Inu Yasha: suggestions?

[Jeikobu]

If there's one anime that I would like to see, along with Fruits Basket, it's Inu Yasha. It looks simply awesome. The characters, animation, story, music, etc. sound great. The problem is, I hear it's packed full of false religion (the review on this site said so). I try to be careful about what I watch. Though it's fiction, those things can have an impact on you and settle in. And the Bible says meditate on good, wholesome things. So I need advice on this anime. How acceptable is it for Christians? How much false religion and other bad things like that are in it? Does it ruin the experience of the show? Are there things in it that are good for Christians, like Christian themes, etc. It seems alot of people here love the show, but I want to know if this is something I should try. Details and advice would be greatly appreciated. Arigatou gozaimasu.

[Heart of Sword]

The problem is, I hear it's packed full of false religion (the review on this site said so).

It's not exactly "packed". It's got more than Pokemon but less than YuYuHakusho.

There are "demons" but that's actually an incorrect translation; the actual translation would be "magical monsters"--Youkai. The word for demon is "oni" which is not used in the show, so the demons aren't actually demons in the first place. And anyway in Japan demons are just monsters unless you're talking of Biblical ones, just like over here dragons aren't necessarily bad unless it's a Biblical one. It's hard to explain.

There is "the subject of reincarnation" but that's not really true either. Kagome is a reincarnation of the priestess Kikyou, but that's only because the Shikon Jewel made Kikyou in a sense immortal. When people die in the show, they're dead, there isn't reincarnation.

Miroku is a buddhist monk but a really bad one. He'll touch/try to touch Sango's rear sometimes, but he always gets beaten up and annoys the rest of the characters--especially Inuyasha.

Hmm...let's see...I haven't heard "gods" mentioned. There is buddhism, but it's actually pretty mild for most anime.

However there are several bath scenes involving Kagome. And in the manga, they show a lot more than in the show (I've only seen the Adult Swim version and it's not strong)...they show from the head to the waist. So you shouldn't read the manga since you're a male. Females okay, but not males.

There is also language but mostly the d-word and it's sparser than Fruits Basket. There was one a**, I was like... (Inuyasha needs a bar of soap for his mouth) But as the show goes on and the characters develop, and Inuyasha's "tough guy" thing isn't as strong, there really isn't as much language.

Fruits Basket is more recommended, but Inuyasha is an enjoyable series.

[mitsuki lover]

Bear in mind that since all of the characters are Japanese that they are
mostly Buddhist/Shintoist which makes sense.Also bear in mind that since
most of the action takes place prior to the coming of the first missionaries
that you won't find any discussion about Christianity.However Inuyasha does say one time something about "We all have our crosses to carry."but I think that that was rather a translation convention when they made the dub more than anything else.
I agree that there is a lot more nudity in the manga than in the anime,at least in the dub that airs on AS.
For example in one scene in the first manga it shows Kagome coming out of the water from taking a bath,in another it shows Kagura half naked after
Inuyasha as beat her in a battle.
As for Miroku,well he is a lech he inherited the habit as well as the hell hole
in his hand from his grandfather and father.So it runs in the family.
As far as reincarnation goes,it was Kaede,Kikyo's younger sister who first
said that Kagome was Kikyo's reincarnation because of the jewel falling out of her side when Dame Centipede attacked her.
Kagome herself isn't quite willing to believe it and early on had to remind everyone that she WASN'T Kikyo but her ownself.
However if you enjoy a really good fantasy on the lines of HERCULES,XENA,
SINBAD and BEASTMASTER I would definitely recommend INUYASHA.

[Jeikobu]

The monsters and such are the villains right? The dark characters? So it's a battle of good vs. evil?

[CDLviking]

If you can handle a story about Greek gods or Hercules, then Inu Yasha should be no problem.

[Sesshoumaru]

The monsters and such are the villains right? The dark characters? So it's a battle of good vs. evil?

Yeah Inuyasha's older brother Sesshoumaru is a full blooded dog demon. The main villian is Naraku a half-demon like Inuyasha but wants the shards of the Shiko no Tama. Basiclly everyone hates and wants to kill Naraku

[Jeikobu]

I assume you only follow the dub huh? Anyway I thought Sesshoumaru was a villain too, right? On a side note, from the pictures, I thought Sesshoumaru was a female, heh. ^^;

[Sesshoumaru]

Hell no. I hate the dub. I've seen the whole series and all the movies in japanese. Much better than the dub. Better voices and everything. And no,at first Sesshoumaru is a villian. Then the show focuses on Naraku more and Sesshoumaru becomes a main supporting character.

[Jeikobu]

Well then from what I've heard calling them demons is wrong. It's youkkai.

Well I am excited to say that I think I will give this series a shot. ^___^ Though there's the problem with stupid Netflix missing discs 4-7 and 27-29...maybe I'll try mIRC. :S

[Sesshoumaru]

Youkai has a broad meaning. It can mean "monster,fiend" but more broadly used for demon. Oni also means demon but youkai is more used.

[Jeikobu]

Everyone else has said it's a mythical Japanese creature.

[Doubleshadow]

Demon is a poor translation. For example there are harmless youkai, I think they mention one that watches over the souls of dead children until they reach the other side, or however it works. The word youkai has no direct translation into English anyhow. I think the technical definition is something like- "A magical creature of the underworld, usually bad." As far as I can tell, Japanesse youkai are like the elves and fairies in British mythology. You can do a search on-line and find mythology encyclopedia's that explain it.

