Inuyasha was one of my first anime series. Although I bought three or four volumes of the manga, I’m far more familiar with the anime due to years of having watched (and recorded) the episodes on Adult Swim. In fact, I remember wearing out a copy of a fansubbed bootleg VHS of the first three episodes that a friend gave me before the anime had even aired in the States. Yeah, Inuyasha and I go way back!
As much as I love the anime, however, the Inuyasha movies are hit-or-miss for me. The first one is okay. The second one is good. The fourth one is boring. And the third one? Well, that one is anime movie gold! Swords of an Honorable Ruler gives a few more details about Inuyasha’s parents, which I had been wanting for a long time.
Here’s the summary from the DVD case:
Many years ago, the Great Dog Demon wielded the Three Swords of the fang. Upon his death, he bequeathed a sword to each of his sons, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, leaving the third sword, the wrath-filled Sounga, locked away forever. Now that the Sounga’s power has been awakened, these two battling brothers must put away their sibling rivalry and face off against a force that spells doom for all mankind.
The Sesshoumaru Flashback
The movie begins with a flashback to the night that Inuyasha was born and his father, the Great Dog Demon, died.
A teenaged Sesshoumaru, who is Inuyasha’s older half-brother and a full-blooded demon, has what turns out to be his final conversation with his father on the beach. Aside from being Inuyasha’s literal birth day, this is the same day that the Great Dog Demon fights and seals Ryuukotsusei, a powerful dragon-like demon that Inuyasha slays in the future.
Sesshoumaru asks his father, who is visibly beaten up and has blood streaming down his arm, if he’s “really going.” Going where? Apparently, the Great Dog Demon is in a hurry to rescue Izayoi, Inuyasha’s mother, who is in trouble.
Is Sesshoumaru concerned? Maybe. He does have a habit of saying things that mean the opposite of how he actually feels. However, this inquiry is more about Sesshoumaru making sure that his father stays alive so that he can challenge him one day and prove that he’s the baddest baddie around. Can’t do that if the man dies, right?
It also exposes the top reason why Sesshoumaru hates Inuyasha: he believes that the Great Dog Demon would have lived if he hadn’t gone off to rescue Izayoi and Inuyasha that night. We (the viewers) know that this isn’t the case. On the way to save Izayoi, the Great Dog Demon himself reveals to his right-hand flea Myouga that he’s “not long for this world.” Ryuukotsusei fatally wounded him, so he knows that seeing a doctor would be useless.
Since Sesshoumaru sees this as a suicide mission, he demands that the Great Dog Demon give him the Tessaiga and his other sword, the Sounga. Instead of answering one way or the other, the Great Dog Demon asks his son, “Do you have someone to protect?” Of course, Sesshoumaru tells him that he’s all about the power and he doesn’t care about that kind of stuff.
And there’s the second reason why Sesshoumaru hates Inuyasha: he’s mad that his dad left him the Tenseiga, which is (ostensibly) a healing sword, while Inuyasha got the Tessaiga, a fighting sword. I suspect that this conversation influenced the Great Dog Demon’s decision.
The Great Dog Demon’s reasoning when it comes to his swords is fascinating to me. He seems like a dude who had a solid reason for everything he did. Therefore, he gives each of his sons the sword he feels they will need the most.
Inuyasha needs the Tessaiga to protect himself and the humans the Great Dog Demon knows Inuyasha will hang out with one day. Maybe he even guesses that Inuyasha will have to defend himself from his own brother. During their conversation, the Great Dog Demon also asks Sesshoumaru (jokingly?) if he will kill him if he doesn’t give him the swords. That the Great Dog Demon asks the question at all suggests that he believes Sesshoumaru would do it. That Sesshoumaru doesn’t answer suggests that he’s probably thinking about it.
