Inuyasha (1998)

[犬夜叉]

Volume 6

Author/Artist: Rumiko Takahashi
Publisher: Shounen Sunday Comics

Synopsis:
Inuyasha must stop a revived Kikyou. A delinquent priest has clues about Inuyasha's mortal enemy. A mass-murdering artist uses the power of a Shikon fragment to create a youkai army.

Story/Characters:
The tragic circumstances that tore Inuyasha and Kikyou apart is powerful stuff and the revived Kikyou provides a lot of delightful complication for much of the story from this point on. This volume also features the introduction of Miroku, a character I like quite a bit. He's a good illustration of how to write a perverted character without making him obnoxious, like the insufferable Happousai. I also like the two sides of his personality, where he can be as crude as Inuyasha but also this well-spoken smooth operator. We first learn about Naraku here and he'll be the bane of our gang's existence for the rest of the series. The Hell artist story feels a bit low-impact, but it's more of a classic horror story in style and it serves to integrate Miroku into the group before the stakes get raised.

Art:
It's really impressive how much emotion is put in many of the frames with Kikyou. The stinger before the story's epilogue is particularly nice. I also like how Takahashi borrows from the classic depictions of the horrors of Hell for the artist story. (Honestly, you can see the influence in most of the youkai designs, but here it's especially pronounced.)

Conclusion:
The chapters with Inuyasha and Kikyou's confrontation alone make the volume worth having, but we also get Miroku's introduction and a decent story to follow it. That makes for a keeper in my book.

Rating:
Own It