[Jeikobu]

Ok, thanks for the help minna. You can comment more if you like but I think I will try this one. ^^

[Sesshoumaru]

The show has violence but no where along the lines of Hellsing. Personally f Inuyasha had the amount of violence Hellsing did, I'd think it'd be better

[Jeikobu]

Violence doesn't bother me nearly as much as eastern religion or even nudity/fan service. Samurai X is about my limit for violence. As long as it isn't too out of control I'm fine with it. But Hellsing I will never see.

[Arnobius]

I dug out the "Green Goddess" for this (the term for Kenkyusha's $495.00 J-E dictionary that weighs about 15 lbs) and youkai ( ようかい ) is written with the kanji: 妖怪
and has two connotations:
1) is used for ghosts, apparitions-- a concept like our phantom or spectre.
2) is used for monsters like goblins and the ilk (Oni would be used for trolls and ogres).

Of course the Japanese tend to be more loose in their classifications.

(as a side note this link has been invaluable for translating words
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/jwb/wwwjdic?1KJ )

[Sesshoumaru]

What persay is stupid about it??

[Jeikobu]

Wow, I just discovered there are 167 episodes for Inu Yasha, and it looks like only half or so are out in the US so far. o_O Also, I only see 2 out of 3 movies out in the US.

[CDLviking]

Typical of a Rumiko Takahashi work. Ranma 1/2 has 7 boxed sets 2 movies and an OVA set. I don't think it was all out in the US until about a year and a half ago.

[Jeikobu]

Yeah, and Ranma has been around for ages (since somewhere in the 80s I think), right? Jeez. o_O

[CDLviking]

I don't know when it started being released in the US, but it took quite a few years to release it all.

[Jeikobu]

Oh well, it'll all get over here eventually. Isn't there a brand new, 4th Inu Yasha film in Nihon right now BTW? And are there any plans for more box sets of the series? So far there's only one to my knowledge.

[Joshua Christopher]

Don't be fooled. Inu Yasha isn't a good series. It has its moments, but it goes on for far too long and almost nothing ever gets accomplished.
The show has nice animation, and some good credits music, but the show is not very good.
Now I know it has a huge following, but don't let yourself get caught in. It's 167 episodes long of blah.
For romance: WAY TOO LONG. Basically nothing ever developes until near the end.
For comedy: It has its funny moments, but is usually just typical anime humour, which I don't find very funny (Oops, I walked in on you while you were taking a bath!).
For action/adventure: Possibly the most boring "action" I've ever seen. Half of the time it's repeated animation of somebody throwing/casting/slashing.

And now I have just offended many people.
Astroboy is better. The newest series' boxed set comes out in March. I'll be buying it.

[Jeikobu]

Well, everyone's entitled to his or her own opinion. I still think it looks excellent and I'm still dying to trying it more than any other anime. I guess I'll know when I see it. ^^

[AnsemK_R]

If there's one anime that I would like to see, along with Fruits Basket, it's Inu Yasha. It looks simply awesome. The characters, animation, story, music, etc. sound great. The problem is, I hear it's packed full of false religion (the review on this site said so).

Would it really matter if it did? Stories are fiction, so long as you remember that I don't see a problem with watching or reading anything. An example would be that a friend of mine took a class to learn all about another religion, part of her requirements to have a religion major, surely that isn't wrong. And surely it would be much worse than any show could be.

"Lies can hold no power over the One truth"-unknown

[Sesshoumaru]

Don't be fooled. Inu Yasha isn't a good series. It has its moments, but it goes on for far too long and almost nothing ever gets accomplished.
The show has nice animation, and some good credits music, but the show is not very good.
Now I know it has a huge following, but don't let yourself get caught in. It's 167 episodes long of blah.
For romance: WAY TOO LONG. Basically nothing ever developes until near the end.
For comedy: It has its funny moments, but is usually just typical anime humour, which I don't find very funny (Oops, I walked in on you while you were taking a bath!).
For action/adventure: Possibly the most boring "action" I've ever seen. Half of the time it's repeated animation of somebody throwing/casting/slashing.

And now I have just offended many people.
Astroboy is better. The newest series' boxed set comes out in March. I'll be buying it.

*Dies from laughing* Wiat your SERIOUS!!!??? Astro Boy is the crappiest (I wanna drop the s-0bomb but whatever
) anime ever. It's worse than Lupin

[AnsemK_R]

I'll have to agree with that.

[Joshua Christopher]

First, I like controversy. Inu Yasha is garbage.

And if it wasn't for Astroboy, there would be no anime.

You've obviously only seen the bad American dubs. Read some of Tezuka's manga, they're brilliant.

Durn fool kids and your lack of appreciation or the classics.

[Yeshua-Knight]

astroboy ain't nuthin' but a sell-out, i just saw a commercial on the fox news channel with astroboy in it, and ya know what it was for, it was an advertisement for people to go visit Tokyo, that's not even anime related, so it's really hard to say that astroboy = anime, if anything, gundam = anime

[Hitokiri]

Personally, I don't like either Inu-Yasha nor Astroboy. Both are sell outs. Inuyasha is like Garfield. As time moves foward, the series gets more stupid and less intresting. As for Astroboy, y high school showed a episode of it over the schools television series (the media class directs this channel). I felt embrassed cause that's how they were portraying anime.

But I agree...without Astroboy....we wouldn't get the much better series like Kenshin, Cowboy Bebop, and Trigun.