Inuyasha (TV series)

Inuyasha (犬夜叉) is a Japanese anime television series based Rumiko Takahashi's manga series Inuyasha. Produced by Sunrise, the series aired on Yomiuri TV, Nippon Television and their affiliates from October 2000 to September 2004. Since then, it has spanned four films, video games, toys, merchandise and a sequel, covering the last chapters of the manga, titled Inuyasha: The Final Act, which aired from October 2009 to March 2010.

Cast

Episodes

Production and release

The first Inuyasha anime adaptation, was broadcast for 167 episodes on YTV, NTV and their affiliates from October 16, 2000, to September 13, 2004.[3][4] Avex collected the episodes in a total of seven series of DVD volumes distributed in Japan between May 30, 2001, and July 27, 2005.

In North America, the series was licensed for an English dub release by Viz Media.[6] The series was first run on Adult Swim from August 31, 2002, to October 27, 2006,[7] with reruns from 2006 to 2014. When Toonami became a block on Adult Swim, Inuyasha aired there from November 2012 to March 2014, when the network announced that they had lost the broadcast rights to the series.[8][9] On August 25, 2017, Starz announced that they would be offering episodes of the series for their video on demand service starting on September 1 of that same year, where they were available until November 30, 2018.[10][11] The series aired in Canada on YTV's Bionix programming block from September 5, 2003, to December 1, 2006.[12] Viz collected the series in a total of 55 DVD volumes,[13][14] while seven box sets were also released.[15][16] In September 2020, Funimation announced that they would begin streaming the first 54 episodes of the series and the four films.[17]

Viz Media also released a separate series of ani-manga volumes, which are derived from full-color screenshots of the anime episodes. 30 volumes were released from January 14, 2004, to December 9, 2008.[18][19]

Video games

Three video games based on the series were released for the WonderSwan: Inuyasha: Kagome no Sengoku Nikki (犬夜叉 〜かごめの戦国日記), Inuyasha: Fūun Emaki (犬夜叉 風雲絵巻), and Inuyasha: Kagome no Yume Nikki (犬夜叉 かごめの夢日記).

A single title, Inuyasha: Naraku no Wana! Mayoi no Mori no Shōtaijō (犬夜叉〜奈落の罠!迷いの森の招待状), was released for the Game Boy Advance on January 23, 2003, in Japan.

Inuyasha has been adapted into a mobile game released for Java and Brew handsets on June 21, 2005.[40]

Two titles were released for the PlayStation: an RPG simply titled Inuyasha, and the fighting game Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale, the latter of which was released in North America. For the PlayStation 2, the two released games were the RPG Inuyasha: The Secret of the Cursed Mask and the fighting game Inuyasha: Feudal Combat, which also received an English version. An English-only RPG, Inuyasha: Secret of the Divine Jewel, was released for the Nintendo DS on January 23, 2007.[41]

Music

The score for the series was composed by Kaoru Wada.

The original series features six opening themes and eight ending themes. The first opening theme is titled "Change the World" performed by V6 and used from episodes 1–34, for episodes 35–64, the opening theme is titled "I am" performed by Hitomi, for episodes 65–95, the opening theme is titled "Owarinai yume (終わりない夢)" performed by Nanase Aikawa, for episodes 96–127, the opening theme is titled "Grip!" performed by Every Little Thing, for episodes 128–153, the ending theme is titled "One Day, One Dream" performed by Tackey & Tsubasa and the final opening theme is titled "Angelus", performed by Hitomi Shimatani and used until episode 167. For episodes 1–20, the ending theme is titled "My Will" by Dream, the second ending theme is titled "Fukai Mori", performed by Do As Infinity and used from episodes 21–24, the third ending theme is titled "Dearest", performed by Ayumi Hamasaki and used from episodes 42–60, the fourth ending theme is titled "Every Heart (Minna no Kimochi)", performed by BoA and used from episodes 61–85, the fifth ending theme is titled "Shinjitsu no Uta" performed by Do As Infinity, the sixth ending theme is titled "Itazura na Kiss (イタズラなKISS) performed by Day After Tomorrow, the seventh ending theme is titled "Come" performed by Namie Amuro and used for episodes 128–146 and the final ending theme is titled "Brand-New World", performed by V6 and used until episode 165.

Reception

Inuyasha ranked twentieth in a 2006 online Japanese survey conducted by TV Asahi of the 100 best anime series.[50] In ICv2's Anime Awards from both 2004 and 2005, the series was the winner in the category of Property of the Year.[51][52] In the Anime Grand Prix polls by Animage, Inuyasha has appeared various times in the category of Best Anime, taking third place in 2003.[53][54] In the American Anime Awards from 2007, Inuyasha was a nominee in the categories of Best Cast, Best Long Series, and Best Anime Feature, but lost to Fullmetal Alchemist and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, respectively.[55] A 2019 NHK poll of 210,061 people resulted in Inuyasha being named Takahashi's best animated work. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were voted first and third place, respectively, in her characters category.[56]

The English DVDs from the series had sold over one million copies between March 2003 and November 2004, with the first film's DVD topping the Nielsen VideoScan anime bestseller list for three weeks.[57][58] By 2016, Viz Media had sold more than 2 million Inuyasha home video units.[59] Mania Entertainment listed the series in an article ranking anime series that needed a reboot, criticizing the series' repetitiveness.[60]

External links