Inuyasha (Kagome) blog

The most compelling reason the characters believe Kagome is Kikyo's reincarnation is her sheer spiritual power. They knew Kikyo was phenomenal, to have purified the jewel and protected it. We get little insight on who else purified the jewel those hundreds of years in between Midoriko's death and Kikyo's appearance. I'd have to say Kikyo's soul was tied to the jewel similar to how Kagome was - she was born with it in her, after all. So rather than "Kagome is Kikyo's reincarnation because of their powers", it's more "they both hold souls bound to the jewel," and Kikyo took her piece back from Kagome. Kikyo couldn't rid the jewel from the world, so her soul continued on the journey with the jewel. The fact that her soul ascended before the jewel disappeared is interesting, because her last words were "I've finally become an ordinary woman." I think that implies she is no longer bound to the jewel, and can pass on, because she finally fulfilled her part of the battle. But ultimately, Kagome was still bound to the jewel with the abundance of her soul. (Which may be a compilation of all the other priestesses who were responsible for protecting and purifying it.)

But the characters being like "She looks like Kikyo! She must be her reincarnation" lacks any basis bc can you imagine if you had a handful of ppl who had a friend look like you say "Wow, you really look like X. You must be related in some way," much less have them proclaim you are her reincarnation??

Then to make this worse, you have Naraku going around introducing Kagome with "Kikyo's reincarnation" as her epithet.

And God, Naraku's obsession with Kikyo is what makes her show up in the narrative a whole lot more than she would've otherwise.

You have Sesshomaru, Inuyasha (of the old), Naraku, and all the other yokai who abhor humanity. They see it as the ultimate weakness. Kikyo, while human, was never allowed to be human - she had to be "strong" (emotionally, spiritually) and unyielding in order to protect the jewel.

Then you have Inuyasha's father, Totosai, and Kagome. Not much is revealed of the Dog General other than his love for Izayoi, a human, and his complicated lesson to Sesshomaru about compassion and humanity and strength.

When you juxtapose Naraku and Kagome, they're both pitted with the same adversity: their own jealousy. They're on two extremes, however, because they take two polarities of actions - Naraku tries to rid himself entirely of it, whereas Kagome learns to accept it.

I believe their two perspectives, fueled by jealousy, shape the entirety of the narrative - but jealousy doesn't tell the truth. Naraku is jealous of Inuyasha, and Kagome is jealous of Kikyo. That's where Inuyasha and Kikyo's past relationship gets propped up to no bounds. In Naraku's illusions, he often makes Kikyo embrace Inuyasha in a pit of flames, saying she died after him. But I take the true events to be from Kaede's perspective. She clearly didn't see Kikyo go up to Inuyasha and embrace him, she shot him like any other yokai, and knew she was beyond saving so told her sister to cremate her with the jewel. Tbh, Inuyasha and Kikyo themselves don't make it out to be this huge, tragic love story. The tragedy happened, and they have a chance to fight back now. Kikyo learns the truth, and doesn't see a reason to stick with Inuyasha. She remains a lone wolf, and Inuyasha simply wants to do right by her. Neither ever expressed, oh how I wish we could redo this.

In Kagome's thoughts - which also drive the narration, she often blows up how Inuyasha may feel for Kikyo, and completely trusts Naraku's words about Kikyo's actions. It was all Naraku and Kagome's narrative that said, they don't want to let each other go.

After Naraku presumedly kills Kikyo

The narrative is hilarious bc you have everyone (Shippou) saying, that darned Inuyasha, running off to Kikyo and leaving Kagome alone again.

Inuyasha's thoughts here are pretty telling, though. They're a great summary of his entire turmoil throughout the series too. Unless he can figure out whether Kikyo is dead or alive, he can't progress. He sure hopes she's alive, because he can't fathom failing her again by letting Naraku kill her a second time. But his thoughts emphasize a desire to know her status, her safety, in line with how he views Kikyo throughout the narrative: he cares that she's safe and wants to prevent the same trauma of their past to happen again by the hands of Naraku.

This time there's an additional apology to Kagome, though, because by now he realizes that she's hurt every time he does this, going after Kikyo. But there's a reason for it all, and it's definitely not "I'm going to see my other woman" in the two timing sense. I'm sure Kagome knows this, too, but she's just human and you can't expect her to brush it off even if she knows why. It's exactly why she's able to resist the Infant's "suggestion" in the next couple of chapters - she acknowledges how she feels but ultimately, those feelings exist because she loves Inuyasha and everything that comes with him, baggage and all.

Inuyasha:

Part 2.5 of "Inuyasha's Feelings"

part II [chapters 76-78]

Chapter 76 is an important chapter in an arc that distinguishes the whole Kagome vs Kikyo thing. It's also the first time that Inuyasha runs off to Kikyo after she fell down the cliff after reviving.

One particular thing that caught my eye was this:

Inuyasha clearly indicates that he does not want to die for Kikyo. He wants her to find peace without taking his life with her.

Then in the very next arc (chapter 84), the Togenkyo / cannibal sennin one (which was adapted much later in the anime), boy goes and yeets himself out a window, off a hella steep cliff, prepared to die, for Kagome.

Part 2 of "Inuyasha's Feelings"

+ comparisons to [episode 23, the infamous "why can't I have both?"]

part I

So after Inuyasha asks Kagome to stay by his side, literally two days later, they catch wind of Kikyo. Inuyasha rushes off in search of her, but Kagome beats him to it and gets tied to a tree, invisible to Inuyasha as he approaches Kikyo. She witnesses the whole ordeal - Inuyasha professing he's never forgotten Kikyo for a day, Kikyo kisses Inuyasha, he falls under her spell. One important distinction is that in the manga, he only says, 'Kikyo, what should I do?' before he goes unconscious; the anime has him saying a shit ton more, wishing time would stop, that he doesn't care so long as he's with Kikyo. The next thing, in the manga, that happens with him is he regains consciousness through Kagome's voice - there's not much from him to Kikyo beyond that. The manga remains consistent with his guilt and duty regarding Kikyo in this scene, further explained by Inuyasha himself a few scenes later.

Actually, he explains a whole lot more to Kagome about it all, so refer to the readmore (all nine pages of unadapted content). The thing here is that Inuyasha clearly delineates Kagome from Kikyo and clearly defines their positions in his heart and mind. He feels responsible for Kikyo's death and he can't rest because she's still unable to reach Nirvana, still lingering with vengeance in the world. He feels it's his duty to help her move on. That's why he can't forget her.

He acknowledges that there's no replacement for Kagome to him, and she's not a replacement for anyone else. He enjoys seeing her smile, he likes her scent, and he feels relieved in her presence. He wants her by his side because of all these things about her that makes him feel calm, relieved, and content. He's still chasing after Kikyo because he's responsible for her inability to pass on and can't let Naraku kill her another time.