Orโฆdoes Sesshoumaru’s silence come from being genuinely shocked that the Great Dog Demon believes him capable of patricide? Now, I can be a tad biased when it comes to Sesshoumaru. I used to have a huge crush on that beautiful badass. But I don’t think he’s quite that evil. Despite everything, he seems to have a personal honor code of sorts. Ever notice that he tends to give humans a chance to retreat before he kills them? Killing his severely injured father over his swords would be a code violation.
While Sesshoumaru may not be totally evil, he’s definitely no angel. That’s why the Great Dog Demon gives him the Tenseiga, to teach him a lesson in humility. He needs to learn how to care about other people, especially humans. If he can overcome his prejudices, then he can be trusted with the sword’s combative abilities.
Presumably disappointed with his son’s lack of answers and abundance of attitude, the Great Dog Demon shifts into his full demon form and flies away, leaving Sesshoumaru alone on the beach. Sesshoumaru scoffs at the entire exchange, asserting that he doesn’t need anybody.
This conversation will come back to haunt Sesshoumaru several times over the course of this movie.
The Inuyasha Flashback
Sesshoumaru’s flashback scene transitions into one about Inuyasha and Izayoi. Izayoi’s head soldier, Takemaru of Setsuna, has apparently taken her hostage in a castle (hers?) while she’s in labor. Takemaru is in love with her. He feels that she has sullied herself by hooking up with a demon—when she could’ve had a swell human guy like him—so he kills her. I guess he views it as a mercy killing.
How did this situation come together? The movie doesn’t offer any details. It looks like Takemaru takes control of the castle while the Great Dog Demon is fighting Ryuukotsusei, knowing that word will get back to him and Takemaru can kill him when he comes to rescue Izayoi.
Izayoi knows what’s going on because she tells Takemaru to tell the soldiers to stand down against the Great Dog Demon, but I’m not sure if she fully understands Takemaru’s role in things. She certainly doesn’t expect him to stab her with his spear.
Not long after that, the Great Dog Demon bombards the castle with a Wind Scar attack. Dude is a force to be reckoned with! As Izayoi warned, the human soldiers surrounding the palace are no match for him—he takes out a big chunk of them. He rushes to Izayoi’s side and brings her back to life with the Tenseiga. At some point after the stabbing, Izayoi gave birth to Inuyasha, who is crying his little heart out in the background.
Takemaru, who is big mad that the Great Dog Demon cut off his arm on the way in, orders the soldiers to burn down the castle. Then he follows the Great Dog Demon into Izayoi’s room for another go-round. The Great Dog Demon gives Izayoi his fireproof firerat robe for protection—this will become part of Inuyasha’s iconic red ensemble—and tells her what to name their newborn. With that, Izayoi flees into the forest as the castle burns to the ground with the Great Dog Demon and Takemaru still fighting inside.
Initially I was baffled by the fact that neither of Inuyasha’s parents says “goodbye” or “I love you” in those final moments. When I got older, I realized that words aren’t necessary for them. Izayoi knows that the Great Dog Demon loves her because he comes to her aid and is willing to spend his last moments on Earth fighting Takemaru so she can escape with their son. Meanwhile, Inuyasha’s very existence shows how much Izayoi loves the Great Dog Demon.
Let’s Talk About the Sounga
We first catch a glimpse of this “new” sword, the Sounga, when the Great Dog Demon fires it up during his final moments with Takemaru. However, we are not properly introduced to it until we get back to the current timeline.
Here’s the lowdown: while the Tessaiga and the Tenseiga are both somewhat sentient swords that represent Earth and Heaven respectively, the Sounga is a demon-possessed sword that represents Hell. In fact, it can literally open a portal to Hell, and its signature move, the Dragon Twister, supposedly involves summoning a real dragon from the underworld. It can also create zombies from people and demons that its wielder kills. The catch is that it needs a host body.
