There are many points of InuYasha that seem to annoy its fans. For me, it was Kagome always saying sit and the somewhat repetitive plot cycle. For others, it was InuYasha’s indecisiveness between Kikyō and Kagome. In this post, I would actually like to back him up and support the fact that he was torn between the two and for good reason.
Why is InuYasha torn between Kikyō and Kagome?
InuYasha had been shot with an arrow by the woman he loves, Kikyō, putting him to sleep. Once he wakes up he is shocked and heartbroken to learn that she has died and that she has been dead for years. He is then forced to go on a journey with practically no time to mourn or comprehend and accept that Kikiyo is gone.
Then while not long into their journey, he reunites with her. Come on, give the guy a break! It is glaringly obvious he is not going to be over her. Yes, there was the whole ‘betrayal’ ploy and everything going on as well, but even then there had been no time to come to grips with anything that had been going on. Of course, he will be torn. The love of his life, his first love is there in front of him when only a short time ago they were happy and now she is meant to be dead.
Grief is a funny thing. Each person handles it differently and poor InuYasha doesn’t really have the chance to grieve, let alone get past the sense of betrayal and heartache. Plus he needs to accept years have gone by while he was asleep and that now there is this annoying girl forcing him to go on this journey with him and to obey her like he is some pet. Forced to sit when she commands and she also happens to look a lot like his supposedly dead ex-girlfriend.
Yeah, that’s a healthy relationship and traveling pair right there. Going through all of that, would you merrily give up your first love and instantly move onto a new person? Would you give up your love who you still see and can touch and hold just because a new person demands it? No. Yes, while they traveled feelings started to develop for Kagome, but it took a long time for them to reach anywhere close to what InuYasha felt for Kikyō. She was his first love and after everything that happened and with how fast it had happened I am not surprised that he was torn.
For me, the fact that he struggles to say goodbye, the reason he doesn’t just magically switch to his new love is what made the show worthwhile for me. I watched to see his full character growth and progression. I watched to see how he would take those steps forward.
I’m not going to lie, when the whole manga and anime came to an end and he still had that dang collar on, I was vexed. I just felt it was so unfair and cruel. I had hoped Kagome would have at least had the heart to remove it.
So, on the whole, I am pretty sure you can see that I am on his side. Although, saying that, I don’t defend all of his actions and there were some really crappy things he did that did end up hurting Kagome, but she is not all innocent either. I’m not saying tit for tat, but at the end of the day it comes down to the pair of them being open, honest and fair to one another. All I am saying is, that that it was a complicated situation and he did what he could while trying to move on.
What did/do you think of InuYasha’s indecisiveness between the two ladies?
While I do feel the series did get dragged on a lot, I still appreciated it because of the plethora of side characters that we meet, even if we only met them once or twice. It helped cushion the many parallels within the anime that I find to be really amazing. The love triangle part didn’t bother me too much, which is surprising because it’s a trope I don’t usually care for. I think it’s because a lot of the insecurities and inadequacies that go hand-in-hand with feeling love at their age were rather genuine for the most part, and that made it easier to consume. Great write-up!
Agree the initial love triangle wasn’t bad, but it kept repeating for too long.
This would have been an excellent 50 episode, lean and mean series. Shame it wasn’t, but it’s impact among western fanbases was quite huge.
Inuyasha’s problem wasn’t the love triangle, that part was actually good.
No, it was the plot being dragged out far longer than it should have. The repetitive as fuck story beats, the barriers (oh the damn barriers!) and of course “INUYASHA! KAGOME!”
Yea I also was irritated by the repetitive story 😂