidou closes. Inuyasha is given a way out thanks to the broken Tenseiga showing him what to cut with the new Black Tessaiga form of Tessaiga.

Having escaped the Meidou, Sesshoumaru is going to leave but Toutousai points to the reformed Tenseiga, which still has the power to heal and help. Sesshoumaru isn’t interested and leaves, so Rin takes the sword and promises to give it to Sesshoumaru when he’s in a better mood. Toutousai has final words about what just happened with Inuyasha and mentions that Sesshoumaru is close to obtaining a new weapon that wasn’t from his father.

Thoughts/Review:

I’d forgotten that this was a time to bring back former sword attacks for Inuyasha. I can’t remember the last time Bakuryuuha was used. I laugh though because this was supposed to be the supreme attack of the weapon, but as the years dragged on, Takahashi-sensei had to keep coming up with new abilities for Tessaiga to keep the story from ending. As such, Bakuryuuha got forgotten.

Anyway, Sesshoumaru’s growth journey continues and I remember enjoying that in the manga. Sesshoumaru slowing coming to accept his brother’s existence and their father’s plan for their lives is nice. I also loved how Rin retrieved Tenseiga to return to Sesshoumaru when he was in a better mood. *lol* For some reason, I can’t remember if she ever got to do that in the manga or not. ^_^; I do remember her taking the sword, though.

Sadly, I find it difficult to comment much since I can’t do my usual “what will happen” speculations. *chuckle* Oh well. I do want to finish this anime out since Inuyasha was an early anime title for me back when I first started watching anime in 2002, having caught a few episodes on Adult Swim and deciding to find a means of watching all the back episodes as well as the then current episodes from Japan.

Update: 21-Aug-2015 — It appears that this episode was originally part of the It’s a Rumic World exhibition in 2008. That special was edited down to make this episode.