Episode 178

Kanna's Gravestone is the 11th episode of InuYasha: The Final Act.

Plot
Inuyasha and the group defend themselves from the Mirror Demon; they quickly deduce it can warp reality to make anything it copies authentic while the original is left a poor copy, thus it has stolen all of the Tessaiga's attacks powers. When Inuyasha is sent flying by an attack and recovers, everyone finds that he has turned into his demon form; however, Inuyasha retains his sanity. Inuyasha quickly realises Tessaiga is seeking out his own demonic energy.

Kagome fires an arrow at the mirror demon's neck, but it does nothing. At the same time, a dark crack appears on Kanna's neck. Byakuya inquires what happened, but receives no answer. Inuyasha tries removing the mirror demon's right arm to get back Tessaiga's power; however, the crack he causes heals immediately. At the same time, Kanna's right shoulder cracks; Byakuya realises that Kanna is absorbing all the damage the mirror demon suffers, effectively making the Mirror Demon a walking voodoo doll. Inuyasha yells for Kanna to stop intefering as he has no intenion of killing her.

However, Kanna doesn't listen, getting a crack on straight through her right eye, and loses her right arm along with her left hand. With the Mirror Demon defeated, Inuyasha regains Tessaiga's stolen powers. Kagome and Miroku wonder what will happen to Kanna now that she's of no use to Naraku; he would most likely let her go now that she cannot fight. Kagome tells Kanna she can go whereever she wants now, she's free. Hearing this, Kanna is shocked; however, Naraku telepathicly tells Kanna that she doesn't have freedom, her only job is to kill Inuyasha and his group. At that moment, he shatters Kanna's heart, knowing what will happen.

The cracks in Kanna and the Mirror Demon begins bursting with light as Inuyasha picks up Kagome and rushes away with her. The very moment they flee, Kanna and the Mirror Demon explode, shattering into hundreds of glass shards. One sahrd hits Kagome's eye, allowing Kanna to speak with her. At that moment, Kagome sees defiled Shikon Jewel with a speck of purity in it; Kanna's voice says  "the light will destroy Naraku."

After the explosion, Inuyasha wonders if Kanna wanted to kill them that badly. However, Kagome, having felt Kanna's feelings through her telepathic message, says Kanna wanted to live.

Trivia

 * Naraku destroys Kanna's heart in this episode; however, in the manga, he forced her to explode along with the Mirror Demon. The result is the same, either way; Kanna died by shattering in shards of glass.
 * It would seem the Mirror Demon form of Kanna's mirror is something of a last resort tactic; Naraku never tried using this earlier in the series, most likely because he still had use for Kanna's mirror to spy on his enemies.


 * Although Byakuya outlives her, Kanna lived the longest of all Naraku's incarnations.