InuYasha: Kanketsu-hen

I had started rewatching Inuyasha to see if nostalgia holds up. I can say I enjoy Inuyasha when it doesn't try to be too serious. Plot wise it started off pretty straight forward but then by Final Act I wish it hadn't grown so convoluted. SPOILERS ALERT: THE JEWEL CAN TALK and sounds like a robotic man. Once I got to the part where Naraku is able to be like a sea algae and regenerate himself and create too many clones, my interest in Naraku and the plot waned. I was just watching for the characters which I adore to interact with each other, for the comedicmoments and for Inuyasha and Kagome moments. Once I got to Final Act, I was left feeling disappointed. I sort of even regretted watching through it. I felt in the beginning, Inuyasha was really strong because it didn't try to complicate itself. I haven't seen the forth movie yet, but I have watched movies 1 and 3, 3 which I loved. I am on movie 2. I get people like animation where things are moving, but I didn't think it was animated as well as the movies. Super distracting to see faces from afar with no eyes. I noticed in the earlier episodes, none of that happened. Really my major grip with the Final Act is the narrative. Based on how it is structured, it is doing what a lot of anime adaptations are doing now: squeeze everything and animate as much as you can from the manga. That's great if the manga storyline is strong enough, like it was with Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. (I know others would disagree.) But I felt the narrative was so clunky and seemed to riff off of DBZ & Movies 1 & 2. Maybe if I was in a forth grader I wouldn't mind but I'm not. The Inuyasha movies seem to flow more smoother and better. Even episode 19 or so, they literally took still shots of the first season and didn't animate any of Kagome's graduation. What I am saying it felt off. I didn't even think it was length really just the plot grew really so convoluted. So now, it's not Naraku, but its the Sacred Jewel. Ok so Kikiyo had to cremate herself along with the jewel, hoping to freaking burn the jewel. But it doesn't burn apparently. Then there's that whole make the correct wish and make it disappear... And... THE JEWEL CAN TALK. Then that just lost me. Making the correct wish. It just seems lazy the writing. So then Kagome wishes it to go away and it does, thus conveniently sealing the well for literally until she finishes high school. You know since running away to be with a guy living in the feudal era before finishing high school is a terrible idea. How many times have Inuyasha and Kagome went through the well even without the jewel shards? Even the showdown with Naraku felt way more clunky than their showdown in movie 1 with that tall alien tree guy and movie 2. Naraku transforms himself into a metallic looking CGI large spider. And he doesn't die until the end. I didn't feel satisfied like I did with Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood's ending and the way Edward's friends take down their version of Naraku and recover Al's body. Highlights were episode 7 & 8, with Kikiyo's death. I ended up watching the subs because I couldn't stand the VA changes. That was incredibly well done. Kikiyo's arc was written so well. The strengths of Final Act or Inuyasha in general seem to be the character writing and their relationships with each other, rather than the mechanics of the overarching narrative. I felt I was just waiting for Naraku to just wither and die already. Episode 18 I loved, because it was reminiscent to me of the prior seasons. It is always funny and enjoyable when Inuyasha travels to Kagome's time. Kohaku I like but apparently in the world of Inuyasha he cannot die. It felt like the good characters were killed off too fast, like Kikiyo and Kagura. Kagura was the only incarnation of Naraku that I liked. There were just too many incarnations of Naraku for me to care about. Instead of monster of the day, it's Naraku's incarnation of the day. Nearing the end, it was ridiculous how many power ups Tetsaiga had. So it can look like diamonds, like a dragon, and now like the stars with his Maison-sagetsuha. It really felt like DBZ nearing the end with Naraku and Sesshomaru being able to fly amid rocky terrain. My interest was waning at that point, honestly. I wanted Naraku to die already. I didn't care for more incarnations of Naraku. Sango's dilemma with Miroku felt too out of character. Like she was too dramatic. Sango nearly killing Rin to save Miroku? It felt like oh let's add more drama to keep the stakes up for the characters. I know everyone is entitled to their opinions but sometimes I wish it hadn't followed so closely to the manga when the writing near the end felt weak. I even lost interest from the prior season earlier on when Naraku wouldn't die already and the introduction of his incarnations and his never ending barrier. It felt like hey let's jam every major fight and make sure we animate that rather than have the scenes/events flow. I love Kagome and Inuyasha together but they barely talked. I miss their banter. Really there was barely dialogue within the main cast other than hey we gotta kill Naraku and his incarnation. It felt like hey show all the power-ups for Tetsaiga, kill off more forgettable incarnations of Naraku rather than depict the character's emotional reactions to the events. 26 episodes is a lot, maybe not a lot for Inuyasha but this is one of those moments where I wish the anime staff took over you know, like maybe keep Kagura around longer, or even keep the babies. Like what happened to destroy Naraku's heart, kill Naraku??? This is one of those series where the logistics of the narrative don't add up. Ok so Kagome goes to be with Inuyasha. Couldn't she go back because there's still the well? I get people were fussy about how it ended on 167 but I thought the ending was fine! There was still Inuyasha and Kagome moments and it didn't wrap things up but it didn't feel like the dialogue had to be sped up. That's my only grip with anime adaptations now. Depending upon the manga, they are often exact page for page. Great if the writing is good but if the plot is weak, it really shows. Watch this if you have seen a couple of episodes of the last season, like around 150 for it to add up. Watch the prior seasons to understand the Kagome and Inuyasha relationship. Otherwise, none of it would make sense. I think only Inuyasha fans would like this. I stuck around because I loved the characters, not really the plot. The plot freakin makes no sense. Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood has a really good ending and its plot I don't question. Inuyasha my god was such a cash cow that its story had to be extended and stretched out so much that nothing makes sense nearing the end. Really. to remove the jewel you can't just burn it. You have to speak to the talking jewel and wish it away.