Inuyasha: The Final Act

[Kevinroc]

http://www.shonensunday.com/anime/index.php?sid=10

Viz is streaming Inuyasha: The Final Act, the 26 episode finale to the franchise which is supposed to cover 21 volumes of manga.

We pick up pretty much exactly where we left off with no recap for people that may have forgotten what has happened in the years since the first series ended. So you best familiarize yourself with a recap or something if you want to jump back in.

[OverMaster]

Wait, only 26 episodes? Butcher-sense, tingling!

Why can't anime makers just take a risk with ongoings anymore? I mean, yeah, we have One Piece and Naruto and Keroro and Doraemon, but those are the notable exceptions.

[Robotech Master]

Watched the first episode.

Pretty good...but holy shit are they streaming through the thing at full speed.

This one episode blasted through stuff that I would have normally thought could take up 5 episodes in 1. Damn it was fast paced. I hope not every episode is this fast moving, otherwise it will take a little getting used to.

They made some weird decisions: for instance, since they skipped Koga vs. Moryoumaru (which happened before the whole Goryomaru thing) they sort of added it in here. Also, they rearranged the chronological occurence of the whole Kohaku, Kagura, Mouryoumaru, Hakudoushi thing so that now Hakudoushi dies before the Mouryoumaru-Sesshoumaru fight, and it looks like Kagura's death and Koga's search for the Goraishi will be taking place simultaneously with this fight (which might mean that Moryoumaru absorbing that snake youkai tribe either won't happen or will again be chronologically swithced up).

[Darth Joker]

Probably would have been better if they had spread it out over two 26-episode seasons. However, it's good to see it get adapted at least.

[HectorP]

That's some trimming.

[Robotech Master]

Yep, they're rushing like crazy. Shit, why didn't they bother to buy 52 episodes and take their time with the pacing?

I just watched ep 2, and talk about drastic changes. Koga now randomly goes after the Goraishi instead of nearly getting killed by a piece of Moryomaru that was wandering around. That little fight was also the introduction of Midoriko's will starting to control the jewel shards to make their wielders easier to be taken. Here that's kinda glossed over.

Moryoumaru finds and just absorbs Meiojuu like that. No staged battle with InuYasha to collect the Kongousouha. No Byakuya introduction yet.

The worst change, IMO, was blending the Sesshomaru vs. Moryoumaru fights. The first was when Moryoumaru tried the absorbtion technique and Sesshoumaru just overloaded him. THe rematch was where Moryoumaru had the armored shell and the Kongousouha.

The first problem I have with this is that in the manga Sesshoumaru got really beat up and humbled. Not just Toukijin breaking, but him getting almost crushed and getting impaled through his stomach. Moryoumaru doesn't seem half as ominous in the Final Act because he now no longer has this feat. Also, the scene where Sesshoumaru gets pissed at hearing Moryoumaru trash talk Kagura now comes Before her death, rather than after it in the manga. It seemed a lot less meaningful in this adaptation, wherein in the manga he had already seen Kagura die, and we didn't know how he felt about that until this key scene, where he erupts and actually manages to cut some of the armor. It was a crowning moment of awesome that the anime just kinda haphazzardly threw in in some form.

Based on the trailer for next week, it looks like they're gonna be a bit more focused with the pacing. But with Sesshoumaru getting the Meidou Zangetsuha, I fear the anime just isn't going to get a proper adaptation of Moryoumaru's fights. Now I'm kinda wondering if the anime is ever going to give him Kongousouha at all.

[KandouErik]

Oh - good, their finally putting this demon-dog to rest.

I swear, I loved this show so much when it began. I watched it for quite a long while - until it finally began to dawn on me: this show isn't ending, is it? They kept getting closer and close to the main villain, but the series never seemed to be coming to a close. That annoyed the heck out of me.

[Robotech Master]

Man, I'm conflicted about the way they're doing things.

I went back over the manga, and counted up. Via numerous skips, some non-sensical combining of multiple events into one event, and total chronological rearrangement of things, they will, by next week, have adapted around 85 Chapters in 6 episodes.