Why I get annoyed when InuYasha is on tv

[timepiececlock]

Just watched last night's new Inu Yasha episode. I had missed the previous two, but that's okay.

Every time I watch this show and Kikyo shows up I get frustrated. I want to scream at all the characters: "WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO SAVE HER, SHE IS EVIL!! SHE EATS SOULS!"

And then I wonder if there's some mysterious reason for liking her that developed in one of the episodes I missed somewhere along the line. I get why IY still likes her and I understand that Kagome is way, way too generous when it comes to letting IY be happy. But why don't Miroku and Sango have more of a problem with Kikyo? SHE EATS SOULS!

Seriously, did that change when I wasn't looking?

This is a problem I've had with the IY plot ever since Kikyo's character was introduced. At first they were like "Oh poor IY, your ex is evil, sucks to be you, dude. We'll have to go find her and stop her before she eats more innocent people's souls."

And then they like...forgot.

And every time they meet up it's all about Inuyasha and Kikyo's lingering romantic history and not about the fact that SHE EATS SOULS!

If I were a young woman in IY's time period, and I knew there was a demoness out there consuming souls of the recently expired, I'd be less inclined to sympathize with Inu Yasha's romantic angst and more worried about the fact that my soul was going to be eaten by a demon. As defenders of the innocent and general do-gooders, IY's gang seems to be failing on that point.

If anyone has a nice and clean explanation for this, please tell me. I would love to know.

Comments

[duelingrose.livejournal.com]

You forgot to mention that she EATS SOULS!

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Good to know you agree.

[octopedingenue]

KOGA ATE VILLAGERS.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Dude, I KNOW.

But I've gotten over that because we know Koga stopped eating villagers after he met Kagome. He's pretty much stopped killing humans entirely-- though I'm sure if one tried to attack him he'd kill the guy.

Did Kikyo stop eating souls?

Seriously. Beyond my ranting I'm really, really frustrated and curious to know why they're all just ignoring the fact that she's still totally evil. Maybe she likes kids and maybe she's not plotting world domination, but soul-eating is pretty damn evil. And she also doesn't seem to have a problem taking out any random monk that sees her and tries to send her back to the underworld, if I recall.

Why are Miroku and Sango ignoring it, more to the point? And if it's just because they're not strong enough to kill/pacify her, then why haven't we seen some demonstration of angst/worry/guilt to that effect? Miroku and Sango have devoted their entire lives to hunting and destroying evil. If this Kikyo subplot made any kind of decent story-telling sense and was actually well-written they'd at the minimum have expressed frustration at their inability to stop Kikyo. The fact that they're just okay with it boggles my mind and makes me very irritated.

It's stuff like this that keeps me from ever liking IY as much as I like Ranma. I want to, because there's so many lovable things... but there's also these things that just send me up the wall and make me want to turn it off. My suspension of disbelief can only suspend so much.

[jaina.livejournal.com]

Inuyasha is one of those series where I adore the setup and characters and thus the fan creations produced, but the actual canon...not so much. Like, if you watch the first 20 or 30 episodes and have people briefly summarize the major plot points later on, that's really all you need to know for fic. I noticed the same thing with Ranma, though Ranma is way fuller of madcap fun.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I adore the setup and characters and thus the fan creations produced, but the actual canon...not so much.

I think you just summarized my feelings on the show perfectly. I adored the manga when it first started, then stopped to watch the anime after that started... then just stopped watching after around episode 80. I've caught episodes on or off since then, but I don't feel compelled. I do still actively enjoy reading fanfic though.

[memlu.livejournal.com]

I like how she's totally a zombie. <3 Where's the evil undead lusting for brains! I have expectations, dammit.

(That said, ahaha. I agree even while admitting to a sort of fondness for resurrected Kikyo. Before it was OMG ALL ABOUT THE ANGST, kthx.)

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I liked the idea of her character a lot in the beginning, as a potential villian. And I like her when she's interacting with the other villains like Naraku. It's just the IY gang's absurd behavior around her that frustrates me and makes me want to turn the tv off.

[scathachdhu.livejournal.com]

I think Miroku and Sango don't make more of a big deal about it is because they know how badly Kagome feels about the whole situation. Since she's apparently accepting it, they want to respect her choice and not make more of it than she does in order to respect her feelings. That's the only reason I can see.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but come on. That's the kind of decision you make when you're not sure whether to give someone romantic advice, or you're not sure if buying them a romantic comedy movie for their birthday is a good idea because they broke up last week and you don't want to rub salt in the wound, so you buy them an action flick instead.

If chasing demons is your mission in life-- as it is with both Miroku and Sango-- and has been since you were a child, that's a bit bigger of a deal than catering to your friend's romantic angst. People's souls and lives are at risk, Kagome can get over her sensitivity to InuYasha's emotional problems.

Anyway, I do see what you're saying as a reason of sorts--- *if* Kikyo no longer posed a threat to anyone. If like Koga she stopped harming human beings. Sango and Miroku are certainly pragmatic enough not to bother hunting down or worrying about a demon that's not doing harm to anyone anymore. But Kikyo is, and so it seems absurd to me that they all just... forgot.