One of the biggest adventure anime and manga series of the late 90s, Inuyasha by Rumiko Takahashi is one of his more serious works. The series had a widely successful journey, and to this day, it serves as a means of inspiration for many other manga artists. However, the success of Inuyasha was not easy to pull off at the time.
Ever since Inuyasha started, the one problem that fans had with the story of the series was its repetitiveness. Although the overall narrative was intriguing and filled with thrills, the major themes of the series were repeated with every plot, and this was not good for the series at all. But still, it managed to make a big name for itself and its manga creator.
Inuyasha was released at a time when the manga and anime industry was at its peak in terms of global recognition. Series like One Piece and Naruto were making their place in the world, and the competition was fierce. Thus, to earn fame at that time with a recurring issue of a similar plot was certainly not easy to pull off.
Inuyasha’s Struggle With Repetitive Storyline
The story follows the adventures of Inuyasha, a half-demon who, along with Kagome Higurashi, the reincarnation of the feudal era miko, Kikyo, goes on a journey to find the contents of the Shikon jewel. The Shikon jewel is a powerful ornament that grants unmeasurable strength to both humans and demons and can be used to win great battles.
Inuyasha and Kagome’s job is to find the pearls of the jewel and save them from getting into the hands of Naraku, the main antagonist of the story. Inuyasha is a great narrative, but the plot feels like a loop that keeps on repeating itself. The story feels like it is stuck on the constant plot of Inuyasha and Kagome finding a shard of the jewel and facing challenges while collecting it.
While there are some changes here and there, it feels like both Kagome and Inuyasha are following the same structure. They find a jewel and fight an evil entity with the same abilities. Then, Kagome goes home and returns to begin everything once again. This makes every move of the characters and the narrative predictable for fans.
Inuyasha’s Wild Success Even After Its Flaw
Inuyasha first came out in November 1996 and ran till June 2008. The manga series had 56 volumes, and the first anime adaptation had over 167 episodes. Not only that, it had over 50 million copies in circulation in 2020, making it one of the best storylines within the community. Thus, it was deemed a commercial success for the most part.
However, this success was especially significant considering the problem fans had with its repetitive narrative structure. The story running in the loop was a big issue for Inuyasha, but it made up for it in other aspects. Be it character development or fight scenes, Inuyasha was an overall package that led to it getting along with other major stories.
To this day, Inuyasha is considered a gem in the manga community. It has two anime adaptations and one anime original sequel spin-off television series that also follows a similar storyline. All in all, Inuyasha managed to move past its flaws and earned the recognition it deserved.
Inuyasha is available to watch on Hulu.
