Before he died, the Great Dog Demon bequeathed his two
swords to his two sons: to his oldest Seshomaru the sword of heaven Tensaiga
and to his infant son Inuyasha the sword of Earth Tetsaiga. However, he also possessed a third sword, the
sword of Hell Sounga. It was a sword so
powerful and terrifying that it was deemed neither brother nor any soul could
wield it. But that sword once thought
lost has shown up in a shed in Kagome’s shrine and now it’s reawakened to
destroy life in both the present and the past.
If Sounga and his summoned army from Hell is to be defeated, Inuyasha
and Seshomaru will have to put aside their differences and find the strength in
their hearts to team up and settle their fathers legacy…a task easier said than
done.
Now that is more like it.
This is the kind of movie that Inuyasha was deserving of and should have
been the movie we got from the get go. Inuyasha
3 has all the elements that elevate this film beyond the two part episode
filler that the previous films have been.
There’s a story that matters to the development of the main characters. There’s a conflict that’s much deeper than
dealing with Naraku or any other villain of the week. And there’s some great interaction for the
characters though that really has never been a fault of the films, but it’s
much stronger here.
While Inuyasha and Kagome still get some great couples
moments, both touching and hilarious, this film belongs to Inuyasha and his big
brother Seshomaru. They’re dealing with
more than just their petty sibling rivalry but instead their fathers
legacy. The presence of The Great Dog
Demon (he has no shorter name than that.
If he’s not called Master by his entourage it’s the name in full,
exclusively in that order like “I Am Groot”) is felt throughout the films
despite him only being in a couple of scenes.
He’s the man Seshomaru wanted to defeat because of his power. He’s the father Inuyasha never met but always
wanted to. He’s the friend several
people dedicated their lives to and felt great sadness when he died. And now the darkest part of his past has come
back to bite them all. Still, you can’t
help but feel his influence running through all of the main players of this
film and his respect and admiration is always earned and felt. Such can be seen in the bond between
returning series characters Myoga the Flea and Totosai the Blacksmith and new
character, sheath spirit Saya. All three
are introduced nicely and never feel forced or even annoyingly overused in the
film, a far cry from the pointless new character in Inuyasha 2 whose name I
don’t remember or care to remember.
Speaking of coming back to bite them all, the existence
of a THIRD sword is pretty exciting.
Inuyasha and Seshomaru both received their swords in the series but
never would one suspect there was one so evil and in possession of a great
demon that it was meant to be locked away.
Sadly, Sounga’s menace isn’t much different than much of what we’ve seen
from any other Inuyasha villain of the week.
It’s only his connection to Inuyasha’s father that makes the battle
against him personal. Otherwise,
motivations are pretty much standard: unleash hell and take over the
world. Same goes for Takimaru, the man
who fell in love with Inuyasha’s mother and tried to kill her for falling in
love with a demon and giving birth to his son.
He doesn’t feel like much of a threat nor a guy you could root for when
it comes to falling for Inuyasha’s mother.
He’s more or less a tool for the plot and to give Sounga a body to
control. Again, attempting to make him a
more personal foe for Inuyasha and Seshomaru because of his connection to their
Dad is the only thing that makes him a bit different from most foes.
The action is above and beyond anything we’ve seen before
in Inuyasha. Having Team Inuyasha, The
Great Dog Demons allies and Seshomaru’s crew battle an army of undead means
they have to take on just that…a freaking army of undead nearly invincible
zombies. It’s hack and slash action that
plays more like a PG13 version of Ninja Scroll, fast, furious and occasionally
pretty bloody but it’s epic good fun and fitting of a motion picture. And then of course there’s the main event:
Inuyasha and Seshomaru teaming up. Much
like when I read the JLA/Avengers epic a while back, it’s one thing to see
these brothers battle again, it’s a whole other thing to actually see them
fight alongside each other. These two
make for awesome siblings who can’t stand each other but on the other hand have
an unspoken respect. But let’s face it,
as much as we would like to see Inuyasha get along with his brother, watching
them bicker is great too.
This is the Inuyasha movie I had been waiting for since
the first one. It didn’t feel too long,
most moments never too forced, and the fun feel of the series was preserved
perfectly. In fact I think this film would make great cannon for the series, it
never once felt like a filler arc like the first two films. That’s a pretty impressive feat for this
franchise to accomplish. Well, one more
movie to go and thus the last review of the year. Let’s hope that the last movie can carry on
with the same strength and goodness this movie had in spades.
8/10
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