Episode 10

Phantom Showdown: The Thunder Brothers vs. Tetsusaiga is the tenth episode of the InuYasha anime. It first aired in Japan on December 18, 2000.

Plot
It begins when Manten is riding a floating carriage pulled by a Pegasus with two lovely girls by him for his hair. When his hair falls out, the girls flee. Manten falls off his bed realizing it was just a dream. Meanwhile, Inuyasha seeks out the Thunder Brothers to rescue Kagome, and before long Inuyasha is battling against Hiten. Manten attends to give Hiten a hand but Kagome pushes him off the cloud including herself. she lands on Manten. Just as Manten to kill Kagome, Shippo uses his Spinning top illusion to stop him.

When the illusion faded the last piece of Manten's head falls out which makes him even angrier than before. Kagome got an idea for Shippo uses his shape-changing tricks to transform himself into an illusion of herself to trick Manten into thinking he is her, so Kagome can attack him. When Manten gets Shippo thinking he is Kagome by the hair, Shippo uses his hair to tangle Manten down. Kagome then yanks the arrow out of Manten's nose. Just when Kagome gets ready to strike his head to get the shards, Manten overpowers them, before proceeding to choke Kagome. Inuyasha hears her cries of help and tries to get to her, however Hiten wounds him on his shoulder with his weapon during his short distraction. Hiten gets Inuyasha down to the ground and give him a choice on who to die first; him or his friends. Hiten then asks Manten what he wants to do with them; Manten answers that he's fine with Kagome and Shippo on his end. Inuyasha then grabs Tessaiga and throws it, missing Hiten. Hiten expresses how he is not impressed with his throw, but Inuyasha asks himself if he got his target just as the sword impales Manten's body fatally wounding him. Kagome is released from his grasp, and gets Shippo and Tessaiga, but Shippo wants her to get his father's fur. But she can't carry them both.

Hiten hurries to Manten who tells him how he inherited his mother's appearance, and Hiten inherited their father's hair. Hiten loves his brother, but Manten tells him that he'd rather be reborn as bald if he meant being his brother before he dies from his wound. Inuyasha then makes sure that Kagome and Shippo are okay and Kagome apologizes since she couldn't get Tessaiga when they were caught in the blast from Manten's attack. Hiten, furious for his brother's death, devours Manten to absorb his powers and his shards and pursues Inuyasha to avenge his brother. Myoga comes out of nowhere and Inuyasha is asking about his disappearance. Hiten, now more powerful than he was, attacks the group. Inuyasha orders Kagome to get away from him for his battle for her and Shippo's safety. Hiten make a lightning Ball and shoots it at Inuyasha. Since he can't avoid the attack, Myoga tells him to use the sheath to block it, and which works since the sheath keeps the Tessaiga in check for it can even repel a lightning bolt attack. Inuyasha believe he can defeat Hiten with the sheath, but Hiten attacks from behind him. Shippo wakes up in his father's fur and Kagome tells him what happened.

Hiten and Inuyasha continue battle and Kagome realizes that Hiten uses his wheel to fly. Shippo transforms into what appears to be somewhat of a snail however, he reveals that he is, in fact, a bow so Kagome can use her arrow to take aim at Hiten's wheel. She and Shippo manage to destroy one of the wheels and Inuyasha grabs the Thunder Pike. Myoga, all of sudden, is right by Kagome and Shippo. Inuyasha throws away the sheath and punches Hiten before quickly going for the sheath, but it begins to crack. Shippo runs off to get the sword and Kagome goes after him with his father's fur. Hiten, seeing this, blows them away with Manten's lightning that comes out of his mouth. Kagome and Shippo then are blown onto the ground as fire consumes the ground along with them.

Inuyasha, believing them to be dead, becomes enraged and headbutts Hiten. Hiten then believes he Inuyasha where he wants him. The sheath then pulses calling the Tessaiga to it. Inuyasha grabs his sword and slashes Hiten in the middle killing him, leaving the five shards on the ground. However, Inuyasha doesn't care about them wishing he could have saved Kagome and Shippo instead. Kagome and Shippo suddenly appear in a green fog and Myoga believes it is their dead souls coming to bid Inuyasha goodbye before crossing over, but Inuyasha openly says he doesn't want want them to leave and grabs Kagome arm, surprising her. The green fog then shoots up into the air and Inuyasha screams Kagome's name before realizing the two are still there. Shippo looks out to the sky thanking his father for saving them; it being revealed he used the remains of his powers to protect them from the fire. Inuyasha, embarrassed to have shown more emotion than he usually does, quickly turns around away from Kagome who is confused about what his problem is.

In the end of the episode, Kagome insists to know why Inuyasha is upset. Myoga then explains that Inuyasha is ashamed to have believe that Kagome and Shippo were dead and in a moment of grief showed more emotion than he bargained for. Shippo tags along with them saying that since he's now orphan he cannot get by in the world; which Inuyasha reluctantly agrees to. Inuyasha then makes fun of him and Kagome hits him on the head, demanding he apologize to Shippo.

Trivia

 * The title of the episode borrows some of the words used in the titles of the three-part search for Tessaiga, "Tessaiga", "phantom", and "showdown".
 * This marks the first time Inuyasha has used the sheath of Tessaiga for defense.
 * It is ironic that Kagome calls Manten a coward for ganging up on Inuyasha, and then later gangs up on him with Shippō.
 * This is the first time an antagonist dies a sympathetic death. It's also the first time antagonists are shown to possess positive qualities; in this case, Hiten and Manten's brotherly love, and Hiten's maddened grief over losing his kid brother.

Die Donnerbrüder gegen Tessaiga