You can watch the Final Act on www.veoh.com, it loads very fast although u need to download something.
Finally, Naraku is dead. I have been waiting for 10 years. I have been cheated over and over again during the series that Naraku is dead. I was thinking 这个死老妖怪很长气hor? (translation: this old demon's breath very long hor?)
I finished all 26 episodes of the Final Act in two days. Pro or not? haha.
The anime finally finished after a long run of 10 years. I enjoyed it alot during childhood but nah, not now. I wish that I watched the ending when I was in secondary school though.
I mean I prefer implicit stuff now, the themes and "moral of the story" in Inuyasha is too blatant and the moralistic lines are very "in your face". I guess that's the downside of being trained in literature?
Inuyasha is very asian-themed, the story is set between the Heian Era where chinese influence was very strong and Sengoku Japan. All those elements of buddhism, shintoism and allegories about concepts of asian mysticism. Karma,demons and reincarnation etc. I'll say that perhaps I will be able to appreciate it more if I was younger, back in those days when I was in an all-chinese school. I feel that the landscape of my mind has changed now, being exposed to years of English and western education. I can't think fully with a chinese mind anymore?
Nevertheless, I still like how the characters struggle for identity and fight against discrimination. Lots of scenes are dedicated to revealing the discrimination against demons and half-demons. Half-demons are the most tragic as humans fear/loathe them and full demons look down on them and dismiss them as weaklings.
Like most asian films, Inuyasha also focuses a lot on the psychological development of the characters. Inuyasha and Kagome had to overcome their innermost fears and normally illusions are set up to deceive them. Kikyo and Inuyasha also had to solve the deceit and overcome the misunderstanding set up by Naraku fifty years ago when he posed as Inuyasha and set out to harm Kikyo.
One of the part, sibling rivalry between sesshomaru and Inuyasha, I can relate to it well lol.
Anyway I would like to think that the most tragic character of all is Kikyo. Fooled and killed by Naraku and revived fifty years later to an undead body.
Kikyo
Kikyo reminds me of Xiao Long Nu from Return of the Condor Heroes. The pale delicateness. Those despair and loneliness in the eyes....cold and indifferent to the contaminated world.
