Customer Reviews

Inuyasha - Kikyo's Wandering Soul (Vol. 8)

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I first watched Inu Yasha (the first 52 eps) on adult swim. I am just now buying up the DVDs. To be honest, I was not impressed with this show much from the first 13 episodes. Kikyo's arrival in episodes 14 and 15 really pulled me into this anime. Her return in episode 22 represents one of the highest points in the first 3 seasons; because it escalates Inu Yasha's primary (and best) storyline arc. If there was any storyline arc I found nearly as compelling, It is Sango's. The way she parts from her father and brother is perhaps the most cruel and emotional I have seen in an anime to date. Her brothers eventual dependency on a sacred jewel fragment sets up interesting plot developements down the road as well. Episodes 22-24 cover the introduction and reintroduction of the animes 2 best story arcs, respectively.

Conveniently, 3 of the best episodes in the entire series fell into one DVD.

If you bought the first 7 volumes, then you would have to be crazy not to get this one.

The voice acting is done by the reliable ocean group (Ranma 1/2, Escaflowne); If you don't like this dub you probably saw it subbed first or don't like dubs period. The casting in the sub version makes the anime feel darker, more cinematic, and frankly, better.

I still prefer the dub though, I've recognized 9 voices from Escaflowne (a good dub) so far, and the dub of Inu Yasha is much funnier. Richard Cox (Ranma in Ranma 1/2) is well cast for Inu Yasha, probably an even better cast than he was in Ranma 1/2. His brash talking style is perfect. Kagome is completely different in the dub; more of a cheerleader. I still like her better in the dub because she makes Kagome seem nicer and a more attractive love interest for Inu Yasha, but some will find her annoying. Kirby Morrow (Van in Escaflowne) is perfect as Miroku. A big surprise was Kikyo's voice actress, who only had small roles (Hitomi's friend Yukari in Escaflowne and Kasumi Tendo Ranma 1/2) before this. I can hardly recognize her voice in this anime, its filled with so much emotion. Her voice works very well deep and understated, it has kind of a strange sexyness/mystery to it. At times she borders on overacting and sounding cheezy, but she rides that line well and the end result is very impressive. She's probably a very big reason why Inu Yasha is one of my favorite animes. Sango is perfectly cast as Kelly Sheridan (Hitomi from Esca, and the beloved Ukkyo from Ranma 1/2). Paul Dobson does great work once again as Naraku and Myoga (He is probably best known for playing Folken in Esca). I didn't catch his name, but the voice actor for Sesshomaru is very very good, perhaps the best male voice actor in the show. He shames the relatively goofy sounding Japanese voice by comparison. Kagura and Koga (when they come in) are excellent voices as well.

There are some annoying voices too. Shippo is less entertaining and more annoying in the dub. Jaken (Sesshomaru's helper) is simply unbearable. The overall effect of the dub voice actors makes Inu Yasha seem more lighthearted; more fun. But be warned, it will probably take a while to enjoy the dub for what it is.

If you are a fan of Rumiko Takahashi, Inu Yasha will not dissapoint, even if it is a little unconventional and little more action oriented (and darker). This is perhaps her best anime for characters and character development, and thats saying a lot.

The dvd has some issues playing on some dvd players (like computer dvd drives). I too think that VIZ is a little insane for releasing these volumes 3 episodes at a time. The extra expense is fine, but the wait is becoming hard to bear.

I wrote a review for this DVD already, but Amazon has not posted it! I don't know why - maybe it was too long or they thought it had "spoiler" information.

So I won't say a lot, just that of the episodes I've seen, and own on DVD, I really like these three!

Episode 22: "A Wicked Smile: Kikyo's Wandering Soul" and Episode 23: "Kagome's Voice and Kikyo's Kiss". Sort of a two-part episode, though they are not called that. Wow, great music, the eerie Kikyo (aka "the angry dead ex-girlfriend from hell!") and the Kagome-Inu Yasha-Kikyo love triangle, come on, it don't get any better than this! Seriously, the combination of the supernatural, the spiritual, and love lost, is very powerful. I recommend you check out Kikyo's facial expressions throughout these episodes, they are so varied and complex, they really took care to show her inner turmoil. She's not at all like your standard anime character.

Episode 24 "Enter Sango, the Demon Slayer" is certainly bloody but Sango is probably my favorite *human* character (Sesshomaru and Kikyo are more interesting, but the one's a full demon and the other's sort of like your living dead). Sango is a strong female protagonist, older (18-20?) and neither as hyper, emotional or clumsy as Kagome. All of which makes sense, given that she is from a pre-industrial era and trained in physical combat (skills that are useful for fending off the advances of a certain "bad boy" Monk!).

All three episodes are top notch. If you buy this one I suspect you will want to buy more!

The three episodes on this eighth volume are especially poetic and tragic, packing a strong emotional wallop. The first two episodes center on the vengeful soul of Kikyo. Last seen falling to her death, she survived and has been residing in a village, posing as a priestess. To all apperances, she seems like her old self, being respected as holy, acting kind, playing with children, etc. But she hides a dark secret. She must gather the souls of dying young women and consume them in order to keep the shape of a human. The rumors of her deeds have spread, and a nobleman has asked Inuyasha and the others to protect the soul of his dying daughter. They accept the task, not knowing that Kikyo is involved. Meanwhile, at another village, Sango, a demon-slayer for hire from a village that kills demons for a living attend upon a lord whose main advisor is Naraku! How will this evil demon try to ensnare Sango into helping him in his battle against Inuyasha?

