Sesshomaru

Early in the series, we’re introduced to Sesshomaru, InuYasha’s older half-brother. Unlike InuYasha, he is a full-blooded demon and definitely one of the strongest. Being born as a full demon allows him to transform into a giant dog demon, much like his parents. He also carries inside him a special kind of poison, which he often uses as a weapon in battle.

He isn’t one to show much emotion other than carry a serious, cold, and arrogant demeanor. He definitely has moments where he’ll reveal his hot tempered nature, quite similar to InuYasha, only more refined and once in a very special blue moon, he gives a small grin, but that usually means trouble is near.

In terms of InuYasha, he disregards him every chance he gets, always reminding him of how weak he is, being born as a half-demon and that he should know his place as one. Yet, at the same time, he tells InuYasha never to forget that he carries the blood of their great father in his veins, therefore, he shouldn’t do anything that would defile that fact.

His relationship with InuYasha doesn’t fair any better when it comes to Tetsusaiga, the sword that is one of their father’s greatest legacies. He covets that sword most of all because of its abilities to slay a hundred enemies in one swing. Despite his desire for it, his father left it as InuYasha’s inheritance and gave him the Tenseiga, the sword of healing, another great legacy of his father. Since the Tenseiga cannot cut things of this world, he finds it to be a useless sword and as such he continues to go after InuYasha in an attempt to win the Tetsusaiga from him.

Things get even more complicated with their relationship when Naraku attempts to use Sesshomaru to kill InuYasha. The mere thought of a lesser demon giving him disgrace is more perplexing to him than the fact that InuYasha is his brother. Not only that, Naraku makes a few endeavors to kill Sesshomaru, which gives him enough reason to pursue Naraku himself.

Another thing to note about Sesshomaru is that he may never show it, but he does carry a kind heart, after all, he is his father’s son and there is a reason he was given the Tenseiga. These moments can be briefly noticed when he is with Rin, a human girl that he brought back to life with the Tenseiga and allowed to travel with him. And despite the complicated his relationship with InuYasha, he does care for him, even if he would never admit nor show much of it.

Shippo

Shippo is a young fox demon who joined InuYasha and Kagome shortly after his father was killed by the thunder brothers, Hiten and Manten. Being one of the weaker demons, he relies on small tricks to survive. Journeying with the group, he tries to be brave and fight alongside his friends, but quickly realizes that he is but a child and hides behind one of his friends. When he finds himself in situations where his friends can’t come to his aid, he relies on his tricks. He either transforms into a giant, pink ball that floats in the air or he spins a top that suddenly grows large and emits a strong wind, distracting his opponents while he makes his divine getaway.

Even though he is often portrayed as a child, there are times when he acts like the voice of reason for the group, especially when InuYasha is acting more like the child or Miroku is up to his lecherous mischief again.

Sango

Later in the episodes, we’re introduced to Sango, the final member to join InuYasha and his group. She comes from a hidden village that trains demon slayers. It’s a profession where lords within the region would hire them in order to slay demons that terrorize their lands. The unique thing about her village is that it works almost like a factory. They would use the hide and bones of slain demons to make weapons. It’s essentially what allows them to fight demons as humans.

It’s also the same village where the jewel of four souls originated from. Due to that fact, Sango and her fellow demon slayers find it their duty to collect the shards should it come across their way.

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By the time InuYasha and his group meet Sango, she’s already lost more than anyone could imagine. On top of that, she’s got some unfinished business with InuYasha or so she thinks.

A few days before, her, her immediate family (her father and younger brother), and a few of the strongest demon slayers were called to a castle to slay a giant spider demon. At first glance, it seems like another simple job and it proves to be so when they easily take down the demon. However, it becomes layers of complication when Sango’s younger brother, Kohaku, starts slaying his fellow demon slayers and his own father! When he attempts to kill Sango, she notices the tiny spider thread that connects him to the lord of the castle. She quickly tries to handle the situation by saying the lord, but the lord orders for the siblings’ to be killed.

As Sango and her brother lay with many arrows shot through them, the young lord of the castle, Kagewaki, slays his father and orders the siblings to be given proper burials, not realizing that Sango was still alive. Regaining consciousness, Sango claws her way out of her grave and Kagewaki tends to her wounds.

