InuYasha
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Shibugarasu (屍舞烏, しぶがらす, "Carrion Crow") is a crow demon that had sought the Shikon Jewel and was directly responsible for it being broken it hundreds of fragments.

History[]

Shibugarasu was spying on fifteen-year-old Kagome Higurashi in Kaede's village one night while she was asleep due to her being in possession of the Shikon no Tama. It was soon chased away by Inuyasha.

It later disguised itself using the corpse of a bandit leader and used his minions to kidnap Kagome in order to steal the jewel. He tried to take the jewel and kill her, but had difficulty controlling the bandit's body, swinging his sword wildly, and killing one of his men in the process. In an attempt to get the jewel away from the bandits, Kagome throws it out of the hut. As the bandit is about to kill Kagome, Inuyasha bursts through the wall and saves her. As Inuyasha confronts the bandit, his armor slips and revealed the demonic crow in his chest. It had eaten out his heart and was controlling him. Inuyasha tried to kill the crow but missed. The crow flies out of the hut and grabs the Shikon no Tama. Inuyasha and Kagome start chasing the crow. Kagome tried to shoot the crow with an arrow, but missed. Shibugarasu swallows the Shikon no Tama, causing its body to be transformed due to the power of the jewel. The crow flies towards a riverside village and grabs a boy with its talons. Inuyasha arrives however and slices the crow to pieces with his claws, sending the boy falling into the river. Kagome retrieves the boy, but Shibugarasu begins to reform its body, due to still being in possession of the Shikon no Tama.

One of the crow's feet is still attached to the boy, so Kagome ties an arrow to the foot and fires it at the crow, thinking it will be drawn to the jewel, and hit her target. However, the arrow hits the Shikon no Tama instead, causing a bright light to shine over the countryside, and shattering the jewel into hundreds of tiny shards which go flying in all directions. Later, Inuyasha and Kagome search for the jewel, and the severed head of the demon crow comes flying at Kagome, but Inuyasha intercepts it and destroys it.

Two Shibugarasus appeared on the shoulders of the bull hanyō Gyu-Oh who drove them away.

More than twenty years later, Shibugarasus have appeared in the modern era and were slashed by Osamu Kirin's demonic energy as he saved Mei Higurashi her friend Itsumi from being killed. Osamu believed that they should be extinct five centuries ago as demons that never existed in the Reiwa era have started to appear from the Grim Comet.

More Shibugarasus have come on the roof of Saint Gabriel Academy and they were slain by Osamu's fireball, along with Towa's Energy slash, Setsuna's Muretachi no Tsubame, and Moroha's Iron Reaver Soul Stealer move.

As the hordes of yōkai come, Miroku and Sango's twin daughters Kin'u and Gyokuto stop the four Shibugarasu by Kin'u's sacred sutras on the two crows and Gyokuto use the poison powder on the other two crows.

Powers and abilities[]

  • Corpse possession: It is able to possess a human cadaver after burrowing into their chest, and devouring it's heart.
  • Flight: As a bird, Shibugarasu is able to fly with its wings.
  • Enhanced slashing: With its sharp claws, they can slash flesh with ease.

Manga vs. anime[]

  • In the manga, Shibugarasu spies on Kagome through a window at Kaede's house before it is scared away by Inuyasha throwing a stone at it. In the anime, it is among a murder of crows that are perched on a tree near Kaede's house in order to spy on the Shikon no Tama. Inuyasha arrives and scares them off with his Sankon Tessō attack.
  • The following events take place while Shibugarasu in in possession of the bandit leader:
    • In the manga, the bandit leader is first seen being served sake by one of his minions. In the anime, he is seen just sitting in the shadows.
    • In the manga, the bandit leader takes the Shikon no Tama from Kagome before attempting to kill her. In the anime, he tries to kill her before he tries to take the jewel.
    • In the manga, he kills multiple bandits. In the anime, he only kills one of the bandits that is restraining Kagome.
    • In the manga, Kagome tries to hold off against the bandit leader with a pike she finds after he killed his minions. He slices it in half and is about to kill her before Inuyasha busts a hole through one of the hideout's walls in order to stop him. In the anime, Kagome and the bandits work together by avoiding his attacks. His clumsy movements causes debris to fall on the entrance of their hideout. Everyone else moves away to one of the walls. The leader causes the wall to crack as he attempts to attack again. Kagome then throws the jewel out of the hideout. It causes a distraction in order for the bandits to attempt to break the damaged wall to escape, but they are unsuccessful. As the leader attempts to attack again, Inuyasha enters through the damaged wall.
    • In the manga, his armor is ripped off by Inuyasha. In the anime, his armor falls off his body by itself.
    • In the manga, after it is revealed that Shibugarasu is controlling his corpse, he tries to attack Inuyasha before Inuyasha counterattacks and forces him to leave his host. In the anime, Shibugarasu does not attack Inuyasha before he leaves the corpse.
  • In the manga, Shibugarasu turns into some sort of bat-winged reptile with a large mouth upon transforming, while in the anime it transforms into a much larger crow.
  • In the manga, Kagome rescues Kokichi from Shibugarasu by grabbing him before he hits the ground as he falls. In the anime, Kokichi falls into a river, and Kagome swims in to rescue him.

Trivia[]

  • Its appearance may be based on Yatagarasu from Japanese mythology.
  • Shibugarasu, along with Mistress Centipede and Naraku, are the only characters known to have successfully captured a complete Shikon no Tama.
  • In the English dub, Shibugarasu (through the bandit leader) tells Kagome to give it the "Oni Jewel". This is a mistake in choice of words; "Oni" is the Japanese term for "ogre", and the Shikon Jewel would be more accurately referred to as the "yōkai ("demon") jewel", because its powers are sought by demons.
  • The series Game of Thrones from George R. R. Martin contains a similar creature called Three-Eyed Raven, however it's not evil, nor a villain. Instead it acts as a guide and an ability and title which passes trough generations.
  • A secret of InuYasha is that the corpse dancing bird had seven children in the mountain.

Media appearances[]

Manga

Anime

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