Kikyo and Sango are both young women whose lives are irrevocably changed by the demon Naraku. He takes a loved one away from both of them. Even in the form Kikyo inhabits now, she still loves Inuyasha, but it doesn't have a future. And I think she also senses that Inuyasha's heart is bending away from her and towards Kagome. Sango has to see her village and family destroyed in cold blood, all in an effort to lure her into a trap of Naraku's. This volume is not for the faint-hearted because it involves a lot of heartbreak.

The first two episodes feature the main story of this DVD. Kikyo's back(again), and it leads into a major confrontation between her, Inu-Yasha and Kagome. There's some real drama going on, and this scene really starts Inu-Yasha's problem of choosing either Kikyo or Kagome.

The third episode introduces another major character into the series, the demon slayer Sango. We see how her life ends as she knows it, when evil <expletive deleted> Naraku does something really heartless. What it is, I'm not saying. It's pretty much the typical good Inu-Yasha stuff fans have come to expect. Now that volume 9's out, I'm going to try to buy it as soon as possible.

Inuyasha: Volume 8: Kikyo's Wandering Soul contains three highly dramatic episodes that pull you deeper into wanting to watch more of this series. If you are not hooked after this DVD, you will never be. Volume 8 contains three episodes, 22, 23, and 24. They are titled "The Soul of Kikyo," "Kagome's Voice and Kikyo's Kiss," and "Enter Sango, the Demon Slayer."

After showing how Kikyo makes herself feel better by capturing souls of brokenhearted women with her soul-stealing demons (which look like eels), we see how she just wants to live in peace and anonymity in a little village where she has found a home. Alas, it is not to be. A powerful monk is out to defeat her, Kagome finds her hiding place, and she is followed by an adoring little village girl. There truly is no rest for the dead here. The first two episodes give Kikyo and Inuyasha fans a lot of material. We can see how they still love each other, how love reaches out beyond the grave. Sadly, Kikyo's love has been somewhat twisted.

The third episode, "Enter Sango, The Demon Slayer," is the darkest, most violent episode of the Inuyasha series so far. Yet, it is also one of the most compelling. The stunning Sango makes her debut. We see her village, her family, her lifestyle and proud tradition of being accomplished Demonslayers. In the blink of an eye, it is all lost, with horrible cruelty. Those who have seen Sango only in later episodes as part of the gang, without knowing her full history and the anguish she suffered, will never look at her the same way after seeing this DVD and Volume 9: Origin of the Sacred Jewel.

This includes "A Wicked Smile; Kikyo's Wandering Soul", "Kagome's Voice and Kikyo's Kiss", and "Enter...Sango the Demon Exterminator" (Episodes 22-24, if you're counting).

In my opinion, the first two episodes are a couple of the best of the Inu Yasha series (and I've seen most of them). These really define and set the tone for the relationship between Inu Yasha/Kikyo/Kagome for the rest of the series. I highly recommend this one.

Thanks to some evil witch, Kikyo is back, and she wants to kill In-yasha, because she believes that he betrayed her... Now her wondering soul walks among the humans, with only one mission, ending Inuyashas life.

There is someone out there that is taking dead women's souls, and Inu-Yasha and his pals are here to help.But they find out this is mroe personal than what they thought, for the soul stealer is Kikyo(Inyashas first love) Now things get personal.But when Kagome decides she should help, she finds out more than what she might have wanted to know. For Inu-Yashas secrent is let out. Kagome fears of losing Inu-yasha, and knows that he would not leave. Kagomes shout awakens Inu-yasha, and ofcourse, he is there to save her. Somethign that nobody might have thought our Inu-yasha might do.

Inuyasha fears for losing Kagome, and wants to protect her.

The friends come upon a village, where the best demon slayers live. But Naraku again with his desiving mind,tricks a young slayer to believe that the killer is Inu-yasha. Not knowing that she has lost alot of her blood, the girl Sango fights till death, but inu-yasha spares her life. Now the team has a new member, and like everyone else....she has a reason for going after Naraku...she will avenge her village, and see that Naraku dies.
These are one of the best episodes, because it has everything that it needs, love, adventure, battles, and ofcourse, revenge.. Watch this and you will find out everything you need to know about the lives of our team: Inu-yasha, not Kagome, her life is just beginning to make sense, Noroku, and Sango.

Inuyasha is the best anime one could ever see.. :D

This DVD begins the really LOVE trouble between Inuyasha and Kikyo and Kagome. I didn't really like it that much because i personally don't like Kikyo but it is where the story unfolds a bit.

This vol. shows how much inuyasha really loved or missed Kikyo, but while admitting to it, but there was a plan behind it, and that was for kikyo to take inuyasha with her to hell, but while inuyasha was being pulled in and hugging kikyo, he didn't realize that kagome was in the middle of the whole thing watching them two, it is not sad, but once you hear the backround music it just makes you want to drift off!! And later we enter sango the demon exterminator, the berve girl, another victim of naraku who killed her village and took the only thing in the world...her brother....

Now this is a movie. Kiyko is back and is now after Inuyasha heart. And soul? Kikyo wants Inuyasha to die with her. Inuyasha expresses his love for her without even knowing that Kagome is right watching every single thing that he is saying to Kikyo.
Sango is now entering the show. The last episode on the dvd shows Sango. Sango's family are demon slayers that are called to a village to rid them of a giant spider, but instead as they kill the spider, her village is being slaughtered by demons. When she finds out, Naraku says that it was Inuyasha who did it.
Buy this dvd. I have it and you will love it.