Nobody knows where the Sounga comes from. Toutousai, who made the Tessaiga and Tensaiga, says he didn’t make it and that the Great Dog Demon had had the sword for a long time. Inuyasha’s partner Kagome’s grandfather says that one of their ancestors found it in the Bone Eater’s Well. Their family believes that the Sounga is “the magical sword that Prince Susano-Oh found inside the beast, Yamata no Orochi, which he slew” based on the fact that they were (incorrectly) reading the kanji on the sheath as “Murakamo.” While this origin story is based on Japanese mythology, it’s as good an answer as any, given the sword’s powers, the Great Dog Demon’s age, and the fantasy elements of the series.
Myouga, Toutousai, and Saya, the Great Dog Demon’s closest subjects, sealed the Sounga and threw it into the Bone Eater’s Well after his death. The Great Dog Demon kept the sword in check and out of evil hands while he was alive, but they didn’t know what to do with it in his absence.
Saya, the spirit that inhabits the Sounga’s sheath, agreed to keep watch over it. They thought the seal would hold for at least 700 years, but the time differences caused by the supernatural nature of the Bone Eater’s Well shortened the duration to about 200 years. So, now.
On this particular day, Kagome’s grandfather, mother, and younger brother, Souta, decide to air out the Sounga in their temple. Souta runs his hand over Saya’s emblem on the Sounga’s sheath, which awakens him. Unfortunately, the Sounga wakes up too. The sword flies out of the temple and into the city to look for a victim.
The Sounga Picks a Host
Inuyasha is visiting Kagome in the Modern Era when the Sounga finds them in a park. Saya tells Inuyasha that he has to grab the sword because only a demon can handle it. Apparently, humans are so greedy that we surpass demons on the evil scale and the Sounga wants to take full advantage of that. The Sounga is good with Inuyasha as its host since Inuyasha is half-demon and the son of its former master.
The second Inuyasha touches the Sounga, it sinks tentacles into his arm to prevent him from releasing it. Then it possesses Inuyasha. Inuyasha can’t control the sword. It just wants to kill everybody it comes across. He returns to the Feudal Era with the sword to minimize the damage, but the Sounga finds plenty of new targets in Inuyasha’s friends and the nearby villagers.
When the Sounga tries to force Inuyasha to kill a woman and her baby, the baby’s crying jars Inuyasha back into control. A baby represents purity and innocence, the exact opposite of everything the Sounga represents. Inuyasha’s humanity, however, would never let him harm such a vulnerable creature. That’s how he breaks the Sounga’s hold to allow Miroku and Sango, Inuyasha’s friends, a moment to usher the woman away from him.
Then he destroys the village and the surrounding area with the Dragon Twister and kills a bunch of demons to temporarily drain the sword’s energy and satiate its murder urge.
Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru Fight
Eventually, Sesshoumaru rolls up. He recognized the Sounga’s power signature when Inuyasha returned to the Feudal Era with the sword and tracked its location (thanks to the Tenseiga). He tells Inuyasha that he wants the Sounga. Inuyasha quips that Sesshoumaru can have it if he can take it—since the sword is still attached to his arm. Sesshoumaru accepts the challenge.
At this point, Inuyasha doesn’t give a flying fig that the sword once belonged to his father. He’s just freaked out and wants the damned thing off. He already knows what Sesshoumaru flat out states: he’s not strong enough to wield the Sounga. Maybe he hopes that Sesshoumaru knows some kind of trick that can help him. Sadly, Sesshoumaru’s only interested in obtaining the sword.
Why does Sesshoumaru even want the Sounga? He knows its evil. He’s literally looking at its effect on Inuyasha. And he doesn’t care! Not surprising since the Tokijin, the sword that he had made for himself, is evil and he’s cool with that. Doesn’t it occur to him that he might not be strong enough to handle it either? I guess he figures that if his father was strong enough to wield it, then so is he. He’s still competing with his father.
More importantly, it’s an opportunity to balance the scales and get one of the Great Dog Demon’s swords that isn’t “useless.” Sesshoumaru jealously says to Inuyasha, “Don’t tell me that another one of father’s swords chose you?” Since he can’t have the Tessaiga, he’ll take this piece of his father’s legacy.
