the thing about inuyasha (and in some ways naruto — which is the third of this kinda ‘big three’ anime i’ve ever cared about this much or spent the most time with, and with two the quality is outright bad at worst and questionable best) is that plot points just feel very sloppily contrived and disorganized. admittedly i sometimes just am not paying enough attention, but even so, both the obstacles and their solutions seem or frankly are completely random, therefore poorly integrated, explained or justified.
these are just some things that feel like loose threads within.. what, an arc of a mere ten episodes, maybe?: why does an effing random headless otter demon inuyasha and sesshoumaru encounter provide a vague-as-hell yet sorta-turning-point clue to the significance of their father’s grave? why does naraku’s infant get left with a random-ass noblewoman whose castle is almost immediately overrun as the result of naraku’s own meddling? after all these claims there are no ways other than pretty standard concepts (gates and fabricated portals, one that was previously used), a bizarre, and yet again random, bird happens to be a link to the netherworld, and there’s no lore given, it’s just.... yeah behead this demon, as opposed to all these other demons, and you’ll get there. what are all the rules and lore regarding the ‘border between this world and the next,’ and why is it also inu no taisho’s grave, and he has all these connections to the underworld, and seemingly bottomless power, yet we’re still led to believe that though he was a great and fearsome demon, that’s all he was? i do have fun world building on my own explanations — i suppose i should be grateful for that in actuality? — but at the same time it feels unfinished, and to me it seems like most worldbuilding in stories of this caliber that fans undertake has to do with smaller characters and sidequests, but though dead, inu no taisho casts a fantastically large shadow over the entire narrative, consistently having actions and implementing tools that change the course of his sons’ journeys, and therefore defeat the world’s biggest yet-known foe... but we still barely understand his involvement. he prepared so many eerily relevant opportunities for his kids.. could he see the future or is this just, like, retconning? i mean, did he know about the jewel? speaking of, the jewel’s origin/midoriko’s story is a relatively fascinating and arguably pivotal bit of backstory as well, and we get, what, 5 episodes that mention her? more time is spent in the band of seven arc. aside from the smaller side quest foes which are understandably miscellaneous, ones that insanely upgrade the brothers’ powers also seem irritatingly random.
idk i mean i concede a lot of this just results from the pitfalls of all long-form shonens, and i’m also not saying i’d do any better, and i’m also not saying an author is under an obligation to thoroughly delve into every little detail or defend every decision for their rising action, and a large cast is difficult to keep track of and build up to the climaxes all at once; (and, and, and...) there’s all manner of things i concede. but after the delicious food of fmab, which is a vastly intricate world spanning a paragraphs-worth— scratch that, an essays-length list of genres and facets of worldbuilding and threads of backstories for a large cast, it always feels / reads more coherent and contained, finely edited, with arcs and rising action justified and endlessly referred back to, and rules of the universe thoroughly explored (even if a bit over my head in some cases), whether or not it’s woven together with an obviousness or with an amazingly planted subtlety that you must go back to watch to fully appreciate. things feel to more organically culminate — and this is enrapturing storytelling on top of being impressively allegorical to her overall thesis that all life is intricately interconnected; so to are her various arcs and storylines, both in the personal obstacles, experiences and areas of growth for almost every character, many many antagonists included, as well as in the larger scheme of all the protagonists uniting toward their common enemy and threads of side-plot lines all beautifully coming together to completely illuminate the outcome of every mystery and follow through to the conclusion of every ripple-effect reaction.
the final act episodes of inuyasha seem better, and i suppose that’s to be expected of the endgame arc, and to contrast i also do like a lot of the solutions presented here even better than ones retconned or bizarrely conceived in naruto’s ending. it’s just perplexing and fascinating how differently i can find these animes— how wide they stretch in levels of effectiveness in getting across not only the meat of a plot but emotionally developing the characters in addition to satisfyingly presenting/explaining the lore and worldbuilding. and again, i’m not saying this should be easy, or that i could do better — it is amazing at all to do what these storytellers have done — all these stories have reason to be so popular — and almost every creator is valid in their own ways, and i believe all stories are worthwhile and worth my time at one point or another, even if not always worth my respect— and ultimately there are things about inuyasha worth respecting here even beside my critique of a lot, a lot, a lot of issues i take with this one. it certainly is an incredibly creative world, it does have compelling characters, even sometimes a compelling villain, if a little ridiculous sometimes, but perhaps my critique all boils down to this: it really is an embodiment of its subtitle, a feudal fairytale. because fairytales seem to introduce details containing a defensive finality of ‘that’s just the way it is, don’t question it,’ while following a narrative structure that has key elements just like any other, but introducing some more rather bizarre twists and turns, with explanations to things that are vague at best, if they even exist at all.
then again, while being a creative and an avid daydreamer, perhaps my mind is still too close-minded and strategic, resistant to a suspension of disbelief, and therefore in some ways, at odds with the fantasy.
