#inuyasha meta

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Companion piece: Abarero!! Lyric Analysis

Despite being the leader of the band of seven, Bankotsu’s backstory is left largely up to speculation. However, I think there are a few key moments that hint towards how he ended up where he did.

Or other option compartmentalised the fuck outta himself along with Naraku's gotta be slain somehow.

Either way he was not prepared to confront how small new humans are, nor how helpless they are, or feel loss and some anger about how he was raised so he resolves to give little Miroku as much love as he can. Raise him to fight and survive of course but be encourage him with care and not despair disguised as wrath. Near the end maybe he worried that a gentler raising was selfish on his part and was even a little afraid that having his son love him will make his death hurt more than his own father's death hurt him.

I'm running out of articulateness but like if he was raised weapon-y Miroku's dad might not have had good social skills etc. But Miroku himself has enough social skills and social intelligence to make friends, allies, and con the fuck outta people.

In Inuyasha, the name of Sesshomaru's two-headed dragon is A-Un. The name A-Un comes from Buddhism, being a phonetic Japanese transcription of the Sanskrit words "a" and "hūṃ." This term, "a-hum" means “the beginning and end of all things” or “the beginning and end of the universe." It can also be used to represent a pair of objects.

This makes it a fitting name for a two-headed beast, although in Japan, the term "A-un" is associated with statues at shrines, including Komainu (guardian dogs), Nio statues and Shisa statues. This is because one statue will have a closed mouth and the other will have an open mouth, forming the "A" (open) shape and the "Un" (closed) shape. The beginning and the end.

It's also super fitting that Sesshomaru would have a dragon whose name is so closely associated with "guard dogs," considering that he very much IS one.

According to hh-japaneeds, "When two people breathe in and out and act as if they are breathing perfectly together, it is called “A-Un breathing." (阿吽の呼吸, or "a-un no kokyū.") There is also another term, "a-un relationship” (阿吽の仲, or "a-un no naka.")

These terms refer to a relationship between two people who exist in a state of perfect harmony and balance with each other and can communicate nonverbally by implicitly understanding the other person's mind.

I believe that the concept of "a-un no kokyū" perfectly encapsulates Sesshomaru and Rin's relationship. While Sesshomaru is mostly a silent character, Rin is able to understand and interpret his actions because of the close bond and understanding between them. They are two people so in sync with each other that they can easily communicate without words.

I think if Sesshomaru and Rin were temple guardians, Rin would obviously be the open-mouthed Agyo and Sesshomaru would be the closed mothed Ungyo.

Imagine: Kagome grew up in what is basically a monument to her love for Inuyasha and his love for her.

Think about the protection and devotion poured into its construction.

Kagome grows up, laughs, runs around and plays carefree amongst buildings whose wood may have been hand-hewn by her future (past) husband and soulmate: Inuyasha may have cut down the trees, milled them, then hammered them into place with his bare fucking hands.

After years facing prejudice and leading a lonely existence, Inuyasha let his guard down with someone just long enough to see — what he thought was — them turning against him and sealing him away.

He was dead to the world, frozen in time and his heart was the coldest it has ever been. That's where the sun comes in, because every sunrise means a new awakening and a new chance to begin again.

Its warmth melts away the worse of winter and allows spring to finally come. Without sunlight, there's no light to guide you. There's no life at all. Kagome woke him up and brought him back to life in every possible way.

And even though Inuyasha literally never saw it coming — still oblivious to her arrival — it's clear from the get go the role she's bond to play in his life: his own personal sun, lighting up the darkness of his days.

The second time it happens, Inuyasha was consumed by grief, guilt and the heartbreaking realization that he'd have to let Kagome go, despite it being the last thing he wanted to do.

After he can no longer postpone saying goodbye, Inuyasha walks to the well, feeling miserable under the shadows of the trees, only to find Kagome already there, waiting for him and bathed in sunshine.

I love how he gets blinded by the light because that's what happens when we spend too much time in the darkness: it takes time to get used to something burning that bright. Until Kagome, he was not used to people staying or loving him unconditionally — with the obvious exception being Izayoi.

He then steps into the daylight to get to her and after they work things out, Kagome takes him by the hand and guides him forward. Inuyasha squeezes her hand back and catchs up so they're walking side by side. They're both under the light now and they're moving on.

There were many instances in the series where Kagome's voice or the mere thought of her was enough to snap him out of dark spells and certain death, leading him back to the light, to life.

At last, after three years of darkness, there's the moment when Kagome finally comes back to him, because the sun will always rise again.

In a way, this is what those three scenes are all about: Kagome returning to him again and again. Only the first time it was as the piece of his soul he didn't know was missing, finally finding the way back home.

One of the openings — or was it a closing? — even nodded to the notion of Kagome being his sun: she dissapears and takes all of the light with her, leaving Inuyasha in the dark, alone and lost.

And thinking about Kagome in this context is even more meaningful when we take into account that Inuyasha's literal darkest nights — the moonless ones — are his human nights, because when the morning comes, when the sun comes, he is free to be himself again and regains his lost strength, much like he does in battle when he thinks of her.

I’m probably being a hypocrite, considering my abject hatred of certain other fictional characters that appear to embody similar tropes... but to be fair, Inuyasha has never physically harmed his loved ones, unlike certain others I could name. even when Kikyo came after him with a bow and arrow, he defended himself and got away, but he never actually hurt her. and he could’ve. going by what he accomplishes in the series, even pre-Tetsusaiga, if Inuyasha had wanted to hurt Kikyo, he absolutely could’ve. and he’d’ve been justified, considering she was attacking him. but he never did. Kikyo walked away from that unharmed, at least at his hands. even Naraku-as-Kikyo didn’t get a scratch on him, iirc. because Inuyasha is a grump but he loves deeply and passionately, and while he will defend himself against his loved ones if needed, he will do absolutely everything in his power to ensure they come to no harm.