Inuyasha is the Embodiment of Turn-of-the-Millennium Anime

For better and for worse, Inuyasha is the perfect poster child for the anime of the late 90s and early 2000s, when the industry struggled with tech.

The Inuyasha series is an iconic anime from right around the turn of the millennium, a time when technology was advancing, but the series on the air just hadn't quite caught up. Here's everything that makes Inuyasha such a perfect case study of the anime of that time, both the good and the bad.

Created by Rumiko Takahashi, also known for Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha was a series that broke down some of the strict demographic lines of anime. While the story was ostensibly a fantasy action series for young boys (shonen), it had a heavy focus on romance which made it more appealing to girls as well. The show's cast of pretty boy demons certainly didn't hurt its popularity with female fans, either, and the viewpoint character being modern day schoolgirl Kagome Higurashi in a fish-out-of-water plot sealed the deal. Inuyasha was an important part of Adult Swim's anime offerings at the time, and the series accrued many fans from late night airings on the channel.

Inuyasha's plot is certainly an interesting one, dealing with concepts like reincarnation and vengeance, setting up love triangles and introducing lots of characters who each had their own compelling reasons for being involved. As a traditionally animated series, however, Inuyasha also suffered from a lot of the common budget-saving tactics of the day. Inuyasha's attacks often take place in the dimension of flashy backgrounds, such that they can be reused over and over again in different contexts. The series' reuse of animation is arguably its biggest problem today; it was designed to be watched week-to-week, and would often take up significant portions of an episode recapping common backstory and plot points, like how Inuyasha first met Kikyo and became sealed to the Tree of Ages. Trying to binge-watch Inuyasha is likely to lead to a lot of fast forwarding through footage that's been seen a dozen times or more in some cases. Inuyasha is also from that inconvenient period where widescreen anime weren't standard, so the beginning of the series is in 4:3 ratio, while the follow-up series which finished adapting the manga in 2009, Inuyasha: The Final Act, is widescreen.

Inuyasha is Still a Classic

Despite these flaws, Inuyasha is still very much a classic series of the era. As noted above, the characters tend to be its strongest quality. The series has a memorable cast, who are all quite distinct from one another. While Naraku is certainly a one-note villain, those working under his control like Kagura tend to be more complex, longing for freedom and trying to rebel all while carrying out the letter of his orders. And while Inuyasha may not be known for its fight scenes the way some of its contemporaries were, the series does still have some very cool fights, and Inuyasha himself has a decent variety of abilities at his disposal. Its new sequel series, Yashahime, is pretty faithful to the original in every way--even down to the pacing problems.

Fans of anime who haven't checked out Inuyasha should give the series a try, if only because it has a little something for everyone. While the original may be a bit dated in terms of pacing and animation style, it brings with it everything that helped make anime into the massive international success it is today.

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