All right continuing on my review of the Inuyasha special edition 3 pack we come to vol 2 a girls best friend. I don’t know exactly where they came up with that title for the volume, but vol 2 has thee worst episode of Inuyasha there is in the series. Luckily it’s followed by 2 rather great episodes where we meet Sesshomaru, Inuyasha’s evil older, and full demon brother. But first we have to tread through the cure for insomnia that is episode 4.

Story.
In feudal Japan a priestess named Kikyou guarded and purified the sacred Shikon jewel. But when she fell in love with the half demon Inuyasha she tried to purify the jewel permanently by using it to turn Inuyasha completely human. But something awful happened that day she was supposed to give Inuyasha the jewel. The two wound up betraying each other and Inuyasha stole the jewel in order to become all demons. With her last ounce of strength Kikyou bound Inuyasha to a tree with a magic arrow, she then had the jewel burned with her body. Skip to modern day Japan where a young schoolgirl named Kagome is dragged down a well by a demon and sent back to feudal Japan. Under attack by demons that want the sacred jewel that comes out of her body she has no choice but to release Inuyasha from the tree. A short time later the jewel is broken up into several chards and now it’s up to her and Inuyasha to get them back.

In the last episode Kagome and Inuyasha had a big fight and Kagome went back home to her time. But it was bad timing because a demon named Yura is after the shards and Inuyasha’s head. And to make matters worse only Kagome has the ability to see the hairs. Now Inuyasha is heading towards the well to get Kagome to help.

Episode 4 Yura of the Hair.
This is a bad episode to say the least, the Japanese with subtitle isen’t that great, and the English dub is awful. In the dub they try to use every head and hair pun in the book and in the end it get’s tedious and you want to take a nap in till everything is over.

Ok the episode starts with Kagome rejoicing to be home and her grandpa sealing off the well so no more demons come out. But they quickly find out that the spell scrolls grandpa makes don’t work very well when Inuyasha barges in on there dinner. He yells at her for leaving but Kagome realizes that there is a hair on the shoulder and quickly runs back to the well. There she notices that hair is coming out of the well. She helps Inuyasha cut the main thread of hair making it retreat back into the well. Realizing that Yura is after her and Inuyasha and not just the jewel shards she decides to go back. It’s all down hill from hear has the battle with Yura starts. There’s plenty of bad conversation has Inuyasha becomes a living pin cushion and Kagome digs through Yura’s hair and skull collection to find the red skull that it’s her weakness. In the end Kagome breaks the skull in time and Yura disappears, Inuyasha asks her if she’s all right using her name for the first time and she asks if he’s starting to like her just a little. He’s says don’t think to much about it because he still thinks she useless. Then she hits in the back and he collapses from all of the wounds that Yura gave him.

Important notes.
Well we see the end of Yura the villain from the last episode. Also we see some more of Kagome’s family. And finally the most important Inuyasha finally uses her name and the things start to improve between the two. But don’t worry there will still be plenty of times when Inuyasha is left flat on his fact after a sit boy command. Oh just one more interesting note we also see Inuyasha's coolest power, being able to use his own blood has a weapon. When he throws it they become blades that can cut the enemy to shreds.

Episode 5 Aristocratic Assassin, Sesshomaru
Well we finally meet the first real bad guy in the show, while Naraku who later pops up is the number 1 bad guy in the series. Sesshomaru is a close 2nd in being a pain in the neck to the crew. All though in later episodes he changes when he starts using he magic sword the tenseiga to revive a human girl.

The episode first 5 or more minutes is dedicated to just Sesshormaru and his idiotic comic relief Jaken. It's good to get a little bit of character development for this villain. Sesshomaru is Inuyasha's older full demon brother (I am guessing half brother since he's full, in less Sesshomaru hit the jackpot in the genetic lottery.) he is seeking his father tomb to find the legendary Tetseiga a sword that can kill 100 demons in a single stroke. But it's not going well after finding it he finds it empty. He then asks a bunch of Samurai to use there boats when they refuse he has Jaken kill them. This scene is to illustrate that while Jaken is the stupid comic relief he's still a danger to the crew. Later we see Kagome coming out of the well dragging her bike along. She runs over another new character named Myoga the flea. After a silly little scene that goes along trying to treat Inuyasha and turns into a bit of an amusing sex joke has she tries to get Inuyasha to take off his jacket to check his wounds. Myoga shows up and tells him about Sesshomaru and his father tomb. Myoga says it's been move but he doesn’t know where. When Kagome shifts the conversation to Inuyasha's mother, Inuyasha storms out mad. Myoga tells him that Inuyasha's always like that when the subject of his mother comes out. Kagome figures out that if his father was a demon then his mother must be human, and Inuyasha must blame her for being half demon. When she goes to console Inuyasha he knocks her down to the ground telling her that something's coming. In the sky they see a carriage with a women in it, Inuyasha's mother. Sesshomaru appears and tells them he is looking for there father's tomb and he will hurt Inuyasha's mother to get the information he wants from him. Inuyasha use his iron reaver claw and saves his mother. His mother uses some sort of magic power to get them to safety. They reappear near a lake and Kagome discovers she can't move, and that the women reflected in the lake has no face.

