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When I was in fifth grade I was already well acquainted with Americanized anime like Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, Yugioh, Beyblade, và Cardcaptors. I accidentally stayed up late one night & caught the ending ten minutes of InuYasha on Adult Swim.
Instantly, I was captured. It was the first anime that wasn’t heavily edited; it had Japanese names, blood that I could see, & a mythical element that I fell in love with. InuYasha had adorable dog ears, Sango had a badass giant boomerang weapon, Miroku’s wind tunnel was both inventive & tragic, và Kagome could shoot laze arrows of magic! There were demons, and romance, and oh the mythology! InuYasha captivated me like no other show on TV at the time. I embarrassingly recall scribbling “InuYasha” on my notebooks và it was the first fandom I ever truly immersed myself in. I read fanfiction, liked fanart, talked about the characters on age old Fanfiction.net forums. My eleven year-old self was obsessed.
My twenty-three year-old self is less so.
See, Kagome is similar to Dragon Ball’s Chi chi in a way because both their narratives vì them dirty. Only, I’d argue Kagome gets an even shorter stick because she’s suppose khổng lồ be the protagonist of the story. Sure the show is called “InuYasha” but Kagome is the narrator of the story. If she’s not the lead protagonist, she certainly shares that spotlight with InuYasha. It’s as much her journey–if not more so–as it is his.
This is where my problem with Kagome Higurashi comes in. She doesn’t get to be the protagonist in the show. I can’t speak for the manga, I haven’t gotten the chance to lớn read it, but in the anime, Kagome hardly ever has her position as the heroine of this feudal fairy tale validated.
Kagome has three main struggles within the anime: her desire to remain in school, which represents her “normal” life; her desire lớn be with InuYasha, who represents her “fairy tale” life; and her abilities as a priestess with spiritual powers.
Kagome’s powers stem from the fact that she is the holder of the Shikon no Tama, or The Jewel of Four Souls, and the reincarnation of the priestess Kikyo. Long story short, Kikyo was the jewels protector who fell in love with InuYyasha. Naraku, the show’s main antagonist, also loved Kikyo và he tricked InuYasha và Kikyo into killing each other. Kikyo died and InuYasha was stuck to lớn a tree for fifty years. The show will repeat this story lớn you once every twenty or so episodes. The point is, Kagome is supposed to lớn be super powerful. & sometimes she is allowed khổng lồ be.
In th
e second episode, “Seekers of the Sacred Jewel”, Kagome is able khổng lồ shatter the Shikon Jewel into pieces with her powers. In “Tetsusaiga Is Stolen! Showdown At Naraku’s Castle!” Kagome is so enraged by Naraku’s horrid manipulation of InuYasha, Kikyo, Sango, and Kohaku, và his disregard for others’ lives, that she nearly kills him. Again, nearly, because he gets away, but canonically Kagome was one of the only characters Naraku ever viewed as a viable threat. The other was Kikyo for emotional reasons. Kagome was also one of the only characters who could take Naraku on solo and do serious damage and nearly kill him.However, we never actually see this development. Kagome, at the start of the series, is a normal middle school teenager. The show repeatedly emphasizes this. Kagome’s main goal pre-fairy tale adventure was getting into a good high school. She’s never been taught archery, but we’re suppose to believe she’s a talented archer with incredible nguồn because she’s the reincarnation of Kikyo who was all these things. So Kagome’s powers aren’t earned by her own merit và are often disregarded completely.
Kagome hardly ever gets to fight, even though she’s supposedly amazingly powerful. Unlike InuYasha, who goes through a series of shounen hero power ups, Kagome is never once taught anything about her powers outside of the plot warranted exposition. Kagome can see jewel shards which makes her valuable to other demons & earns her a place within InuYasha’s group since both Miruko và Sango can fight. This isn’t khổng lồ say Kagome has lớn be a fighter; I would have been fine with her not fighting, if the show didn’t pull out her spiritual powers to showcase how powerful she was when it serviced the plot but not her character.
Why doesn’t Kaede ever teach Kagome proper archery? Why doesn’t Sango or Miroku ever teach her basic defensive techniques? Why doesn’t InuYasha? Kagome is suppose to lớn be a pretty powerful priestess, but it we are more likely lớn see Kagome kidnapped by the demon-of-the-week than figure out how to lớn save herself. As she is a protagonist, you’d think the show would take some time showcasing how Kagome learned how to shoot an arrow, or use her spiritual powers, or maybe take an active stance against being kidnapped. But that might have made InuYasha look bad.
