InuYasha the Movie: Swords of an Honorable Ruler

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InuYasha the Movie: Swords of an Honorable Ruler
The American DVD cover
Directed by	Toshiya Shinohara
Produced by	Michihiko Suwa
Written by	Rumiko Takahashi (based on the comics by)
Starring	Kappei Yamaguchi (Japanese original), Richard Ian Cox (2005 dub)
Music by	Kaoru Wada
Distributed by	Toho (Japan), Viz
Release date(s)	2003
Running time	104 min.
Language	Japanese
IMDb profile

InuYasha the Movie: Swords of an Honorable Ruler ("Eiga Inuyasha: Tenka Hadō no Ken"; 映画犬夜叉　天下覇道の剣; also known as Inuyasha the Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler) is the third of four movies in the InuYasha anime franchise. It was released in Japan on December 20, 2003 (between episodes 136 & 137), and in the United States on September 6, 2005. It premiered on Adult Swim on August 12, 2006 and it aired in Canada on YTV on December 29, 2006.

1 Plot
- 1.1 Background
- 1.2 Synopsis
2 Cast and credits
3 Trivia
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The English logo used in Japan

[edit] Background

The protagonist, InuYasha is a hanyō - half-human, half-demon. His half-brother, Sesshomaru, is a yōkai, a full demon. Their father died, protecting InuYasha's human mother Izayoi from Setsuna no Takemaru, a suitor who yearned for InuYasha's mother, 200 years before the events of the original series. InuYasha's father left each of his sons a very powerful sword; the Tessaiga to InuYasha; and the Tenseiga, to Sesshomaru. The inheritance of Tenseiga rather than the more destructive Tessaiga leaves Sesshomaru bitter and he ponders why his father leaves him with the more passive of the two swords.

[edit] Synopsis

The film opens with events that happened at InuYasha's birth. The suitor Takemaru kills Izayoi just before InuYasha's father arrives. InuYasha's father arrives and resurrects Izayoi, telling her to escape with their son, whom he names as InuYasha and gives her the red Fire Rat Armor to protect them from the burning palace. Presumably, InuYasha's father died with Takemaru when the entire complex crashed and burned down as the two dueled inside the palace.

In the present era, Kagome's Grandfather comes by with a sword which he calls a 'national treasure'; as Grandfather is about to put it in the storehouse for "safe keeping", Kagome's younger brother goes over to the sword, and it speaks. The sword is So'unga, the sword of hell, and it possesses a connection to InuYasha's father. It tried to possess InuYasha, but InuYasha tried his best to resist being controlled and finally brings the sword back to the past, but in the process unleashes the deadly powers the sword holds on an evacuated village.

Sesshomaru is also alerted of the presence of So'unga, and he follows the scent to find that InuYasha is in possession of the sword. The two of them duel and at a crucial moment, Kagome saves the day and forces the So'unga to release InuYasha from its grasp. It finds a new demon host and recovers Sesshomaru's lost left arm, then revives Takemaru and subsequently possess him, aiming to take revenge on InuYasha and Sesshomaru.

So'unga was the third sword that InuYasha's father possessed. Individually, it was stronger than either the Tenseiga or the Tessaiga. Sesshomaru wields the Tenseiga, and InuYasha wields the Tessaiga, can the two arch nemesis find a way to bring an end to So'unga, the Sword of World Conquest?

[edit] Cast and credits

Director: Toshiya Shinohara
Screenplay: Katsuyuki Sumizawa
Music: Kaoru Wada
Character Designs: Hideyuki Motohashi & Yoshihito Hishinuma
Theme Song: "Four Seasons"

Lyrics: JUSME, Music: MONK, Arrangement: MONK, Performed by: Namie Amuro

[edit] Trivia

The general that was leading the army that was killed by Takemaru's Dragon Twister and resurrected by So'unga was, coincidentally, the same one that Sesshomaru had by the neck and thrown into a boat in episode #5 of the anime.

When possessed by So'unga and ready to murder the mother and her child, Miroku tries to get InuYasha to come to his senses. When he first appears in the screen he immediately pulls off the Prayer Beads covering his Wind Tunnel. The next scene that he is seen, the Prayer Beads are back on his hand. Finally, when InuYasha tells him to take the innocents away, he is seen putting the Prayer Beads back on. Also, a closer observing will reveal that, in the scene when InuYasha stops in front of Miroku, Sango and Kirara, the beads with the cloth on Miroku's right hand is missing.

A conversation between Sesshomaru and his father at the beginning of the movie revealed that his father was still suffering from wounds incurred in a battle with a demon before the start of the movie, and those wounds had not fully healed when InuYasha’s father battled Takemaru, which may have played a part in InuYasha's father's death. In episode 53, Father's Old Enemy Ryukotsusei, the flea demon Myōga reveals that the wounds inflicted on InuYasha's father while fighting Ryukotsusei are ultimatly what killed him, leading to the possible conclusion that Ryukotsusei was the demon that InuYasha's father had referred to.

The drawing style of this movie, just like other two movies (Affections Touching Across Time and The Castle Beyond The Looking Glass), shows different drawing style from the normal anime drawing style.

When the So'unga told them that this would be the final blow, you see Sesshomaru holding the Tenseiga, which at the time, was shaking & rattling his hand, glowing lightning blue. After the scene of flashbacks, Sesshomaru yells out that he has no one to protect, and casts the Dragon Strike with the Tenseiga. This is so far, the ONLY time the Tensiega has unleashed a move that his Tōkijin could only do.