Because of his hubris, Sesshoumaru’s not prepared for how much stronger Inuyasha is under the Sounga’s influence. It has forced Inuyasha into his full demon form, which is crazy strong. To make matters worse, the sword starts talking to both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, messing with their heads and fanning the flames of their rivalry to make them kill each other.
Sesshoumaru has no choice but to draw the Tessaiga from Inuyasha’s belt to defend himself. In retaliation, the Sounga points Inuyasha in Rin and Jaken’s direction. Sesshoumaru charges after Inuyasha double time, clearly intending to kill Inuyasha with his poison claws to save the little girl that travels with him and his right-hand demon.
Kagome steps in and yells her “Sit!” command at Inuyasha. The Beads of Subjugation and the Sounga struggle against each other for dominance over Inuyasha. Kagome yells the command a second time and grabs Inuyasha around the waist to help pull him down. The Beads of Subjugation win, and Inuyasha slams to the ground out of Sesshoumaru’s reach.
Unfortunately, the necklace explodes from the force of the struggle, the beads shooting every which way. The explosion sends the Sounga flying through the air somewhere.
Kagome’s Worries
Like the meaning of the Great Dog Demon’s final words to Sesshoumaru, the Beads of Subjugation necklace becomes another topic that repeatedly comes up.
The first instance occurs in the scene before the Sounga finds Inuyasha and Kagome. The two discuss how often she uses the necklace against him. Inuyasha says, “Can’t you do something about the Beads of Subjugation? If you keep telling me to ‘Sit,’ my body won’t hold up.” As funny as it’s been to watch the necklace create tons of Inuyasha-shaped craters over the years, especially when he technically deserves it, I’ve never thought about how humiliating and painful it must be for him. Why would he want to wear the necklace anymore in the face of that?
For her part, Kagome hasn’t realized that Inuyasha feels this way either. She says, “Do I say ‘sit’ that often?” GIRL, YES! Very few episodes go by where she doesn’t use the command on him. There’s probably a TikTok compilation out there of the hundreds of times she’s done it. The conversation ends there because the Sounga appears.
The subject comes up again after the Beads of Subjugation explode. Kagome doesn’t regret using the “Sit!” command to save Inuyasha’s life, but she does fret about how the loss of the necklace will affect her relationship with Inuyasha. Kagome feels that the necklace is what keeps her connected to Inuyasha.
This is an interesting take, and one that I blame on the vagueness of Inuyasha and Kagome’s relationship status. Unlike Miroku and Sango, who are unquestionably a couple almost from day one, Inuyasha and Kagome operate in this gray area where they kinda are and kinda aren’t together. They act like a couple, and they obviously care about each other, but they both pretend like there’s nothing romantic between them.
Maybe their ages make it difficult for them to cop to their feelings for each other. Or maybe the monkey wrench that is Kikyo makes it hard for either of them to know exactly where they stand with each other. The Beads of Subjugation necklace is a solid, easily defined link between them. They are a visible sign that Inuyasha “belongs” to Kagome.
Moreover, the necklace is Kagome’s only leverage over Inuyasha. She’s not as physically strong as him, and she can’t stop him from running off every five minutes. She alludes to this issue when he goes back to the Feudal Era with the Sounga without consulting her. She screams into the air, “Trying to do everything yourself! Why can’t you rely on me a bit more?!” However, she can say a word that will slam him into the ground whenever she wants. That somewhat evens the playing field.
In the after-credits scene, Kagome tricks Inuyasha into putting on the reassembled necklace again. She tells him to close his eyes for a surprise and slips it on him. Not cool. Inuyasha rightly calls it out as a lack of trust. She knew he wouldn’t be able to take the necklace off after the fact. He didn’t get a choice about wearing the necklace in the first place, and now here he is, stuck wearing it again.
Yes, he deserved the necklace in the beginning because his motives couldn’t be trusted. But he has matured a lot since then. They don’t have to worry about him stealing the Shikon Jewel anymore. When Inuyasha voices his frustrations about the trickery, Kagome replies, “I trust you. But I don’t want you going off alone again.”