During her stay at that castle, she meets Naraku who informs Kagewaki, in Sango’s presence, that the demon slayer village had been annihilated and the one responsible is InuYasha, a half-demon who coveted the jewel shard that the slayers had in their possession. Filled with anger and disgust, Sango pulls her injured body and goes after InuYasha.

Talk about a hot mess. How are they ever going to resolve this issue? Stay tuned and watch the episodes!

Miroku

When it comes to InuYasha, we certainly can’t forget our good old monk, Miroku! He is a strong, dependable monk with a cursed hand called the “wind tunnel” that allows him to suck in anything that he points his hand at. Not only that, he has an equally strong spiritual prowess. But, like all our characters, he has a flaw. He’s a lecherous monk who can’t seem to stay away from beautiful, young women and certainly not from their butts. Unfortunately, this runs in the males of the family and at times, it leaves their lives in danger, but that still doesn’t seem to stop them.

Other than the comical relief, Miroku does play an important role in the story itself. When InuYasha and Kagome first meet him, they discover the truth behind the tragic love between InuYasha and Kikyo. It also explains how he was cursed with the wind tunnel in the first place.

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Miroku reveals that his wind tunnel was initially placed on his family during his grandfather, Monk Miyatsu’s time, which is about 50 years prior to the current time. During this era, his grandfather was pursuing one particular demon named Naraku. He is a shapeshifter who can impersonate anyone of his choosing and in one encounter, he appeared before Monk Miyatsu as a beautiful woman. Like his grandson, he was a lecher and just couldn’t keep away. While they were in a private room, Naraku blew a hole through the monk’s right hand and placed a curse on it. Every year, it would grow bigger and bigger until it eventually swallows up the owner into nothingness and it would be passed down through the generations. The only way to lift the curse would be to kill Naraku, a fleet that finds itself quite difficult to achieve.

Miroku also reveals that Naraku is pursuing the sacred jewel, which has now been scattered across Japan in millions of pieces. (As if trying to collect each shard wasn’t hard enough!) 50 years ago, Naraku came very close to stealing the jewel and he slew the priestess (Kikyo) that was standing guard over it.

Here we learn that Naraku impersonated himself as InuYasha in order to steal the jewel. Within that process, he slew Kikyo, tricking her into believing InuYasha betrayed her.

Kagome Higurashi

Kagome Higurashi is another protagonist to this story and boy is she in for an adventure.

Kagome is your average fifteen year-old school girl who was born and raised in modern Japan. Her family owns and runs a large shrine. Her life is quite simple for the most part, that is, until her fifteenth birthday came around the corner.

One of the shrine buildings was hiding an ancient well that had been sealed up with a sutra. She stumbles on it while helping her younger brother, Sota, find their family cat, Buyo, who had walked into the building. Right as she’s about to leave with her cat, the well bursts open and pulls Kagome into it. Climbing out, she finds herself in a foreign land.

Panicked, she tries to find a way to calm herself and does so when she spots the sacred tree that usually stands tall in her shrine. Relieved, she sprints for it, only to find herself looking up at a boy who is pinned to the tree with an arrow. The boy appears to be in a deep comatose state. Not only that, but he has ears that look like dog ears! Who could this boy be? More importantly, where on Earth did Kagome end up at? Find out more by watching the show!

InuYasha

InuYasha, our main protagonist, is a half-demon, a being born between a demon and a human. His father was a great dog demon who controlled the western provinces of Japan and his mother was a human princess of a wealthy family. How the two met is uncertain, however, it is crucial to note that the two shared a deep bond with one another. After all, InuYasha’s father decided to forge a sword (the Tetsusaiga) from his very own fang in order to protect her.

Since his parents died while InuYasha was still young, he had no choice, but to fend for himself and because of that, he is shown to be quite cold, stubborn, and hot tempered. However, there are times when he shows acts of kindness, rare, but enough to differentiate him from most demons.

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50 years ago, he fell in love with a human priestess named Kikyo, who guarded the jewel of four souls. Everything seems to run smoothly with their relationship until the demon, Naraku, wants to steal the jewel for his own purposes. For InuYasha, he disguises himself as Kikyo and makes an attempt to kill him. Believing that Kikyo betrayed him, InuYasha goes after the jewel. He almost succeeds in his endeavor until the real Kikyo finds and shoots an arrow at him. The arrow pierces his heart and pins him to the sacred tree where he drops the jewel from his hand. There, he descends into a deep slumber until his fateful encounter with Kagome and their adventure begins.