Final thoughts.
We meet 3 important characters to the series in this episode. First is Sesshomaru and Jaken who make up the important but non Naraku villains for the show. Next is Myoga the flea, Inuyasha's wise know it all retainer. But Myoga's major fatal flaw comes up in the coming episodes, this fleas a spineless coward.

Episode 6
The Phantom Sword Tetseiga.
While the fake Inuyasha's mother sinks her claws into him, Kagome realizes why she can't move there are little goblins chaining her up. With a little bit of help from Myoga who appears to help, but not before helping himself to a little bit of her blood of course. Myoga tells her that Inuyasha is being attacked by the unmother a demon born from souls of mother who lost there children due to war, and she appears to be in league with Sesshomaru retainer Jaken. While delving through Inuyasha's mind the unmother finds a black peril, but Inuyasha starts to notice that she has no face. Kagome knocks out Jaken using his own staff and then notices the reflection in the water is that of the unmother holding a baby Inuyasha. Kagome uses the staff to erase the illusion and free Inuyasha from the unmother's grip. Inuyasha wakes up mad yelling about the unmother pretending to be his mother. Sesshomaru appears and tells Inuyasha he knows where the tomb is, in a black pearl imbedded in Inuyasha's right eye. Sesshomaru takes the peril out and then tries to kill Inuyasha but the unmother sacrifices herself to protect him. Jaken and Sesshomaru pass through the portal the pearl produces, Inuyasha tells Kagome to stay there but she has already stepped into the portal. Inuyasha runs after her telling her that Sesshomaru's ahead, Kagome says she can't forgive Sesshomaru for all that he has done. When they emerge from the portal they see a skeleton of a huge demon (and I mean skyscrapper huge). Myoga explains that there huge because Inuyasha's father was huge when he was in his undisguised demon form. They fly in just in time to see Sesshomaru try to pull out Tetseiga from it's pedestal, Sesshomaru fails. Myoga suggests that Inuyasha could do it, Inuyasha is unsure because the Tetseiga looks like a rusted sword, which "couldn’t cut paper wet". But he tries to pull the sword out and fails, he yells Myoga about not being able to do it. A battle breaks out between Inuyahsa and Sesshomaru, while Kagome tries to keep Jaken from helping out Sesshomaru. When Jaken manages to knock her down, Kagome grabs hold of the tetseiga to help her out. When she see's Inuyasha about to get killed by Sesshomaru she grabs a hold of the sword and pulls it out in a panic. The episode ends with Kagome holding up the sword and then wondering what she should do next.

Important stuff.
Some great stuff hear. We once again see Inuyasha is a complex character. While he hates his mother, he is even more repulsed when he is tricked by the unmother and Sesshomaru's trick. Then there's the Tetseiga first appearance, in this one we only see it's first form of a rusty old katana sword that doesn’t look good for much, but in the next episode we see what it can really do. Has for Sesshomaru in the next volume he'll pay for his treachery with an arm and a leg (ok just an arm).

DVD special features.
The DVD contains pretty much the standard amount of features that the first dvd contain. You have the line art work used by the animators. A non subtitle Japanese previews for the episode, and a cast list. There is also the subtitle and Japanese audio track. With the exception of the terrible English dubb in episode 4 there both good and both worth listing to. I was surprised how deep and throaty the Japanese Jaken was, compared to the high pitch and winy English voice of Jaken. I guess the Japanese and English have different views of what a brown noser should sound like.

Final recommendation.
While episode 4 is yawn worthy what happens in episode 5 and 6 makes up for it. I recommend if you’re an Inuyasha fan.

check out my review on Inuyasha vol 1
http://www.epinions.com/content_132234579588
Inuyasha the tv show.
http://www.epinions.com/content_107531832964


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age