Bakusaiga. Nuff said.
(Note: The "It's a Rumic World" DVD comes out later this week. I'll be on the lookout for RAWs for Inuyasha: Black Tessaiga, Ranma 1/2: Nightmare! Incense of Spring Sleep, and Urusei Yatsura: The Obstacle Course Swim Meet.)
Episode 17: Magatsuhi's Evil Will
(曲霊の邪念 Magatsuhi no Janen)
Chapters covered: 512-518
Many people, myself included, have been looking forward to this episode for quite a while. I assume that most of this hype was directed, and rightly so, towards the animated debut from Bakusaiga outside of the opening. This week was another Sakuma-animated episode, however I was far from disappointed as Sunrise did a nice job and put together a fairly decent episode. It followed the manga pretty well and had relatively few deviations.
That is not to say that Sunrise didn't refrain from taking a few liberties at the beginning and during the battle. Unlike last week, such liberties, aside from a few head-slamming gaffes during the battle, were mostly harmless, even Miko Kagome. While one could argue that the little premonition about Magatsuhi gave things away, I don't think it hurt the episode in the slightest. I actually welcome the addition because Naohi was wholly skipped over in the first anime when it was supposed to be mentioned by Miroku in the very very beginning when he explained the four components of the Shikon no Tama. Aside from that, it was only mentioned in the evil book named Inuyasha Manga Profiles (Inuyasha Zusetsutaizan Ougikaiden). With respect to the battle, it felt a bit disjointed at time. A few panels that should've been animated, weren't animated, leaving a rather jerky and back-and-forth (accompanied by Sakuma's notable lack of depicting force) feel.
On a more abstract level, there were a number of powerful glares this week. Magatsuhi gave Kagome a Yu-gi-oh-esque Mind Crush and Sesshoumaru a non-verbal "Go fuck yourself!" to Jaken. I was surprised that episode ended where it did at the end of 518, but alas, time constraints and the contents of next week needed to be considered first. The overall feel of the episode was "energy". It wasn't tense or dramatic, but it had energy generated by the battle, and this is a good thing.
Finally, I can't help but remark on how pleasant and awesome a character Kagome has become by this point in the manga. She gets a lot of flak for a perceived ditzy, scatterbrained, or even bitchy attitude; character flaws that really didn't persist past the first few volumes. The first anime didn't abandon these negative aspects though and this notion of "Kagome is a bitch!" was ingrained in Inuyasha fandom and preserved for the sake of making shit-ton of filler episodes and gratuitous "SIT!" abuse. The manga and Final Act have been very diligent in showing us the true Kagome: the caring and responsible tomboy. *raises flame shield*
Next week will definitely cover chapters 494, 519, and 520. According to Patches' summary, it should also cover 521. Modern day episodes place a huge strain on pacing and I'm glad that they are being grouped together. Accordingly, I will be very angry if Kagome's graduation towards the end is given an entire episode.