At the end of the day, there are pros and cons to the Beads of Subjugation necklace. It has saved Inuyasha’s life on multiple occasions and it keeps Inuyasha’s demon side (and his bad attitude) in check.
At the same time, there’s no ignoring the uncomfortable master/slave relationship that lies beneath their romantic one because of that necklace. Let’s face it—Kagome uses the necklace to control Inuyasha like a literal dog. That’s not healthy.
Inuyasha and Kagome needed to have a serious conversation about how and why the Beads of Subjugation are used. That doesn’t happen.
Takemaru Returns
The next time we see the Sounga, it has taken control of a random demon that had the misfortune of passing by where the sword landed by a river after the explosion. It goes to the site of the Great Dog Demon and Takemaru’s final battle, which is where Takemaru is buried.
Using Sesshoumaru’s arm that Inuyasha cut off in the anime’s first season—that happens to be located nearby, hasn’t rotted yet, and is on the same side as the one that Takemaru lost—the Sounga raises Takemaru as his new host body. Then it kills a bunch of soldiers, raises them as a zombie army, and waits for Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru to show up.
Why does the Sounga choose Takemaru as its host? It liked the results it got with Inuyasha and his mixed blood. With a demon arm and a human body, Takemaru becomes demon enough that he can wield the sword effectively but human enough that the Sounga can easily control him and exploit the kernel of lingering resentment that he has towards the Great Dog Demon and Izayoi to create chaos. Thus, it’s often unclear who’s really in control, the man or the sword.
Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru Fight (Again)
Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru both end up at the burial site despite having set off to find the Sounga independently. Inuyasha doesn’t know who Takemaru was or the significance of his disturbed grave. Sesshoumaru, on the other hand, immediately recognizes that none of this means anything good.
Then they proceed to Round Two of their fight. They use the Tokijin and Tessaiga’s special moves, the Dragon Strike and the Backlash Wave respectively, against each other. The Tokijin unexpectedly prevails when the two blasts meet. Even Inuyasha seems surprised when the Backlash Wave fails. I’m guessing that he hasn’t fully recovered from the Sounga’s possession.
Thankfully, Inuyasha uses the Tessaiga’s sheath to protect himself from the blast. This is the third time Inuyasha is saved by an outside force—first by the crying baby, then by Kagome and the Beads of Subjugation, and now by the sheath’s barrier. These moments seemingly exist to highlight Inuyasha’s humanity. He is very strong, but like all people, he still needs the occasional assist.
Sesshoumaru takes off when he’s not able to kill Inuyasha. He hilariously says, “I failed at killing him” in the most nonchalant tone ever. You know what? Sesshoumaru’s not trying that hard to kill Inuyasha. If he really wanted Inuyasha dead, he’d be dead. Let’s be serious.
My theory is that even though Sesshoumaru still thinks of the Great Dog Demon as his rival, his Inuyasha has become his true rival. Sesshoumaru tests himself against Inuyasha through their little squabbles. Inuyasha keeps him on his toes, constantly surprising him with his growing strength. He couldn’t have predicted what a formidable adversary Inuyasha would become given his disdain for humans and half-demons.
There’s also the family reputation angle to consider. Just as Inuyasha (unknowingly) tests Sesshoumaru, Sesshoumaru (unconsciously) tests Inuyasha to make sure that he honors their father’s memory. He tells Inuyasha, “You are not fit to wield the Sounga or the Tessaiga! The fact that Father’s blood flows through your veins is unforgivable!” I’ve never forgotten that mean comment Sesshoumaru once made about Inuyasha swinging the Tessaiga around like a Neanderthal either. He says this stuff in anger, not because he actually means it. The result is the same: Inuyasha gets mad and ups his game.
This fight is included in the movie for foreshadowing purposes. Later on, the sheath barriers and the dueling sword blasts will be important plot points.
