Disclaimer
This review is based on the categories provided. I base my reviews on Plot, Characterization, Emotional Pull, Scene Quality, and Creativity. After talking briefly about each subject, I'll do a score based on the scores of these categories, and then recommend the movie or media to people I feel have a higher chance of enjoying it. Even if the score is high, you may still dislike the media in question, I review based on how well structured the media is. Some people will dislike a ten out of ten and that is okay. Please leave a comment below about the media in question or about the review. I'll check back and try to answer any questions. Thank you for reading.
WARNING possible spoilers WARNING
Some of you may know I reviewed the first season of Inuyasha. I'm still planning on revisiting the series eventually. For example, movie reviews. This movie is actually longer then say, a Dragon Ball Z movie, and therefor has more of a plot. The plot starts out as a demon awakens from a tree, and seeks out a fang, particularly from Inuyasha's father. Inuyasha is then targetted so the demon moth could steal Tessaiga however after realizing only Inuyasha could wield it, he tricks Inuyasha so the moth could absorb powers from his previous generations adding it to his own. There is FAR more to the plot then this, but this is a basic idea of what the plot includes. There is a story about the tree Inuyasha was stuck too, the well in which Kagome travels through time with, and far more details about the time travelling aspect in general. The main focus is the villain and the energy absorbing, but other things have their moments and do come to head as well. The plot is actually really thought out and pretty well written using the lore of the original source anime.
What can you expect from characterization from an anime movie. If is an example, a lot. If you don't know about the characters in the anime, this is actually a pretty decent point to jump into the series. Odd right? Kagome gives you a brief summary of all the main characters, you get to know about Kikyo and about some of the history of the anime actually. All the main characters except for maybe Shippo grow and the drama of each character is really interesting. Kagome attacks Inuyasha with mind control and feels she doesn't belong there anymore due to Kikyo which is the most interesting character development, but others grow as well. Even the villain is pretty good, though it is the building through the other characters that is more interesting.
There is a lot of action in this movie, but it is slightly overshadowed by a lot of the emotional issues Kagome has. I'm not trying to say the action is good but the other emotional pull is just that much better, unfortunately the action part is more predictable then it needed to be. The emotional pull of the drama Kagome faces is pretty good and relatable to a large audience, but outside of that the emotional pull is lack luster. There are some cool moments in the action, but the action as a whole isn't all that cool. The emotional pull of character growth with a monk and a demon hunter just seems slightly rushed enough to not be overly invested emotionally even if it was good characterization. None of it was bad exactly, but none of it was great either outside of Kagome's touching talk with Inuyasha through time.
None of the settings were overly confusing, the animation was great, there were never any dark parts that made things hard to see. None of the scenes were a waste of time either, except maybe two. Sesshomaru shows up a few times in this anime, and his scenes accomplish nothing. The first one I get, they were looking for Tessaiga and found Sesshomaru instead. Not a bad way to introduce the plot. But then Sesshomaru's talk with Kikyo seemed odd and out of place. Instead there could have been a scene in which Kikyo says to herself "I'll not give up" when Kagmoe returned. Other then that, which is one to two small scenes, everything else was pretty good.
Design of the two female demons was kind of bland, but the main bad guy design was pretty good. It was a creative movie, as it forms a simple plot, and uses simple plot to explain some lore and background the original source material never did. It is pretty impressive how much thought went into such a film, creative background, seeing the lore of Inuyasha's father and the tree he was stuck too, heck even the way Kagome took the arrowhead from the tree in the present and made a powerful arrow out of it. Powerful creative process for sure.
Like most anime movies, you should know about the anime in general before watching. That being said, if this is your first exposure to said anime, this movie doesn't do half bad representing what the anime is about and explaining the characterization of the main characters. There are some questions that will naturally form and that aren't explained too well in the movie, but it gives you a nice taste of the original source material. That being said, fans of the original source material should really enjoy this movie too.
If you like the Inuyasha anime, try this movie, you should love it. If you aren't a fan of Inuyasha but wanted to jump in, this movie isn't the worst place to start as it sets up the anime well enough. If you are an action junkie though, you may experience some boredom here. this film is really well done, and does justice to the source material. The main characters do grow and develop in this movie, so if you are a fan of the series, you'd be missing a lot if you didn't watch this movie, even if the movie isn't canon. I do highly recommend this movie if you are a fan or if you want to look into the series more.