Starting the journey off with fancy shoes and a bad ass Kagome! We are off to a great start!
Inuyasha Big Volume 1 Notes
- Inuyasha’s doggie button nose is so cute! Also snark is his personality from page one and his trademark “I’m pretending to look away and not care but I am actually very focused on you” pose is also there from the first chat at Kaede’s hut. This is one of my fav Inuyasha poses!
- Sesshomaru’s Gucci 500s: I loved that his shoes were not just black. A lot of manga panels have more details and depth than the anime.
- The manga style looks more rounded and less angular, especially in character faces. It feels more softer and more realistic somehow.
- Jii-chan says the well goes to “the flow of time.” I tend to think of the well just opening between the two points in time but this phrasing stuck out to me. Just noting here in case any other new well-related lore or details pop up later.
- Kagome is a bamf, ready for anything. She picks up weapons and jumps right into battle. She only wants to go home for family, a bath, and later to a lesser extent, to study. She and Inuyasha also watch each other fight and learn each other’s style pretty quickly. They focus on the fight with way less whining, even when they disagree. I have read a ton of posts about the difference in the anime/manga so I won’t touch on it too much in the notes, but I love this portrayal and am excited to see their character arcs and relationship moments for myself!
- Kagome’s hair volume and style are glorious. She also has a ton of cute outfits!
- As a sub person, I miss the Japanese attack names. Not only are the names in English, but they are different than the English anime so far? “Sankon Tesso” is “Iron Reaver Soul Stealer” in the anime but in the manga they use “Claws of Steel.” It’s annoying to read yet another set of names for the same moves. I am seeing conflicting info about what the manga uses for names online. Really missing the Japanese names but will have to put up with this.
- The “monster of the week” plots are really drawing me in. Most of these are the same as the anime this early, but I am still excited to read and see the drawings. The stakes feel more dangerous with the characters not having all their strengths and skills I remember from later in the series.
- I absolutely love the full dog demon drawings!
- Tessaiga looks really straight. Not sure if this is because it is early on or is the anime just drew it very differently. It takes up whole panels! Excited to see Inuyasha master it!
- For the first date with Hojo, Kagome did not ask Inuyasha to be back by Saturday to go out like in the anime. She just straight up goes back in time and stands him up? It was like 2 panels basically just mocking Hojo’s naivety. This was one of the last chapters in the volume so she could still ask later but I don’t think so. It seems like early evidence that Sunrise added a ton of romantic drama to force the love triangle. The next Volume has Kikyo’s introduction so much more to come on this for sure. 🤣
That’s it for volume 1! I am going to aim for 1-2 volumes a month and will post notes after. My goal is to finish by December 2025 or earlier! Feel free to share anything or join the ride!
So I was totally wrong and she does go put with Hojo in vol. 3. She still is focused in Inuyasha the whole time though. Poor Hojo!
