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When I first encountered Kagura, I viewed her as little more than a minion of Naraku’s. Yea, I was maybe 12 and didn’t understand the whole “incarnation” thing. She was born of Naraku, but not exactly Naraku. She was her own entity, but, at the same time, she was an appendage. Since Naraku is in possession of her heart, he is, by extension, in possession of her very life and freedom.

Kagura and Naraku. Inuyasha Chapter 371: Kagura’s Heart

Throughout the series, Kagura is trying to liberate herself from him. She wants her heart, her freedom; to be her own mistress - to have no master. To come and go and do as she pleases. In a word, she wants her independence. As a woman, that desire resonates with me. This conflict is the premise for her story arc and character development.

Don’t get me wrong when I say “redemption arc” here - Kagura never magically transforms into a heroine doing good deeds purely for the sake of doing good deeds. She doesn’t help others unless it benefits her. And that makes her complex and interesting. In fact, she’s a morally grey character at best.

She commits atrocities on Naraku’s orders. She murders members of the wolf demon clan, and she goes after the Inugang countless times. She never shows or voices any regret for these acts, either (save for one time and I’ll get to that). She’s cold, she’s shrewd, she’s calculating; she relentlessly keeps striving towards her ambition.

She’s very Machiavellian in her approach: the ends justify the means. For Kagura, the end goal is her freedom, and she’s willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve that. If that means biding her time and obeying Naraku’s orders to kill others, betraying Naraku and offering to give away jewel shards, leaking information to Naraku’s enemies about his vulnerabilities (i.e., the existence of his heart, the crystals to detect the location of his heart), she’ll do it. She’ll play both sides of the fence bc she’s on Team Kagura, honey.

Kagura and Sesshomaru

In Chapter 203, Kagura appeals to Sesshomaru for help in defeating Naraku, going so far as to offer him jewel shards. “Release me from him.” Kagura says. This is the closest she gets to begging in the entire series. She knows she can’t take on Naraku alone. Clearly, she holds Sesshomaru in high esteem to make this request of him.

For a character so devoted to obtaining strength and power, it’s interesting how little Sesshomaru cares about the jewel shards. He flatly turns her down which spurs this banger of a reaction from Kagura:

Inuyasha Episode 67: The Howling Wind of Betrayal

Arguably, this is the moment when Sesshomaru fell in love with Kagura. He’s a mixture of stunned and maybe a tad aroused here 🤣. And if you care to make a case against this claim, I get it. However, it can’t be denied that he held some kind of affection for her. Just consider Kagura’s death scene *already sniffling*.

The Turning Point

Chapter 368, aptly titled “Kagura’s Decision,” is a major turning point for her. She’s been instructed by Moryomaru to seize Kohaku’s shard, the shard which sustains Kohaku’s life. She agrees to this plan because otherwise, Moryomaru will absorb her into his body. If it’s her or Kohaku, it’s going to be Kohaku.

Except - that doesn’t happen. Once she approaches Kohaku, we get a thought bubble from Kagura: “I’m sorry, Kohaku.” Which.. maybe the first and only time she expresses remorse for a bad deed?? To save her, Kohaku offers to be taken to Moryomaru and he gives this little speech:

Inuyasha Chapter 368: Kagura’s Decision

I think Kohaku’s speech and willingness to sacrifice himself for Kagura truly touches her. The specific sentence, “unless I’m willing to die to achieve it” I think resonated. Up until then, she wasn’t willing to go that far to reach her goal. Otherwise, what would be the point?

Plus, as she states in the bottom panel, “I’ll only be switching masters.” It’s at this juncture that she decides she’s ready to die to obtain her freedom. There’s no other way out for her. She decides to betray Moryomaru and spare Kohaku, sending him away on one of her Magic Feather Rides - which, honestly, jealous - while she battled it out with Hakudoshi.

In this way, she redeems herself. Not for the ill acts she’s done, but for staying her hand and sparing a life - and keeping the shard out of Naraku’s hands for a little while longer.

Kagura’s Death

So Naraku’s bastard self at last relinquishes Kagura’s heart, but it’s only to hurt her as deeply as possible. He’s aware of her betrayal and this is his conniving way of sticking it to her one final time. Moments after returning her heart, he mortally wounds her with his miasma. She flees, ending up alone in a field and THIS PANEL IS SO FUCKING HEARTBREAKING.

Inuyasha Chapter 374: The Wind

Look at how full of despair she is. UGH RUMIKO WHY. Did it have to be this way ?!

Inuyasha The Final Act: Episode 2, Kagura’s Wind

It’s poetic and heartbreaking and beautiful and awful. It’s only in death that Kagura finally tastes freedom. She even asks herself, “where should I go? I can go anywhere. I’m FREE.” Which, she knows this is the end. And she’s about to face it alone until a certain someone shows up claiming to have followed the scent of miasma.

Kagura is overjoyed at his presence but is a tad forlorn when she thinks he’s “disappointed” that it was her and not Naraku. Then Sesshomaru drops an iconic line:

I’ve written about this before, but it bears repeating here.

“I knew it was you.”

I mean. The succinctness. The simplicity. The depth of emotion conveyed. The matter-of-fact delivery. The show of warmth from an otherwise cold being. The confirmation of his affection for her. The comforting joy it brought her in her final moments.

And Kagura smiles in response. A true, genuine, child-like even, smile. That I’d put a pic of here but I ran into the limit on images tHaNkS, tUMbLr. She succumbs to her wounds, disintegrating along with the miasma and becoming one with the wind. She blows away, free.

(Side note: look, I love to bash Sunrise with the best of them, but I’ll give credit where credit is due. Kagura’s Death Scene, IMHO, is one of the most beautifully animated scenes of the series. Well done, Sunrise? *slaps self*)

By now, the Inugang have shown up and Inuyasha asks Sesshomaru if she suffered. Sesshomaru says this WHICH *ugly crying now*

Inuyasha Chapter 374: The Wind

I do wonder if Kagura was a casualty of RT wrestling with how to save Kohaku in the narrative. If she hadn’t have died, maybe the sequel would be following SessKagu’s kids which?? So cool??