Inu-Yasha:
Down The Well
Reviewed by:
Alex Barry (April 14, 2003)
Cover: The 1st DVD release for Inu-Yasha features bright cover
artwork displaying the series' two main protagonists: Inu-Yasha and
Kagome. The bright, flashy artwork is very eye-catching and does a
good job of showcasing the art style seen in the series. Also on the
front are the titles of the three episodes contained on the disk,
but the print is so small that it's easy to miss. The back cover has
a very brief synopsis of the story, the three episode titles (along
with their episode numbers), and a rather striking collection of screenshots
from the various episodes. My one complaint about the cover is the
lack of a volume number. It's not a big deal, but for a series this
long, it would have been nice to see a volume number on the spine
for easy reference. Not only that, but new viewers will have to go
by the episode numbers to see how far each volume is into the series,
which can be inconveniencing.
Audio: The soundtrack for Inu-Yasha is, without a doubt, worthy
of much praise. The opening and ending songs are fantastic, and all
the BGM is great to listen to and almost always fits each scene perfectly.
Also noteworthy due to quality is the arrangement of sound effects.
You won't find any boring stock sound effects here; every rustling
leaf, screeching demon, and plucked bowstring is convincing and enhances
the atmosphere tremendously. As for the voice acting... The English
dub for Inu-Yasha is one that you either love or you hate. None of
the voices are downright bad, or even inferior to most anime series,
but some do lack the emotion necessary for this kind of show. But
even if you don't like the dub, there's an excellent subtitled track
available, so it's all good.
Video: Forget everything you've been told about anime getting
away with substandard animation in exchange for great artwork. Inu-Yasha
has it all, and then some! The color palette used is bright and varied,
the animation is liquid smooth, and the character designs are nearly
flawless as if every frame were drawn by Rumiko Takahashi, herself.
The overall quality for the visual aspects of this show is incredible,
holding its own against even some recent theatrical releases. Technical
errors are few and far between, although a bit of cross-coloration
was present in one or two scenes. Overall, this disk boasts a very
solid transfer of a very good-looking show.
Extras: A Takahashi series with decent DVD extras!? Fans have
been hoping for such a thing for a long time, and Viz has finally
delivered. Not only do we get an extensive cast list and a line art
gallery that have so far been limited to Ranma ½ boxsets, but viewers
are also treated to both English and Japanese promos for the series!
The English promo is basically a quick overview of the first couple
of episodes, while the Japanese version is a series of three short
trailers for the episodes seen in this volume. They're nothing spectacular,
but it was still nice to see them included. Last but not least in
the extras menu are textless versions of the opening and closing songs.
Content: Arguably the most anticipated of Takahashi's series
thus far, Inu-Yasha has finally made its way to the U.S. and has been
well-received by the legions of fans. Since Inu-Yasha is such a story-driven
epic, fans keep looking to the future, wondering what plot twists
and developments await them in the next episode. However, it's still
a terrific pleasure to go back and re-watch this great epic's beginnings,
and see how it all started with a young girl who fell down the well....
Episode #1 introduces Kagome, an average 15-year-old schoolgirl who
lives with her family in an ancient Japanese shrine. One day, Kagome
is pulled through an old, dried-up well by a centipede-like demon,
and ends up in the feudal ages. It is there that she meets Inu-Yasha,
a half-boy, half-demon who has been imprisoned by a magical spell
for fifty years. The same demon that pulled her through the well is
unrelenting in its search for Kagome, however, and after a short while
it attacks her again. It is revealed that the demon is actually after
the Shikon Jewel (a.k.a. the "Jewel of Four Souls"), which resides
inside Kagome's body. In order to survive the second attack, Kagome
is forced to free Inu-Yasha, who takes little time in defeating the
centipede demon. However, Inu-Yasha is also after the Shikon Jewel
(in hopes that it will make him a full demon), and sets his sights
on Kagome, next.
Through some quick-thinking, Kaeda, the priestess of a local village,
places a magical rosary around Inu-Yasha's neck, which causes him
to come crashing into the ground whenever Kagome utters the word "Sit!".
--From this point on, Kagome telling Inu-Yasha to "Sit!" will become
a running gag through the rest of the series.-- Later, after everyone
goes about repairing the damage caused by the centipede demon and
Inu-Yasha, Kagome learns that she is the reincarnation of Kikyo, the
same high priestess who imprisoned Inu-Yasha fifty years ago. Kagome
then decides that it is time for her to go home, and tries to find
the well that brought her to the feudal ages. She doesn't get vary
far, though, before being attacked by a bandit leader who is secretly
possessed by a crow demon. Inu-Yasha arrives and manages to save Kagome
just in time, but the Shikon Jewel is shattered during the battle,
and the shards are scattered throughout the land.
With the opening story arc (told over the course of the first two
episodes) completed, the third episode goes into a little more detail
about the fate of the Shikon Jewel, and has Kagome trying once again
to return to her own time. This time she actually succeeds in making
it back, but in doing so she unknowingly leaves Inu-Yasha to deal
with a female demon named Yura of the Hair. She uses special strands
of hair to control the villagers like marionette puppets, and has
them attack Kaeda and Inu-Yasha. The hair she uses is invisible to
Inu-Yasha, but Kaeda says that Kagome should be able to see it. Thus,
Inu-Yasha sets out to find her. It's a shame that we have to wait
until the next volume to see the conclusion of this battle, especially
since 4 episodes per volume would have done a better job of justifying
the $25 price tag for this disk. One the other hand, the Japanese
releases for this series only contain 3 episodes per volume, as well,
so I guess I can't complain too much.
Going back and watching these early episodes again reminded me just
how much fun they were to watch. The show didn't rush right into the
story, but rather took some time to properly introduce the characters
and the setting, then began to gracefully play out the story concerning
them. Staying true to it's title, Inu-Yasha feels very much like a
fairy tale, something that can be at least partially attributed to
the pacing of its story. It's a nice change from so many other series
that leap head-first into the plot, using up most of its devices in
the first couple episodes. Inu-Yasha definitely looks like a series
that has the ability to keep its story and characters interesting
for a long time, though, and I'm looking forward to checking out future
volumes.
Until then, I'll close by saying that "Down the Well" is must-have
for anyone who wants to get into a great adventure anime series that
is original, clever, engaging, and fun to watch, or anyone who merely
wants to go back and relive all the classic moments that started this
marvelous fantasy epic.
|
|
|