Yup, this is basically what they amount lớn as charactersKagome’s homelife? What homelife? Her mother was the most carefree mother of any anime I’ve ever seen save for Kyou Kara Maou’s Cheri. Kagome’s mom & grandfather probably fully understand the immense amounts of danger Kagome is in everytime she travels khổng lồ feudal Japan, considering she packs first aid kits, gets blood on her uniform on the regular, & has repeatedly cried over her love for InuYasha. You’d think there’d be some tension there, with her family not wanting her to go to lớn a place full of demons & things that want to lớn kill their daughter/granddaughter.
Nope. Kagome’s mother openly seems to tư vấn Kagome’s travels, or at least, we never hear her object or even acknowledge the danger Kagome is in. She plays an extremely passive part in Kagome’s life. An ever smiling figure who only once takes an active role in Kagome’s adventure in “Return khổng lồ the Place Where We First Met”. After seeing InuYasha with Kikyo again–we’ll cover this in a bit–and hearing him swear his love and loyalty to lớn the dead priestess, Kagome flees back khổng lồ her own time, heartbroken. Mom comes through with a hug and some kind words that basically amount to, “yeah he treats you badly but that’s okay, you’ll pull through!”
Kagome’s classmates are basically non-player characters who all look alike, talk alike, và have no individual personalities. They exist to lớn repeatedly encourage Kagome to go out with another classmate Hojo, & denounce her relationship with InuYasha. The ironic part is her friends are the only ones who seem to understand how awfully InuYasha treats Kagome. Yet, because Hojo is more boring than watching paint dry, her friends have no personalities, và her family are the most careful individuals ever, Kagome doesn’t have any real ties lớn her “normal” life.
Thus, there’s no real tension that exists in terms of where Kagome will over up. We all knew she’d choose lớn stay in the feudal era with InuYasha no matter how terribly he treated her, or the issue of losing indoor plumbing. Kagome is meant to lớn be our narrator, yet her life is barely touched upon. Miruko, Sango, & InuYasha’s various family members, or their childhoods, are routinely acknowledged (especially InuYasha’s) but we learn very little about Kagome. She’s a teenager, & a would-be high school student. It’s as if she had no life before being forcibly thrust into a feudal fairy tale. The narrative positions Kagome’s desire lớn study, khổng lồ get into a good school, và to eventually graduate high school with her friends, as something petty and childish. InuYasha routinely belittles this desire, và no one in the show validates Kagome’s personal goals.
I get it. Traveling across a beautiful landscape untouched by modern technology with hot companions & having adventures sounds awesome. Way better than staying at trang chủ and doing homework. But that life is a part of Kagome’s story and we never get to see it. Furthermore, we don’t learn anything about her past, or family history until The Final Act, which takes place two hundred episodes later. Meanwhile, the show showcases nearly all the other main characters’ backstories & childhoods. In detail.
The narrative consistently favors one side of the story: the one with InuYasha. From the get-go, we know these two are going to lớn get together; they have “romantic destiny” written all over them. InuYasha & Kagome are always going lớn happen, but how they happened could have really helped Kagome’s story, instead of hindering it.
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The show repeatedly pits Kagome và Kikyo against each other. Kikyo is InuYasha’s first great love. Kagome is meant to lớn be his future. They’re narrative foils of each other in nearly all aspects. Kikyo is skilled in battle, a talented priestess, calm & collected, và was well respected in her village. Kagome on the other hand is a normal girl who knows nothing about demons or battle. Unlike Kikyo, who was raised a priestess with all the training to lớn come with it, Kagome is less skilled, & her powers less refined. Kagome is also prone to angry outbursts, crying, và needing protection from others. This creates a specific image of both of them, Kikyo being the “capable” priestess, and Kagome being the “incapable” priestess.
