User blog:HalberdBanryu/Why Inuyasha is so dear to me

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. So I'm going to start this blog with a story. I am part of a little quartet. We're four best friends, three people and myself. And over the summer, we've have been having mini-marathons of our favorite TV shows, Animes, and Movies. Sharing with each other the media that's affected us greatly, and had a crucial impact on our lives. And for me, there are many fictional worlds that are dear to my heart. The Anime FullMetal Alchemist is wonderful, thought provoking, and applies to the struggles of the real world so well. It teaches that there is no such thing as a painless lesson; that in order to make the world a better place, we have to sacrifice our own dreams and move forward as a collective world. I also love the ABC television series LOST. A mesmerizing tale of the struggle between good and evil in all of us, the decisions we make in our everyday lives, how they impact us, and how we all connect through coincidence, fate and destiny.

And Inuyasha. Why does Inuyasha click with me so much? Why is it above all others my absolute favorite show? I am 20 years old. I have favorites movies, favorite novels, favorite pieces of music, but as far as long-term story-lines go, Inuyasha has gripped me for over half of my existence on earth. I saw my first episode on adult swim as a child, and ever since then I've been moved by it. But why? It has no deep theme underneath it like "No one can play god" like Death Note does, or FullMetal Alchemist's theme of equivalent exchange. It doesn't have an incredibly controversial or inspirational story-line. In fact, I think it's really ridiculous and stupid at some points, I can see that with a smile now, in the moments where logic in its universe seems to disappear for no reason just so Takahashi can move the story in a certain direction, but I don't care, I laugh at it amicably. The way it follows such a cliche path for a story, it really is just like a fairy tale in its own right. A boy and girl are forced to work together to repair a mystical item, and along the way they fall in love. All the while, a sinister evil is trying to destroy them and accomplish its malevolent goals. The characters serve their purposes as beloved icons, Inuyasha is Good, Naraku is Evil, Sesshomaru as the indifferent anti-hero, Sango as the worried sibling, Shippo as the useless character who is only for comic relief, Miroku as the sword for justice (but also a pervert), Koga as the one sided lover.... All of these are such cliche characters that have been used over and over in different media... but that's what makes them so loveable, because we feel like we know them. It isn't so convoluted. It's a simple story. My favorite novel is Moby Dick. I know, WTF, right? It has so many undertones, so much symbolism, it's lush with that literary good stuff. And yet Inuyasha has none of those. It's the simple story of friends who come together under a common goal to vanquish a common enemy and to end the curse of the jewel... there isn't much to it but that. And I think that might be what attracts me to it. It doesn't end the plot telling you the flaw of human kind, or how the antagonist has failed and now the world is better. It ends with the characters, the same ones with whom it began, their journey, the Boy and the Girl. The resolution of the struggle within each character and how they've grown, and looking toward the future together. I don't know. I enjoy books like East of Eden and To Kill A Mockingbird, I listen to the music of Beethoven and Handel, and I love human and thought-provoking movies such as Contact and There Will Be Blood. I enjoy depth in what I do, and what I partake in, usually. And yet... For there to be something so rudimentary and seemingly one dimensional, and still leave me moved and sometimes in tears at the end every time, well, it's what makes Inuyasha so dear to my heart. Its simplicity it what makes it so damn beautiful in my eyes.

NO MIROKU, YOU CAN'T! THE SAIMYOSHO'S POISON WILL GET YOU!!! NOW YOUR WINDTUNNEL IS USELESS FOR THE NEXT 500 CHAPTERS!!!! Oh well.