Sesshomaru and Koga: A Dangerous Encounter is the ninety-ninth episode of the InuYasha anime.
Synopsis[]
- While searching for food, Hakkaku, Ginta and their wolves encounter Sesshōmaru and his group; Rin recalls being attacked by these same wolves before and Hakkaku and Ginta flee when they are frightened of Sesshōmaru.
- Hakkaku and Ginta remember who Sesshōmaru is, and Kagome tells them that she thinks he wouldn't hesitate to kill his enemy, much to their dismay.
- As they walk towards a river with Kōga, Hakkaku and Ginta realize that Sesshōmaru is in the direction they are headed; out of fear that Kōga will pick a fight with Sesshōmaru, they attempt to change Kōga's path, but to no avail.
- Sesshōmaru and Kōga do eventually meet one another, though no fierce battle takes place; Kōga explains to his underlings that he has no prior issues with Sesshōmaru, so there would be no reason for them to fight.
Summary[]
Kōga's two traveling companions, Hakkaku and Ginta, come upon Jaken and Rin while looking for fish in a river. Rin recognizes them and the wolves accompanying them as the ones who had attacked her earlier in the series. When Sesshōmaru arrives the wolf demons at first enquire as to who he is, but when they feel his powerful demonic aura, and his overall intimidating demeanor, they flee.
Hakkaku and Ginta finally find Kōga, who is fighting with Inuyasha over Kagome once again. Kōga asks them why they have returned without any food and Kagome gives Kōga a bag of chips, much to Kōga's delight and Inuyasha's annoyance. Ginta and Hakkaku ask Kagome if she knows a demon named "Sesshōmaru", to which she replies that she does know him, he is Inuyasha's brother (this fact frightens them even further). Kagome explains to them that she thinks Sesshōmaru wouldn't hesitate to kill any of his enemies. When they leave Kagome and the others, Kōga insists on heading to the river because the chips are making him thirsty, but his friends try to stop him, because it is the same direction that they saw Sesshōmaru in, and they fear that once Kōga learns of who Sesshōmaru is, he will want to battle with him or worse Sesshōmaru might want revenge on Kōga for what his wolves did to Rin. When Hakkaku and Ginta are unable to convince him to take another path, they run away, insulted and fearful of Sesshōmaru. They eventually return after they realize that Kōga is hunting Naraku to avenge his murdered pack, and that they all must stick together.
They encounter Sesshōmaru and his group, and tell them not to pass, which does not please Sesshōmaru, who tells them to get out of the way. Eventually, after some failed attempts to redirect Sesshōmaru, Kōga appears, much to Hakkaku and Ginta's dismay. Before any kind of confrontation can take place between the two, a demon appears and wants to take Kōga's jewel shards, but Sesshōmaru destroys the demon before it can do so. Moments later, a centipede demon appears and attacks Rin, trying to kill her, but before it can Kōga jumps in and kills the demon, saving Rin's life. After this, the two groups leave without any conflict; neither Kōga nor Sesshōmaru had any interest in a needless or meaningless battle, they only wanted to destroy Naraku.
