Here's the lowdown, “Inuyasha” is the story of a 15 year old schoolgirl named Kagome Higurashi who lives at a Japanese shrine. She just happens to be the reincarnation of an ancient priestess named Kikyo. Kikyo guarded the sacred Shikon no Tama, also known as the ‘Jewel of Four Souls'. Long ago Kikyo captured and sealed away a half-demon named Inuyasha who was attempting to steal the jewel in order to become a full-fledged demon. Kikyo ultimately died and had the jewel burned with her body.

DEEP THROW THE WISHING WELL

One day, Kagome was pulled into an ancient well and plunged deep into the past, 50 years after Kikyo's death. This is the world feudal era Japan in the 1500's and there she meets up with Kaede, Kikyo's sister. Kaede realizes Kagome is Kikyo's reincarnation and together they find out that the sacred jewel is hidden inside Kagome's body. By accident the jewel is ripped from her body and the dog-demon, Inuyasha is released. He of course, immediately wants the jewel for himself. To thwart his attempts, Kaede casts a spell on him where he must wear a necklace that allows Kaede to control his actions with one simple word, “Sit!”. If you're not interested in the story at this point, you're just not getting it. This is cool stuff.

Inuyasha is pronounced, (ee-new-yah-sha)

KNEEL DEMON DOG

When Kagome says the magic word it forces Inuyasha face first into the ground. The precious jewel accidently gets shattered while they try to retrieve it from a giant bird who stole it. And together, Kaede and Inuyasha must find all the shards and put it back together before it falls into the wrong hands. Theirs is a match made in heaven and they must learn to get along in order to survive. A new twist on a ‘girl and her demon dog'.

DID SESSHOUMARU'S ARM EVER GROW BACK?

You know a show has to be good if a fan has to ask if one of the characters' left arm ever grew back after the lead character hacked it off before transforming into a giant furry white dog.

SWIM FOR IT

Luckily for American fans, the good people at the Cartoon Network regularly added ‘Inuyasha' to the Adult Swim line up. After seeing the Japanese version as well, the English dubbed version and the voice talent really help fill out the world. If you liked the Japanese animated films, ‘Spirited Away' or ‘Princess Mononoke' or live action fare like, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer', ‘Angel' or ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon', then you definitely should give ‘Inuyasha' a whirl.

A HERO'S JOURNEY

Asides from the inventive mythological influenced set up, the ‘Inuyasha' series and films are just really well told stories. The half hour episodes truly pack it in and give you dynamic and rich story is a compact time frame.

TALL TALES

Just to keep you guys up with the ‘Inuyasha' universe, there have been three feature length films released, “Inuyasha: Love that Transcends Time”, “Inuyasha: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass” and most recently – “Inuyasha: Sword to Rule the World”.