The Castle Showdown
So, everyone makes it to the castle. While Kagome, Miroku, and Sango discuss the best strategy for taking on the zombie army, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru just jump in and start fighting.
They quickly discover that the zombies are indestructible. No matter how many times they slice and dice them, the zombies pull themselves back together. Fire—courtesy of Toutousai, Kirara (Sango’s demon cat), Jaken’s two-headed staff, and Miroku’s holy sutures—work well. So do Kagome’s sacred arrows.
The problem is that these are all finite resources and the group is grossly outnumbered. Miroku counts at least 2,000 zombies out there. It doesn’t take long for the gang to lose control of the situation. This turns out to be the Sounga/Takemaru’s plan, to tire them out and let them be overwhelmed before they can reach it/him.
During the battle, Sesshoumaru loses the Tenseiga. Rin runs to pick it up for him. The Sounga/Takemaru orders a demon flunkie to kidnap Rin and Kagome, who is trying to protect her. Sesshoumaru often says that he doesn’t care about Rin, but when something happens to that little girl, he loses his crap. This time is no exception. And Inuyasha, well, we all know that saving Kagome is practically his part-time job.
While I wouldn’t call it working together, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru fight through the zombies back-to-back. In an extremely Sesshoumaru-like move, Sesshoumaru uses the distraction from one of Inuyasha’s attacks as an opportunity to leap over most of the zombies.
Inuyasha is pissed. He’s left to defend himself until the rest of his crew shows up. Miroku clears a path for him using his Wind Tunnel, sucking up tons of zombie soldiers even though he knows they are poisonous to him.
It’s a weird contrast. Miroku is willing to risk his own life to help Inuyasha, and Kagome by extension, whereas this is the second time that Sesshoumaru has truly been willing to sacrifice Inuyasha when Rin is in danger. Or is this a backhanded compliment, a subtle vote of confidence that Inuyasha won’t fall to the zombies? Ugh, I give that man way too much credit.
Rescue and Regroup
The Sounga convinces Takemaru that Kagome and Rin are as bad as Izayoi because they hang out with Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru: “Females who share an affinity with demons are all Izayoi.” The sword must have picked up on Takemaru’s bigoted and misogynist feelings.
Thus, Takemaru follows those feelings to the same conclusion as before. He decides to kill the girls. Just as he’s about to bring the Sounga down on Rin, Sesshoumaru slides in and blocks him. Sesshoumaru tells the girls to go so he can freely fight Takemaru. As they leave, Rin places the Tenseiga on the ground near Sesshoumaru.
Right away, Sesshoumaru notices that Takemaru is “wearing” his arm. When he points it out, Takemaru sarcastically asks him if he wants it back. The Sounga thinks it will be funny for Takemaru to kill Sesshoumaru with his own arm. Ha. Sesshoumaru’s not amused.
Sesshoumaru loses the Tokijin during the fight. Jeez, he is forever losing that sword! He can’t get to it, so he picks up the Tenseiga. Taking a cue from the Sounga’s book, Sesshoumaru sees it as a fitting option since Takemaru hated the Great Dog Demon so much. Additionally, Sesshoumaru figures that the Tenseiga should be able to kill Takemaru since he’s technically dead.
It doesn’t work. The Sounga pulls Takemaru’s body back together when Sesshoumaru slices him in half.
Inuyasha’s Stubbornness
Inuyasha finally reaches Kagome and saves her from a demon that’s attacking her and Rin. Then Saya tells him how to defeat the Sounga: he and Sesshoumaru have to combine the powers of their swords. Neither sword is strong enough to win on its own, but when the Tessaiga and the Tenseiga are near the Sounga, its power weakens enough that they can overpower it together.
Inuyasha absolutely refuses to do this. In the subtitles, Kagome tells him to “defer to [Sesshoumaru],” which suggests that she wants Inuyasha to play up Sesshoumaru’s seniority over him to get him to play along. Sesshoumaru’s egotistical enough to fall for that kind of talk. Plus, Sesshoumaru would love to hear Inuyasha lower himself in that way.
