Inu-Yasha the Movie 2
The Castle Beyond
the Looking Glass
Reviewed by:
Harley Acres (February 9, 2003)
The film opens with Inu-Yasha (human) sitting in a small cabin in
the forest. Kagome slings her arrows over her back and leaves Inu-Yasha
to stay and keep out of trouble. Meanwhile we see Naraku burst through
the woods running incredibly fast when Hiraikotsu slams into a tree
beside him. Sango is on him (this was really cool, it looked like
something out of Ninja Scroll). Finally they chase him into the clearing
where they all deal some serious damage to him. Naraku transforms
into a giant spider demon and then crushes the cabin where Inu-Yasha
was hiding just as the sun rises.
Inu-Yasha tears out and a lengthy battle ensues (pretty gruesome too).
Eventually Kagome fires an arrow through Naraku's chest and he dies.
No one seems able to believe it, but Miroku removes his prayer beads
and sure enough his Wind Tunnel has vanished.
Eventually the group seperates and tries to get on with their post
Naraku lives. Kagome goes back to school while still stopping by to
help Inu-Yasha and Shippo search for the Shikon Shards. Miroku goes
back to see Mushin with Hatchie and they discuss how he has finally
broken his family's curse as he visits his father's grave.
Sango goes off to find Kohaku who has been chased by a pack of demons
and has an arrow loged into his leg. Eventually she saves him and
they travel together again.
As all this happens Inu-Yasha and Kagome meet with a young man who
is apparently Hojo's ancestor (I thought it was Nobunaga at first).
He travels with them for awhile.
While all this is happening, behind the scenes Kanna and Kagura are
gathering items to free a woman named Kaguya from her imprisonment
inside a magical mirror. They slaughter villages and kill many in
their search for the items. The sleeve from Inu-Yasha's kimono was
also needed, and Kagura succeeds in getting it.
Once Kaguya is freed she attempts to use her mirror to imprison Inu-Yasha's
human half thus forcing him to become a whole demon. He resists her,
and eventually the group gets back together. Kaguya continues to increase
her powers and eventually uses her mirror to raise a giant castle
on a mountaintop. While they fight, Inu-Yasha is pinned to a tree
and Kaguya reverses Kagome's arrow at him. Instead of letting it kill
him Kagome jumps in the way and takes the blow, but not before Hojo's
ancestor tosses a piece of fabric between the arrow and Kagome. The
fabric was one of the final things needed by Kaguya, so she takes
it and Kagome off to the castle.
The others attempt a rescue but have to face off against Kaguya's
giant, multi-headed dragon over a lake. Kikyo arrives to help Inu-Yasha
deal the killing blow before heading off again. Inu-Yasha has a funny
scene of shaking the water off like a dog that was pretty hilarious.
After bandaging their injuries Kaguya casts a spell that begins to
petrify everything around the castle. Hatchie and Ancient Hojo turn
to stone, but everyone else does not because they are wearing bandages
and things from Kagome's time (either that or because Kagome had handled
them). Needless to say they covered themeselves in bandages and bandaids
and headed off to battle (which looked really bizzare). Inu-Yasha
was wearing a locket that Kagome had given him with both of their
pictures in it, and this saved him from petrification. Miroku even
takes some ink and daps it on his hand to at least make it look like
he still has his wind tunnel.
Inside the battle ensues as Kaguya grows more powerful (and wears
a sexier outfit). Kaguya disarms Inu-Yasha and uses her mirror once
again to draw out his demonic side. Miroku rushes up to him to tell
him to get ahold of himself, but almost has his stomach torn out for
his trouble. Shippo helps free Kagome who rushes over to Inu-Yasha
and tries to help him resist. Demonic Inu-Yasha grabs her so hard
that his claws dig into her arms, but Kagome does the only thing she
can to help him, she kisses him and he begins to turn back (and kisses
her back as well).
This causes Kaguya's mirror to crack and she gets really angry. At
about this time Kagura and Kanna have played their parts as far as
they want. They use the Kanna's mirror to suck away some of Kaguya's
life force and then suddenly a spider burn mark emerges on Kohaku's
back. Miroku's Wind Tunnel screams back to life and in a truly grotesque
scene Naraku's torso with spider legs grows from a pustule on Kohaku's
back and he goes on a rampage.
Kaguya zaps him sending him away (but not killing him as Miroku points
out because of his hand). They finish their battle with her and then
the castle begins to collapse as they make their escape. Suddenly
a black cloud chases them and it is Kaguya once again followed by
Naraku who grabs Kagome. Inu-Yasha knocks Naraku away and Miroku uses
his air rip to suck up the black cloud that remains of Kaguya. As
Sango watches Naraku, Kagura, Kanna and her brother all teleport away
together through the mirror.
The group follows them through the mirror to escape the collapsing
castle. Naraku and the others are gone, but everyone has escaped and
the petrification has disappeared.
The End
Well, I finally got around to seeing it today. I went to the 10:25
am showing at a little theater in Osaka. It was an EXCELLENT film
and a great experience. I know I'll always remember seeing it on the
big screen. This was a really great movie, the animation was spectacular.
I really, really enjoyed it needless to say. I also bought the program
for the movie that has pictures of all the voice actors and some interviews
with the musicians and products and stuff.
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