Living on the Edge

Transcribed by: Dylan Acres

Everything that happens to Inuyasha seems connected to the enigmatic priestess Kikyo, a lonely woman who's never belonged anywhere

Kikyo

Kikyo was the priestess in charge or protecting the Shikon Jewel. She was once in love with Inuyasha, but as a result of Naraku's evil plot, she died hating him deeply. Fifty years later, she was resurrected by the demon-hag Urasue.

Deception and death from the start

This scene from the final confrontation between Inuyasha and the living Kikyo is shown at the start of the very first epiosde. Kikyo, mortally wounded by someone she thought was Inuyasha, uses the last of her energy to shoot a magical arrow at the real Inuyasha. This is where everything started.

Inuyasha had also been attacked by someone he thought was Kikyo, and in revenge he went on a rampage, stealing the Shikon Jewel Kikyo was guarding. The real Kikyo shot him in the chest and magically bound him to a tree, forcing him into a deep sleep.

Kikyo, realizing she was dying, gave orders for the Shikon Jewel to be burned with her body. The jewel thus traveled with her into the distant future, where she was reincarnated as modern-day student Kagome.

A bond that transcended death

Despite Kagome's presence, Inuyasha still has feelings for his old flame Kikyo, which puts a strain on the new couple's burgeoning relationship. As guardian of the Shikon Jewel, the priestess Kikyo was so powerful and pure that people admire her even now, 50 years after her death. She met Inuyasha when he tried to steal the Shikon Jewel, but they saw something in each other and became friends instead of enemies. Neither of them really fits in anyplace else, - Inuyasha is part demon and part human, and Kikyo had given up part of her humanity to gain the power of a priestess. The similarity in their situations bound them together, and their friendship eventually grew into something more.

But as everyone knows, the greatest of hatred can stem from the greatest of love. When Naraku's machinations turned Inuyasha and Kikyo against each other, the results were fatal: Kikyo shot Inuyasha and magically bound him to a tree, only moments before she died from her own terrible wounds. Her body was cremated, the ashes buried, and her soul passed on to the next life.

At that moment, Kikyo should have been lost to Inuyasha forever. But 50 years later, a demon who sought the Shikon Jewel summoned Kikyo's living spirit from within Kagome, trapping it in an unholy body made from grave dirt and bone shards. She looks alive, but her body is lifeless, her heart frozen in time and just as full of hatred (and love) for Inuyasha as it was the moment of her death.

In life, Kikyo stood between the human world and the mystical - now she walks the line between life and death. Inuyasha is similarly caught between his human and demon halves, but once he and Kagome find the last piece of the Shikon Jewel, he plans to use it to become fully human. Will Kikyo ever find a way to resolve the contradictions of her own existence? ^[2]

Three people traveling in the twilight twilight world

Kikyo: A living soul in a dead body

A sad woman who died and found freedom for her soul

InuYasha is trying to become a yokai by using the Shikon Jewel, but Kikyo encourages him to become a human being. By making Inuyasha human (using the Jewel's power in a positive direction), he can purify the four souls.

Kikyo was released from the pain of being a woman, and hoped to live as a woman, not as a miko dedicated to guarding the Shikon Jewel for the rest of her life. Kikyo is made up of the soul that overflowed from Kagome, and was resurrected in this world with a body of clay and a disembodied soul, but because of that, she seems more human than before she died. She is now free from his mission to protect the Shikon Jewel, but must collect the souls of dead women in order to maintain her own life, but is she also freed from her relationship with Inuyasha?

As a dead woman, she now feels a sense of release in her resurrection. Can she can love without being bound by the fate she encountered with Inuyasha?

Inuyasha: Between human and demon

Which will you choose, human or yokai?

Inuyasha is a story of yokai and a story of humans. But more than that, it is also a story of the narrow path that lies between the worlds of yokai and humans. Kikyo, born as a human, died a single death, and was resurrected by the demoness Urasue. Her body is now an imitation made of a earth, and in that sense she is no longer human. However, her love and hatred for Inuyasha are unmistakably human. She is a human who has entered the world of yokai. Inuyasha is a half-demon with a yokai father and a human mother. He is neither human nor yokai, but has the potential to be both, and at the moment, he is neither. Inuyasha is a man with one foot in each of these two worlds, and he is at a loss for what to do. Sesshomaru is a full-blown yokai who feels no shame in killing people. His ruthlessness is also very yokai-like. But on a whim, he brings Rin, a village girl who was attacked and killed by a demon, back to life and acts as her guardian. Perhaps it was his battle with Inuyasha that brought about this change in him. He is a man who is trying to look at human beings from the yokai side and see them for what they are. The three of them are not at ease in either the world of yokai or the world of humans. There is still no end in sight for their journey...

Yōkai usually think of weak humans as nothing more than insects, but Inuyasha's character is that of a bully who picks on the weak and gets angry with them. Inuyasha's uncharacteristic line, “He who bullies others will be beaten,” is probably a result of his mixed blood. He may be able to feel sympathy for humans because he remembers his own weakness during the new moon.

In the original story, it is revealed that he loss of Tessaiga gives Inuyasha the mentality of a yokai who is totally ruthless!

The “half-demon” is a being stuck between a human and a yokai. They are not as ruthless as yokai, nor as loving as humans. But Inuyasha becomes human only once a month, on the night of the new moon. Therefore, he should be able to understand human senses and feelings. Conversely, in the original story, Inuyasha is completely transformed into a yokai when he loses his iron-shattering fangs. He can be either a human or a yokai.

Sesshomaru: Compassion in Ruthlessness

What changed him?

Most of the time, he thinks humans are beneath him. He used to treat people like Kagome as lowly insects without even looking at them. But recently, he has been watching over the life of Rin, a girl he happened to meet. Even if it is just a whim, it is still a reflection of a change in his life.

Rin had a speech impediment, but since she was revived, it has been completely cured and she is now able to express herself more.

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Footnotes

• [1] Atsuo Tobe (戸部敦夫) directed a handful of episodes of Inuyasha. Two of Tobe's episodes were at the very beginning of the series, and he did not return as an animation director again until episode 150 "The Mysterious Light that Guides the Saint" and then again one more time in the Final Act with episode 22 "Naraku: Trap of Darkness". Tobe returned for quite a number of episodes of Yashahime and Kyokai no RINNE. In addition his mother is Noriko Obara, Oyuki's voice actress from the original Urusei Yatsura anime. His other work beyond Takahashi projects includes Dirty Pair, Yakitate!! Japan, Kekkaishi and Turn A Gundam.
• [2] This article was translated for Newtype USA 2005 Vol. 3.

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