Inuyasha sees this as admitting that Sesshoumaru is better than him, though. Combining their powers is admitting that he’s not strong enough to defeat the Sounga by himself (despite the fact that neither of them can). That’s a no-go. Inuyasha’s not going to kowtow to Sesshoumaru in any way, for any reason. Kagome curses his stubbornness, not for the first or last time, and takes off with Rin to rejoin the others.
With that, Inuyasha bursts into the room where Sesshoumaru and Takemaru are fighting. Sesshoumaru gets irritated. Inuyasha is in his way. Thus begins this ridiculous tug-of-war between Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru for who’s going to kill Takemaru. They’re literally jumping in front of each other and shoving while trading blows with Takemaru. It’s so childish.
Ultimately, Inuyasha is the one who defeats Takemaru. Inuyasha tells him that his strength comes from his mother and the human traits she gave him, like his refusal to quit. The mention of Izayoi breaks the Sounga’s hold on Takemaru. He revisits his memories of her and realizes that she did care about him, just not romantically. He also says that he never hated her and still doesn’t—though it’s hard believe that when he literally killed her because of his jealousy. With that, he dissolves into bones.
It’s nice to see that Inuyasha has finally accepted himself. He spent so much time wanting to be fully demon or fully human. Now he understands that there’s nothing wrong with being both. Demons and humans have their strengths and weaknesses. He can use his knowledge of his heritage to his advantage.
The Sounga 2.0
The Sounga doesn’t need Takemaru’s body after all. Using Sesshoumaru’s arm again, it makes a bizarre-looking vessel that has an armor-covered upper body, legs, and arms but no neck or head. From there, it opens a portal to Hell that will suck Earth in. Because the walls are down between the worlds, the souls from Hell begin to pour out and attempt to lure in the humans. Kagome, Miroku, Sango, and Rin are all affected until Saya erects a barrier that staves off the worst of the unpleasant effects.
Meanwhile, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru continue to fight the Sounga and each other. Kagome leaves the barrier’s safety to appeal to the brothers to work together. Inuyasha refuses again; Sesshoumaru ignores her. Sesshoumaru loses the Tokijin again, so he uses his whip and claws until he’s forced to pull the Tenseiga. Again. Inuyasha keeps firing useless Backlash Wave attacks. It’s a hot mess all around.
There’s a fascinating moment where the Sounga fires a blast at Sesshoumaru that he can’t dodge in time. As Inuyasha did during their fight, Sesshoumaru uses the Tensaiga’s barrier to protect himself. Afterwards, Miroku remarks to Sango, “It seemed to me that Sesshoumaru also protected Inuyasha.” Yes, Sesshoumaru did in fact cast the barrier wide enough to cover Inuyasha. See? He doesn’t really want Inuyasha dead.
Furthermore, Sesshoumaru’s actions raise a new important question: what if the Great Dog Demon wasn’t just asking Sesshoumaru if he had someone to protect to see which sword he deserved? What if he had considered asking Sesshoumaru to look after baby Inuyasha (and possibly Izayoi) but changed his mind because of Sesshoumaru’s response?
Imagine what Inuyasha’s life would have been like if Sesshoumaru had supported him while he was growing up. He could have taken Inuyasha under his wing and trained him, especially after Izayoi died. He did it with Rin, so why not with his own little brother? Given Sesshoumaru’s power-hungry goals, however, Inuyasha would likely have become a very different person and probably not a good one.
Anyway, the Sounga mocks Inuyasha for repeatedly shooting off the Backlash Wave when he knows that it won’t work. Inuyasha reminds it that his human side won’t let him give up.