Can we all agree they don’t look alike?InuYasha’s part does little lớn help this perception. He routinely abandons Kagome–even after promising her he wouldn’t–in favor of Kikyo. InuYasha knows Kagome has lãng mạn feelings for him. It becomes rather an unspoken agreement between them that they’re together romantically in “Return to lớn the Place Where We First Met”, when Kagome returns khổng lồ be with InuYasha because she loves him. Even so, when InuYasha learns that Kikyo might be alive–after she’s been killed again–he chases a rumor & abandons Kagome. This leaves Kagome open to be kidnapped by one of Naraku’s latest incarnations & possessed. The demon digs into Kagome’s soul for darkness, and only when Kagome realizes InuYasha won’t come for her because he’s chasing Kikyo does the demon infant find it.
This repeated storyline is extremely frustrating. Kagome repeatedly feels inadequate compared to lớn Kikyo & no one ever denies this. Not even InuYasha. It’s not so much that someone has lớn say, “you’re better than her”; just a simple, “you’re as good as her” would have been nice. Heck, someone listening khổng lồ Kagome’s feelings of extreme inadequacy when it came lớn Kikyo would have been nice. Miroku và Sango provide moderate support, acknowledging that InuYasha should apologize a bit more for his behavior, but for the most part they stay out of it. Surprisingly Shippo is one of the few characters that repeatedly điện thoại tư vấn InuYasha out on his dreadful behavior, but Shippo is also narratively useless. He provides nothing to lớn the plot save for being a cute mascot, & never grows as an individual character.
The real kicker between InuYasha và Kagome is that Kagome’s jealousy over Kikyo isn’t validated, but InuYasha’s over the men in Kagome’s life is. That jealousy slapstick humor is often used in anime, but this was especially obnoxious considering InuYasha’s relationship with Kikyo.
Kagome suffers silently, having to lớn martyr herself in order to give InuYasha space, closure, or time with Kikyo. InuYasha could never be bothered khổng lồ be held lớn the same standard. When Hojo spends time with Kagome, InuYasha puts him down. When Koga shows xuất hiện interest in Kagome, protects her, moderately respects her, and treats her kindly, InuYasha goes into a jealous rage. In the episode “Two Hearts, One Mind”, after Kagome và InuYasha get into a huge fight over him taking his jealousy out on Kagome, Kagome laments her own behavior in their fight, even going as far as blaming herself. When she returns to the feudal era to lớn reconcile with InuYasha, Kagome apologizes for yelling at him–even though she was justified in doing so. InuYasha also apologies–for breaking her clock.
Note: Kagome was merely thanking Koga for his help here và InuYasha still flipped out.We’re suppose khổng lồ root for InuYasha because he’s awkward, và is unable to own up to lớn his feelings for Kagome, but when his inability to lớn be honest with himself leads lớn him treating her with disrespect, we have a problem. Kagome has to lớn sacrafice herself và disregard her feelings when it comes to InuYasha và Kikyo’s relationship. InuYasha on the other hand can’t even stand it when Koga holds Kagome’s hand or tells her how much he cares for her or how amazing she is.
Make no mistake, Koga isn’t the perfect partner for Kagome either. She clearly lacks any romantic interest in him, yet he still pushes his romantic feelings onto her throughout the show. Even so, there’s a clear difference in how Kagome & InuYasha’s lãng mạn subplots are handled.
InuYasha’s romance with Kikyo is treated with grace, and subtlety, while Kagome’s potential thắm thiết relationships are treated with kid gloves. Hojo is boring, Koga is never given a second thought, and InuYasha’s jealousy is validated, while Kagome’s feelings of inferiority aren’t. This circle of storytelling continues on for most of the series, puffed out with filler episodes, và never gets truly resolved by the over of the original series.
In The Final Act, a completion of the series that wraps up all the storylines, this gets marginally better. Kagome is given a more active role in her story, and InuYasha shows her more respect as a partner, friend, and romantic interest. Even so, I could never fully forget how awful Kagome was treated throughout the show. The Final Act corrected a lot of the problems the original series suffered from–namely the never-ending plotlines & fillers–but there were still two hundred plus episodes that did Kagome dirty. I still find myself, after watching The Final Act, feeling fondness for InuYasha và Kagome’s relationship. Then I watch the original series và I just get mad. Kagome deserved a better narrative than what was given lớn her. Kagome deserved khổng lồ play an active role in the story she narrated & given a love interest who respected her. She was given neither.