A killer drawing by GoddessOfWinter: the characters of Inuyasha (which I've not seen) in "normal clothes." It's kind of exciting that anime is being embraced by the jr. high and high school set to the obsessive degree that it is. I'd say kids are pretty perceptive in seeking out quality they're not finding in official culture (i.e., Disney pablum). And this is even with Cartoon Network censoring the original Japanese shows. I'd say I wish I was born later so I could experience this otaku-dom directly, but not if it meant going through secondary school again.

- tom moody 4-30-2004 10:54 am

I just noticed yesterday on Google Zeitgeist that there are more Canadian seraches fo Inuyahsa right now than there are for NHL. and its the playoffs. Also last night, I finally saw My Neighbour Totoro. Sat there in weird state of both wishing I was a kid again, and feeling like a kid again. I've been treating myself to bits of Totoro merch. for a long time, but had no idea how incredible the film is. Might be my new favourite.
- sally mckay 4-30-2004 6:24 pm

Ya gotta seem some Inuyasha, it's in the adult swim, or was at least. It's pretty great.
What Canadian Googles NHL? "Oh THAT'S what hockey is!"
(P.S. Go Leafs)

- joester 5-01-2004 6:06 am

Joe, please note I resolved my splitter problem. So I've been able to watch a couple of episodes of Inuyasha. Last night was "Yura of the Demon Hair," the plot of which is (thanks to TV Tome):

Kagome's first dinner back home is interrupted by Inuyasha, who comes to bring her back to the past. Before they return, Inuyasha gives Kagome his kimono for protection. Meanwhile, Yura anticipates Kagome and Inuyasha's arrival. As Inuyasha and Kagome leave the well, Kagome notices that the well is surrounded by strands of hair. Kagome concludes that if they follow the hairs it'll lead them to Yura. On their way to Yura, Inuyasha and Kagome discover a group of samurais who fell into Yura's trap. Seeing a bow and arrow, Kagome takes them. The two continue on their way. When they reach Yura's hideout they are attacked by masses of hair. Inuyasha fights the hair and eventually gets captured by it. Then Yura appears and tells Inuyasha that she heard he was some half-demon that served a priestess years ago, which he denies. Inuyasha attempts to hit her but she sends more hair at him which causes him to become more tangled in it. Yura admires Inuyasha's hair, but notices how little Inuyasha takes care of it. Inuyasha swings at Yura, she dodges and then slices him with her sword. Yura licks his blood off her sword and jumps at him again. However, Kagome fires an arrow at Yura, Yura barely dodges the arrow. Kagome threatens to shoot again. Inuyasha tells her to stay out of it. Yura then decides to take Kagome's hair, even though it's nothing special. Angered by this statement, Kagome fires another arrow which hits Yura's big hair-ball home causing her "precious" skulls to fall out and narrowly misses Inuyasha. Yura, angered by this, decides to kill Kagome. Yura uses her comb to send streams of fire at Kagome. Kagome is engulfed in flames.

Yura asks Inuyasha how he feels about what she did to Kagome. Inuyasha then uses the blood from his previous wound to perform his Blades of Blood (Hijinketsou) technique. The attack cuts off Yura's sword-bearing hand (which remains suspended due to hair), which causes the hair restraining him to loosen. Inuyasha performs "Blades of Blood" again, but Yura uses the skulls that fell from her house to block it. The disembodied sword hand appears behind Inuyasha and stabs him through the chest. The hand then reattaches itself to Yura's arm. Yura mocks Inuyasha for being a weak half demon. As Yura swings her sword to go in for the kill, Inuyasha sticks his arm through her chest. The shard then falls to the ground, and Yura then steps on Inuyasha's hand as he reaches for it. Yura then feels a tug one of her hairs and sees that Kagome is climbing up the hair mound. Yura shakes her off it. Inuyasha wonders if Kagome is getting close to something she doesn't want them to find. Kagome then sees a red skull. Yura then attacks Kagome, but Kagome is saved by Inuyasha's "Blades of Blood". Yura then moves into kill Inuyasha proclaiming her immortality. However, Yura soon stops dead in her tracks as Kagome uses an arrow to try and puncture the red skull. When Kagome pierces the skull, Yura dies. Kagome reclaims the Shikon shard. Inuyasha then addresses Kagome by her first name for the first time and the two walk off. Meanwhile, Kaede hopes that Inuyasha remembered where he buried her (see episode 3).

that's a good story.
- sally mckay 5-13-2004 6:54 pm

Of course the summary above captures none of the show's visual poetry--the stark geometric designs of Yura's web, the extreme perspectives, the arresting, iconic POV shot of Yura staring down past her perfect hemispherical breasts into the eyes of a human skull. Nor does it tell us that Kagome and Inuyasha bicker more than any screen couple since Tracy and Hepburn tried a case on opposite sides of the docket.

- tom moody 5-13-2004 7:00 pm