Inuyasha’s words trigger something in Sesshoumaru. The Tenseiga begins to shake in his hands—a sign that it’s trying to tell him something. He once again recalls his father’s question, “Do you have someone to protect?” Memories of Rin and Jaken flash in his mind as the words echo. Naturally, he rejects the very clear answer to the question, yelling, “I, Sesshoumaru, have no one to protect!” as he shoots off a blast from the Tenseiga that combines with Inuyasha’s latest Backlash Wave in time to defeat the Sounga.
Why does Sesshoumaru refuse to admit that he cares about Rin and Jaken? I repeat: his words and actions don’t always match up. He doesn’t know how to deal with his feelings. He doesn’t even want to admit to having weaknesses in the form of those two. What if he isn’t able to save them one day? It must be a terrifying thought for someone like Sesshoumaru who’s used to being in control and all-powerful.
On top of that, he has always associated emotions with humans. Maybe he feels like he’s going soft. Demons aren’t supposed to have feelings. There’s a moment where Takemaru says to Sesshoumaru, “So even demons have feelings?” It’s an insult that lands perfectly.
Similarly, Miroku, Sango, and Myouga touch on this topic when they learn that Inuyasha still puts flowers on his mother’s grave. They are surprised by the behavior, but Myoga says, “He is half-human. He can’t help but have some traits that are unbecoming of demons.”
Therefore, having feelings makes him like Inuyasha, like a human, and he isn’t like either of those things. Whatever, Sesshoumaru.
A Final Surprise
When the Sounga is defeated, the Great Dog Demon suddenly appears. I don’t know if it’s some kind of recording or if his spirit is actually there since the walls between the worlds are down. He congratulates Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru for working together and tells them that the Sounga has been contained. Then he dips.
This is the clearest image I’ve ever seen of the Great Dog Demon’s face. I’m just gonna say it—he’s gorgeous. I totally get why Izayoi fell for him. Sesshoumaru strongly resembles him, whereas Takemaru was right when he remarked that Inuyasha takes more after Izayoi, his hair and eye colors notwithstanding.
More importantly, this is the first time that Inuyasha has ever seen his father. This fact has bothered Inuyasha for a long time. Sesshoumaru cruelly tells him, “You don’t even know what Father looked like!” when Inuyasha declares that destroying the Sounga is what the Great Dog Demon would have wanted. Later, Inuyasha thinks to himself, “You’re lucky, Sesshoumaru. You know what the old man looked like.”
It’s important to Inuyasha. He’s heard so much about the Great Dog Demon, been compared to him his whole life, but he doesn’t have a single visual of the man. Miroku explains to Kagome that guys have a thing about comparing themselves to their fathers. We’ve seen it from Sesshoumaru; now here’s Inuyasha doing the same thing.
Inuyasha tries to play it off afterwards like finally seeing the Great Dog Demon wasn’t a big deal. He refuses to admit how much the moment means to him when he’s spent so much time pretending like he doesn’t care about his father. But he doesn’t have to. His face and the way that he desperately calls out “Father!” say it all.
Beyond the initial naked shock on Sesshoumaru’s face when he sees his father, he doesn’t show much emotion. He says his name and that’s it. I assume he remembers that he’s still pissed at the Great Dog Demon for everything. When the message ends, he walks off like nothing happened. Sesshoumaru has had enough of his feelings for one day.
Conclusion
I love Swords of an Honorable Ruler. I enjoy all of the interactions between Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, especially when they fight each other. It’s very exciting. On top of that, the movie upholds the anime’s record of having amazing theme songs, with Namie Amuro’s “Four Seasons” serving as the wonderful ending song this time around.
If I had to point out a flaw in the movie, it’s that we didn’t learn much more about Inuyasha’s parents than we already knew. It was nice to finally put a face and a voice to his father, but I feel like there’s still a crapton of story left to tell on that front. I want to know how Inuyasha’s parents met and everything else that happened leading up to the Great Dog Demon’s death. I doubt we’ll ever get that story.
*Inuyasha The Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler DVD cover and summary ยฉ Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukon, YTV, Sunrise, ShoPro, NTV, Toho, Yomiuri TV Enterprise*