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R1 DVD Reviews
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Thursday, 21 January 2010 00:00 |
 A change in opening theme confirms that the Mt Hakurei story is finally over, to be replaced by - no surprise, this - filler episodes. If the idea of fungus demons wreaking havoc in a modern school floats your boat, this volume will have you covered. If you're hankering for more from the search for the final shikon shards... less so.
127 - Don't Boil It! The Terrifying Dried-Up Demon!
Kagome's returned home for a while, and has brought a present back from the feudal age for her mom and grandfather - what she's been told is a rare dried fruit, or something like that. After handing it over, she feels the need to just relax and forget about the feudal age for a while, though - events at Mt Hakurei have left her drained and wondering if she even wants to carry on the search for the remaining shikon shards. Peace is going to be shortlived, though, when the 'dried fruit' she brought home with her turns out to be something else. Naraku, meanwhile, is back to searching for the remaining shikon shards, and has his eyes set on completing the jewel...
128 - Battle Against the Dried-Up Demons at the Culture Festival!
It's the day of the Culture Festival at Kagome's school, and the place is crawling with fungus demons - not that anyone realises, as it's just assumed they're all people in costume. The first hint that something's wrong comes when the home ec room is discovered trashed, but rather than suspecting anything too unusual, Kagome just throws herself into helping her classmates get their cooking exploits back on track. The arrival of Inuyasha on the scene, though, soon highlights just what's going on - and leads to chaos as he tries to deal with the demons...
129 - Chokyukai and the Abducted Bride
Having wreaked quite enough chaos on the modern age for now, Inuyasha and Kagome return to the feudal age to continue the search for the final shikon shards. They're sidetracked, though, when they're asked to help out a village whose young women are being abducted by a local demon, who wants them to bear his children. With the demon most likely being one who escaped from Mt Hakurei, the gang feel responsible for clearing up the mess, and head off to see what they can do. Although it must be said that Miroku's finding the idea of rescing a small horde of young women from a terrible fate ever so slightly appealing. The demon, though, doesn't quite live up to his own PR...
Okay, so this volume may be filler, but it's decently enjoyable filler, which makes for a pleasant change. The whole idea around the boil-up demons is just so out there that you can't help but enjoy it, and the two episodes that deal with that story do it in a way that positively encourages you not to take it seriously. Mixing that with high-school drama may not have been such a good idea (and personally I couldn't see Hojo far enough away - don't know what Kagome sees in the boy, other than 'normality'), but it all comes good in the end.
The final episode is also played for laughs, this time more on the Miroku / leering side of things, and with a certain level of crossover existing to the Journey to the West tale (better known as Monkey Magic or Saiyuki, depending on how old you are) there's another level to the humour. Yes, it's more pitched at Japanese and Chinese mythology, but it also works in another way in the West, so no complaints here.
It's also worth pointing out that it's not all filler - although you do have to be careful, lest you miss the important scene as it's been relegated to a rare post-credit sequence at the end of episode 128: Naraku has been digging as to the location of the last of the unaccounted for shikon shards (ignoring the ones we know about, like the two that Koga has), and its location is revealed in this scene - a rather unusual location, to be sure, and one that's going to eventually make for what could be an interesting quest. If we ever get to see it.
So, entertaining enough for what it is, with a little bone thrown in for those who want to see the main story ticking along as well - although who knows how long it'll be before that little plot point is picked up and run with. Forty-three volumes into a series you should know what you're getting, and on that level this disc doesn't disappoint - it just won't inspire, either.
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