In the end, Kōga shares his bag of chips that he had gotten from Kagome with Hakkaku and Ginta, because he thinks that Kagome would have wanted him to. Kōga then asks them why they were acting so strange earlier, and they admit that they wanted him to avoid Sesshōmaru at all costs, thinking they would no doubt battle with one another. Kōga says that up until now, he has no issues with Sesshōmaru so there is no reason for them to fight. Hakkaku and Ginta are relieved, which leads Kōga to believe that they think he can't beat Sesshōmaru, he then leaps up off the ground, seemingly to go prove them wrong. Hakkaku and Ginta stop him, however, and no such battle takes place. The episode ends with Kōga running off, saying that this is the day that he will find Naraku; Hakkaku and Ginta are left behind to chase after him, as usual.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
Music[]
- Opening Theme — Grip! — Best of Inuyasha II
- Rin comes across the wolf demons — Shōki — TV OST Vol. 2
- Jaken tells the wolves about Sesshōmaru, who scares them off — Hell Insects, Saimyōshō (Jigoku Mushi Saimyōshō) — TV OST Vol. 2
- Kōga runs into Inuyasha, Ginta and Hakkaku get to Kōga — Osuwari! — TV OST Vol. 1
- Kōga and Inuyasha fight over snack food, Kagome talks about Sesshōmaru — The Three Meddlesome Daughters (Sewayaki Sannin Musume) — TV OST Vol. 3
- Ginta and Hakkaku try to convince Kōga to go a different route from Sesshōmaru — Swordsmith, Tōtōsai (Katanakaji Tōtōsai) — TV OST Vol. 2
- Villagers are impressed by Miroku — Miroku’s Accomplice the Tanuki, Hachiemon (Miroku no Shatei Hachiemon-danuki) — TV OST Vol. 2
- Ginta and Hakkaku run away, they rethink about Kōga — Ryūkotsusei Resurrected (Yomigaeru Ryūkotsusei) — TV OST Vol. 2
- Ginta and Hakkaku detect Sesshōmaru’s scent — Tsubaki the Dark Miko (Kuromiko Tsubaki) — TV OST Vol. 2
- Ginta and Hakkaku try to block the road Sesshōmaru takes — Inuyasha’s Metamorphosis (Hengeshita Inuyasha) — TV OST Vol. 2
- Kōga meets Sesshōmaru — Sign of Unrest (Fuon na Kehai) — TV OST Vol. 1
- Kōga asks Ginta and Hakkaku why they did not want him to meet Sesshōmaru — Searching for the Shikon no Tama (Shikon no Tama o Motomete) — TV OST Vol. 1
- Kōga continues his journey to find Naraku — Yōkai Wolf Tribe Member, Kōga (Yōrōzoku Kōga) — TV OST Vol. 2
- Ending Theme — Shinjitsu no Uta — TV OST Vol. 3
Quotes[]
- Sesshōmaru: (After the centipede demon has been destroyed) "Needless interference."
Kōga: "Feeling's mutual."
Notes[]
- Starting with this episode, the animation of the series experiences a noticeable uptick in quality, as the art is now made with digital ink-and-paint.
- Kōga explains he won't attack Sesshōmaru simply due to him being related to Inuyasha. Unless he's done something personally to anger him, they have no reason to fight.
- It would seem everyone in Inuyasha's group refers to Kagome's modern junk food as "ninja food".
- Ginta states that Kōga has forbidden his tribe from attacking humans, as a means of staying on Kagome's good side. Kōga even goes so far as to save Rin from a centipede demon, simply because she was human.
- Neither Ginta, Hakkaku, nor Kōga remember Sesshōmaru after seeing him in Episode 77 and listening to Royakan talk about him. Hakkaku, however, recognizes Sesshōmaru's face, and Ginta remembers hearing his name somewhere (i.e. Royakan). This is likely a reference to Episode 77, where they saw Sesshōmaru from afar while he battled the Panther tribe, but never actually met him in-person. While Royakan could have identified Sesshōmaru for them, he was unconscious at the time. Therefore, they had heard the name "Sesshōmaru" before, but never connected the name with a face. Kōga, however, does not seem to have any recollection of either seeing or hearing of Sesshōmaru before, despite being present at the exact same battle as his two henchman, although Kōga has been known to be forgetful sometimes.
- This marks the first time Kōga and Sesshōmaru formally meet, as well as the first time in the anime that two members of the supporting protagonists (outside of Inuyasha's group) meet (which excludes when Rin eavesdrops on Kōga's execution of a jewel shard thief in Episode 35, as well as when Kōga's group watches Sesshōmaru fight the Panther Tribe [as mentioned above]).
- While this is the first time two supporting protagonists meet for the first time in the anime, Sesshōmaru had met Kikyō in Affections Touching Across Time. In the anime, Sesshōmaru would meet Kikyō again in Episode 116 (61 episodes after the first film's release); Kōga would not meet Kikyō until Episode 173.